The last, seventh week of Great Lent - Holy, Holy, Great - includes six days; it starts on the Monday and ends on the Saturday preceding Easter Sunday. All days in Holy Week are called Great. And the whole week is Holy: the week when Christ was betrayed, condemned, elevated to Golgotha, crucified and resurrected.

Since in 2018 Easter will be celebrated on April 8, Holy Week falls on April 2-7.
Holy Week is the seven strictest days of the year. Eat right, in accordance with the recommendations of the church, to cure many diseases and cleanse your soul from sins.

• Holy week 2018: what you can eat by day
  • Holy Week: Proper Diet meals for a week
• Holy Week (before Easter): what not to do
• Prohibitions and recommendations for Holy Week
• Holy Week: customs and signs
• Holy Week 2018: Orthodox calendar

The last week before Easter is the most difficult and strict compared to the rest of the days. This period is very important for Orthodox people, because we remember the last days of Jesus' life on earth and his sufferings. It is advisable to spend Holy Week in prayers that will help you better understand yourself.

In Holy Week, each person is spiritually cleansed. And this depends not only on abstinence in food, but also on the abandonment of all evil intentions. At this time, you can not settle cruelty in your heart, commit evil deeds and utter poisonous words. These are the same sins as gluttony, eating meat and drinking alcohol. Read on the site poleznue-soveti.ru what you can and cannot do before Easter.

Good to know! What is eaten on Palm Sunday: On this day, it is allowed to eat fish, hot food, with vegetable oil and wine. Then the Great Days begin.

• Monday: the busiest day of Holy Week.

In addition to the fact that food can only be eaten once in 24 hours, it must be eaten raw. Therefore, for most of us it is difficult and unusual. Righteous people who firmly believe in God try to refuse food altogether on this day.

For beginners, it is permissible to include flour products, in particular bread and vegetables, in the Monday diet. They can be consumed in any form: dried, fried and pickled.

This day is also characterized by the use of fruits and mushrooms for food. In unlimited quantities, you can drink water, cool compotes and fruit drinks. It is important to know that you can eat only in the evening.

• Tuesday: On Tuesday, you can eat whatever you cook.

However, remember that during Lent we exclude sweet, flour, meat, fish, dairy and eggs from the usual diet. It is permissible to eat vegetables and fruits on Tuesday, but only in limited quantities. Food should be taken, as on Monday, in the evening and only once a day.

• Wednesday: On this day, people remember Judas, who betrayed Christ.

You should visit the church and repent of your sins. It is known that this is the best time to cleanse your soul. Dry food is served at the table, it is advisable to refuse food altogether, so that nothing interferes with cleansing the body and thoughts on this day.

• Thursday: Easier than the previous days, because from now on you can eat twice a day.

Hot food, which was previously banned, and vegetable oil appear in the daily diet. Active preparations for Easter begin: people bake Easter cakes, paint eggs, and prepare treats for the festive table.

Thursday is characterized by various rituals to expel evil spirits and evil from the house. One of them is that when cleaning the home, you need to throw a handful of little things into a basin of water. This will attract prosperity and wealth in the future.

Water on Maundy Thursday has magical powers, so you can bless the apartment and, after washing, rid yourself of diseases for a whole year.

• Friday: is a time of grief for Orthodox people.

It was on the fifth day of the week that Jesus Christ was crucified. On Good Friday, it is forbidden to eat any food, the exception applies only to babies and infirm people. Any household chores should be postponed. By doing something on this day, you show your disrespect for God. It is necessary to gain strength and try to endure this day, honoring Christ, who gave his life for our sins.

• Saturday: Only one day left before the holy feast.

On Saturday you can eat the same as on Thursday. The daily diet includes dishes such as: honey, bread, dry and raw fruits, vegetables. All day until the next morning, people must consecrate the food that they put on the table. The Church allows you to bring any food that you deem necessary to celebrate Easter.

Before the end of the evening, you must prepare all the treats, as Easter services are held at night. Even on this day, parental Saturday.

• Sunday: bright day of Easter.

You can only eat what you have consecrated, if this is not done, then in the morning they still consecrate their products in the Temple, hurry up. Be sure to have eggs, bacon, cheese, sausage and Easter cakes on the table. You must taste these foods first, and then everything else that is from the treats.

On Sunday, everyone should rejoice and celebrate the resurrection of the Son of God. On Easter, you need to visit the church for communion, and also learn about the traditions and folk signs of this Orthodox holiday.

Holy Week is very important for people: these days, a rethinking of life comes to many. During this time, a person is spiritually cleansed and meets Easter with pure and bright thoughts. It is imperative to keep all the commandments, pray and not denigrate yourself with sinful deeds and thoughts. It is known that if you repent on the Bright Resurrection of Christ with a pure heart and firm faith, then God will surely forgive you for everything.

Monday.

On this day begins a big tidy. The house is cleared of old, bulky things.

Buying food for Easter. Women prepare medicinal infusions. Men should not even touch herbs, tinctures, powders.

This is the day of washing and all sorts of rubbing. On Wednesday, it is advisable to thoroughly wash, scrape the floors, knock out the carpets.
On Wednesday during Holy Week, they remembered a special rite against any bodily infirmity. It was necessary to scoop up a mug of water from a well or from a barrel on the street or draw water from a river. Crossing themselves three times, they covered the mug with a clean or new towel, and at 2 o'clock in the morning, crossing themselves again three times, they poured this water on, leaving a little in the mug. After that, they put on clothes on a wet body, without wiping themselves, and the water that remained in the mug was poured up to 3 hours on a bush or flowers. It is said that a body washed in this way is reborn.

