The First Week of the Great Fast and the Triumph of Orthodoxy

The first days of the Great Fast, as observed at Holy Trinity Monastery, leave a special impression in the heart of many people, and remain in the memory of pilgrims and newly-matriculated seminarians, many of whom had not previously had any contact with the life of the monastery, its rules and order. One rarely finds a parish where the cycle of liturgical services of the First Week of the Great Fast, or indeed of the entire ecclesiastical year, is done so fully. The services of Clean Week are intimately bound together, and any abridgment of them (including even the omission of the lenten Hours and their instructions) deprives the one who listens to them of part of the spiritual power they contain; the various cares of life also weaken that power of spirit. This is why all monastic tasks are set aside in the monastery during this week, and all classes in the seminary. In quest of an escape from their earthly cares, and for the sake of this liturgical fullness, from year to year pilgrims travel to Jordanville from various
parts of the Diaspora and often spend a whole week here (especially during Clean and Passion Weeks), and, it would seem, not without spiritual benefit, for the divinely salvific Holy Forty-day Fast discloses great mysteries to man.

The Great Fast begins at the monastery on the evening of Cheesefare Sunday. Vespers is served on that day with solemnity, as a hierarchal service. The entrance is performed majestically, the First Hierarch makes the sign of the Cross with dikirion and trikirion. But the voices of the clergy, who sing the evening hymn to the Holy Trinity, die away, and the air of the
cathedral is filled with the meek, sad chanting of the Great Prokimenon, "Turn not Thy face away from Thy servant." With the recitation of "Vouchsafe, O Lord," the Great Forty-day Fast comes into its own liturgically: the lights are dimmed, the clergy remove their gold vestments and put on black, the analogia in the church are clad in a somber color, the litanies lose
their festal, major key. Everything recalls the imminent time of fasting and repentance.

With the setting of the sun, the bell-ringer summons the people to Compline with the "rite of forgiveness." Almost everyone without exception gathers together: monks and seminarians, regular parishioners, pious folk who live in the area, pilgrims... The archimandrites, archpriests and hieromonks all serve. And at the head of them all the abbot,

Metropolitan Laurus, presides. The service follows its own order. Vladyka goes forth and preaches on the meaning of the rite, and himself asks forgiveness of everyone. The brethren, following ancient monastic tradition, chant the paschal stichera; the "rite of forgiveness" begins. First the sacred ministers, then all the faithful, form a line and bow down before one
another, one after the other, thus forming a chain encircling the entire church. This chain continues to grow and soon begins to curl around, twice or even three times, so that in the church there remains almost no room to make prostrations. The chanting of the paschal hymns in the half-dark cathedral gradually gives way to the sound of the exchanges: "Forgive me, a sinner," "God forgives," "Christ is in our midst!" Indeed, a sense of ecclesiastical unity, of the conciliarity of all in the name of Christ,
is involuntarily manifested.

Monday of the First Week of the Fast begins at 5:30 A.M., with the striking of the wooden monastic semandron. Outside it is still dark. One by one, the monastics and seminary students assemble in the church for morning prayers
and Nocturns. Matins. With sad voices, in the light of only a few candles, the choir of monks draws out the chanting of "Alleluia," and the words of the prokimenon, "My spirit riseth to Thee at dawn out of the night, O God," seem so moving in the stillness of this night. All three kathismata prescribed by the Typicon are read, and at the end of each the brethren listen to readings from the Holy Fathers. During the chanting of the triodion of repentance, the dawn breaks almost imperceptibly through the windows of the
cathedral.

Amazingly, sunrise coincides with the words of the exapostilarion, intoned by the canonarch: "O Thou Who shinest light upon Thy world, of every sin cleanse Thou my soul, which is in darkness." And at this point, as though inspired by the first rays of the sun, the hieromonk exclaims: Glory to Thee Who hast shown us the light!"

