GOAA - Orthodox Christians Begin Great Lent March 10 2008

From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:00:18 -0800

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA 8-10 East 79th St. New York, NY 10075-0106 Tel: (212) 570-3530 Fax: (212) 774-0215 Web: http://www.goarch.org Email: communications@goarch.org

Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos

March 5, 2008

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS BEGIN GREAT LENT MARCH 10
SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY CELEBRATED WORLDWIDE MARCH 16 ORTHODOX EASTER TO BE OBSERVED APRIL 27TH

New York, NY- Orthodox Christians will begin observing the Great Lent on Monday, March 10th, in preparation for Pascha (Easter), the most sacred and holy day of the Orthodox Church's ecclesiastical year. This year Orthodox Christians will celebrate Pascha on April 27th.

"Once again", says Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America in his Lenten Encyclical, "we express our gratitude to God for bringing us to the beginning of Great and Holy Lent. We recognize this as an extension of our time on this Earth to experience another Lenten season, another period to come closer to Him and to His infinite and saving love. We begin the period of Great and Holy Lent on this day known as Clean Monday, an appropriate term that implies purity of mind, heart, and soul. This purity is paramount to a productive start to our Lenten journey, which we begin with vigilant prayer, fasting, and worship so that we may properly orient ourselves as we enter the Lenten season. Throughout this forty day period, we review with heightened scrutiny our shortcomings, our inadequacies, our inabilities to live up to our full potential as Christians, and the myriad of ways in which we may have fallen short of expressing the fullness of our love to God and neighbor."

The Orthodox date for Pascha is based on a decree of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, Asia Minor, held in 325 A.D. under Emperor Constantine the Great. According to this decree, Pascha must be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon of the vernal equinox but always after the Hebrew Passover to maintain the Biblical sequence of events of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The Orthodox Christian churches have adhered strictly to this formula established by an Ecumenical Council.

Orthodox Lent

The Orthodox Christian Lent always begins on the Monday, followed by the Sunday of Orthodoxy. It is designated as "Clean Monday", the "Monday of cleansing or purification". On that day Orthodox faithful are required to begin a spiritual and moral purification through fasting, prayer, meditation, repentance, attending Lenten religious services and partaking of the Sacraments of Confession and Communion.

Religious services during the Lenten period are particularly spiritual and mystagogic and are especially beloved by Orthodox faithful. They include the Compline, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the Salutations to the Virgin Mary including the magnificent Akathist Hymn, sung during the first five Friday evenings of Lent, and the inspiring Liturgy written by St. Basil the Great in the 4th Century, every Sunday during Lent.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Over 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, including some six million in North America, will celebrate the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" on the First Sunday of Great Lent, March 16th, to commemorate the restoration of Holy Icons to the Church in the Ninth Century.

In 843 A.D. when the veneration of icons was solemnly proclaimed at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople, on the basis of a decision by the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 787 A.D., monks and clergy came in procession and restored the icons in their rightful place.

This event came to be known as the "Sunday of Orthodoxy", and since that time is commemorated on the First Sunday of Lent. The Sunday of Orthodoxy is traditionally celebrated in Orthodox Churches worldwide with special services as an act of rededication to Orthodoxy. During these services the clergy and the congregations following a Procession of Icons recite the Declaration of Faith. This service also commemorates the suffering, martyrdom and persecution of Orthodox faithful throughout the centuries.

GREAT LENT AND PASCHA IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 2008

Great Lent Begins March 10

Holy Week (Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday) April 20-April 26

Holy Pascha April 27

Ascension Day June 5

Pentecost Sunday June 15

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