At Compline on the first four days of Lent, the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read, divided into four sections, on Thursday in the fifth week it will be read again, this time in continuous form. With its constant refrain, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me', the Great Canon forms a prolonged confession of sin, an unremitting call to repentance. At the same time, it is a meditation on the whole body of Scripture, embracing all the sinners and all the righteous from the creation of the world to the coming of Christ. Here, more than anywhere else in the Triodion, we experience Lent as a reaffirmation of our 'Biblical roots'. Throughout the Great Canon the two levels, the historical and the personal, are skillfully interwoven. 'The events of the sacred history are revealed as events of my life; God's acts in the past as acts aimed at me and my salvation, the tragedy of sin and betrayal as my personal tragedy. (Triodion)
Even if you can't attend the services, you can read it at home. Here are the pdf's for each day:
***On Wednesday evening the fifth week of Great Lent at Matins (some churches Thursday morning) the entire Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is sung together with the reading of the life of St. Mary of Egypt (read in two parts).
Life of St. Mary of Egypt
http://www.saint-katherine.org/mary%20_of_%20egypt.pdf
http://www.saint-katherine.org/mary%20_of_%20egypt.pdf
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