Sunday of Meatare of the Last Judgment Feb. 6

On this third Sunday, we are powerfully reminded of a complemantary truth: no one is so patient and so merciful as God, but even He does not forgive those who do not repent. The God of love is also a God of righteousness, and when Christ comes again in glory, He will come as our judge. "Behold the goodness and severity of God" (Rom 11:22). Such is the message of Lent to each of us; turn back while there is still time, repent before the End comes. In the words of the Great Canon:
The end draws near, my soul, the end draws near;
Yet thou dost not care or make ready.
The time grows short, rise up: the Judge is at the door.
The days of our life pass swiftly, as a dream, as a flower.
This Sunday sets before us the "eschatological" dimension of Lent: the Great Fast is a preparation for the Second Coming of the Savoiur, for the eternal Passover in the Age to Come. Nor is the judgement merely in the future. Here and now, each day and each hour, in hardening our hearts towards others and in failing to respond to the opportunities we are given of helping them, we are already passing judgement on ourselves. (Triodion)
Image: Andrey Rublev. Fresco "The Last Judgment"

Triodion

Having completed the forty days that bring profit to our soul, we beseech Thee in Thy love for man: Grant us also to behold the Holy Week of Thy Passion, that in it we may glorify Thy mighty acts and Thine ineffable dispensation for our sakes, singing with one mind: O Lord, glory to Thee.

Triodion

O twelve apostles, Peter, Paul, Jame and John, Andrew, Bartholomew, Philip, Thomas and Matthew, James with Simon and Jude, pray to Christ for our salvation.

Triodion

Triodion

Save us, most holy Virgin from all the threats and wickedness of men. For to thee, and to thy Son and our God, we flee for refuge, Mother of God; thou art our guardian and protector. Pray to Him that we may be delivered from dangers and distress.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Now the light of the true faith shines upon us all, dispersing the dark cloud of error of ungodliness, and illumining the hearts of true believers. Come, all the Orthodox, with reverence let us fall down and venerate the holy icon of Christ.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Triodion

Giving wings to our soul through abstinence, let us all offer acceptable prayers to our Lord. in heaven.

(Triodion)

Triodion

Adam was driven out of Paradise, because in disobedience he had eaten food; but Moses was granted the vision of God, because he had cleansed the eyes of his soul by fasting. If then we long to dwell in Paradise, let us abstain from all needless food, and if we desire to see God, let us like Moses fast for forty days. With sincerity let us persevere in prayer and intercession; let us still the passions of our soul; let us subdue the rebellious instincts of the flesh. With light step let us set out upon the path to heaven, where the choirs of Angels with never-silent voice sing the praises of the undivided Trinity, and there we shall behold the surpassing beauty of the Master. O Son of God, Giver of Life, in Thee we set our hope; count us worthy of a place there with the angelic hosts, at the intercession of the Mother who bore Thee, O Christ, of the apostles and the martyrs and of all the saints.

(Triodion)

Adam was cast out....

Adam was cast out from the delight of Paradise: bitter was his eating, when in uncontrolled desire he broke the commandment of the Master, and he was condemned to work the earth from which he had himself been taken, and to eat his bread in toil and sweat. Therefore let us love abstinence that we may not we as he did outside Paradise, but may enter through the gate.

(Triodion)

Sunday of Forgivness (Mar. 1/Feb. 17)

Forgiveness of insults is the shortest and most reliable way to salvation ...

In everyday life there are any number of clashes, reasons for insults and indignation of peace of mind, and the Lord wants to save us this ... Forgiving according to the commandment of the Lord ... - there is a man of another, better world. The affirmed skill not to be embarrassed by insults gains peace, and peace will be reborn into a world that surpasses all reason.

St. Theophan the Recluse

Triodion

Principalities and dominions, cherubim and all the powers of heaven, pray that we may spend the season of the Fast in repentance and a spirit of prayer.

Triodion

O Holy Cross, raise up the horn of the Churches; by thy power cast down the arrogance of herectics and make glad the congregations of the Orthodox. Count us all worthy to be present when thou art carried in procession, and to venerate thee as the footstool of Christ. for in thee, O blessed Word, we glorify.

(Triodion)

Triodion

The Lord of old foreshadowed the miracle of the Virgin to Moses in the bush upon Mt. Sinai; let us praise, bless and exalt Him above all forever.

Triodion

Accepting the Fast as a gift, let us glorify the Giver who established it for our salvation. With all our strength let us observe it and so receive from our Creator the forgiveness of our trespasses.

