Since it is highly unlikely that most Greek Catholic Churches will be celebrating or even mentioning this service, here is a little background on the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.

http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/library_en/chur_canon.html

I would have referenced a Greek Catholic website but since I couldn't locate a single Greek Catholic one with any info on this I had to go to an Orthodox website to find the info.

I'm looking for the actual text in electronic format to post here, I have hard copy of this but until I find it in electronic if anyone else can find this and post it much thanks in advance.


Since Archbishop Basil wants our churches to be an 'authentic place of worship', I encourage all to ask their priests in a respectful manner why this service is not taking place in their parish. Having this service would be a step in fulfilling Archbishop Basil's wish of an 'authentic place of worship'.

Also, here's an interesting question:

How many of our cathedrals (there are four of them) is this service taking place in?

Can someone from the cathedral in Passaic, Pittsburgh, Parma, and Van Nuys inform us as to the scheduling of this service at their respective cathedral.

Monomakh

Glory to Jesus Christ!

For a Greek Catholic edition of the service: Matins of the Great Canon [metropolitancantorinstitute.org], from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute publications page [metropolitancantorinstitute.org].

Yours in Christ,
Jeff Mierzejewski

P.S. This service was also explained in the leaflet [i]"Poklony": The Penitential Services with Prostrations, according to the Byzantine Rite tradition", Byzantine Leaflet Series No. 24, published by the Byzantine Seminary Press in 1982.

Jeff,

thanks for walking me off of the ledge and at least finding a Greek Catholic resource for this

Don't you agree that it's ashame to have resources like this that go unused by the vast vast majority of parishes? It looks like I'll have to go to an Orthodox parish again to celebrate this this year.

Monomakh

Dear Monomakh,

Try here:

http://www.rocm.org/scores/triodion/CanonAndrewOfCrete.pdf


Alexandr

Absolutely. I've been working on materials for Matins and Vespers for some 15 years, since the primary reason I was given back then was that they could not be celebrated in English because there was no music available, and cantors had to "wing it."

But judging by the number of requests I get for assistance with these services, interest is certainly growing.

Yours in Christ,
Jeff

I have a somewhat funny story about the Great Canon that reveals the importance of this service in the Slavic spiritual tradition. I was ordained a priest just before Lent started and was commissioned to pastor a new mission. Since I was just beginning and was completely overwhelmed at the enormity of the learning curve for me in terms of services as well as the practicalities of beginning a mission from scratch, I had decided not to pray the Great Canon during the first week of Lent but to simply have Presanctified and Akathist.

After I had announced the service schedule for Lent on Prodigal Sunday, an elderly Russian women met me on my way out of the altar with tears streaming down her face. In her broken English, she asked me between sobs, "How can I Lent without the Canon?" I wasn't sure what she meant -- What? What do you mean? "How can I Lent without the Canon?" she repeated. "Please," she then begged me, "just one night at least. The first night, please."

Not wanting to offend one of my only parishionners at time and not wanting to despise her tears, I said, "OK -- we'll do the Great Canon on Monday evening."

To my surprise I found out that she was right! Nothing gets you started on the road to the Cross like the Great Canon prayed during the first week of Lent with Compline. Not only did we pray the Canon on Monday -- we prayed it Tuesday night -- then we stayed late after Presanctified and prayed it Wednesday -- then we prayed it Thursday. By the end of the week, my entire small parish was asking the question: "How could we have Lented without the Canon?" It was (and continues to be) an unbelievable spiritual experience.

Thus, as Lent approaches, I always give thanks to God for this dear lady and her question, "How can I Lent without the Canon?"

PrJ,

thanks for the post describing the how the Canon is important in preparing us for the Great Fast.

I'm still curious as to how many of our 4 cathedrals are going to have this beautiful service during the first week of the Great Fast. I beginning to believe that the silence is indicative of zero of the four having this service but hopefully someone from the respective areas will post what the situation is.

One would think that with Archbishop Basil's call for an authentic place of worship that 4 out of 4 or at the very least the Pittsburgh Cathedral would be having the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. I haven't heard of any letters being sent to parishes asking or requiring them to have this service, has anyone else?

Monomakh

Are you a priest? I ask only to know how to properly address you.

In theory, a document from Rome could answer your question, but caveat emptor.

The questions I pose below were asked in a thread in a different section of the Forum and being slightly off topic, buried forgotten. I've made some alterations and hope that on a more appropriate thread someone will have some answers...


The following is addressed to anyone connected with the seminary in Pittsburgh...

In their newer books the Basilians also give all nine odes of the Great Canon at Matins of Thursday of the Fifth Week, but with only a fraction of the troparia - roughly the same number as one would take for one evening when breaking up the Great Canon for Great Compline during the First Week of the Fast.

Does the seminary follow the Basilian (I assume it was their idea) abbreviation or is the complete Canon sung?

Also, is the Canon sung at the seminary during the First Week as well?

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I can't answer the second question (about the first week of the Fast) but here is the booklet used for the Great Canon at the seminary. I think you will find that the troparia of the Canon are complete.

Matins of the Great Canon [metropolitancantorinstitute.org]

Yours in Christ,
Jeff Mierzejewski

KO63AP,

You ask a very good question regarding whether the canon will be sung during the first week at the seminary. I tried and tried to get an answer but could not get a response.

I would wonder whether the Cathedral in Munhall will be doing this during the first week of the Great Fast as well. I don't think we'll get any answer except that we are to call the rector and ask him.

