The Great And Holy Martyr Menas.
Your holy martyrs, O Lord, through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God. For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries, and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. Through their intercessions, save our souls!
Today the church honors those who fought the good fight and died for their faith: the victorious Menas, the noble Victor and the ascetic Vincent. The church glorifies their divine struggle and cries out with love: Glory to You, O Christ, the lover of mankind.
9 comments:
Hi!
Sorry about that first comment. Blogger has eaten several of my comments (and you lost some real pearls of wisdom, let me tell you! :-) ). I was just seeing if I could get through now.
Okay, what I have been trying to ask is, when exactly does little Lent start and how does it work? Of course, we have Advent starting December 2, and it too is a period of fasting, repentance, prayer, reflection, etc (light on the fasting and repentance these days, though :( ).
But when does Little Lent start, why does it start when it does, and what does an Orthodox Christian do during this period?
It starts 40 days before Christ-mas, on November 15 each year. (Just like its bigger Spring-time brother).
what does an Orthodox Christian do during this period?
The same as usual: eat and drink and lay with their lawful or un-lawful wedded wives.
What is an Orthodox Christian SUPPPOSED TO do during this period?
Well, ... neither of the above.
P.S.: Have You read my post on the Holy Hierarchy of Heavenly Hosts?
Okay, now that you've had you fun, can you answer my question? :) What are you all supposed to do? (Like fast, go to the liturgy more frequently, etc.) I am curious. Remember, I grew up with basically no traditions whatsoever, so I find all this stuff fascinating.
I've already told You what we're supposed to do: don't eat, don't drink and don't lay with our wives.
OK, forget it.
OK, forget it.
err ... not really sure what You want me to say here ... We fast during Christmas Fast (obviously), and this means abstinence from eating flesh and all sorts of other animal-derived products, abstaining from wine, and chastity.
Other than this: the traditional Romanian Christmas dish consists of all sorts of pork-derived products.
Do You find this more helpful? :-(
Wow! You abstain from meat the whole fast? And men abstain from their wives the whole forty days? We don't even do that in Lent (or Great Lent, as you call it).
Some choose to go to greater lengths, but the only requirement is fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence on Fridays (in the US, only on fridays of Lent).
You guys are like the Christian Marines!
No, we're not. `Cause nobody, not even I, practice(s) our religion. The Catholic faith is just like ours. Only that they traditionally fast on Saturdays, which for us is strictly forbidden. Not that we break fast on Saturdays and Sundays [when these days fall within the Four Fasts], but we sweeten it by consuming olive oil, and sometimes even fish or dairy, maybe even some wine.
And it's absurd to fast without abstinence: "Look at me! I'm doing SUCH a TREMENDOUS self-sacrifice by abstaining from meat and eggs and dairy and milk and even wine [just like the Pharisee that gave tithe from such >pricey< goods as, err, mint and anise and cummin]... but NOT from my wife's flesh, in which I greatly enjoy to feast and delight". (Exodus 19:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5). --> Just like in that freudian experiment done on cats: they put two buttons in their cages: one for goodies, another one for stimulating an electrode located on their brain and placed on the sexual-center. The doctors and psychologists had to break the experiment, because the poor creatures nearly starved themselves to death ... :-)
Post a Comment