wfn.org | GOAA - Orthodox Christians Begin Lent February 23

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
8-10 East 79th St. New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 570-3530 Fax: (212) 774-0215
Web: http://www.goarch.org
Email: communications@goarch.org

   For Immediate Release
   February 18, 2004
   Contact: Nikki Stephanopoulos

   ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS BEGIN GREAT LENT FEBRUARY 23
   SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY CELEBRATED WORLDWIDE FEBRUARY 29
   ALL CHRISTIANS TO OBSERVE EASTER APRIL 11

   New York, NY - Over 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, including
   some six million in North America, will enter the season of Great and
   Holy Lent on Monday, February 23. This solemn day will mark the beginning
   of the period of prayer and fasting that precedes the celebration of
   Easter (Pascha), the most sacred and holy day of the Orthodox Church.
   This year April 11 is the Easter date for the Orthodox Christian Churches
   and coincides with the Easter date of the Western tradition.

   His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox
   Church in America and Chairman of the Standing Conference of Canonical
   Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA,) will con-celebrate the
   Archierarchal Divine Liturgy on the First Sunday of Lent, commemorating
   the Triumph of Orthodoxy, with fellow SCOBA hierarchs at the Greek
   Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City (319
   East 74th St.) beginning at 9:00 a.m. His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of
   the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church will preach the Homily; Orthodox
   seminarians will chant the Matins and the Cathedral Choir, directed by
   Dr. Dino Anagnost, will sing the hymns and responses of the Liturgy.
   Similar Orthodox services will be celebrated throughout the world on that
   day.

   The Sunday of Orthodoxy Liturgy will be broadcast live from 10 a.m. to 12
   Noon on ANTENNA SATELLITE NORTH AMERICA and TIME WARNER DIGITAL CHANNEL
   509 (NGTV) and the INTERNET	from 9:00 a.m. to 12 Noon at the Cathedral
   website at: http://www.thecathedral.goarch.org and the Greek Orthodox
   Archdiocese website: http://live.goarch.org.

   Acknowledging the spiritual significance of the Lenten period, the SCOBA
   hierarchs stated in their encyclical for Sunday, February 22, " We arrive
   again at the great and sacred season of Holy Lent.  As Orthodox
   Christians we have been given the blessed opportunity to enter into an
   intense period of worship, prayer, fasting, and philanthropy that will
   direct our lives in the path of salvation and draw us into deeper
   communion with God.	In addition, through our observance of Lent in our
   contemporary world, we will offer a witness of our Lord and Savior Jesus
   Christ, the one who overcomes the darkness of evil and sin and illumines
   hearts with truth and life."

   Orthodox Lent
   The Orthodox Christian Lent always begins on the Monday before the Sunday
   of Orthodoxy. It is designated as "Clean Monday", the "Monday of
   cleansing or purification". On that day Orthodox faithful are required to
   begin a spiritual and moral purification through fasting, prayer,
   meditation, repentance, attending Lenten religious services and partaking
   of the Sacraments of Confession and Communion.

   Religious services during the Lenten period are especially beloved by
   Orthodox faithful. They include the Compline, the Liturgy of the
   Presanctified Gifts, the Salutations to the Virgin Mary and the Divine
   Liturgy of St. Basil compiled in the 4th Century.

   Sunday of Orthodoxy
   The historical significance of the Sunday of Orthodoxy dates to 787 A.D.
   when the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea decreed the
   restoration of the icons as a means for the spiritual growth and
   formation of the Christian ethos and character in the likeness and image
   of God and His Saints. In 843 A.D. when the icons were finally restored
   in the churches, the first Sunday of Lent was designated as a day for
   thanksgiving and doxology. It came to be known as the "Sunday of
   Orthodoxy", calling the faithful to a rededication to the Orthodox
   Christian Faith, as received from the Apostles. Following the Divine
   Liturgy, the clergy lead the faithful in the Procession of Icons and the
   recitation of The Declaration of Faith.

   GREAT LENT AND PASCHA IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 2004
   Great Lent Begins	February 22
   Holy Week	 (Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday) April 4-April 10
   Easter (Pascha) Sunday   April 11
   Ascension Day    May 20
   Pentecost	May 30
   For more information on the Orthodox Christian observance of Great Lent
   and Pascha:
   http://www.greatlent.goarch.org

   For information on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church:

   http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7070.asp

***************************************
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE LIST:
http://www.goarch.org/listserv/
***************************************

The Archdiocese list is being made possible by the Greek Orthodox 
Archdiocese Department of Internet Ministries.