Tending Time in Lent

Dear Parish Faithful,

Here is a "guest meditation" from our former parishioner, Dr. Nicole M. Roccas. It is a very thoughtful, insightful and well-articulated article on how Lent challenges the very way we use - or misuse - the gift of time. I hope you will take the time to read through it carefully.

Nicole recently had her new book Time and Despondency published by Ancient Faith Press. I would highly recommend it.

- Fr. Steven

Tending Time in Lent

 

By Nicole Roccas, Another City, March 13, 2018:

As I prepared for my first confession some years ago, I was given a rubric that I still follow. It asks me to reflect on how I’ve sinned against myself, others, and God. If nothing comes to mind, I’m directed to consider the ways I’ve fallen short of the ten commandments, the beatitudes, the virtues enumerated in the Prayer of St. Ephrem, etc.

As helpful as these guides are, however, they risk overlooking a quintessential dimension of life: the experience of time. Like the beatitudes or ten commandments, thinking about the ways we use and misuse time provides an additional lens to perceive our struggle against the passions.

In my experience, this lens is extremely helpful. We can immediately identify with the grief of a wasted hour, day, or lifetime, even when we are too out of touch to grieve other aspects of our sinful condition.

Personally, I have found it beneficial to consider my interaction with time parallel to the rubric I’ve mentioned above: How have I wasted or misused time in relation to myself, to others, and to God?

An Introduction to 'Time and Despondency'

Dear Parish Faithful,

In yesterday's post-Liturgy discussion, we were treated to a short, but excellent presentation by our former parishioner, Dr. Nicole Roccas. Nicole spoke of her forthcoming book that will be titled Time and Despondency.  In fact, she actually read the first couple of pages of her Introduction for us yesterday.

It was all quite intriguing, and based on these few pages I am now eagerly anticipating the release of her book sometime next year.  A fruitful discussion ensued as Nicole was able to take on a few good questions in our short time frame.  In her book, she will be dealing with the phenomenon of despondency, and how that universal affliction relates to time.  Thus, though she will be dependent for her analysis of despondency as found in the penetrating insights of the desert dweller and writer, Evagrius of Pontus, she will make a new contribution to that analysis by relating it to the concept of time - the subject of her doctoral dissertation - and, of course, placing her analysis within a contemporary setting that will speak to us today.

This brought to mind a former meditation on that theme that I wrote a few years back (2012), based on a book review of the theme of despondency, which is one of many translations of the Gk. word akedia (Latin, accedie; rendered in English as acedia), almost a technical term that describes one of the many "passions" that can afflict us today as it did the early Christian ascetics. (This was a Lenten meditation, but this theme is not restricted to a particular liturgical season).

Reading through this meditation, I believe that Nicole and I are interpreting akedia it in a very similar way, so if you missed her discussion yesterday, perhaps some of the ideas she presented  can also be found here.  I believe that her use of the term despondency works better over-all than the word depression. It is my humble opinion that if anyone believes that he or she is not suffering from akedia/despondency on some level, then that person is further suffering from self-delusion.

Acedia and Us and Our Lenten Effort

Cycles of the Orthodox Calendar (and why they matter)

Dear Parish Faithful,

I just received this notice from our former parishioner Nicole Roccas:

I wanted to pass this along to you, you may want to share it with people. It's an infographic I made about the cycles of the Orthodox year. It basically explains some of the early history of our calendar, and why this is beneficial for our faith. It's something I worked on over the summer.

Some of you may remember Nicole better by her maiden name of Lyon.  Nicole was part of our parish before marrying her husband Basil and moving to Toronto, Canada. (Nicole and Basil were first "betrothed" here in our parish, before their "crowning" in Toronto).  Nicole's first encounter with the Orthodox Church was in our parish, when she attended a Lenten retreat with Fr. Thomas Hopko as our guest speaker. Following that Retreat, she became an enthusiastic inquirer, and was eventually catechized and chrismated in our parish. There is more information about Nicole and her current work at her blog reached by the link below.

Her infographic is both fascinating and highly informative.  Please give it your attention, as it will prove to illuminate our liturgical year for you.  You are all familiar with my phrase "the battle of the calendars."  Here, then, is an excellent introduction to the Church calendar, a good balance if you are more familiar with the secular calendar.  The calendar is about time - we can almost say about the "mystery of time" - and how time is both "redeemed" and "sanctified" in the Church.  Thus, the Church calendar is not simply a succession of dates and commemorations, but a profound revelation of the meaning of time as it is now directed toward the Kingdom of God.

Cycles of the Orthodox calendar (and why they matter)