Lenten Saturdays, with the exception of the first, dedicated to the memory of the Holy Martyr Theodore Tyron, and the fifth, the Saturday of the Akathistos, are days of commemoration of the departed. And it would be good to restore this practice of one weekly universal commemoration of all Orthodox Christians departed this life, of their integration in the Eucharist which is always offered "on behalf of all and for all."
Each Sunday in Lent, although it preserves its basic meaning: that of the weekly feast of Resurrection, has its own special theme:
The First Sunday—Triumph of Orthodoxy—commemorates the victory of the Church over the last major heresy: Iconoclasm (842).
The second Sunday is dedicated to the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, a great Byzantine mystic and theologian of the 14th century, who centered his teaching on the high calling of man, on his "deification" in Christ.
The third Sunday is the Sunday "of the Veneration of the Holy Cross." At Matins the Cross is brought in a solemn procession from the sanctuary and placed in the center of the Church, where it remains for the whole week. This rite announces the approaching of the Holy Week, with its commemoration of Christ's Passion. A special veneration of the Cross takes place at the end of each service.
Fourth Sunday—St. John of the Ladder, one of the greatest Ascetics, who in his "Spiritual Ladder" described the various stages of spiritual life.
Fifth Sunday—St. Mary of Egypt, whose life is a most wonderful example of repentance.
On Saturdays and Sundays, days of Eucharistic celebration, the dark vestments are replaced by light ones, the Lenten melodies are not sung and the prayer of St. Ephrem with prostrations is omitted. The order of services is not of the Lenten type, yet fasting remains a rule and cannot be broken. Each Sunday night at Great Vespers a special Great Prokimenon (verses from a psalm) inaugurates a new week in the penitential effort.