The term ‘Triod’ has two clearly defined meanings. Firstly, the Triod is the name of an important book of ritual or worship, used by the Church and, in particular, by the choir, during one of the three major periods of the ecclesiastical or liturgical year, known as the ‘Triodion period’, which includes Great Lent, also known as the Lenten Fast or the Forty Days 1.
Secondly, the Triodion or the Triodion period is the ten-week period between the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, or the 33rd Sunday after Pentecost, and the Sunday of the Resurrection, or Easter 2. This period comprises ten Sundays and the same number of weeks. Of these, the first three weeks serve as a preparation for the six-week (40-day) Lenten fast, whilst the final week, that of the Passion of our Saviour Christ, holds a special place, both liturgically and spiritually 3. Given the two meanings of the Triodion, we shall examine both, highlighting the importance of each in the spiritual life of the Church and in the lives of the faithful.
The Triodion, a liturgical book
The Triodion is the liturgical book used at the choir stall during the ten weeks that make up the Triodion period, alongside other liturgical books: the Menaion, the Octoechos, the Book of Hours, the Psalter, etc. This book is used throughout this entire period, from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee up to and including Great Saturday, and contains the order of the divine services not only for Great Lent, as is sometimes mistakenly said, but for the entire Triodion period. The name ‘Triod’ derives from the fact that, in this book, a part of the morning service (Matins) known as the canon—which, in the Minei and the Octoechos, usually consists of nine hymns— in the Triodion comprises only three hymns or odes (Τρεις = three and ῴδή = hymns, odes), hence τριῴδιον = Triodion. The Triodion took shape over a long period of time, evolving from a collection of hymns known as the Tropologion, from which the Menaion and the Octoechos were developed. The troparia or hymns of the Tropologion dedicated to Great Lent, together with other hymnographic compositions, were incorporated into the Triodion. This took place during the 11th century, but the development of the Triodion continued until the 14th century. Highly talented hymnographers, who were well-versed in theology, contributed to the composition of the Triodion’s content, and thus to its hymnography. Among them, we may mention: St Cosmas the Melodist, St Theophanes the Graphtic, St Andrew of Crete, St Theodore the Studite and his brother, St Joseph the Studite, and others.
As regards the content of this liturgical book, it comprises the services celebrated during the ten weeks of the Triodion period, combined with those from the Menaion and the Octoechos. The period comprises ten Sundays. The first four Sundays, before the start of Great Lent, are Sundays of preparation for the fast. These are: 1) The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, or the 33rd Sunday after Pentecost; 2) The Sunday of the Prodigal Son, or the 34th Sunday after Pentecost; 3) The Sunday of the Last Judgement, or the 35th Sunday after Pentecost, also known as the Sunday of the End of the Fasting of Meat; 4) The Sunday of Adam’s Expulsion from Paradise, or Cheesefare Sunday. On the Monday following this Sunday, Great Lent, or Lent leading up to Easter, begins.
The following six Sundays of this period are the Sundays of Great Lent, indicated or marked by their sequential number within the fast. They commemorate or honour important figures or saints of Orthodoxy or significant events in church history. These Sundays are: 1) The First Sunday of Lent or of Orthodoxy, dedicated to the restoration of the veneration of holy icons; 2) The Second Sunday of Lent or of Saint Gregory Palamas (14th century); 3) The Third Sunday of Lent or of the Holy Cross; 4) The Fourth Sunday of Lent or of Saint John Climacus (†605); 5) The fifth Sunday of Lent or the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt; 6) The sixth Sunday of Lent or Palm Sunday, commemorating the triumphal entry of Christ the Saviour into Jerusalem 4.
The Triodion also includes a number of Saturdays dedicated to various church figures or other moments and events in the history of salvation 5. For example, the first Saturday with a special significance is the Saturday before Meatfare Sunday, known as ‘Winter Moșii’, when we perform the general commemoration of the dead. The first Saturday of Great Lent is dedicated to Saint Theodore Tyron; the second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent are dedicated to the general commemoration of the dead. The fifth Saturday of Lent is dedicated to the Mother of God, with the reading of the Akathist of the Annunciation; the sixth Saturday is dedicated to the commemoration of Saint Lazarus, who was raised from the dead on the fourth day; whilst the seventh Saturday is devoted to the commemoration of the Lord’s Entombment.