Maundy Thursday was advised to cut the hair of a one-year-old child for the first time (up to a year it was considered a sin to cut), and for girls - the tips of the braids so that they grew longer and thicker. All livestock were also advised to cut a tuft of wool for health and well-being.

On this day, Thursday salt is prepared: it is calcined in a pan, and the salt acquires medicinal properties. It is desirable to consecrate this salt in the Temple.

Maundy Thursday is traditionally called “clean”, and not only because on this day every Orthodox person seeks to cleanse himself spiritually, to receive communion, to accept the sacrament established by Christ. On Maundy Thursday, the folk custom of cleansing with water was widespread - swimming in an ice hole, river, lake or dousing in a bathhouse before sunrise.

There are many traditions associated with this day. On Maundy Thursday, they cleaned the houses, washed and cleaned everything. It was customary to collect and burn juniper branches to fumigate dwellings and stables. It is believed that the healing juniper smoke protects the person and the "animal" from evil spirits and diseases.

1. There was also such a belief that eggs laid on Good Thursday, eaten at Easter, protect against illness, and egg shells buried in the ground in a pasture reliably protect livestock from the evil eye.
2. Starting from Maundy Thursday, they prepared for the festive table, painted and painted eggs. According to ancient tradition, colored eggs were laid on fresh sprouted greens of oats and wheat.
3. On Thursday morning they started baking Easter cakes, women, small products made from wheat flour with the image of crosses, lambs, doves, larks, as well as honey gingerbread. Easter was being prepared in the evening.
4. On Clean Thursday, money should be counted three times, so that money is “carried” all year.
5. Everyone in the family should take a handful of salt and pour it into one bag. This salt is removed and stored, and it is called "Thursday salt", i.e. Great Thursday. You can treat yourself with it, as well as your family and friends. This salt is used to make amulets for the family, livestock, garden, home, etc.
6. On Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, it was customary to wash all domestic animals - from cows to chickens - with water melted from snow and burn the salt in the oven, which, according to popular belief, acquired healing properties from this.
7. In some villages, at midnight on Maundy Thursday, women were also instructed to douse themselves with water to protect themselves from disease.
8. If before dawn you wash your face on Great (Clean) Thursday, you need to say at the same time: “I wash off what they let loose on me, what my soul and body toils with, everything is removed on Pure Thursday.”
9. On Easter morning, they wash themselves with water left from Maundy Thursday. It is good to put a silver little thing or a spoon in it, you can use a coin. Wash for beauty and wealth.

If a girl cannot get married, you need to give the towel with which she wiped herself on Maundy Thursday to people for Easter, those who beg for alms, along with krashenka and Easter cake. After that, they soon get married.

There was also a custom to burn crosses on doors and ceilings with a candle to protect the house from the invasion of evil spirits.

Passionate candles were given into the hands of seriously ill or suffering from difficult childbirth, they have healing power. From Maundy Thursday it was forbidden to sweep the floor in the house until Easter itself.

Cooking on this day is argued, all housewives bake Easter cakes and Easter cakes on this day. They continued to bake and prepare for the celebration of Easter. “Angels help,” say pious people.

On Friday they sweep the corners with a rag, this rag will help get rid of lower back pain if you tie yourself with it. The same rag is used to wipe the feet in the bath after washing, so that the feet do not hurt. Ash, taken on Friday before Easter, will help to recover from alcoholism, black shaking, from the evil eye and from mortal anguish.

Last (quiet) tidy. You can also dye eggs. On this day, common festive dishes are prepared. On Saturday, they brought painted eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and other products to the church to consecrate. And before going to the service on Easter night, they left refreshments on the table so that later they could break the fast. True, they ate a little - only symbolically, after which they went to sleep. But late Sunday morning, a real feast began, which lasted all week.

Of course, all the preparatory work: cooking, painting eggs must be completed before Bright Sunday.

The church charter prescribes the following rules:

• in the first and last (Holy Week) weeks - a particularly strict fast;
• it is completely forbidden to eat - products of animal origin;
• on weekdays they eat once a day, in the evening; on Saturdays and Sundays twice - at lunchtime and in the evening;
• on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - cold food without oil;
• on Tuesdays and Thursdays - hot food without butter;
• on Saturdays and Sundays, you can use vegetable oil and, if desired, a little grape wine (except for the Saturday of Holy Week);
• on Great Saturday, many believers also do not eat until Easter.

Holy Week is characterized by its own signs and customs, which have always had the ability to come true. Here are a few of them:
On Wednesday, the rest of the snow was collected along the ravines in order to add last year's Thursday salt to the melt water and sprinkle the livestock. This is a true protection of living creatures from damage and the evil eye.

On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the day when Orthodox Easter comes, they tried not to sleep. For girls, such wakefulness promised marriage, for guys - success in work, and for older people - health.

Very effective and effective in the last week of Lent were conspiracies to get rid of drunkenness, depression and poor health, from envious people and enemies, as well as health problems. The purpose of Holy Week, which crowns the Great Lent before Easter, is to complete the stage of spiritual and physical purification of a person.

This is a period that is associated not only with restrictions on food intake, but also quitting smoking and other bad habits. Holy Week gives every believer an opportunity to rethink his life and take the path of righteousness, which Jesus Christ walked for thirty-three years.

Holy Week is the last week before Easter. IN Orthodox Church this is the most important week of the whole year, dedicated to the last days of Christ's earthly life, His sufferings, crucifixion, death on the cross, burial.

