On March 25, Wednesday of the 5th week of Lent, at the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Parish in the Municipality of Arakan, Philippines, the statutory Lenten services—the Hours, Pictorial Services and Vespers with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, were celebrated. Matins was served the previous evening.
The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was celebrated for the first time in the North Cotabato Deanery.
It was headed by the district dean and parish rector, Priest Moses Cahilig, with all the clergy of the deanery.
On Wednesday evening, the clergy of the same parish celebrated Matins with the reading of the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete and the Life of St. Mary of Egypt (“The Standing of Mary”).
The services were conducted in Cebuano.
The translation of Lenten liturgical texts into Cebuano was carried out at the missionary center of Blessed Matrona of Moscow in Davao City.