The Triodion and the period during which we use it offer us hymns and prayers of rare poetic beauty, possessing a deep and rich theological content.
This period and the Triodion are also distinguished by certain services which are celebrated only during this time. We mention in particular the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which is celebrated during Great Lent 6. This Liturgy is celebrated throughout the entire period of Great Lent, from Monday to Friday inclusive, with the exception of aliturgical days—that is, days on which no Liturgy is celebrated—namely: Monday and Tuesday of the first week of Great Lent, on Good Friday, when no Liturgy is celebrated, or on days when one of the other Liturgies is scheduled to be celebrated, namely that of St John Chrysostom and that of St Basil the Great, namely: all Saturdays and Sundays during Lent, on Maundy Thursday and on the Feast of the Annunciation 7. Another specific practice of the Triodion is the reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, which, during Great Lent, takes place twice: 1) during the first four days, as part of the Great Vespers read during this period, and 2) on the Wednesday of the fifth week of Great Lent, when this canon is read in its entirety—250 stanzas—spread out over the Matins service 8.
However, what constitutes the quintessential feature of the Triodion is the service of the Denias, that is, those Matins services celebrated in the evening on the eve of the feast. The first Denias take place during the fifth week of the Holy and Great Lent of Pascha. On Wednesday evening, we celebrate the Matins of the Great Canon, and on Friday the Matins of the Akathist of the Annunciation. Then, the proper Matins services take place throughout Holy Week, from the evening of Palm Sunday until Friday evening. These services are the Matins of the following day, celebrated in the evening of the preceding day, according to the book known as the Triodion. The first four Matins services, from Sunday to Wednesday, are almost identical, characterised by the reading of the Gospel. The Matins services on Thursday and Friday are entirely distinct. The one on Thursday, also known as the ‘Small Matins’ or the ‘Service of the Fearsome Passions’, is characterised by the reading of the 12 Gospel accounts of the Lord’s Passion and impressive hymns, to which is added the ritual of bringing the Holy Cross into the centre of the church after the fifth Gospel. The service on Friday, also known as the Great Denia or the Denia of the Funeral Procession, is characterised by the singing of the three stanzas of the Funeral Procession by the entire parish congregation and the circumambulation of the church with the Holy Epitaph9).
The Triodion and the period during which we use it offer us hymns and prayers of rare poetic beauty, possessing a deep and rich theological content. Right from the very first day of the Triodion period and the use of this liturgical book, on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the tender and stirring hymns resound: ‘Open unto me the doors of repentance…’, ‘Guide me, O Mother of God, onto the path of salvation…’ and ‘Amidst the multitude of my evil deeds’, like a trumpet rousing us from the slumber of sin. We hear this cry for God’s mercy and compassion in church right up to the Fifth Sunday of Lent 10: ‘My soul, arise! Why do you sleep?”, the kontakion of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete 11, which is also a desperate cry and a call to repentance and awakening from the night of sin. The Great Canon, this gem of Christian hymnography, is in itself a cry for repentance and the renunciation of passions. ‘Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, gathered together the entire history of the Old and New Testaments and, bringing them together, composed this hymn; that is to say, beginning with Adam, he proceeds to the Ascension of Christ and on to the preaching of the Apostles. Through this canon, he urges every soul to love all that is good in history and to follow it to the best of their ability; and to shun what is evil, and ever to run to God through repentance, through the confession of sins, and through other things pleasing to Him. Moreover, it is so beautifully articulated and so skilfully structured that it is capable of softening even the most hardened soul and awakening it to humility and a return to goodness”12
A liturgical text of particular importance is the Prayer of Humility by Saint Ephrem the Syrian: ‘Lord and Master of my life’ 13. Prayer is important because it points out to us the passions we must avoid and the virtues with which we must adorn ourselves, in order to attain perfection. Thus, on the one hand, we pray and ask the Good God not to give us, or to protect us from, sins such as: idleness, excessive worry, the love of power and idle talk, whilst on the other hand, we ask Him to adorn our souls with: humility, purity, patience and love. Furthermore, we ask Him to grant us the great quality and ability to recognise our own faults and not to wrong our fellow human beings. Although the saint does not expressly mention the seven passions or deadly sins, they are all encompassed in what he does mention, just as the cardinal virtues we need for perfection. This prayer, which has the power to instil or create in us a profound sense of humility, remains one of the most profound and beloved prayers in Orthodox spirituality 14.