(Triodion)

Sunday before Lent (March 1)

The last of the preparatory Sundays has two themes: it commemorates Adam's expulsion from Paradise, and it is also the Sunday of Forgiveness. There are obvious reasons why these two things should be brought to our attention as we stand on the threshold of the Great Fast. One of the primary images in the Triodion is that of the return to Paradise. Lent is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed gate of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived us of our free communion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing to celebrate the saving event of Christ's death and rising, which has reopened Paradise to us once more (Luke 23:43). So sorrow for our exile in sin is tempered by hope of our re-entry into Paradise:

O precious Paradise, unsurpassed in beauty,
Tabernacle built by God, unending gladness and delight,
Glory of the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints,
With the sound of thy leaves pray to the Maker of all:
May He open unto me the gates which I closed by my transgression,
And may He count me worthy to partake of the Tree of Life
And of the joy which was mine when I dwelt in thee before.
Note how the Triodion speaks here not of 'Adam' but of 'me': 'May He open unto me the gates which I closed'. Here, as throughout the Triodion, the events of sacred history are not treated as happenings in the distant past or future, but as experiences undergone by me here and now within the dimension of sacred time.

The second theme, that of forgiveness, is emphasized in the Gospel reading for this Sunday (Matthew 6:14-21) and in the special ceremony of mutual forgiveness at the end of Vespers on Sunday evening. Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. A fast without mutual love is the fast of demons. As the commemoration of the ascetic saints on the previous Saturday has just made clear to us, we do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from our fellow men but link us to them with ever stronger bonds. The Lenten ascetic is called to be a man for others.
(Triodion)

Theotokion

O Virgin worthy of all praise, be to us a path of repentance, leading us to the gates of salvation.

(Theotokion)

Monday, Cheesefare Week

My way of life is shameful and bitter, O Savior who lovest mankind, but Thy mercy and compassion are without measure. With love I sing Thy praises; grant me, I entreat Thee, time for repentance.

(Monday, Cheesefare week)

The Saturday of the Dead (Feb. 22) (Memorial Saturday of Meatfare)

On the day before the Sunday of the Last Judgement, there is a universal commemoration of the dead "from all the ages". Before we call to mind the Second Coming of Christ in the services on Sunday, we commend to God all those departed before us, who are now awaiting the Last Judgement.

O Christ, because of Your Resurrection from the dead,
death has no more power over those who sleep in faith.
May we rest in the heavenly mansions, in the bosom of Abraham, together with all Your faithful servants:
all who have worshipped You in purity of heart
from the days of Adam to this present time,
our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters,
all our relatives and our friends,
every one who has passed through this life in faith.
Make us all worthy of Your heavenly Kingdom!

(Triodion)

Maslenitsa

Maslenitsa (Russian: Мaсленица, Ukrainian: Масниця, Belarusian: Масьленіца; also known as Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefair Week) week has begun.

“In our Church the week before the Great Lent (Feb. 24 - Mar. 1) is called Cheese-Fare Week in translation from Greek. When Christianity came to Russia, Russian people did not know about cheese or butter. The name Maslenitsa was created to explain what can be eaten during these days because the word Maslenitsa is derived from the Russian word for butter. During the week before the Great Lent people may eat dairy products but are not allowed to eat meat.”

Saturday of the Dead Feb. 22

Saturday is the day which the Church has set aside for the commemoration of Orthodox Christians departed this life in the hope of resurrection and eternal life. Since the Divine Liturgy cannot be served on weekdays during Great Lent, the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the Fast are appointed as Soul Saturdays when the departed are remembered at Liturgy.

In Thy compassion and love for mankind, forgive and pardon those who have gone to dwell with Thee, and grant them rest in the tabernacles of the elect; for Thou art Life and Resurrection. (Triodion)

Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Feb. 16)

This parable of God’s forgiveness calls us to “come to ourselves” as did the prodigal son, to see ourselves as being “in a far country” far from the Father’s house, and to make the journey of return to God. We are given every assurance by the Master that our heavenly Father will receive us with joy and gladness. We must only “arise and go,” confessing our self-inflicted and sinful separation from that “home” where we truly belong (Luke 15:11-24).

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On this and the next two Sundays, after the Polyeleos of Matins we hear the lenten hymn "By the rivers of Babylon" (Psalm 136 LXX)

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept when we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereof did we hang our instruments.
For there, they that had taken us captive asked us for words of song. And they that had led us away asked us for a hymn, saying: Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
Let my tongue cleave to my throat, if I remember thee not, If I set not Jerusalem above all other, as at the head of my joy.
Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, Who said: Lay waste, lay waste to her, even to the foundations thereof.
O daughter of Babylon, thou wretched one, blessed shall he be who shall reward thee wherewith thou hast rewarded us.
Blessed shall he be who shall seize and dash thine infants against the rock.

Artist: By the rivers of Babylon, painting by Gebhard Fugel, circa 1920

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s55C2ihnPfQ