Today, 1 February 2015, the Orthodox Church is on the 33rd Sunday after Pentecost, called of the Tax collector and of the Pharisee. The evangelical pericope of St Evangelist Luke 18:10-14 about the Tax collector and the Pharisee was read at the Divine Liturgy in all the Orthodox Churches: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The Orthodox Church entered the period of the Triode
This Sunday marks the beginning of the Triode period for the Orthodox Church, one of the three great divisions of the liturgical year. The Triode precedes the period of the Penticostar and follows the period of the Octoich, the longest one of the church year. This period lasts ten weeks, out of which three are preparatory weeks for the Lent of the Holy Easter, six make the Lent, and the last one is the Week of the Holy Passions of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church delivered a sermon in the chapel of the Patriarchal Residence dedicated to Saint Gregory the Enlightener, speaking about the period of the church year called Triode we have just begun: “The Sunday of the Tax collector and of the Pharisee, called as such according to the Gospel scheduled to be read at the Divine Liturgy, opens the time of the Triode, a period of the church year which includes the Lent of the Holy Easter and the three preparatory weeks: Sunday of the Tax collector and of the Pharisee, of the Prodigal Son, and of the Frightening Judgement. The name of this period comes from the book of rite called Triode used especially during this period which comprises a few canons made up of three chants and not of nine or more exactly eight, as the ordinary canons.”
Three great things are necessary: devoted prayer, sincere repentance and generous charity
The period of the Triode is a time of more intense prayer, of more attentive obedience of the Holy Scriptures, as well as of repentance and confession, of often communion and mercy on those in need, His Beatitude said, also showing that: “Before beginning the Lent, the Church scheduled three preparatory Sundays so that we should learn that three great things are needed for the revival of the soul from the death caused by sin, and for meeting Christ Crucified and Raised, namely: devoted prayer, sincere repentance and generous charity. Therefore, the Church scheduled these three preparatory Sundays for our spiritual benefit, so that we should set out knowing the purpose and route of our spiritual climbing to resurrection, as well as the preparatory means needed for receiving the light of the Holy Easter. Today’s Holy Gospel teaches us to learn the good deed from the Pharisee, and the devoted prayer from the tax collector.”
The devoted prayer is the basis of the true spiritual love. Nobody can truly love when the love is proud or arrogant, despiteful and judging others, because the true love is kind, does not envy, brag, or boasts, as Saint Paul the Apostle teaches us. Merciful love for all people stems from the devoted love. The Holy Gospel of the first Sunday of the Triode shows us that the basic step of the spiritual climbing to resurrection is the devoted love”.