Moving on to Holy Week, when fasting becomes more rigorous, the liturgical services are enriched, and the hymns and euchological texts become ever more beautiful and rich in theological ideas. During this week, we hear for the first time the marvellous and poignant hymn – ‘Illuminate Thy Chamber, O my Saviour…’ 15, which illustrates and expresses the soul’s desire to be freed from the darkness of sin and to clothe itself in the luminous garment of forgiveness, so as to enter the chamber of salvation, together with Christ the Saviour. We also sing, with the hope of drawing near to and being forgiven by Christ the Bridegroom, the beautiful troparia from the Matins services: ‘Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the dead of night...’ 16 and ‘When the glorified disciples...’ 17, which emphasise the idea of ceaseless vigilance, lest the mark of sin overtake us and we become like Judas, who, sick with the love of money, became a betrayer of the Saviour.
We hear the desperate cry for repentance and forgiveness from the sinful woman in the poetic idiomela entitled ‘Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins’ 18, which forms part of ‘Glory …’, ‘And now …’, from the Stihoavna of Matins on Wednesday during Holy Week, which abounds in the stylistic forms of hymnographic poetry: epithets, comparisons, personifications, all conveying the inner turmoil of the sinful human soul 19. By way of example, we shall reproduce the text of this hymn: ‘Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, sensing Your divinity, took on the role of a myrrh-bearer and, weeping, brought You myrrh before the burial, saying: “Woe is me! For the heat of my debauchery is a night unto me, and the lust of sin is dark and moonless. Receive the streams of my tears, Thou who drawest water from the sea through the clouds; turn towards the sighs of my heart, Thou who hast bowed the heavens with unspeakable humility. That I may kiss Thy most pure feet and wipe them once more with the hair of my head. Hearing the sound of which with her own ears, Eve in Paradise, at midday, hid herself in fear. ‘Who will search out the multitude of my sins and the depths of Your judgements, Saviour of souls, my Deliverer? Do not overlook me, Your handmaid, O Thou who art of boundless mercy.’”
No less beautiful and rich in stylistic forms are the fifteen antiphons interspersed between the first five Gospels of the Thursday evening Matins or the Twelve Gospels, and, in particular, the twelfth antiphon: ‘Thus says the Lord to the Jews’ 20 and the fifteenth antiphony: ‘Today He was hanged on the wood’ 21, which is chanted when the Holy Cross is brought out into the centre of the church.
Finally, the Lord’s Lamentation constitutes an exceptional hymn, the ‘culmination of Orthodox liturgical creation’ 22. The chant of the Prohod, with its three parts, represents a massive participation of the Christian community in the Saviour’s Passion, which leads us towards His glorious Resurrection. The tenderness of the chant and the poetry of the verses make the Funeral Service the best-known and most beloved Orthodox service. The beauty of the service culminates in the procession around the church with the Holy Epitaph, a veritable funeral procession for the Saviour.
The Triodion, as a liturgical period of the church year
Turning to the second meaning of the Triodion, namely as a liturgical season of the church year, a time of spiritual preparation to welcome the Lord’s Resurrection with joy and in a fitting manner, we must make it clear from the outset that the Triodion period is intended for repentance and humility, to the recognition of our sinful state, to lamentation and regret for our sins, to their cleansing in the confessional, to the promise not to commit them again and, thus cleansed, to be able to receive the Lord’s Pascha 23. In this regard, the liturgical book – the Triodion – also helps us, for the idea that runs like a common thread through this liturgical book is repentance. No other liturgical book emphasises so strikingly the sinful nature of humankind and the need for its correction through repentance. The hymns and prayers of the Triodion are constant exhortations to repentance, to turning away from sin, and to humility 24.
The Church’s primary concern during the Triodion period is spiritual formation. The two weapons for warding off the work of the evil one and cultivating virtues are fasting and prayer. Given that the spiritual struggle is not an easy one, the Church proceeds with wisdom, preparing us for the battle against the evil one. In this regard, during the Triodion period, fasting does not begin abruptly, but is preceded by a three-week period of preparation and gradual entry into the spiritual struggle. The four Sundays and three weeks of preparation help us to become accustomed to spiritual discipline. The four Sundays, through the Gospel readings they present, familiarise us with key issues in the process of spiritual perfection. On the first Sunday, that of the Publican and the Pharisee, it contrasts the publican’s virtue of humility with the Pharisee’s pride, showing how beneficial humility is, in contrast to pride, which is the mother of all sins, and urges us to pray with humility: ‘Let us not pray like the Pharisee, brothers, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but let us pray before God like the tax collector, through fasting, crying out: ‘O God, have mercy on us sinners’”25 Pride caused the fall of the first angels, led by Lucifer; humility is the good beginning of salvation.
