The Lent begins with the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.
Written in the seventh century by one of the greatest hymn-writers of
the Orthodox Church, this canon is the purest expression of repentance.
The author contemplates the great history of salvation, recorded in the
Old and the New Testaments and applies its various images to the state
of his sinful soul. It is a long, pathetic lamentation of a Christian
who discovers again and again how much God has loved him, how much He
has done for him and how little response came from the man:
"How shall I begin to deplore the deeds of my miserable life?
What beginning shall I make, O Christ, to this lament?
But since Thou art compassionate, grant me remission of my trespasses."
"Like as the potter gives life to his clay,
Thou hast bestowed upon me
Flesh and bones, breath and life;
Today, O my Creator, my Redeemer and
My Judge,
Receive me a penitent..."
"I have lost my first made beauty and dignity,
And now I lie naked and covered with shame..."
And to each one of these troparia the congregation answers: "Have mercy
on me, O God, have mercy on me."
The Great Canon is sung and read twice during Lent: in four parts at
Great Compline on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the first
week; and again completely at Matins on Thursday of the fifth week. It
is a real introduction to Lent, it sets its tone and spirit, it gives
us--from the very beginning--the true dimension of repentance.