
The interior of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. Photo by Tzim78, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9: Although the Christian Lent—a preparation period before Easter—is still weeks away, Eastern Orthodox Christians are beginning a pre-Lenten spiritually reflective period today, in a span known as the Lenten Triodion.
With a focus on humility, this initial Sunday recalls the story from Luke 18:10-14, about two men Jesus described as they prayed. One man was proud of his righteousness and showed off as he invoked God’s blessing; the other man was a “tax collector,” sometimes called a “Publican.” According to Luke, this man “stood off at distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, ‘God have pity on me! I am such a sinner.’” Many believe that Jesus’s point, in this story, was that people should approach prayer with the utter humility of the tax collector.
TRIODION: SUNDAYS LEADING TO GREAT LENT
In this year’s Eastern Orthodox Christian (Gregorian) calendar, Feb. 16 is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, emphasizing the need for loving forgiveness; Sunday, Feb. 23 is the Sunday of the Last Judgment. Sunday, March 2 follows, with Forgiveness Sunday, and Great Lent commences the following day—on Clean Monday.
Did you know?
The name “Triodion” is the title of the liturgical guidebook followed in the weeks leading up to Great Lent.

Triodion is a liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. The book contains the propers for the fasting period preceding Pascha (Easter) and for the weeks leading up to the fast. This particular page comes from a 1491 Triodion, published in “old church Slavonic” in Kraków, Poland.