On the second Sunday, we are presented with a parable of repentance, through the prodigal son and the Father’s forgiving love. On the Sunday of the Last Judgement, or the Sunday of the Abstinence from Meat, we are presented with the scene of the Last Judgement, to make us aware of and accountable for our actions towards our fellow human beings, whilst accustoming us to abstaining from meat, whilst on the Sunday of Adam’s Expulsion from Paradise, or the Sunday of Abstinence from Cheese, we are taught how to fast, combining fasting with forgiveness of our fellow human beings and acts of charity. On all these Sundays we have heard ‘The Gates of Repentance…’, ‘On the Path to Salvation…’ and ‘For the multitude of my evil deeds…’, with their call to repentance; and on the last three Sundays we have heard the polyeleos ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, reminding us of the bondage of sin and our alienation from God.
With this, the preparations for the struggle have come to an end and the strategies for the battle against evil have been finalised. The fast and its ascetic practices begin. The Church urges us to welcome it with joy: ‘Let us begin the season of fasting with joy, submitting ourselves to spiritual asceticism. Let us purify our souls and cleanse our bodies. Let us fast, not only from food, but also from every passion, delighting in the virtues of the Spirit’26 ‘Come, all you peoples, let us receive today the gift of fasting as a time of repentance bestowed by God …’27 Thus, in the thinking of the Holy Fathers, fasting is not a torment of the body, for the body is the dwelling place of the soul and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). It too will be judged and made a partaker of eternity, just like the soul, after the Last Judgement. Saint Ambrose of Milan expresses the purpose and meaning of this fast: ‘The forty days are not prescribed for the torment of the body, but for the attainment of eternal life, so that we, during this time, through more frequent fasting and prayer, may be cleansed of the penalties of our sins’28 All these teachings are in harmony with what the Saviour teaches us about fasting. Fasting and its significance as a means of perfection are expressed very clearly in the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, which recalls the great fasters of the Old and New Testaments and the benefit derived from it 29. What must be emphasised regarding fasting is the need to combine bodily fasting with spiritual fasting, as one of the hymns of the Triodion states. Fasting is observed ‘not only by abstaining from food, but also by renouncing all earthly passions, so that by subduing the body which tyrannises and stands against us, we may become worthy to partake of the Bridegroom’30.
…alongside repentance, which is the guiding principle of the Triodion, the reality of sin is a central theme of the Triodion’s prayers and hymns. Sin is a burden upon the believer’s soul. Yet he is not alone in this struggle, but finds unstinting support in God.
The fulfilment of spiritual struggles must also extend to our fellow human beings. For whilst we generally sin alone, we are saved only in community. Therefore, we must include our fellow human beings—and, in particular, the departed—in our work towards salvation. This is why, during the Triodion, we have special days for commemorating the departed, in addition to certain prayers and hymns dedicated to them in the services of the Triodion. Thus, for example, the Saturdays dedicated to the commemoration of the dead are days on which we pray for the forgiveness of their sins and their eternal rest: ‘O Thou who reignest over the dead and the living, as God, grant rest to Thy servants in the abodes of Thy chosen ones; for, though they may have erred, O Saviour, they have not strayed from Thee’31
The believer’s hardest struggle, however, is against sin during the Triodion. Therefore, alongside repentance—which is the guiding principle of the Triodion—the reality of sin is a central theme of the Triodion’s prayers and hymns. Sin is a burden upon the believer’s soul. Yet the believer is not alone in this struggle, but finds unstinting support in God. Therefore, the believer, aware that ‘without Him I can do nothing’ (John 15:5), calls upon and seeks God’s help: ‘Trinity, Most High Being, to Whom we worship in unity, lift from me the heavy tent of sin and, as a merciful One, grant me tears of repentance’32 The hymns of the Triodion guide us in this struggle against sin, but above all the examples that this book sets before us every Sunday, as shown above. All of them have the power to awaken in us an awareness of sin and the need for deliverance from it. It is the soul that is called to judgement. It is the soul that must change its way of acting. Repentance itself means change: a change of mind, of our thinking, a renewal of it. The Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is