02 — The Great Canon

The heart of the collection: the Great Canon of Repentance, the longest canon in the Byzantine tradition (about 250 troparia across its nine odes), in which the penitent’s own soul is addressed, exhorted, and held up against the whole sweep of Scripture — every figure from Adam to the Good Thief becoming a mirror of the conscience. This section treats both the work itself and its place in the Lenten services, where it is sung in four parts across the first week and entire on the Thursday of the fifth.

This section is the flagship. It presents the Great Canon as a text (its structure, its method, its biblical sweep) and as a liturgical event (Clean Week and the “Standing of St. Mary of Egypt”), citing throughout to ode and troparion against the Triodion.

Files

File Description
the-canon-of-repentance.md The Great Canon itself — its ~250 troparia, the soul’s dialogue with itself, the sweep of biblical examples from Adam through the Gospel, the structure of the nine odes
its-place-in-lent.md Sung in four parts on the first four nights of Great Lent (Clean Week), and entire on the Thursday of the fifth week — the “Standing of St. Mary of Egypt”

See Also