Holy Week is no longer great post, although fasting these days is observed especially strict.

During the first three days of Holy Week, the Church prepares the faithful for heartfelt participation in the Savior's suffering on the Cross.

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: His suffering, death on the cross and burial (in Church Slavonic the word "passion" means "suffering"). All days of Passion Week are called great.

This week is especially honored by the Church. “All days - it is said in - is superior to the Holy and Great Forty Days, but more than the Holy Forty Days is the Holy and Great Week (Passion), and this Great and Holy Saturday is greater than the Great Week itself. This week is called great, not because its days or hours are longer (others), but because great and supernatural miracles and extraordinary deeds of our Savior took place in this week ... ”.

Remembering the events of the last days of the Savior’s earthly life in the Divine service, the Saint follows every step with an attentive eye of love and reverence, listens to every word of Christ the Savior coming to the free passion, gradually leads us in the footsteps of the Lord throughout His entire way of the cross, from Bethany to the Place of the Skull , from His royal entry into Jerusalem and until the last moment of His redemptive suffering for human sins on the cross, and further - until the bright triumph Christ's Resurrection.

The first three days of this week are devoted to intense preparation for the Passion of Christ.

In accordance with the fact that Jesus Christ, before His sufferings, spent all the days in the temple, teaching the people, the Holy Church distinguishes these days with a particularly long Divine service.

Trying to gather and focus the attention and thoughts of believers in general on the entire Gospel story of the incarnation of the God-Man and His service to the human race, the Holy Church on the first three days of Passion Week reads the entire Four Gospels on the clock.

IN Great Wednesday I remember the sinful wife who washed her tears and anointed the feet of the Savior with precious ointment when He was at the supper in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, and thereby prepared Christ for burial. Here, Judas, with imaginary concern for the poor, revealed his love of money, and in the evening he decided to betray Christ to the Jewish elders for 30 pieces of silver (an amount sufficient at the then prices to acquire a small plot of land even in the vicinity of Jerusalem).

On Great Wednesday at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, after the prayer behind the ambo, the prayer of the monk is said for the last time with three great prostrations.

On Thursday During Passion Week, the divine service commemorates four major evangelical events that took place on that day: the Last Supper, at which the Lord established the New Testament sacrament of Holy Communion (Eucharist), the Lord washing the feet of His disciples as a sign of deepest humility and love for them, the Savior’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and betrayal of Judas.

In commemoration of the events of this day, after the prayer behind the ambo at the Liturgy in cathedrals, during the hierarchal service, a touching rite of washing the feet is performed, which resurrects in our memory the immeasurable condescension of the Savior, who washed the feet of His disciples before the Last Supper.

On this day, the Lord established the Sacrament of Communion, so all Orthodox Christians strive to partake of the Saints Mysteries of Christ on Divine. Troparion of the day “When the glorious disciple is enlightened at the washing of the supper, then Judas, the wicked with the love of money, becomes darkened, and betrays the righteous Judge to the lawless judges. See, the property of the zealot, who used the strangulation for this sake: run the unsatisfied soul to the Teacher who dared. Who is good about all, Lord, glory to Thee”

Great Heel Day dedicated to the memory of condemnation to death, suffering on the Cross and the death of the Savior. In the worship of this day, the Church, as it were, sets us at the foot of Christ and before our reverent and trembling gaze depicts the saving sufferings of the Lord. At Matins of the Great Heel (it is served on Thursday evening), the 12 Gospels of the Testament of the Holy Passion are read.

There is no Liturgy on Good Friday, since on this day the Lord Himself sacrificed Himself, and the Royal Hours are celebrated.

Vespers is served at the third hour of the day (14.00), at the hour of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, in remembrance of the removal from the cross of the body of Christ and His burial. When singing the troparion: “Noble-looking Joseph, from the tree we will take down Your most pure body, wrapping it in a clean shroud, and covering it with stench in a new tomb.(Translation: “The noble Joseph, having removed Your most pure Body from the cross, wrapped it in a shroud and anointed it with fragrances, put it in a new tomb”)” the clergy raise the Shroud (i.e. the image of Christ lying in the tomb) from the Throne, as if from Golgotha, and they carry her out of the altar into the middle of the temple, offering lamps and burning incense. The shroud is placed on a specially prepared table (tomb). Then the clergy and all the worshipers bow before the Shroud and kiss the ulcers of the Lord depicted on it: His pierced ribs, hands and feet. In the evening there is a second service with a procession.

The shroud is located in the middle of the temple for three (incomplete) days, thus reminiscent of the three-day stay of Jesus Christ in the tomb.

This is a day of strict fasting, when nothing can be eaten, at least until the removal of the Shroud. This is the strictest day of the year.

On Holy Saturday(the service begins on Good Friday evening) The Church commemorates the burial of Jesus Christ, the stay of His body in the tomb, the descent of the soul into hell to proclaim victory over death and the deliverance of souls who with faith awaited His coming, and the introduction of the prudent thief into.

