Now that the season of Light has come and gone, we now look forward to the season of cleansing, purging, refocusing, fasting, and praying far more than we usually do in a year. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, it is a season of Presanctified Liturgies, Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, the beautiful history of the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste, and of course, the Bridegroom Services of Holy Week after that. It is also a season in which we say the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian daily, and prostrations are no longer done several times per day, but rather countless times, as we all work especially hard in repentance, with full knowledge that Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself our sinfulness and redeemed our nature by His glorious death and Resurrection: we work because it has been done, but because it has not yet happened. This is partaking in yet another way in the Life of Christ, which is the Life of the Church. From the Lenten service of Great Compline, we find one of the most ancient and cherished prayers of the Church: the Prayer of Mannaseh:
[center]"O Lord Almighty, Thou God of our fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of their
righteous seed; Who hast made Heaven and earth with all the array thereof; Who hast bound the sea by the word of Thy command; Who hast shut up the deep and sealed it by Thy fearful and glorious Name; Whom all things fear, yea and before Whose power they tremble; for the majesty of Thy glory cannot be borne and the anger of Thy threatening toward sinners is intolerable; and yet Thy merciful promise is immeasurable and unsearchable; for Thou art the Lord most high, of great compassion, long-suffering, abundant in mercy, and repentest of the evils against me. Thou, O Lord, according to Thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against Thee; and of Thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou, therefore, O Lord of hosts, hast not appointed repentance to the just, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, who have not sinned against Thee; but Thou hast appointed repentance unto me, who am a sinner; for my sins are more in number than the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied, my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and look unto the height of Heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands, so that I cannot lift up my head by reason of my sins, neither have I any respite; for I have provoked Thy wrath and done that which is evil before Thee; I did not Thy will, neither kept I Thy commandments; I have set up abominations and multiplied detestable things.
Now, therefore, I bow the knee of my heart, beseeching Thee for grace, I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities; but I humbly beseech Thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me forever, by reserving my evils for me; neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth; for Thou, O Lord, art the God of them that repent; and in me wilt Thou show all Thy goodness; for Thou wilt save me that am unworthy, according to Thy Great Mercy. I will praise Thee henceforth all the days of my life; for all the hosts of Heaven doth sing Thy praise, and Thine is the glory unto ages of ages. Amen." [/center]
I look now to begin to prepare myself and my whole life for this coming season of Great and Holy Lent, and I am stricken as to how I do not know the most Holy practices of the Coptic Orthodox Church for the season of Great Lent, and as being Orthodox Brothers and Sisters it is quite saddening that we are largely unfamiliar with each others' services and practices. So, what are the Lenten practices and services of the Coptic Orthodox Church? How do your services change? What prayers and practices are unique to Great Lent from the rest of the year? How do your hearts change within you during this seaon? How do you transition into Great Lent?
Comments
It's great to see your interest in our church and your yearning to unite the gap between us! First, let me start by saying happy feast of circumcision to all my coptic brethren! (our feast was today and the Theophany feast is this coming tuesday).
As for the rite of Great Lent, there are a couple things that change. Among these changes lies within the hymns of course, which tend to be more mournful because of the fact that Lent is a season of repentance and preparation for the Passion week. Certain things throughout the Liturgy are changed. I am not sure if anyone has ever told you but there are two parts to every Liturgy- one called the Liturgy of the Word (time of readings and most hymns) and the second being the Liturgy of the Believers (majority of prayers and communion). The Liturgy of the Believers starts right after the Gospel reading or sermon if there is one by the priest. I also must mention that before the Liturgy of the Word, we have somethign called Matins, which is very similar to our vespers if you have ever attended one. Most churches I know tend to have more services during the time of lent, in particular are fridays and wednesdays. In these weekday Liturgy's you'll find that there is something called "Metanoia" (pronounced Metania), where the people offer prostrations as sign of repentance and worship (these are very short and done in the time of Matins); this is just an example of one of the rites that we have for lent.
There also are many great hymns during the time of Lent, so much to even talk about! However, I will share with you one called "Meghalou." It is an 8 min hymn chanted during the Liturgy of the Word and it has a very nice and profound meaning to it. Here you can find a nice study on it: http://copticheritage.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&page_id=755
There are so many other things to discuss but I do not want to overwhelm you anymore, I will leave that to all the others ;)
God bless
Tony
Your Divine Liturgy is broken up the same as ours, which makes sense as we once had identical liturgies. And it sounds like the general tone of the faithful swings the same as us, which also makes sense as before.
I suppose I should also add this: in addition to what I've already asked about, could someone take some time to introduce those of us who are not a part of the Coptic tradition to some Coptic services that uniquie to Great Lent? The Liturgy can be discussed another time though (please), as I'm looking more for the evening services during the week and even morning and midday services. Is there a special Compline service that is held each night or each week on a week day? Do you have something equivalent to our Akathist services or the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete? Do you have anything that is similar to our Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of St. Gregory the Dialogist?
Thank you again, Amoussa, for your wonderful reply as it certainly begins to express what I'm looking for. And do not worry, you won't overwhelm me: this is the type of thing I live for--the Church and her Holy serivces in the worship of Jesus Christ our God.
I am glad you found my post somewhate helpful. To better answer you question concerning the services in our church; I would first like to point out that there is nothing we do that is exclusive to any of the occasions that we celebrate (exceptions to Holy week and certain feasts like Theophany). There is always vespers, midnight praise, matins, and divine liturgy. The only thing that I remember that is commonly done during Lent is the annointing of the sick, but this is not exclusive to Lent. This service is typically held after the raising of incense or "vespers" (its not only for the physically sick but for the entire congregation). It also varies from church to church on when services start; for example, my church has an afternoon Liturgy on wednesday and friday is an evening Liturgy. It all depends on the parish that you are visiting. No compline service, no Akathist service (I have no clue what that is), and no Great canon of st. andrew (no clue what that is either). We do not have liturgies where we have the Body and Blood presanctified, atleast I never attended one. Hope this was more clear!
God bless
Tony
God Bless and Pray for me and my weakness