characterised precisely by this constant call to repentance addressed to the soul. But even before the start of Great Lent, on Meatfare Sunday, we find a warning to the soul regarding what it must do: ‘Woe to me, blackened soul! How long will you not turn away from your wickedness? How long will you lie in idleness? Why do you not remember the dreadful hour of death? Why do you not tremble utterly at the Saviour’s dreadful judgement? What, pray, will you answer, or how will you give an account? Your deeds stand before you as a rebuke; your actions betray you, bringing you to account. Therefore, O soul! The time has come! Run, hasten forward and, with faith, cry out: ‘I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned against You; but I know, O Lover of mankind, Your goodness; Good Shepherd, do not separate me from Your right hand, for the sake of Your great mercy’”33
Despite all the moral decay that sin brings about in the soul of the fallen believer—which inevitably leads to the torments of hell—and although the sinner is aware that he cannot be saved on his own, what strikes us most deeply in the Triodion is the hope in God’s mercy and goodness, much like that of the prodigal son. Although there is no sin that the believer has not committed, as the Great Canon so powerfully depicts, the believer has great confidence in God’s goodness, in His mercy, power and help. It is on this trust that the believers’ resolve to confess their sins during the Triodion and Great Lent is based. In addition to this complete trust in God’s goodness, the wonderful hymns, the hymns, liturgical chants and prayers of this period, which seem to address each of us individually and inspire us to set our lives and way of living aright, so that we may meet the Risen Saviour. In order to experience the joy of the Resurrection, we must necessarily undergo the ascetic discipline of fasting. We can only draw near to God in a state of purity and holiness. The period of the Triodion and Great Lent are the most suitable and accessible ways and means of achieving this goal.
Hence the close connection between the Triodion and the Resurrection. Repentance—regret for our sins—fasting, as a means of purification and perfection, and the confession of sins are not undertaken for their own sake, but solely in relation to the Resurrection. This connection between the Triodion and the Resurrection, between fasting and the Resurrection, and between repentance and the Resurrection, is one of the central ideas that pervades the book and the period of the Triodion. We shall quote a few passages from the Triodion that highlight this idea. In many of the hymns of the Triodion we find these exhortations: ‘The time has come, the beginning of spiritual struggles, the victory over the demons, the armed self-control, the adornment of the angels. Lord, through this, make us also worthy to worship Thy Passion and the Holy Resurrection’34 ‘You who endured the cross for my sake, drinking vinegar and saying: “It is finished!” Complete my fast, and make me worthy to behold Your Resurrection’35 ‘As the third week of the holy fast draws to a close, Christ, … grant us the grace to praise Your Passion, that we may arrive pure at the glorious and Holy Resurrection, at the Mystical Pascha, through which Adam entered Paradise”36. “Grant us now also to partake in the sufferings of Christ and in the Resurrection”37. “May He make us all worthy to worship the Holy Cross and to reach the Resurrection without condemnation”38. On Palm Sunday, the faithful sing: ‘Through Your Resurrection, we have been made worthy of the life of the night’39; and in the Matins service on Thursday evening, at the 15th antiphon, the Church intones: ‘We worship Thy Passion, O Christ; show us also Thy glorious Resurrection!’40.
Repentance, regret for our sins, fasting as a means of purification and perfection, and the confession of sins are not practised for their own sake, but solely in relation to the Resurrection. This connection between the Triodion and the Resurrection, Lent and the Resurrection, repentance and the Resurrection, is one of the central themes running through the book and the period of the Triodion.
Orthodox Christians look forward to welcoming the Risen Saviour Christ, having endured the trials of Great Lent, and to hearing Him say to them: ‘Rejoice!’ (Matthew 28:9), rewarding them, just as He did the myrrh-bearing women, for their labours.
- 1
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, General Liturgy with an Introduction to Ecclesiastical Art, Architecture and Church Painting, Vol. II, 3rd edition, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2015, pp. 376–378; Makarios Simonopetritul, The Triodion Explained: Mystagogy of the Liturgical Year, Deisis Publishing House, Sibiu, 2000, pp. 173–178; 265–391; Fr. Gheorghe Gheția, ‘The Triodion’, in Mitropolia Banatului, II (1956), nos. 4–6, pp. 22–31.