On Great Saturday, a liturgy is celebrated, beginning with vespers. After a small entrance with the Gospel (near the Shroud), 15 paramias are read before the Shroud, which contain the main prophecies and types relating to Jesus Christ, as having redeemed us from sin and death by His death on the Cross and His Resurrection. After the 6th Parimia (about the miraculous crossing of the Jews through the Red Sea), the chant is: "Gloriously glorified." The reading of the parimias concludes with the song of the three youths: "Sing to the Lord and exalt unto all ages." Instead of the Trisagion, “They were baptized into Christ” and the Apostle is read about the mysterious power of Baptism. This singing and reading serve as a remembrance of the custom of the ancient Church to baptize catechumens on Holy Saturday. After the reading of the Apostle, instead of "Alleluia", seven verses selected from the psalms containing prophecies about the Resurrection of the Lord are sung: "Rise, O God, judge the earth." During the singing of these verses, the clergy change into bright clothes. Instead of the Cherubic Hymn, the song "Let all human flesh be silent" is sung. At the twelfth hour of the night, the Midnight Office is celebrated, at which the canon of Great Saturday is sung. At the end of the Midnight Office, the clergy silently transfer the Shroud from the middle of the temple to the altar through the Royal Doors and place it on the throne, where it remains until the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, in memory of the forty-day sojourn of Jesus Christ on earth after His resurrection from the dead.

After that, believers reverently await the onset of midnight, at which bright Paschal joy begins. greatest holiday Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paschal joy is a holy joy that does not and cannot be equal on the whole earth. It is the endless eternal joy of eternal life and bliss. She is exactly the joy that the Lord Himself said: “Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you” ().

The word "passion" in Church Slavonic means "suffering". At this time, the believing people remember what torments the Savior experienced before his death, how his crucifixion and happy resurrection took place. All days of this week are called Great. Each is dedicated to a specific gospel event and is painted in church canons and among Orthodox believers.

Christians spend the entire Great Week in the strictest abstinence and fervent prayer, in doing good deeds and showing mercy. The people have developed a huge variety of signs and beliefs associated with the Great Week.

On Holy Week, priests conduct special church services in all churches. From Monday to Wednesday, they prepare the faithful to worthily contemplate and sincerely participate in the Savior's Torment on the Cross. In morning prayers and liturgies, they reproduce pictures of the last days of the life of Jesus Christ, recall His instructions and call on believers for patience and peace.

Great Monday

Maundy Monday marks the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. Therefore, believers make prayers to meet the Savior. After the morning prayer, people begin preparing their home and yard for the upcoming holiday. Men carry out minor repairs of residential and utility rooms, furniture. Women oil and whitewash ovens, wash ceilings, walls, windows, remove curtains, take out beds and carpets and knock them out into the street. In the houses they begin a big wash, sort out clothes. Winter clothes are put away for storage, and summer clothes are taken out and prepared for wearing.

The clear sky and bright sun on Maundy Monday foreshadowed a fruitful summer and a generous autumn. Young people who get married in the coming year will live happily, in harmony and prosperity. To preserve youth, health and be with money, people washed themselves from a silver or gold dish.

Maundy Tuesday

On Holy Tuesday, the church and believers remember how the Lord rebuked the Pharisees and scribes. On this day, it is customary to reproduce his conversations and parables that he spoke in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, women and girls finish washing, ironing, hanging curtains, sewing and preparing clothes for the holiday. Especially carefully choose tablecloths and towels. They should be light shades, and preferably white. Ornamental embroidery with red, green, golden thread is welcome. The festive table will be covered with a tablecloth, and with the best towel they will go to the Easter service in the temple.

Great Wednesday

Great Wednesday is the day when the fact of Judas's consent to commit a betrayal against the Lord for 30 pieces of silver is remembered. In the prayers of the Temples, the love of money, self-interest, imaginary care for others are condemned. The priests reproduce the parable of the great sinner, who washed with her tears and anointed the feet of the Lord with myrrh, thus preparing him for burial. On this day, Orthodox Christians finish cleaning the house and decorate it for the holiday. White tulle curtains are hung on the windows. Wreaths of flowers and greenery are attached to the cornices and doorways. Bouquets with tulips, daffodils or other plants are placed everywhere. If on Palm Sunday it was possible to bring blooming branches of willow (willow), then they become the first decor of the house. On Holy Wednesday they buy eggs for the holiday. It is believed that they will not spoil for a long time, they will be well colored and will be especially tasty.

Maundy Thursday - Maundy Thursday

On the fourth day of Holy Week, the church remembers 4 Gospel events: the Last Supper, Communion, the Savior washing the feet of his disciples, the Lord's Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Betrayal of Judas. This is a special pre-Easter day when the laity can repent of their sins and receive forgiveness, change their lives for the better. Water plays a big role in this.

Days of Holy Week

worship

Liturgical features of the Passion

• Nikolai Zavialov.
• Hermogenes Shimansky.
• Priest Mikhail Zheltov.

Iconography

• . PHOTO GALLERY

Passion Week, or Holy Week, is the last week before Easter, dedicated to memories of the last days of the Savior's earthly life, His sufferings, crucifixion, death on the cross, and burial. This week is especially honored by the Church. “All days,” says the Synaxar, “exceeds the Holy and Great Forty Days, but more than the Holy Forty Days is the Holy and Great Week (Passion), and more than the Great Week itself is this Great and Holy Saturday. This week is called Great, not because its days or hours are longer (others), but because great and supernatural miracles and extraordinary deeds of our Savior took place in this week ... "

According to the testimony of St. John Chrysostom, the first Christians, burning with the desire to relentlessly be with the Lord in the last days of His life, in Passion Week intensified their prayers and aggravated the ordinary feats of fasting. They, imitating the Lord, who suffered unparalleled suffering solely out of love for fallen humanity, tried to be kind and forgiving to the infirmities of their brothers and do more works of mercy, considering it indecent to pronounce judgment on the days of our justification by the blood of the Immaculate Lamb, they stopped all lawsuits, courts these days. , disputes, punishments, and even released for this time from the chains of prisoners in dungeons who were not guilty of criminal offenses.

