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ARTICLES
ARCHIVE MARCH, 2008 |
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Orthodox North continues a series of various articles of relevance to modern Christians. This month, we begin our annual Lenten fast. As Orthodox Christians, we struggle mightily against the temptations of the world all year around. Lent gives us a another chance to to turn away from the world and turn towards our God! May God give us strength!! [Note: All previous articles may be viewed from the "Articles Archive" page.] |
Fr. Vladimir Lecko |
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Our Need to Prepare Now: Spiritually, Mentally,
Emotionally and Physically “…for the honor of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially disparages it. Dost thou fast? Give me proof of it by works! Let not the mouth only fast but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the mouth too fast from disgraceful speeches and railing. For what doth it profit if we abstain from birds and fishes; and yet bite and devour our brethren?” (St. John Chrysostom, 4th century) The ancient Christian Church (the Orthodox Church) reminds us, its faithful, that it is that time in its yearly liturgical and sacramental cycle to prepare to look deeply into oneself to assess his/her spiritual condition and how it governs his/her life and influences the lives of others. Great Lent – or the Great Fast as it is known and practiced in the Church – was and is a spiritual journey in preparation for the Resurrection of Christ (Easter - Pascha). Its main intent being to humbly, honestly and sincerely search one’s soul (especially into its deepest and “darkest” corners) in an ascetically disciplined manner in order to see oneself as he/she truly is. By honestly recognizing one’s sins (early definition of sin being “missed the mark”) and through prayer, worship, reading of Scripture, almsgiving, and especially, forgiveness and love, change the direction of our lives (repentance or “metanoia” in Greek meaning a change of spirit; a turning around). All this leads to the experience of a spiritual resurrection of one’s Baptismal commitment (Romans 6:3-11) coinciding with Christ’s Resurrection (Easter - Pascha). |
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There is a powerful prayer of the ancient Church
attributed to a 4th century monk, St. Ephraim the Syrian, found in the
Lenten worship of the Orthodox Church that is well worth quoting: “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. Amen.” The above insight into Great Lent is our goal; both as individuals and as a community in Christ’s Church. The spiritual road to this goal lies in what we have entered: the “Preparation” Sundays (and the days in between them), to prepare ourselves spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically to embark on our Lenten journey on Sunday, March 13th at Forgiveness Vespers. It behooves us to attend the Lenten services (the Presanctified Liturgies, Akathistos services, Soul Saturdays as well as the Sunday Liturgies) during Great Lent, listen to the Gospel readings, as well as other readings and hymns found in these services, as guides to aid us in becoming well-focused on the meaning, goals and benefits of Great Lent. Finally, we need to prepare for and fulfill the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) before Pascha. The Call to Commemorate the Departed Fr. Alexander Schmemann On the eve of “Meat-fare” Saturday, the Church invites us to a universal commemoration of all those who have “fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection and life eternal.” This is indeed the Church’s great day of prayer for her departed members. To understand the meaning of this connection between Lent and the prayer for the dead, one must remember that Christianity is the religion of love. Christ left with His disciples not a doctrine of individual salvation but a new commandment, “that they will love one another,” and He added: “By this shall all know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Love, thus, in the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch, “unity of faith and love.” Sin is always absence of love and therefore, separation, isolation, war of all against all. The new life given by Christ and conveyed to us by the Church is, first of all, a life of reconciliation, of “gathering into oneness of those who were dispersed,” the restoration of love broken by sin. But then how can we even begin our return to God and our reconciliation with Him if in ourselves we do not return to the unique new commandment of love? Praying for the dead is the essential expression of the Church as love. Praying for them we meet them in Christ who is Love and who, because He is Love, overcomes death which is the ultimate victory of separation and lovelessness. In Christ there are no living and no dead because all are alive in Him. He is the Life and that Life is the light of man. Loving Christ, we love all those who are in Him; loving those who are in Him, we love Christ; this is the law of the Church and the self-evidence for her of the prayer of the dead. It is truly our love in Christ that keeps them alive because it keeps them “in Christ,” and how wrong – how hopelessly wrong – are those Western Christians who either reduce the prayer for the dead to a juridical doctrine of “merits” and “compensations” or simply reject it as useless. The great Vigil for the Dead and Meat-Fare Saturday serves as a pattern for all other commemorations of the departed and it is repeated on the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of Lent. (Excerpted from “Great Lent,” SVS Press) Fr. Vladimir Lecko is pastor of St.Andrew's Mission in
Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin. |
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