The Triodion period begins next Sunday!

February 16 will be the beginning of the Triodion period preceding Lent.  In this informative article, written by Father George Konstantopoulos, the entire penitential period  is closely examined for meaning, historical background and personal application.   Here is an excerpt...

The pre-lenten period. (A) the Sunday of Zacchaeus [this Sunday in 2025]. One week before the Triodion enters into use, there is a Sunday Gospel reading which looks forward directly to the coming fast – luke 19:1-10, describing how Zacchaeus climbed a tree beside the road where christ was to pass. In this reading we note zacchaeus sense of eager expectation, the intensity of his desire to see the Lord, and we apply this to ourselves. If, we have an intense desire for a clearer vision of Christ, then our hopes will be fulfilled during the fast. But if there is within us no eager expectation and no sincere desire, we shall see and receive nothing. And so we ask ourselves: what is my state of mind and will as I prepare to embark on the lenten journey.

The Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee [Gospel reading: luke 18:10-14]. on this and the following two sundays, the theme is repentance. Repentance is the door through which we enter lent, the starting point of our journey to pascha. And to repent signifies far more than self-pity or futile regret over things done in the past. The Greek word metanoia means ‘change of mind’: to repent is to be renewed, to be transformed in our inward viewpoint, to attain a fresh way of looking at our relationship to god and to others.

The Sunday of the Prodigal Son [gospel reading: luke 15:11-32]. the Parable of the Prodigal Son forms an exact icon of repentance in its different stages. Sin is exile, enslavement to strangers, hunger. Repentance is the return from exile to our true home; it is to receive back our inheritance and freedom in the father’s house. But repentance implies action: "I will rise up and go…to repent is not just to feel dissatisfied, but to take a decision and to act upon it.

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