HOLY AND GREAT LENT My brethren, our Holy Church is preparing to introduce us to the fast of the Holy and Great Lent!
Our stomachs will finally be calmed from the frequent and heavy foods…

This fast will help -along with the body- the mind/nous (rational part), as well as the other two parts of the soul (the spirited and the appetitive).

The passions will be subdued…, if we fast, of course, not only from food, but also from our various and varied passions…

Let us benefit from this saintly period of the Holy and Great Lent, which prepares us so that we can ourselves experience the Holy Passion of our Lord and His glorious Resurrection! (including our own resurrection!)

A warning and an exhortation:

1. Warning: We warmly urge our Christian brethren in Christ not to participate, during these days, in the so-called carnivals!!! Neither physically, nor through television, nor online…

This is because carnivals are remnants of ancient pagan rituals (!!!), and it is therefore inappropriate for a Christian to “participate” in these in any way…

Furthermore, the Last Sunday before Lent [called in Greek “Sunday of Tyrinis”] (abstinence from meat], for the secularists the day of “carnival”!!!, is the day when our Church commemorates the exile of Adam and Eve from Paradise (and by extension our own exile!!!)

In the solemn Vespers of the Sunday of Tyrinis,, we enter into the Holy and Great Lent…

At the time that the wonderful solemn Troparia will be sung in our Holy Churches, at that same time there will be outside the...parade of the Carnival(!!!).

It seems that there is someone celebrating on this day, as it is the day that he managed to expel the human race from the delights of Paradise!!! And who is this someone, my brethren, but the devil?

Are we then to join in celebration (!!!) with him… by participating in the Carnivals(???)
Should we not, instead, be at that time, at the Solemn Vespers, the Vespers of Pardon?

2. Exhortation: Following the above warning, we warmly beseech our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ, during the Holy and Great Lent, to participate (when and where possible) in the daily Solemn Vespers, with the beautiful Great Compline, known as the “Lord of the Powers” (Kyrie ton Dynameon).

Please be aware that no daily Divine Liturgies are held, during Lent, except on Saturday and Sunday.
Throughout the week there are only Matines, with the contrite Book of Triodion and the contrite Vespers with Compline.

Please also remember that on Wednesdays and Fridays the so called Presanctified Divine Liturgies take place, during which the faithful may obtain the blessing of their Spiritual Father to receive the Holy Communion.

The benefit, my brethren, through our participation in the above, (wherever and as far as possible) will be very great and decisive for us in our further spiritual course and life…

As we enter into the Holy and Great Lent, let this be for us an occasion for correcting ourselves and purifying our soul and body, crucifying the “old man” in us and giving life to the new one, the one in Christ, whom we received in our Holy Baptism!

Thus we will be able, by the grace of God, to concelebrate – together with the Resurrection of Christ – our own Resurrection…
Leτ this be done!!!

I leave you now with much love and many blessings, for a worthy Spiritual Struggle during the Blessed Lent!!!
Wishing you a BLESSED HOLY GREAT LENTEN JOURNEY!!!