Categories: orthodox-life, hymns
Date: 05 March 2009 05:45:25
The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete is a lengthy series of hymns [a Canon]. It is split into four parts, one of which is sung on each the first four days of Great Lent [Monday to Thursday], and then the entire Canon is sung on the Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent, together with the reading of the Life of St Mary of Egypt.
Due to various cirumstances we have not been able to hold these services this week [and due to other circumstances I would've missed one or two nights], but I do look forward to the fifth week of Great Lent and the entirety of this service then. Until then, I am going to try to read the Great Canon [the text of which may be found here] myself, in an attempt to more deeply enter into the spirit of Great Lent.
A wonderful explanation of this Great Canon can be found at the website of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Washington D.C., which includes these words:
A basic distinguishing feature of the Great Canon is its extremely broad use of images and subjects taken from Sacred Scripture, from both the Old and New Testaments. Unfortunately, we do not know the Holy Bible as well as we ought, and because we do not, for many of us the names mentioned in the Great Canon mean nothing.
And yet, the Bible is not merely a history of the people of Israel. It is also a great chronicle of the soul of mankind, of the souls which would repeatedly fall and stand up again before the face of God, which repeatedly fell into sin and repeatedly repented. If we were to examine the lives of those mentioned in the Bible, we would see that each of them is presented not so much as a historical figure, an individual that did such and such, but as an individual standing before the Living God. The person’s historical or other accomplishments are accorded second place. What remains is what is most important: did that person remain faithful to God, or not. If we read the Bible and the Great Canon with that frame of reference, we will see that much of what is said about the righteous ones and sinners of antiquity is nothing less than a chronicle of our soul, of our repeated falling and rising, of our repeated sin and repentance.
This "chronicle of our soul" is what draws me to this Great Canon, and what causes it to never lose its wonder or its impact. Add to this the many, many Biblical references [and as written above, it does show my lack of knowledge of many persons and events in the Scripture], and you truly do have a most wonderful series of hymns that truly do make a most wonderful entrance to Great Lent.
Through the prayers of St Andrew of Crete, may the Lord have mercy on us and save us!