About the Sundays of
the Triodion...
Sunday
of the Publican and Pharisee (Κυριακή Τελώνου και Φαρισαίου)
The
Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the official start of the
Triodion
period.
This Sunday is when our liturgical life begins to change a bit: new
hymns of repentance are introduced, to make everyone aware that we are
now “walking with Christ” to His Passion and Resurrection.
The main
Sunday Matins hymn of the Triodion begins today:
Open the gates of repentance to me, O Giver of Life, for my spirit rises
early in the morning to your holy temple, bearing a temple of the body
all defiled. But as you are full of pity, cleanse it by your
compassionate mercy.
Of
course, the Sunday is about
true faith.
The Publican showed his true faith by asking sincerely repentance for
his sins. The Publican, however, only asked “repentance” for the eyes of
the people. God wants us during this Lenten period (and all times, of
course) to ask repentance not only from the lips of our mouth, but from
the lips of our hearts; if we do this, Christ tells us the reward:
“those who are humble will be exalted.”
This week, to prepare us for the fast of Great Lent, there is
no fasting at all.
Biblical Readings:
Epistle: 2 Timothy 3:10-15
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
Sunday of
the Prodigal Son (Κυριακή του Ασώτου Υιού)
The
Sunday of the Prodigal Son calls to mind the recurring theme during
Lent:
repentance.
This
particular Sunday is dedicated to the famous Parable of the Prodigal Son
found in St. Luke’s Gospel. It was about a son who squandered the
fortune of his father on things of ill-repute, only to repent for his
sins and be welcomed back lovingly by his father (as the father of the
parable told his other son, “your brother was dead and now is alive”).
This
parable, other than being one to teach morality, is also an
eschatological parable
(i.e.
talking about our journey to Heaven,
much like last week’s parable).
This parable shows us that, if we repent truly for our sins, God will
welcome us into His loving embrace once again. We are all welcomed into
His Kingdom, no matter how many times we sin; however, we must ask for
His forgiveness and love when we fall into sin. Let us cry to God as the
hymnographer:
“I have foolishly run away, O Father, from your glory; I have squandered
in
evil deeds the riches you entrusted to me; therefore I offer you the
words of the Prodigal Son: I have sinned before you...take me now
repentant
and make me as one of your hired servants.”
Remember that our sins might be great, but His Love is so much greater.
Regular fasting is resumed this week.
Biblical Readings:
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Gospel: Luke 15:11-32
On this
Sunday, we call to mind something that has not even happened yet: the
Second Coming of Christ.
Our Lord has
promised us that He will come again, “to judge the living and the dead,
and His Kingdom will have no end” (from
the Nicene Creed).
We call to mind the “criteria” of our entrance into Paradise, as our
Lord said in today’s Gospel: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I
was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in
prison and you came to me.'“
Entrance
into the Kingdom of God is something that requires we be completely
committed to Him. Our Lord is a loving God who awaits us to enter His
loving embrace. Yet, the gift of free will gives humanity the choice of
entrance into Heaven. The people who did not enter with Christ into
Heaven were those who did
not
follow His
commands (they didn’t clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to
the thirst, etc.).
This Sunday
is a great way that the Church makes us think about our spiritual life.
Let’s be sure to remember that the Second Coming will come as a “thief
in the night”, so we should
always
be ready for
our Lord’s coming to earth.
Judgment Sunday is also called “Meatfare Sunday” because
it is the last Sunday, according to the fasting canons, that the
faithful eat meat before Easter. During the following week, we do
not
fast
on Wednesday and Friday (except for meat, of course).
Biblical Readings:
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
Forgiveness Sunday/Cheesefare Sunday (Κυριακή της Τυρινής)
People tend to just make it about eating an apple…
yet,
it’s so much more than that.
Forgiveness Sunday
is the day
the Church remembers the
disobedience
and expulsion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The disobedience
was not following God’s command of not eating from the Tree of
Knowledge. The sin was not a matter of eating an apple, or whatever
fruit it might have been: the sin was going against God’s command. What
made it worse was that Adam and Eve never asked
forgiveness!
They tried
to blame one another: Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake. Because
they didn’t want to submit to God and be united with Him, He chose to
let them go: they were thus expelled from Paradise.
In His love
for humankind, though, God could not see them (and us) being under the
tyranny of the devil. That’s why He came in the flesh to save us (as a
prayer says, “we confess the grace, we proclaim the mercy, we do not
conceal the beneficence!”)
Because God
was (and is) willing to forgive us of our trespasses and sins, and did
that finally with His Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Church decided
to have this Sunday dedicated not only to the disobedience of Adam and
Eve, but to their
forgiveness.
We should remember that fasting and repentance are two great steps of
Great Lent, so whoever partakes of those is one step closer to Christ
and His Kingdom.
Note: Last day of eating cheese products before Easter.
Biblical Readings:
Epistle: Romans 13:11-14:4
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-13
This
year, the Triodion begins Sunday February 17th and ends on Great
and Holy Saturday morning (April 26th).
For information on the Triodion, click
here. For a list of
Feast days, dates, themes and other general information, click
here.