So, all I can assume is that the Canon of St. Andrew is not being done at the seminary or the Cathedral or any of our Cathedrals for that matter during the first week of the Great Fast. It is a shame to have our people deprived of the opportunity to celebrate this beautiful service. I would encourage all who can celebrate this to do so, however since it appears that hardly any if any Greek Catholic Churches will celebrate this, that an Orthodox church is where you will have to go. It may be the same Orthodox church that you could go to to celelbrate Matins or Vespers since these services are lacking in 90%+ of our current churches.

I'm deeply puzzled by Archbishop Basil's call for an 'authentic place of worship', yet when it comes to putting these words in action there is but a hollow ring. Can someone explain this?

Monomakh

Why sir, are you implying that we are LLLLLL - wait, I can say it if I make myself - LLLLLatinized? I am shocked.

Jeff,

Thanks for the link. It does appear that the Great Canon is complete.

OTOH, I'm disappointed to see that the practice of breaking up the Hexapsalmos (a-la the Basilians) has been followed. I would assume that the priest would read only some of the Prayers of Light as one Psalm doesn't give nearly enough time.

One battle at a time...

Well, I gave it 23 days to see if there was even one of our Cathedrals that celebrated the Great Canon of St. Andrew last week at all. I'll take the silence as a resounding no and confirm what I've asked people who would know if this service took place at all.

It appears also that Vespers and Matins does not take place as well much like 90%+ of our parishes.

Wow

Monomakh

I attended the Great Canon all last week. My first time at this service since joining the Orthodox church.

It really adds a new dimension to the Great Fast. All Eastern christians should attend this service at least once.

I couldn't find a Greek Catholic Church that celebrated it here in Northeast Ohio. If anyone knows of one tell me and I'll attend in the future. As usual, I had to go to an Orthodox Church to celebrate the fullness of our Tradition and the correct services. Heh, there's a pattern developing here........?!

Monomakh

One of the things that I don't understand is why you need a Church service to pray the Canon. Since I work 136+ miles away from my home and the nearest Greek Catholic Church, I prayed the services in my weekday apartment. It was as moving an experiencing and as spiritually beneficial as any Church service I have attended.

As a priest, I constantly hear people request more services at Church but when I ask them if they are praying those services at home, they seldom say "yes." If the services are that important, pray them. Only the Liturgy requires a priest.

Pray!

Dr. Eric on this board has a situation as well where he stated that he was very far from a church that celebrated the Canon and took it upon himself to do so (I believe he celebrated over the web). All who do this should be commended.


But your general statement breaks down and holds no water in areas like Cleveland and Pittsburgh for example where there is a plethora of churches. Shouldn't the priest be celebrating these, and if he is then shouldn't others be allowed to join, and what better place than church to do it.

Vespers would be another example here in Northeast Ohio where there is zero excuse to not provide this service to the faithful. At most churches the priest is already doing a Saturday Liturgy which is strange (you agree with this right?). Vespers should be celebrated by the priest who is already going to be there and made available to the faithful. What excuse do you have for the 90%+ of our churches in the Eparchy of Parma who are not celebrating Vespers?

Archbishop Basil has called for an 'authentic place of worship'. Why do you disagree with him?


Monomakh

Father, bless.

We pray vespers each night, and I know on this thread there were people who said they prayed the Canon off the computer at home. I think there are two reasons more dedicated people don't do this.

1) If you've never seen or heard it done, you don't know what to do with the text in your hand which is written for a priest to preside. Which parts do you take and which do you omit? What type of chant do you use? When do you bow or prostrate? The text does not give this real-world experience that only comes from learning it from others--a very integral part of the eastern experience.

2) There is something to be said for having others walking along this journey of life with you. There are plenty of things we can do by ourselves, but our church is a church which places much focus on the communal prayers of the church that are done in the temple. There is a point one reaches where one feels isolated and in it by oneself when everything is upon one's own shoulders to seek out, learn, and do. This is compounded when one reads of how these communal services are supposed to be taking place, and one longs for this fellowship, and one knows there is a church down the road where it is offered, but one has little or no hope for finding it in one's own church.

I believe these are really two very different issues. What should our church and our clergy be doing? What should I be doing as a layperson? While the answers to the second depend upon the reality of the first, I don't believe the answers to the first should rely upon the reality of the second. Our church and our clergy have a responsibility before God to lead His church according to the faith and traditions passed on to them, and that responsibility is not abrogated when the people are reticent to be led. The people, however, do have some abrogation of responsibility when they follow their priests or bishops, even if that is to be led astray. It is a very awesome responsibility to be the guardian of hundreds or thousands of souls, instead of just one. I don't think we should confuse the two issues.

I certainly can appreciate this. I just wanted to encourage everyone to realize that you can pray all of the services of the Church with your family and/or friends except for the Divine Liturgy. (Many monks do this in their hermitages, etc.) If you don't know "how" to pray or chant them, just read them! I also don't think that anyone should be worried about the "priests' parts" versus "lay parts". If in doubt, either just skip everything noted for the priest or just go ahead and do it. I am sure in either case, God will understand.



By the way, sometimes you have to be creative. So for example, desirous of community in praying the Great Canon I actually prayed it with my wife via cell phone. She was 136+ miles away but we prayed together (bows, prostrations and all) holding a cell phone in our hands and/or on the table! It was beautiful!