Every day of Holy Week is great and holy, and on each of them special services are performed in all churches. especially majestic, decorated with wisely arranged prophetic, apostolic and gospel readings, the most sublime, inspired hymns and a whole series of deeply significant, reverent rites. Everything that in the Old Testament was only foreshadowed or said about the last days and hours of the earthly life of the God-man — all this the Holy Church brings into one majestic image, which is gradually revealed to us in the Divine Services of Passion Week. Remembering in Divine Services the events of the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, the Holy Church follows every step with an attentive eye of love and reverence, listens to every word of Christ the Savior coming to the free passion, gradually leads us in the footsteps of the Lord throughout His entire way of the cross, from Bethany to the Execution Ground. places, from His royal entry into Jerusalem and until the last moment of His expiatory suffering on the Cross, and further - until the bright triumph of Christ's Resurrection. The entire content of the services is aimed at bringing us closer to Christ by reading and hymns, making us capable of spiritually contemplating the sacrament of redemption, for the remembrance of which we are preparing.

The first three days of this week are devoted to intense preparation for the Passion of Christ. In accordance with the fact that Jesus Christ, before His sufferings, spent all his days in the temple, teaching the people, the Holy Church distinguishes these days with a particularly long Divine service. Trying to gather and focus the attention and thoughts of believers in general on the entire Gospel story of the incarnation of the God-Man and His service to the human race, the Holy Church on the first three days of Passion Week reads the entire Four Gospels on the clock. The conversations of Jesus Christ after entering Jerusalem, addressed now to the disciples, now to the scribes and Pharisees, are developed and revealed in all the hymns of the first three days of Passion Week. Since various significant events took place on the first three days of Passion Week, which are most closely related to the passions of Christ, these events are reverently remembered by the Holy Church on the very days on which they took place. Thus, the Holy Church in these days leads us relentlessly after the Divine Teacher, with His disciples, now to the temple, now to the people, now to the publicans, now to the Pharisees, and enlightens us everywhere with the very words that He Himself offered to His listeners in these days. days.

In preparing the faithful for the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross, the Holy Church imparts the character of sorrow and contrition over our sinfulness to the divine services of the first three days of Passion Week. On Wednesday evening, the Lenten Divine Service ends, the sounds of weeping and lamentations of the sinful human soul are silenced in church hymns, and the days of another weeping, penetrating the entire Divine Service, come - weeping from the contemplation of the terrifying torments and sufferings on the Cross of the Son of God Himself. At the same time, other feelings - indescribable joy for one's salvation, boundless gratitude to the Divine Redeemer - overwhelm the soul of a believing Christian. Weeping over the innocent suffering, outraged and crucified, shedding bitter tears under the cross of our Savior, we also experience inexpressible joy from the realization that the Savior crucified on the cross will resurrect us who are perishing with Himself.

Attending Holy Week church services representing all the events of the last days of the Savior as if taking place before us, we mentally go through the whole majestically touching and immeasurably edifying story of the sufferings of Christ, with our thought and heart “we descend to Him and are crucified with Him.” The Holy Church calls us this week to leave everything vain and worldly and follow our Savior. The Fathers of the Church composed and arranged the services of Holy Week in such a way that they reflect all the sufferings of Christ. The temple these days alternately represents either the Zion Upper Room and Gethsemane, or Golgotha. The Divine Services of Holy Week were furnished by the Holy Church with a special outward grandeur, sublime, inspired hymns and a whole series of deeply significant rites that are performed only in this week. Therefore, whoever constantly abides these days at worship in the temple, he apparently follows the Lord, who is coming to suffer.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week are dedicated to remembering the last conversations of the Savior with the disciples and the people. On each of these three days, the Gospel is read at all services, it is supposed to read all four Gospels. But whoever can, he must certainly read these passages from the Gospel at home, both for himself and for others. An indication of what to read can be found in church calendar. When listening in church, due to the large amount of reading, much can escape attention, and home reading allows you to follow the Lord with all your thoughts and feelings. With careful reading of the Gospels, the sufferings of Christ, coming to life, fill the soul with inexplicable tenderness... Therefore, while reading the Gospel, you are involuntarily transported in your mind to the place of events, you take part in what is happening, you follow the Savior and suffer with Him. Reverent contemplation of His sufferings is also necessary. Without this reflection, the presence in the temple, and hearing, and reading the Gospel will bring little fruit. But what does it mean to meditate on the sufferings of Christ, and how to meditate? First of all, imagine in your mind the suffering of the Savior as vividly as possible, at least in the main features, for example: how He was betrayed, judged and condemned; how He carried the cross and was lifted up on the cross; how he cried out to the Father in Gethsemane and on Golgotha ​​and gave his spirit to him: how he was taken down from the cross and buried... Then ask yourself why and why He suffered so much suffering, Who had no sin, and Who, like the Son of God , could always abide in glory and bliss. And also ask yourself: what is required of me so that the death of the Savior does not remain fruitless for me; what must I do to truly participate in the salvation gained at Calvary for the whole world? The Church teaches that this requires the assimilation of the mind and heart of all the teachings of Christ, the fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord, repentance and imitation of Christ in a good life. After that, the conscience itself will already give an answer whether you are doing it ... Such reflection (and who is not capable of it?) Surprisingly soon brings the sinner closer to his Savior, closely and forever binds him with the union of love with His cross, strongly and vividly introduces into the participation of the one who what happens at Calvary.

