On March 22, on Friday of the first week of the Holy Forty Day Fast, Lenten services were held in the Trinity Cathedral. Like on preceding days, Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas presided at services.

The morning services included the Matins, Hours, Typicas and Vespers in conjunction with the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts.

At the Stikheras of Vespers before the Liturgy of the Pre- Sanctified Gifts glorify the memory of the Great Martyr Theodore the Tyro who appeared in a dream to the Archbishop Eudoxios of Constantinople and warned him of the Emperor Julian the Apostate’s plan to feed Christians with food sprinkled with idol-sacrificed blood. The saint commanded that kolyva (kutya) should be eaten on these days.

The prayer canon to the Great Martyr Theodore the Tyro with the blessing of kolyva was performed by Metropolitan Georgiy. At the end of the prayer service the kolyva consecrated in honor of St. Theodore the Tyro was distributed among the faithful.

At the end of the service, Hegumenia Sergia (Konkova), the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, thanked Metropolitan Georgiy for his visit and the archpastoral service: “Your Eminence, Vladyka Georgiy! On behalf of our monastic family, we heartily thank you for sharing with us the first week of Holy Forty Day Fast. We wish that the prayers offered during the first week of Great Lent will strengthen you throughout the Holy Forty Days and all the days of your life.”

Metropolitan Georgiy thanked Hegumenia Sergia, congratulated the communicants with receiving of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and addressed the faithful with hierarchical word: “By the grace of God, we are traversing through the first week of the Holy Forty Days of Great Lent. Today is the memory of the holy martyr Theodore the Tyro and the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. In the pagan world of the first centuries, Christians were persecuted and people who confessed Christ went to death voluntarily. The pagan world did not understand why the more martyrs they had, the more believers it made. Who do Christians believe? After all, the God Who was crucified on the tree doesn’t personify strength, but weakness. Christians said that Christ defeated death and rose from the dead, and whoever believes and keeps His commandments will become the partaker and the heir of eternal life. This is our faith, hope and trust.”