Below is our public schedule for Holy Week, Pascha and Bright Week. The services in yellow will be live streamed on our Facebook page. You do not need to have a Facebook account to view; just visit our page and click on the currently streaming video. Links to the service booklets are provided when available. May you have a blessed journey to the great feast of feasts of the Resurrection of Our Lord!
The Great Canon is prayed each year on the 5th Thursday of the Great Fast. The hundreds of prostrations unite our body and soul as we repent of our sins and experience God’s mercy. As is tradition, we will also read the powerful life story of St. Mary of Egypt. This epic Lenten service is a favorite for many who have experienced it! It will help propel you into the final days of the Fast and into Great & Holy Week.
Here is the service booklet if you would like to follow along. We will not be praying the Canon in the context of Matins but rather praying it in the evening (so that more people can pray it with us), so we will begin with some opening prayers and then with Psalm 50 on p. 6; we will also skip the other portions of Matins that come near the end of the booklet.
As we celebrate this Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, marking the half-way point of the Great Fast, let's reflect for a moment on the silence of the Cross. Though Jesus spoke much in His public ministry, when it comes time for His passion and death, He is almost completely silent. The offering of Himself is greater than words. The mystery is veiled and reverenced by silence.
It also happens that we come now to the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and a year full of many types of sad divisions. Of course, in the face of conflict, sometimes we must be courageous and speak up, but often we are invited by God to make an offering of ourselves in silent suffering. This offering is one He often asks monastics to make, but He asks you as well. One of the nuns of our monastery recently wrote this poem, and she shares it with you to encourage you in those moments when the greatest offering you can make is a gift of exterior and interior silence in the face of division.
The Power of Silence
This opinion
I hold so dear;
the stance I stake,
confident in my correctness;
that argument
which will trounce
the illogic of my opponents—
what if
I offered them all
as a holocaust
in the silent flames
on the altar of the Your Heart?
What if,
thus stripped,
I willingly joined myself
to the failure of Your Cross?
Not by words
are the powers of the earth subdued,
but by love
speechless as the Lamb.
Then let me not strive
to make my point
or build a case.
Let me not fight
noise with noise.
Let me be humble
in all I think I know.
The universe wordlessly
declares Your glory.
My self-satisfied assertions
add nothing.
Even true words
can drown out Your Voice:
In quietness and trust
shall be your strength.
Be still and know
that I am God.
So as the conflict
roars around me,
and Your Body is torn
by division and pride,
accept my silence
as healing oil
poured over You
like nard
from the emptied vessel
of my heart.
Below is our livestream schedule for the remainder of the Great Fast (the schedule for Great & Holy Week is forthcoming). If your parish offers any of these services, we encourage you to pray with your parish community in person, if possible. To pray with us, visit our Facebook page and click on the currently streaming video (you do not need to have a Facebook account to watch). In the schedule below, the links to the texts are given for the services that are available online. (All times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 9
6:15 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
6:30 a.m. Matins
Wednesday, March 10
8:00 p.m. Great Compline
Thursday, March 11
6:15 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
6:30 a.m. Matins
Saturday, March 13
4:45 p.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
5:00 p.m. Great Vespers for the Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast (Propers)
Sunday, March 14 (Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast – St. John Climacus)
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
Tuesday, March 16
6:15 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
6:30 a.m. Matins
Wednesday, March 17
8:00 p.m. Great Compline
Thursday, March 18
6:00-10:00 p.m. The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (begin on p. 6), including the Life of St. Mary of Egypt
Saturday, March 20
4:45 p.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
5:00 p.m. Great Vespers for the Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast (Propers)
Sunday, March 21 (Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast – St. Mary of Egypt)
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
Tuesday, March 23
6:15 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
6:30 a.m. Matins
Wednesday, March 24
6:15 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
6:30 a.m. Matins
Thursday, March 25 (Annunciation)
7:00 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
Saturday, March 27
4:45 p.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
5:00 p.m. Great Vespers for the Palm Sunday (Propers)
Sunday, March 28 (Palm Sunday)
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in Silence
Mother Gabriella will speak at a Theology of the Body one-day course on March 13, in person in Gates Mills, Ohio, and also via Zoom. Registration deadline is this Saturday, March 6!