The path of Passion Week is the path of fasting, confession and communion, in other words, fasting, for worthy communion of the Holy Mysteries on these great days. And how is it possible not to fast in these days, when the Bridegroom of souls is taken away (Matt. 9:15), when He Himself is hungry at the barren fig tree, thirsting on the cross? Where else to lay down the weight of sins through confession, if not at the foot of the cross? At what time is it better to take communion from the Cup of life if not in the coming days, when it is served to us, one might say, from the hands of the Lord Himself? Truly, whoever, having the opportunity to approach the Holy Meal these days, evades it, evades the Lord, flees from his Savior. The Path of Holy Week is to render, in His name, help to the poor, sick and suffering. This path may seem distant and indirect, but in fact it is extremely close, convenient and direct. Our Savior is so loving that everything that we do in His name for the poor, the sick, the homeless and the suffering, He personally appropriates to Himself. At His Last Judgment, He will demand from us especially deeds of mercy towards our neighbors, and upon them He will establish our justification or condemnation. Keeping this in mind, never neglect the precious opportunity to alleviate the sufferings of the Lord in His lesser brethren, and especially take advantage of it during the days of Passion Week - by dressing, for example, the needy, you will act like Joseph, who gave the shroud. This is the main thing and accessible to everyone, with which an Orthodox Christian in Holy Week can follow the Lord who is coming to suffering.

In two months, the entire Orthodox world will celebrate its main holiday - the Resurrection of Christ. But, like any significant event, this day will require a long and thorough preparation from a Christian, the name of which is Great Lent.

Great Lent, also known as "Fourteen", lasts six weeks (42 days) and is set in imitation of the forty-day fast of the Savior in the wilderness before His entry into public service. Since Great Lent is tied to Easter, which is a movable holiday, it can also fall on different months and dates, although its structure and duration remain unchanged.

Many mistakenly rank Holy Week as part of Lent as its seventh week, but this is wrong. Great Lent ends with the celebration of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem, and immediately after it, Holy Week begins - a separate and special small fast, during which Christians remember in detail the entire last week of life, the betrayal, suffering and death on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Orthodox Christians also prepare for the fast itself - over the course of four preparatory weeks, gradually refusing meat (after the week of the Last Judgment) and milk and eggs (after remembering Adam's exile), when on Sunday before the fast they strive to forgive each other old grievances.

Great Lent is very strict. In terms of food, he prescribes abstaining not only from meat, milk and eggs, but also from fish, which is allowed to be eaten on the twelfth holidays, or vegetable oil and wines that are allowed to be added to the diet on weekends. However, dietary rules are secondary to the spiritual component of the fast and can be relaxed by the confessor for the sick, travelers or students.

It is not customary to visit and attend entertainment events during Great Lent, and the Church offers a Christian to use his free time to look inside himself, repentance, fervent prayer, reading the Gospel and spiritual literature, as well as helping people around him.

In the liturgical life of the Church, Great Lent is distinguished by many special services and hymns that are not used or used infrequently at other times: the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and the Liturgy of Basil the Great, the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, passion, etc.

About weeks and weeks: in the Church Slavonic language, the usual weeks (7 days) are called weeks, and “weeks” are called Sundays. Days when they go to worship, but nothing in everyday life do not do. Above, the word “week” is used in the modern sense.

Preparatory weeks

The longest fast of the church year is preceded by four weeks of preparation. These are weeks: about the publican and the Pharisee, about the prodigal son, about the Last Judgment and the memory of Adam's exile.

Sunday of the publican and the Pharisee gives a Christian the opportunity to strengthen his bodily strength before fasting. This week, traditional fasts on Wednesday and Friday have been cancelled. On Sunday, at the divine service, the stichera “Open the doors of repentance, Giver of Life” begin to be read.

The Sunday Gospel tells us about the publican and the Pharisee praying in the temple (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee considered himself pious in advance, and pride made his prayer insignificant, while the publican sincerely repented of his unseemly deeds and was justified by God for his humility. This New Testament example contains the first hint of repentance and humility that Great Lent should awaken in our souls.

Week of the Prodigal Son replaces the first preparatory week. As the name implies, here is Sunday gospel reading also special - the parable of the prodigal son. In this parable, Christ points the listeners to repentance as the beginning of the path to the reunion of man with God, which the dissolute son of his father went through, having seriously offended him, squandered all the wealth given to him, but repented and forgiven by his parent (Luke 15: 11-32).

It is worth paying attention to the development of repentance in these two parts of the gospel. If the sinful publican simply asked for forgiveness from God, then the prodigal son undertook the work of breaking his pride, traveling to his father and was ready to prove his repentance to him by working as a mercenary.

Week of the Last Judgment reminds us of the indispensable reward for our deeds. And not so much fair as merciful. After all, the righteous, who shared earthly blessings with the poor and the sick, in essence gave them not their wealth, but God-given. But the Lord accepts them into the Kingdom of Heaven, rewarding them for their good intention, backed up by deeds, and for their humble awareness of their unworthiness (Matthew 15:31-46).

On the preceding Saturday, a memorial service is performed, during which the Church especially prays for all the dead.

Starting from this Sunday, it is supposed to refrain from eating meat, so the week of the Last Judgment is also often called meat-fat.

Week of Remembrance of Adam's Exile also called "cheesy", "cheesy" or "Shrovetide". These days you can still eat fish and dairy products, and fasting begins next Monday. The week is continuous and has no posts on Wednesday and Friday.

On the cheese week, the reading of the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian begins: “Lord and master of my belly ...” with earthly bows. At the Sunday service, the expulsion of the forefathers Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is remembered, and through this example, the Church once again calls us to follow the path of repentance and return to the Heavenly Father.