- 2
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, General Liturgy ..., Vol. I, 3rd edition, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2015, pp. 365–399.
- 3
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, General Liturgy ..., Vol. I, 3rd edition, Basilica Publishers, Bucharest, 2015, pp. 202–206.
- 4
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, General Liturgy ..., Vol. I, 3rd edition, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2015, p. 376.
- 5
See Triodul, published by IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2000.
- 6
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, General Liturgy ..., Vol. I, 3rd edition, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2015, pp. 408–413.
- 7
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, ‘The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Their Origin, History and Order’, in Theological Studies, IX (1957), no. 3–4, pp. 176–192; Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent, translated by Andreea Stroe and Laurențiu Constantin, Univers Enciclopedic Publishing House, Bucharest, 1995, pp. 48–67.
- 8
See Triodul, …, pp. 129–180; 407–433.
- 9
See Triodul, ..., pp. 407–433; 445–463; 545–669.
- 10
See Triodul, …, p. 7.
- 11
See Triodul, …, p. 133.
- 12
See Constantin Erbiceanu, ‘Song and Hymnography in the Early Church’, in Biserica Ortodoxă Română, VII (1883), no. 3, pp. 139–140; Nicolae Diaconul, ‘The Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete’, in Mitropolia Banatului, XI (1956), nos. 4–6, pp. 40–44; Rev. Prof. Al. I. Ciurea, ‘A Sermon on the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete’, in Glasul Bisericii, 1955, no. 3–4, pp. 169–172; Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent …, pp. 67–70; Makarios Simonopetritul, The Triodion Explained …, pp. 241–243; 364–369.
- 13
See Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent …, pp. 35–39; Nicolae Diaconul, ‘The Prayer of Humility of Saint Ephrem the Syrian’, in Mitropolia Banatului, VI (1956), nos. 4–6, pp. 38–40; Makarios of Simonopetra, The Triodion Explained …, pp. 132–145.
- 14
See Rev. Prof. Dionisie Stamatoiu, ‘Lord and Master of my life. From the meanings of the prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian’, in Mitropolia Olteniei, XXXIV (1982), nos. 1–3, pp. 13–23.
- 15
See the Triodion, …, p. 549; Rev. Prof. Dr Nicolae D. Necula, ‘Holy Week in Orthodox Christian Life’, in Glasul Bisericii, LII (1996), nos. 1–4, pp. 33–38.
- 16
See Triodul, …, p. 545.
- 17
See Triodul, …, p. 582.
- 18
See Triodul, …, p. 574.
- 19
See Archimandrite Ieronim Motoc, ‘On the holy and great day of Wednesday: On the sinful woman and Mary’s song’, in Glasul Bisericii, XXXIV (1975), no. 3–4, pp. 254–257.
- 20
See Triodul, ..., p. 609.
- 21
The Triodion, …, p. 610.
- 22
Triod, ..., pp. 649–661.
- 23
Rev. Prof. Dr Ene Braniște, Special Liturgy, Basilica Publishers, Bucharest, 2016, pp. 151–152.
- 24
Rev. Prof. Dr Nicolae D. Necula, ‘Repentance and the Resurrection in the Triodion’, in Glasul Bisericii, LII (1996), no. 5–8, pp. 10–19.
- 25
The Triodion, …, p. 5.
- 26
The Triodion, …, p. 7.
- 27
The Triodion, …, p. 18.
- 28
St Ambrose, De Noe et Acta, 13, in PL XIV, col. 400, according to Vasile Mitrofanovici, Liturgica Bisericii Ortodoxe de Răsărit, Chernivtsi, 1929, p. 188.
- 29
The Triodion, …, pp. 110–111.
- 30
The Triodion, …, p. 115.
- 31
The Triodion, p. 144.
- 32
The Triodion, p. 36.
- 33
The Triodion, pp. 129–130.
- 34
The Triodion, p. 109.
- 35
The Triodion, p. 245.
- 36
The Triodion, p. 296.
- 37
The Triodion, p. 312.
- 38
The Triodion, p. 320.
- 39
The Triodion, p. 532.
- 40
The Triodion, p. 610.