Great Lent officially begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha ( Ash Wednesday is not observed in Eastern Christianity ) and runs for 40 contiguous days, concluding with the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday of the Sixth Week.

Saint Gregory Dialogus, who is credited with compiling the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

However, since it is considered especially important to receive the Holy Mysteries ( Holy Communion ) during this season, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts — also called the Liturgy of St. Gregory the Dialogist — may be celebrated on weekdays.

Because the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on weekdays, it is replaced with the Typica, even on days when the Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated.

When the feast day of the patron saint of the parish church or monastery falls on a weekday of Great Lent, there is no Liturgy ( other than the Presanctified ), but fish is allowed at the meal.

Those who have the strength are encouraged to fast completely, eating only on Wednesday and Friday evenings, after the Presanctified Liturgy.

At the end of the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday ( since, liturgically, the day begins at sunset ) a special canon to St. Theodore, composed by St. John of Damascus, is chanted.

The next day ( Thursday morning ) a special Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated, and the fast is relaxed slightly ( wine and oil are allowed ) as consolation after the long service the night before.

Since during Holy Week Vespers is usually joined to either the Presanctified Liturgy or the Divine Liturgy, and since the faithful must observe a total fast from all food and drink before receiving Holy Communion, it is celebrated in the morning ( Vespers on Good Friday is an exception to this, usually being celebrated in the afternoon ).

The Prayer of Saint Ephrem is said for the last time at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy on Holy and Great Wednesday.

Ordination of a bishop, priest, deacon or subdeacon must be conferred during the Divine Liturgy ( Eucharist )— though in some churches it is permitted to ordain up through deacon during the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts — and no more than a single individual can be ordained to the same rank in any one service.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts always is similarly combined with vespers, with the first half of Vespers ( up to and including the Old Testament readings ) making up a significant portion of the service.

On Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated, at which the faithful may receive Holy Communion from the reserved Holy Mysteries.

In many churches, especially Greek Orthodox, a service of Anointing ( Holy Unction ) is held on Wednesday evening, following the Presanctified Liturgy.

* Morning — Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour, Typica, Vespers ( sometime with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts or, on the Annunciation, the Liturgy of Saint john Chrysostom )

Basil the Great, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified.

* The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts ( which has no Consecration of the Gifts but distributes the Holy Mysteries from a Lamb sanctified in advance, always as a Vespers ( Liturgies on fast days always being served in conjunction with the office of vespers ) is celebrated only on certain weekdays of Great Lent: on Wednesdays, Fridays and any of the more important feast days which may occur ( however, if the Great Feast of the Annunciation occurs on a weekday of Great Lent, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated ).

Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday and the communion distributed at the Celebration of the Lord's Passion is consecrated on Holy Thursday, hence the pre-1955 name " Mass of the Presanctified ".

The Presanctified Liturgy is therefore celebrated instead.

On the previous Sunday, additional Lambs ( Hosts ) are prepared and consecrated, enough for all of the Presanctified Liturgies that will be celebrated in the coming week.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated on Wednesdays and Fridays during Great Lent and is a Vespers service combined with the distribution of Holy Communion that had been consecrated the previous Sunday.

However, on Wednesdays and Fridays the faithful may receive Holy Communion from the reserved Mysteries ( Sacrament ) at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

In order to provide for these services, on the Sunday before, the priest must cut out two extra Lambs ( one for Wednesday, and one for Friday ), or however many Presanctified Liturgies there will be that week.

The day begins with the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy on Tuesday afternoon.

On this day members of the church receive Holy Unction after receiving Holy Communion at the Presanctified Liturgy on Wednesday evening.

Greek-style prosphora seal, for one large loaf: in the center is the Lamb ( liturgy ) | Lamb, to the viewer's left is the Panagia, to the right are the Nine Ranks, and on the top and bottom are extra Lambs for Presanctified.

On Sundays during Great Lent, the priest will consecrate extra Lambs ( in the same manner as on Holy Thursday ), for use during the Presanctified Liturgy.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was first documented by Gregory Dialogos ( 540 – 604 ), who had been the papal legate to Constantinople.

On all days of the holy fast of Lent, except on the Sabbath Saturday, the Lord's Day, and the holy day of the Annunciation, the Liturgy of the Presanctified is to be served ( Canon 52 ).

Thus, for instance, there is a similar penitential rite used by the Roman Catholic Church on Good Friday, officially called the rite of Commemoration of the Lord's Passion, but informally known, especially among Catholics who celebrate the Liturgy in accordance with the Tridentine discipline, as Mass of the Presanctified.

If there will be a reading from the Gospel during Vespers that day, as occurs during Holy Week or the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the deacon will carry the Gospel Book instead of the censer.

Then, on the day of the Presanctified Liturgy, during the Kathisma ( reading from the Psalter ), one of the consecrated Lambs is placed on the diskos ( paten ) and unconsecrated wine is poured into the chalice.

At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, some of the stichera from the previous night's Matins ( Lauds and the Aposticha ) are repeated at Lord, I have cried ( see Vespers ).

At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, some of the stichera from the previous night's Matins ( Lauds and the Aposticha ) are repeated at Lord, I have cried ( see Vespers ).

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts does not contain the Words of Institution, since it is actually a Vespers service at which the faithful receive from the Reserved Mysteries ( Sacrament ) which were Consecrated the Sunday before ( hence the name: " Pre-sanctified ").

Wine is placed in the chalice at the Presanctified Liturgy, but it is not consecrated.

Also in the Russian tradition, whichever of the ministers is to consume the remaining elements at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy partakes of the bread alone when he receives Communion at that service and does not drink from the chalice so that he does not break his pre-Communion fast.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches, the pyx is the small " church tabernacle " which holds the Lamb ( Host ) that is reserved for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Great Lent.

During the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts ( wherein Communion is received from the reserved Sacrament ), when the consecrated Holy Mysteries are brought out during the Great Entrance, everyone makes a full prostration — even the chanters stop singing and prostrate themselves while the entrance is made in silence.

Before the reform of Pope Pius XII, only the priest received Communion in the framework of what was called the " Mass of the Presanctified ", which included the usual Offertory prayers, with the placing of wine in the chalice, but which omitted the Canon of the Mass.

( Before the reform of Pope Pius XII, only the priest received Communion in the framework of what was called the " Mass of the Presanctified ", which included the usual Offertory prayers, with the placing of wine in the chalice, but which omitted the Canon of the Mass.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was once used in the West Syrian Rite, the liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, but has fallen into disuse in most of the Syriac Orthodox communion.