The Weekly Cycle.

Every day of the week is consecrated to certain special memories, as follows: Sunday, to that of Christ’s rising from the dead; Monday, to honoring the holy Angels; Tuesday, to the memory of the Prophets and, among them, of the greatest among prophets, John the Forerunner; Wednesday is consecrated to the Cross of Christ, as being the day of Judas’ treason; Thursday, to the memory of the Apostles and all sainted bishops, and, in their number, of Nicholas, bishop of Myra in Lycia; Friday, to the Cross, as being the day of the Crucifixion; Saturday, to the Saints, especially to the Mother of God, and to the memory of all those who have died in the hope of resurrection and eternal life. The remembrance of these events and persons is recalled by certain prayers and hymns, different for each day of the week, which enter into the fixed daily cycle of services. Besides which, the services for Saturday and especially those for Sunday, are celebrated with greater solemnity, as being feast-day services; while the services of Wednesday and Friday are consecrated to penance, and are accompanied by severe fast all through the year, with the exception of six weeks in the year, when the fasts are suspended in honor of special memories. These weeks are called unbroken weeks, because they are not broken by fasts. They are the two weeks after Christmas day, the week of the Publican and the Pharisee, the week before the beginning of Lent, the Easter week and the week following the Pentecost. Such are the peculiar features of every day of the week, and thus is formed the weekly cycle of services.