The Church advises to begin the path of reconciliation with God from reconciliation with neighbors. After the Liturgy, the Rite of Forgiveness is performed in the churches, when all Orthodox Christians ask each other for forgiveness for offenses voluntarily or involuntarily inflicted this year.

Weeks of Great Lent

The six weeks of Lent also have a certain sequence and features. They are dedicated to significant moments of church history or great saints: the week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the week of St. Gregory Palamas, the week of the Cross, the week of St. John of the Ladder, the week Reverend Mary Egyptian and the week of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.

On the first five Sundays of Great Lent, the liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated, which is served only ten times a year. In addition to Great Lent - only on Great Thursday and Great Saturday of Holy Week, as well as on the day of memory of St. Basil, on the eve of Christmas and the eve of Epiphany.

Every Wednesday and Friday of Great Lent, on Thursday of the week of St. Mary of Egypt, from Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week, and on some other days, another unique Great Lenten service is served - the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

Its authorship is attributed to the Roman pope Gregory the Great (aka “Dvoeslov” - according to one of the main works written by him). A feature of this liturgy is the absence of an anaphora with the invocation of the Holy Spirit on bread and wine for the sake of their transformation into the Body and Blood of Christ. At this divine service, the faithful are communed with the Holy Gifts, consecrated in advance at the previous Sunday Liturgy, hence the name. In addition, it differs greatly from other liturgies in its rites.

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (unless there is a holiday), there is no liturgy. Instead, the hours are read and sung, and a special rite of imitation of the liturgy is “pictorial”.

On the evening of 2, 3, 4, and 5 Sundays of Great Lent, a passion is performed (“stadation” - lat.). A special liturgy borrowed by Metropolitan Peter Mohyla from Catholics and reworked for Orthodox use. During this penitential service, gospel passages about the sufferings of Christ are read.

During Great Lent, from Monday to Thursday of the first week, at Great Compline, the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read. This canon is called Great for its theological and poetic depth, as well as for the number of troparions contained in it - about 250.

Week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy opens Great Lent. On the first Monday, they fast most strictly, as on Christmas Eve, trying not to eat any food at all until evening.

The celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy has been established since 843. On this day, a council was convened in Constantinople, which finally restored icon veneration in Byzantium after the second iconoclastic period. This was preceded by a long and difficult struggle between iconodules and iconoclasts (since 730), during which many saints were exiled and tortured to death by emperors who supported the iconoclastic heresy.

On this day, other heresies that the Church fought against are also remembered, and anathema is imposed on those who adhere to them - excommunication from church unity.

Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas also devoted to serious ecclesiastical disputes. Saint Gregory spent many years on the Holy Mount Athos and adhered to the practice of hesychasm - “intelligent prayer”. Athos ascetics claimed that God is revealed to them through the perception of His Divine energy - grace, although it remains essentially inaccessible to them. Western polemicists believed that God is unknowable in any form and completely separated from the created world.

The entire experience of the Church and the phenomenon of the saints testify that the Eastern ascetics were right, in whose defense St. Gregory Palamas wrote several of his treatises, the main thesis of which is: “God is and is called the nature of everything that exists, for everything participates in Him and exists due to this participation, but participation not in His nature, but in His energies.”

And since God is involved in our world with His energies, we can cognize Him and become deified, accumulating in ourselves the grace of the Holy Spirit. This means that the possibility of salvation is open to us. That is why the second week is dedicated to St. Gregory.

Week of the Cross. On Wednesday of this week, the Cross of Christ, decorated with flowers, is solemnly brought to the center of the temple and left for worship by the faithful until Friday of the next week of fasting.

These days, Orthodox Christians worship the most shameful and terrible instrument of execution in the Roman Empire, which suddenly became the most holy and significant instrument for the salvation of the human race, thanks to which the Lord accomplished His redemptive feat. The solemn worship of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of Christ is performed by believers on Sunday of the 3rd week, as well as on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the next week.

Sunday of Saint John of the Ladder is the 4th week of Lent and is dedicated to the memory of the creator of one of the most popular ascetic books in the Orthodox world.

The Saturday of this week is called the Saturday of the Akathist or Praise. Holy Mother of God. On this day, the akathist of the Mother of God is read with the kontakion "To the Chosen Governor ...". This celebration was established in memory of the miraculous salvation of Constantinople from the invasion of the Slavs and Bulgars under Emperor Heraclius in 626.

In the 6th century, the Monk John of Sinai (Ladder), hegumen of the monastery in the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, summarized the patristic experience of the struggle with sin. His book “The Ladder of Paradise or the Spiritual Tablets” was written at the request of John, hegumen of the Raifa monastery.

The Ladder enumerates human sins, reducing them to the seven deadly sins and showing how one sin in a person's soul affects the birth of another. But she also enumerates human virtues, gives a recipe for healing from passions by climbing the stairs to heaven (an allusion to the Old Testament vision of Jacob). The Monk John singles out thirty steps on the heavenly ladder and calls on the Christian to patiently ascend them to God.

Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt. This week is dedicated to the memory of the saint, who in her youth was a great sinner, deeply immersed in the mortal sin of fornication. In Jerusalem, the future saint was struck by a miracle - an unknown force did not let her into the Christian church. Then Mary realized her sinfulness, repented and accepted Baptism.

Turning to Christ, the Monk Mary went into the desert, and for many years of fasting and prayer, she not only conquered all kinds of passions in herself, but even achieved holiness and enlightenment of the mind. The biographer of St. Mary, the elder Zosima, testified that the saint knew the Holy Scriptures, although she had never in her life had the opportunity to read or even listen to it. The monk Zosima, to whom she told her story, saw how the saint crossed the river on the water, and during prayer she rose a little above the ground.

