On Monday evening, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești praised the Great Canon and its author, Saint Andrew of Crete, emphasizing the importance of both its message and regular recitation.
After reading the first part of the Great Canon at the Patriarchal Cathedral, His Grace cited Archimandrite Teofil Părăian of Sâmbăta de Sus, who lamented that the faithful hear the Great Canon too few times and encouraged them to read it at home as well.
“The ideas that flood our minds and souls as we listen to or read this canon are so abundant that they feel like an avalanche. By the time we move to a new troparion, we have already forgotten what was conveyed in the previous ones,” he said.
Therefore, Bishop Varlaam urged the faithful to follow Father Teofil’s advice and read the Great Canon at home, primarily since it was published in separate editions outside the Triodion.
The Call to Repentance
In his sermon, Bishop Varlaam spoke about repentance—the central theme of the Great Canon—as well as the life of its author, Saint Andrew of Crete. He also reflected on how this liturgical masterpiece presents “the often difficult-to-understand relationship between God’s goodness and justice.”
“Repentance means a radical transformation of ourselves,” the bishop emphasized:
“It is a change in our way of being, thinking, speaking, and relating to others. It is a true inner revolution that compels us to cast off the deeds of darkness and, by arming ourselves with the weapons of light, to become a new creation in the image of the perfect man—our Savior Jesus Christ.”
“That is why the Church has ordained this period of the Holy and Great Lent as a time for each of us to intensify repentance—this process of inner transformation—so that today we may be better than we were yesterday, and tomorrow better than we are today.”
Following the Example of the Righteous
“Let us use this time wisely,” His Grace urged, “drawing from the examples that Saint Andrew of Crete places before our minds and souls, both from the Old and New Testament. Let us follow the righteous and flee from the sins and iniquities of the lawless.”
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