During the first four days of Great Lent, at 17.00, the canon of St. Andrew of Crete was read at evening services. There are 250 songs in the canon. Each troparion ends with the refrain: “Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me.” The text of the canon is permeated with a sense of repentance for sins and covers the events of the entire Old Testament: from the fall of Adam and Eve to the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

Separation from God and longing for Him; feeling that you are defenseless before sin; understanding that only a righteous life and sincere prayer to the Lord can save you… According to Andrew of Crete, we have the only opportunity to return to paradise and reconnect with God — repentance.

The sermon of the senior priest of the cathedral Valery Voloshchuk at the end of the Great Canon on Tuesday of the first week of Great Lent: