Great and Holy Wednesday
Divine Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts 10am
Holy Unction 6pm
| APRIL 20 ON GREAT AND HOLY WEDNESDAY, the Church decreed to commemorate the sinful woman who anointed the Lord with myrrh, as this occurred shortly before His saving Passion. A woman pouring myrrh over Christ’s body anticipated the embalming by Nicodemus.Anointed with spiritual myrrh, Christ God, free us from passions that overwhelm, and be merciful to us as the One who alone is holy and loves humankind! [From the Synaxarion for Holy Wednesday] |
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| HYMN OF KASSIANI FOR HOLY WEDNESDAY The woman who had fallen into many sins recognizes Thy Godhead, O Lord. She takes upon herself the duty of a myrrh-bearer and makes ready the myrrh of mourning, before Thy entombment. Woe to me! saith she, for my night is an ecstasy of excess, gloomy and moonless, and full of sinful desire. Receive the sources of my tears, O Thou Who dost gather into clouds the water of the sea; in Thine ineffable condescension, deign to bend down Thyself to me and to the lamentations of my heart, O Thou Who didst spread out the Heavens. I will fervently embrace Thy sacred feet, and wipe them again with the tresses of the hair of my head, Thy feet at whose sound Eve hid herself for fear when she heard Thee walking in Paradise in the cool of the day. O my Saviour and soul-Saver who can trace out the multitude of my sins, and the abysses of Thy judgement? Do not disregard me Thy servant, O Thou Whose mercy is boundless. |