After the First Hour there is a lengthy break. Leaving the church and breathing in the cold spring air, at the sight of the drifts of snow and the snow-dusted trees, and with the awareness that all tasks and jobs are suspended during this week, one experiences a certain sense of freedom from earthly vanity and cares; a certain lightness and exaltation reign in the soul. Physical fatigue is suppressed by a thirst to labor for the Lord's sake.

After half an hour, every gathers again in church for the service of the lenten Hours and Vespers. Each Hour has its own kathisma, its own reading from the Fathers. The characteristic trait of lenten Vespers is the reading of passages from the Old Testament (paramias), from the Book of Genesis and the Proverbs of Solomon. The first draws for us a picture of the creation of man, his fall and suffering on earth, yet at the same time also gives hope of salvation in the person of the Redeemer. Thus does the Church,
as is were, also call upon us, who are constantly falling away from the Lord, not to despair in the awareness of our weakness, but to have a firm faith in the Savior, as did the Patriarch Abraham. From the Proverbs of Solomon we draw forth good, paternal instructions for correction and the acquisition of moral perfection. Vespers in the cathedral concludes in the vestibule with the commemoration of the departed and reading of the books of remembrance containing the names of _our brethren who have fallen asleep in Christ."

The Typicon of Holy Trinity Monastery allows for a modest meal after Vespers, which usually finishes at 1:00 P.M. On the first day of Clean Week, as on those which follow, bread is provided, baked potatoes, and cole slaw. On days when the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated (Wednesday and Friday), hot vegetable soup is served. After the meal, the brethren have several free hours, during which some rest, while others walk along the Monastery's snowy lanes, enjoying the lingering winter landscape of Jordanville.

Compline is served with the reading of the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. This service is done on the first four days of Clean Week, and following local custom the Great Canon is read by a hierarch. At Ode VI, both choirs come together in the middle of the church to chant the kontakion. "My soul, my soul, arise! Why sleepest thou?" is sung by the brethren, as though to waken the hearts of the people standing in church, which is plunged in evening gloom. At the end of Compline, everyone kisses the icons of
the saints and asks a blessing of the abbot for the coming night.

On the second, third and fourth days of the Great Fast, as also on Monday, after the kathismata at Matins and the Hours are read instructions from the Holy Fathers on spiritual warfare, pride, the danger of judging, carnal sins and the importance of abstinence.

The themes of correct conduct in church and the rules of monastic life in general are touched upon. The Church, through the mouths of such ascetic Fathers as John of the Ladder, Ephraim the Syrian, Palladius of Helenopolis and Theodore the Studite, strives to warn, enlighten and support us in the difficult struggle of navigating the Great Fast, which lies before us. Especially magnificent and inspiring during the First Week of the Fast is the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The hierarch stands at the altar-table fully vested. Then quietly the sad "Let my prayer arise like incense before Thee" begins to pour forth into all the ends of the church. The cherubic hymn, "Now the hosts of heaven," by Lvovsky, is sung with particular majesty.

On Friday, a service of supplication in honor of the Greatmartyr Theodore the Tyro is appended to the Liturgy. After the clergy
read the canon, koliva (boiled wheat) is blessed; this is to be eaten after the meal, in memory of the deliverance of the Christians from being defiled by the blood of idolatrous sacrifices during the reign of Julian the Apostate, through the intervention of the Martyr Theodore.

On Saturday, at Matins, the end of the First Week of the Great Fast is clearly felt, and with the Church we cry out: "Let us keep the Sabbath today, O ye who have rested from yesterday's labors." On this day the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served, and following monastic custom all the denizens of the Monastery, having made their confession the night before, receive communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After the dismissal, Vladyka Metropolitan congratulates everyone on receiving Communion and on successfully completing the First Week of the Fast, calling on them to give thanks to God for His having made it possible for them to serve all the services of the past week without abridgment. At meals on that day a little lenten "consolation" is provided for all who have fasted strictly during these days. The First Week of the Great Fast ends on

Sunday with the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy and a service of supplication at the end of the Liturgy, together with the "Rite of Orthodoxy." The Rite was served by Protodeacon Joseph Jaroshchuk.