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The Holy and Great Tuesday

At Bridegroom Orthros on Great and Holy Tuesday the Church sings the following hymn by St. Kassiane: O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy divinity, fulfilled the part of a myrrh-bearer; and with lamentations she brought sweet-smelling oil of myrrh to Thee before Thy burial. ‘Woe is me,’ she said, ‘for night surrounds me, dark and moonless, and stings my lustful passion with the love of sin. Accept the fountain

Renewal (Bright) Tuesday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

Bright Tuesday Commemoration of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos (also April 9). Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene: these saints were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. For nearly 500 years, they were forgotten by the people of Lesbos, but “the righteous Judge… opened the things that were hid” (2 Macc. 12:41). For centuries the people of Lesbos would