On Monday, May 8th the faithful at Holy Trinity Monastery Celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. Mark the Evangelist in honor of his feast day. In the Orthodox Church there are three orders for the Divine Liturgy that are celebrated in every parish—those of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, and the Presanctified Liturgy of St. Gregory the Dialogist. But in addition to these three there are also several other, rarer Liturgies, characteristic of certain places or celebrated on certain days. In recent years the Liturgy of St. James has become increasingly known and celebrated; akin to it is that of St. Mark.

The Divine Liturgy of St. Mark is the ancient, traditional main Liturgy of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria. With the discovery of a papyrus from the end of the fourth century in 1928, it also has the most ancient documentation of any Orthodox Liturgy still in use. This is the Liturgy of the great hierarchs of Alexandria, whose names occur constantly in our Church calendar: Ss. Athanasius the Great, St. Cyrill of Alexandria, St. John the Almsgiver, and countless others. St. Anthony the Great and the Desert Fathers prayed at this Liturgy, and knew and loved its prayers.