Preparing for Great Lent

In the Orthodox Church, Great Lent is preceded by four weeks of preparation. This preparation touches upon what we eat but even more upon our hymns and appointed readings–all of which call us back to God. Our master booklet for Great Lent (including a rich layout of all the services and detailed descriptions of Holy Week/Paschal services) can be found here. Our basic outline of fasting guidelines for the approaching season is here. If you prefer to view everything through google calendar, you can access that here. And here are the pdfs for our February 2018 and March 2018 hard-copy calendars.

Some important upcoming dates outside our usual services include:

• Feb. 1: Thurs. 630pm Abbreviated Vigil for Meeting of the Lord Feast
• Feb. 2: Fri. 8am Festal Liturgy for Meeting of the Lord
• Feb. 3: Sat. 630pm Great Vespers & Reception of Converts
• Feb. 11: Meatfare Sunday–last day of meat before Lent
• Feb. 11: Visitor’s Sunday–public vesting & Proskomedia at 9am, Liturgy at 10am
• Feb. 15: 6pm Twenty-something Cheesefare Gathering in Lexington
• Feb. 18: Cheesefare Sunday—last day of dairy products before Lent
• Feb. 18: Sun. 5pm Forgiveness Vespers
• Feb. 19: Clean Monday—Beginning of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church
• Feb. 19-23: Clean Week—services/Confessions morning & evening (see calendar)
• Feb. 25: Sun. 5pm Triumph of Orthodoxy Vespers at Panagia GOC
• March 3: Sat. Lenten Retreat w/ Fr. Stephen Freeman (“Providence & the Divine Fire”)
  • 11am Session 1 (childcare)
  • 1215pm Lunch
  • 115pm Session 2 (childcare)
  • 230pm Vespers following

Stay tuned for more information…