On 27 February 2012, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the canon of Saint Andrew the Cretan, at the Patriarchal Cathedral. The canon service began at 16.00 hours, in the Patriarchal Cathedral, in the presence of hundreds of faithful. Because we are during the Lent period, the Primate of our Church wears black cassock exceptionally, keeping the white kamelaykon, the well known insignia of the patriarchal dignity.

In the sermon delivered, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel mentioned that our life must be lived in accordance with the will of God.

“This rich beautiful canon is at the same time a Bible meditation and a prayer of repentance. The repenting soul weeps because he did not follow the bright example of the righteous ones but the slavery of the passions present in many sinners who did not repent, while others were saved just because they repented. The prayer of the tax collector God, have mercy for me, the sinner becomes in the Canon of Saint Andrew the Cretan the rhythm and breath of repentance in the insistent lyrics Have mercy God, have mercy for me!, showed His Beatitude, as Trinitas Radio station informs us.

The Great Canon is sung in the Church at the beginning of the Lent, just to show that all people need repentance, added the Patriarch of Romania.

“Baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Christians renew the Sacrament of Baptism through the tears of repentance. They die for sin and spiritually resurrect for Christ. The witnessing of the right faith through doxology is closely connected to the rediscovering of the right living through repentance. The mercy of the one essence, life giving and undivided Holy Trinity is the foundation and power that helps the repentance doors become the Doors of the Kingdom of Heaven open in the hearts of those who want salvation and eternal life”.

Read during the first four days of the first week of the Lent and completely on the Thursday of the fifth week, the Great Canon becomes a corrector and guide in our life due to the high thoughts that it conveys, to the themes needed in everybody’s life (lowliness, repentance, feelings of the heart), as well as to its depth.

The content of the Great Canon is a spiritual one, a deep dialogue of the sinful man with his own conscience, which draws his attention to the sins committed. One can notice the alternation of two plans: the sinful soul who repents his sins because he did not follow the way of the righteous ones, but the large way of the mistake which shouts from the bottom of one’s heart: “Forgive me! I sinned in front of Heaven and to You!”, and that of the human beings who have reached divinity, through repentance.