Posts
Dear Parish Faithful,
The following piece on the meaning and purpose of Great Lent was written by our own Kevin Rains. Kevin wrote this for the inquirers that he and Anthony Flick are currently teaching about the Orthodox Faith in our present and ongoing Catechetical Class. (If anyone would like to join the class, please contact me or Kevin). It is an excellent summary of the many dimensions of Great Lent, that can be read by those just learning about Orthodoxy, and by those who have been immersed in the life of the Church for many years.\
- Fr. Steven
__________
Great Lent is here. In our recent catechumen class, I briefly touched on the significance of Great Lent and some of the core practices of this special season. It has rightly been called a “school of repentance.” This is such a special time of preparation and if we allow it, Great Lent will shape us in profound ways. Namely, it will prepare us to encounter the resurrected Christ on Great and Holy Pascha.
How do we embrace this time as fully as possible? I want to offer a number of ways, though not an exhaustive list. Some of the practices listed here will not be as helpful or even possible for some. As always consult Fr. Steven for how to most fully engage this season in your context.
First, we fast. I don’t think it is necessary to get too far into the weeds on how we fast as there is ample information on our website, the oca.org website and many other trusted sources online. Of course, we all also have the inherited wisdom of our Tradition and more closely to home, people in our very own parish who have observed Great Lent for many years. At a minimum, we fast from certain foods. Most Orthodox keep what is roughly equivalent to a vegan diet throughout the 40 days of Great Lent.
Second, we pray. There are many wonderful opportunities to pray more deeply both in private and with the gathered Body of Christ. A couple that come immediately to mind are the Canons of St. Andrew offered every night during the first week of Lent. This prayer-poem is among the most beautiful inheritances within our Tradition. And of course, there is the prayer of St. Ephraim which most will have memorized by the end of Lent due to how often it used in this season:
“O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages.”
Third, we read. There are some recent classics for those who have never gone through an Orthodox Great Lent that I can confidently commend to you. Father Schmemann’s Great Lent and The Lenten Spring by Father Thomas Hopko. Fr. Steven knew and studied under both of these great priests and theologians. Fr Steven also regularly recommends other books and, of course, you can’t go wrong by reading any of the Church Fathers. However, Fr. Schmemann’s and Fr. Hopko’s books are wonderful and approachable distillations of our Tradition as it relates to Great Lent.
Fourth, we love. Part of this love is expressed through generosity as we give to the poor. And Jesus calls us to the triad of fasting, praying and giving in his central teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Gospel of St. Matthew chapters 5-7 but especially chapter 6). We were also reminded last Sunday in the teaching of the Great Judgement from Matthew 25 that those who care for the suffering - the sick, the imprisoned, the stranger in need, the hungry, the thirsty - are those who are invited into a glorious future in God’s presence.
I’ve personally sensed a very fresh call to this practice. When Dn. Jonathan read and Fr. Steven spoke on this passage I heard it in a new way. I have often heard this passage as a threat to do more, to help more… or else! This time I heard in it an invitation. In a sense, we are like the students who are given the questions for our Final Exam ahead of time. We know what is coming and we are being told not only the question of the Final Exam but also the answer! How will our fate be determined at the end of time? By how much we loved and cared for those in need around us.
The link between repentance - the major through-line of Great Lent - and caring for those in need is clearly reinforced in the teachings of John the Forerunner. John came announcing “Repent for the kingdom of God is near.” The crowd who heard this asked John, what should we do? In essence, they asked, “How do we repent?” John’s answer: ““If you have two coats,” he replied, “give one to the poor. If you have extra food, give it away to those who are hungry.” Sound familiar?
John the Forerunner’s answer is very much in line with not only Christ’s invitation in the Last Judgement (Matthew 25) but also in the prophets that preceded him who spoke often of God’s desire for justice - caring for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed. One example among hundreds is Isaiah’s famous passage.
Isaiah chapter 58 opens with God’s people declaring that they have repented and fasted. They are essentially asking God, “Now, what more do you want?” To which God replies with the now-familiar theme:
“No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help.” (Isaiah 58.6-7)
Friends, may we fast for God’s glory, our formation in the way of Christ, and in ways that serve our neighbor! In essence, Lent is a fresh opportunity for us to learn to “Love God and our neighbor as ourselves.”