Through the example of St. Mary of Egypt, the Church tells us that for everyone, even the most lost sinner, there is the possibility of repentance and forgiveness. You just need to want salvation, repent and start living like a Christian.

Week of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem, she is the Week of Vay, Flower-bearing Week or Palm Sunday. This week marks the end of Lent.

This twelfth holiday was established in memory of the day when the Lord solemnly entered Jerusalem on the back of a young colt, and the people greeted and glorified him as a prophet and the Messiah, spreading clothes and branches of vay - palm trees along the way. In Russia, palm trees do not grow, so Orthodox Russians come to this holiday with bunches of willows and willows adorn the temple.

The people welcomed the Lord for a reason. The people were amazed by another miracle of the Savior, which he performed the day before - on Lazarus Saturday. On this day, he resurrected his deceased friend Lazarus, who by that time had already been in the tomb for three days. The people who learned about the miracle exclaimed: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”, and hoped for the creation of a wonderful and rich kingdom on earth. In a few days, having convinced themselves that the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world, they will shout: “Crucify, crucify Him!”.

The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem precedes the redemptive Sacrifice of the Savior and, as one of the most significant events in the gospel narrative, is contained in all four evangelists: Matthew (chapter 21), Mark (chapter 11), Luke (chapter 19), and John (chapter 12).

Willows are blessed at the All-Night Vigil, and the Sunday Liturgy is served according to the order of John Chrysostom. On this day, eating fish is allowed.

Holy Week

Great Lent ends with a feast, after which the Savior's way of the Cross begins - Holy Week, each day of which is dedicated to individual events in the earthly life of the Lord.

On these days, it is customary to fast especially strictly and read passages from the Gospel that correspond to the events of the day. On the first three days, the entire Psalter is read except for the 17th kathisma, and at Matins the troparion is sung: “Behold the Bridegroom is coming at midnight…”.

On Maundy Monday the Old Testament patriarch Joseph, sold by his brothers to Egypt, is remembered as a prototype of the suffering Jesus Christ, as well as the story of the Lord cursing a barren fig tree, symbolizing a soul that does not bear spiritual fruit - true repentance, faith, prayer and good deeds.

On this day, the patriarch begins to brew the Holy Chrism.

On Maundy Tuesday The Church remembers the parables of the Lord about the ten virgins and the talents, calling Orthodox Christians to spiritual vigilance. Parables are also read about the tribute to Caesar, the Last Judgment and the resurrection of the dead.

On the same day, the Pharisees are denounced in the temple, where the Savior told them parables about two sons and evil vinedressers in order to give them the last opportunity for repentance.

Instead, the Israelite scribes completely hated the Lord and began to look for an opportunity to kill Him.

Great Wednesday dedicated to the story of the betrayal of the Apostle Judas Iscariot. The corresponding places of the Gospel are read, where Judas agrees to betray his Teacher to the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver. He promises the chief priests to show Christ to the soldiers in a secluded place so that they can take him under guard.

On this day, everyone tries to come to confession. Also on Great Wednesday, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is read for the last time.

On Maundy Thursday The Church remembers the events of the Last Supper, when the Lord established the Sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion). The apostles with the Lord Jesus Christ gathered for supper in the Upper Room of Zion, where He gave them the last instruction and during the meal established the main Christian Sacrament.

Every Orthodox Christian on Maundy Thursday seeks to take communion and take a bath in order to meet the future feast of the Resurrection of Christ in spiritual and bodily purity. Maundy Thursday is sometimes also referred to as "Clean".

In cathedrals on this day, the rite of washing the feet is performed, and 12 Gospels are read, dedicated to the Passion of Christ and describing the last hours of His life and death on the Cross.

On this day, the dwelling is usually cleaned before Easter, and eggs and other festive dishes are also prepared.

Good Friday- a day without the celebration of the Liturgy, since the Sacrifice on this day was brought not bloodless, but bloody - on the Cross at Calvary. On this day, Christ was condemned to death, suffered insults, scourging, the way with the Cross to Golgotha, suffering and death on the Cross Tree, and was also buried.

On the morning of Good Friday, the royal hours are read. During the day, the rite of the removal of the Shroud is performed, symbolizing the position in the Tomb of the Body of the Lord by Joseph of Arimathea. Until that time, it is customary to completely abstain from food.

At the clock for the second time (after 12 Gospels) passages about the Passion of Christ are read, and in the evening they are mentioned for the third time in one large composite Gospel.

Holy Saturday begins with the Liturgy with the reading of 12 proverbs, after which the festive food brought to the temple is blessed.

On this day, the events of Christ's descent into hell, preaching to the people there, victory over death, as well as the removal from hell of the righteous who were there, who deserved the Kingdom of Heaven, are remembered.

In ancient times, this day was a mass Baptism of the catechumens, who were preparing for this day throughout Great Lent. Hence the tradition to serve on this day in white robes.

In the evening of this day, fasting ends and the service of the Holy Resurrection of Christ begins - the main holiday of the Orthodox world.

We wish our readers to start the Great Lent correctly and responsibly go through this stage of spiritual preparation for Easter. Without the repentance and humility of Great Lent, the joy of meeting the Resurrection of Christ will not be as sharp as it should be.

Remember the prayer of the publican, which was accepted by the Lord, in contrast to the prayer of the Pharisee: “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”. Who knows if he later became the apostle and evangelist Matthew?

Andrey Segeda

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