On Wednesday, April 6, 2022, as every year, the Great Canon service was performed at the Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Savvas the Sanctified in Alexandria, presided over by Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa.
The Great Canon is a poem by Saint Andrew, Bishop of Crete. It is chanted in parts during the four Great Compline services of the First Week of Lent, while all of it is chanted at the Orthros of the Fifth Week of Lent, or together with the Small Compline on the evening of the previous week.
After the end of the Service, young African students of the Patriarchal School “Great Athanasius” were tonsured as rasophore monks by the Patriarch of Alexandria.
Every year young children with zeal and love for the Church arrive from every corner of Africa in Alexandria, hosted at the Holy Monastery of St. Savvas. There, with its moral and financial support, the Patriarchate tries to provide all the necessary supplies, which these young children need so that when they return to their homelands they can be beneficial to both their local church and society.
It is the future priests and teachers, to whom the Alexandrian Church aspires to pass on the orthodox songs of the Gospel to the black continent.
Students make a great and honorable struggle, learn the Greek language, and indulge in Orthodox theology, liturgical and ecclesiastical order, thus acquiring a multifaceted education, making them ready to staff the Patriarchate of Alexandria in various ways.
