Ordinary time resumes

For the first time since late January, the church hours, particularly Orthros and Vespers have returned to exclusive use of Octoechos, the book of 8 tones.  No longer do priests, chanters and the congregations derive part or all of their hymnography from the Triodion or the Pentecostarion.  For 5 months, the church has been thoroughly invested in Lent, the Passion, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the sending of the Paraclete and the commemoration of all saints.  Now, we go back to the humdrum of "ordinary time."

I have said before that there is nothing ordinary about ordinary time.  This is a great time to develop our relationships with Christ but also His saints as God is glorified in them.  The services are, in general, shorter.  For instance, this morning was a 4th class feast on a Sunday which means there was no special hymns save for the Apolytikion of the Martyrs.   Not only were my fellow chanter and I able to chant the entire service without skipping anything, but we were allowed to chant each of the Kathismata hymns according to the melody Τον Ταφον, Σωτηρ, read the Kontakion and Oikos of the Resurrection and the Synaxarion of the saints of the day, but chant the entirety of the αινοι (Praises) which includes all of Psalms 148, 149 and 150.  I can't remember the last time we were able to do it.  In short, it was glorious.

What came across as a very ordinary day was a day of enhanced prayer using the church's sources of the psalter and Octoechos.  No great feast day is in our midst (save for that of Sts. Peter and Paul in two weeks time) and no huge saint is on the calendar, but this is the great time to get back to basics, to really strengthen the framework of prayer, both at church and at home so that we are prepared for the great feasts to come.

So, enjoy ordinary time and get to know the saints.  They pray ceaselessly for us and know us; we should also know them as God is glorified in them.

Nothing ordinary about "ordinary" time

As we celebrated the Feast of All Saints yesterday and kick off the Apostles' Fast today, so we also return to the usually non festal "ordinary" time. This is when the offices have little to no special variables, Vespers and Orthros of the Sundays will generally have no additional special hymns and the rubrics are generally simplified. And as "ordinary time" coincides roughly with the start of summer, there is also a noticeable drop off in "normal" church related activities, let alone attendance at Liturgy by the faithful.

When I was at the Monastery of St. Gregory Palamas last year in July, I remarked to the abbot, Fr. Joseph, that being here during the fasting and festal seasons would really be spiritually beneficial to me as opposed to the ordinary cycle of services. Fr. Joseph was puzzled by my statement and then he looked at me and said that there is nothing ordinary about ordinary time. He said that this season is the best time of all to become reacquainted and develop relationships with the saints whom we may not know very well. And developing relationships with them, we develop their love for Christ since Christ is glorified in His Saints. That really got me thinking and forced me to really reevaluate what I had said.

For the past four months, we have used the Triodion and the Pentecostarion service books. Now, we must put them away for the Paraklitike and the Octoechos, at least for another year. Sure, it's easy to get excited about the Great Lenten fast with its struggle and its austerity, to rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ and his 40 days on earth, culminating in the sending of the Holy Spirit. We go from fasting to feasting and then we seem to be in an in-between area. The Apostles' Fast is not as austere as the Great Lenten Fast and its variability of length from four days (new calendar) to four weeks makes it very easy to just cast aside as something not very important.

It's easy (or maybe just easier) to see the Christ in Christmas or in Pascha or in any other fasting and feasting season. The challenge is to embrace Christ just the same in a non-festal setting by honoring and venerating His Saints. As many people go to the gym at this time of year getting in shape for beach season, this is the perfect chance for us to pray the "ordinary" prayers with the "ordinary" saints to embrace what is extraordinary, the grace of our Lord, still poured out even on a regular old day.