Great Compline in the Worship of Great Lent

 By Stylianos Gerasimos

Throughout the course of his life the Christian has his attention directed to God and is brought into communion with Him through prayer. This is why St. Gregory the Theologian emphasizes: "Unite your breathing with the remembrance of God."

Prayer is the tangible means by which man feels in his heart the energies of the Infinite God visiting him. This whole prayerful state of man culminates during the period of Great Lent. The Church helps in this matter with its frequent worship services.

In the morning we chant a very long service that includes the Midnight Hour, Matins and the Hours, as well as the next day's Vespers. There is also Great Compline, the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and the Great Canon. Every Sunday morning the Divine Liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated, while in the afternoon there is a Solemn Vespers. Finally, every Friday we sing the Salutations to the Most Holy Theotokos.

Let Us Fast With a Fast That is Pleasing To the Lord (St. John Maximovitch)

 

 By St. John Maximovitch

The time has come for our preparation for eternal life, the time for meeting with the Lord who is coming to earth again.

The Church calls on all of us to remember that, in addition to daily earthly concerns and deeds, there is also eternal life, that we are all called to live forever.

What should be the preparation? In purification of the spirit and restraint of the flesh. “The race of demons,” Christ said, “is overcome only by fasting and prayer.”

Therefore, prayer is needed first of all.

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (St. Luke of Simferopol)

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: Introduction (1)

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Idleness (2) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Despondency (3) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Lust for Power (4) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Idle Talk (5) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Chastity (6) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Humility (7) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Patience (8) 

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: On Love (9)

 

An Interpretation of the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian: Conclusion (10)

 

Second Homily on Fasting (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on March 2, 1952 - Cheesefare Sunday)

"The fast has come - the mother of chastity."

Oh, how rightly sacred chants call fasting the mother of chastity, for nothing disposes so much to the violation of chastity as overeating and drunkenness.

But we are not only talking about sexual chastity when praising fasting: there is another form of chastity - spiritual chastity. This is purity of heart, and fasting disposes us to this goal - purity of heart.

I know, of course, that you cannot always get the lenten food that you would like. What will I say about this? I will say that it is important not only what will enter your mouth, but even more important is your spiritual disposition, your attitude to fasting. For if you do not have fast food and are forced to eat everything that you can't have, then God will not condemn you for this.

Homily Three for the Vespers of Forgiveness (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

 By St. Luke, Archbishop of of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in 1959 - Cheesefare Sunday)

Every year on this holy evening of Forgiveness Sunday there is great joy for all good Christians and for us, your shepherds, for you come in great numbers to breathe in the divine fragrance of the most important and at the same time the simplest words of Christ: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15).

When a certain scribe asked the Lord Jesus Christ which commandment is the greatest in the Law, He answered him: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39).

Homily Two for the Vespers of Forgiveness (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on March 2, 1952 - Cheesefare Sunday)

"But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. 6:15).

Oh, what simple, yet profoundly, profoundly correct words! What deep truth in them!

Well, tell me, if a person hates his offender so much that he does not want to forgive him in any way, does he deserve forgiveness from God? Oh no, of course not.

Homily for Cheesefare Sunday - "The Night Has Passed and the Day is Near" (St. Luke of Simferopol)

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on March 7, 1954 - Cheesefare Sunday)

Do not remain indebted to anyone for anything except mutual love. He who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments: "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not bear false witness," "Do not covet," and all the others are contained in this word: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to the neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).

Do you not recognize, my beloved, in these words of the holy apostle the same thing that I told you last Sunday about the Last Judgment of Christ? I told you that the Lord Jesus Christ will only ask people about one thing at His Judgment, only about whether they did works of mercy or did not do them, and those who did works of mercy He will glorify forever in His Kingdom, and those who are cruel, deprived of mercy, who never helped his neighbor, He will condemn him to eternal torment.

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11)

A Summary of the First and Second Finding of the Head of John the Baptist

The daughter of Herodias from a previous marriage, Salome (not referred to in the Gospels by name), on the birthday of Herod Antipas "danced and pleased Herod and those reclining with him." As a reward for the dance, Herod promised Salome to fulfill her every request. She, at the instigation of her mother, who hated John for denouncing her marriage to Herod Antipas, asked for the head of John the Baptist, and “the King was saddened, but for the sake of an oath and those reclining with him, he did not want to refuse her” (Mark 6:26). An executioner was sent to John's dungeon, who cut off his head and, bringing it on a platter, gave it to Salome, and she "gave it to her mother." John's body was buried by his disciples and the death was reported to Jesus (Matt. 14:6-12; Mark 6:21-29).

On the Illustrious Saint Polycarp (St. Jerome)

 By St. Jerome

(On Illustrious Men, 17)

Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna, was the leader of all Asia, where he saw and had as teachers some of the apostles and of those who had seen the Lord.

He, on account of certain questions concerning the day of the Passover, went to Rome in the time of the emperor Antoninus Pius, while Anicetus was bishop of the Church in that city. There he led back to the faith many of the believers who had been deceived through the persuasion of Marcion and Valentinus, and when Marcion met him by chance and said "Do you know us" he replied, "I know the firstborn of the devil."