​The traditions of Holy Trinity Monastery provide for the monastics, seminarians and all those in our local community with the opportunity to adhere to the ancient Orthodox tradition of spending the first week of Great Lent in a spiritual retreat. All obediences are set aside, and everyone is able to attend the complete cycle of Great Lenten services.
​After Great Vespers on Forgiveness Sunday afternoon, when Great Lent liturgically commences, the atmosphere in the monastery noticeably changes. In the evening, Small Compline is read followed by the service of Forgiveness. Vladyka gave a sermon about the necessity of forgiving offenses and not to remember wrongs in order to begin the fast. He then read the prayer asking forgiveness, which was followed by the traditional veneration of the icons and the mutual asking of forgiveness among all members of our community as well as many of our neighbors and pilgrims.
​All through the week, everyone attended the full cycle of services with spiritual readings by Vladyka, in order to prepare for the Mysteries of Confession and Holy Communion on Saturday. One meal is provided in the refectory, consisting of “dry eating”, namely, potatoes, bread and pickled vegetables.
​On Wednesday and Friday, Vladyka served the Presanctified Liturgy together with the monastery clergy. All of this provides a very unique experience in concentration on one’s spiritual state. On Friday evening and Saturday morning, everyone availed themselves of Confession and everyone communed of the Holy Mysteries.
The week concluded in the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. Since our monastery church is a cathedral, the seat of our local bishop, Vladyka Luke, we celebrated the solemn rite of Orthodoxy with the chanting of the anathemas against heresies and prayers for the champions of our holy Faith. In our days, more than ever, it is so important for our faithful to understand the boundaries of the Church.
​Others wonder about the connection between this celebration that falls in the first Sunday of Lent. However, there is a true connection between the release from sinfulness and ascetic struggle and the veneration of the holy icons, which show the tangible connection between the spiritual world and the physical world.
​May we go forward through the rest of Great Lent, strengthened by our repentance so that we may reach the joyful harbor of the Lord’s Pascha!
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