Great Lent is a time of special penitential services in the Orthodox Church. This is no coincidence, because the Holy Forty-Years set a person to repentance.
The naming of the Lenten service "Mary's standing" is more popular than the statutory one. This name reflects the pious attitude of Christians to the great deed of repentance of Saint Mary of Egypt - an ascetic of piety who lived in the 5th-6th centuries.
When the divine service is performed for Mary's standing
The Orthodox charter presupposes the administration of a special Lenten service on Thursday of the fifth week of Holy Forty. On this day, the memory of Mary of Egypt is celebrated in the Church. According to the established tradition, the service begins on the eve of the evening of the celebrated event, and continues on the very day in the morning. Thus, in 2016, Mariino standing goes on Wednesday evening April 13th and Thursday 14th day of the month. In 2017, this service is celebrated on March 29th and 30th.
Some features of the divine service of the Mary's standing
Every Orthodox believer tries to attend a service on Wednesday evening of the fifth week of Great Lent. It is on this day that the Matins service is sent to the church, at which the great penitential canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read. If in the first week of Lent this reposed liturgical work is divided into four parts, then on Thursday Matins of the 5th week of Lent, the repentant troparia of the entire great liturgical creation sound in the churches, to which are added the troparia of St. Mary of Egypt, St. Andrew of Crete, and special Great Trinity Triodes. It is the reading of the penitential canon that is the main feature of the divine service of the Mary's Standing.
In addition, in many churches on Wednesday evenings, the life of the Monk Mary is read, which is divided into several parts, inserted into the sequence of Matins. The remembrance of the great feat of the ascetic of piety in conjunction with the great canon gives a special prayerful and repentant attitude to the believer.
The service of Matins on Thursday of the fifth week of fasting also indicates the possibility of every person to hope for the mercy of God, because there is not a single sin that, with sincere repentance, would not be forgiven by the Lord. Holy Mary of Egypt was an example of a true grace-filled transformation of human life and personality. The saint was a great sinner and a dissolute harlot until the moment of her conversion to Christ. Realizing the sinfulness of her life, the righteous woman spent all the remaining time on repentance and the great feat of hermitage in the wilderness (where she spent several decades alone). The result of the sincere repentance of the righteous woman was the acquisition of the last great grace of God and holiness.
The life of the saint shows that for absolutely every person the path to salvation and holiness is open, it is only necessary to turn your heart, mind and thoughts to the awareness of your life and sincere repentance, followed by a change in your sinful existence towards the struggle with passions and vices.
Divine service on Thursday 5th week of Lent
On Thursday morning in Orthodox churches there is a divine service for hours, the succession of pictorial, as well as Vespers, combined with the liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The service of the liturgy on Thursday gives the opportunity for believers to confess the night before after the service and to receive communion the next day.
