The Beauty of Great Lent

Introduction

Lent is a season in which the Church calls the believer to wakefulness. Through prayer, fasting, repentance, and Scripture, we are slowly brought face to face with the reality of God and how we are to relate to him. Throughout Great Lent, the Orthodox Church places before us readings centered on creation, prophecy, and salvation, drawing especially from Genesis, Isaiah, Wisdom literature, and the Gospels. These readings are not random, but deeply intentional.

Below are my own reflections on particular Scriptures of each Sunday throughout Lent. The exceptions to this are the Sunday of Forgiveness, which directly precedes the official beginning of Great Lent, and Lazarus Saturday, which directly precedes Holy Week. Together these weeks form a spiritual journey through the ministry, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ. These realities are not merely remembered as past events, but participated in through the life of the Church.

Sunday of Forgiveness (March 6th)

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. [12] The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Romans 13:11-12)

“Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. [2] For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.” (Romans 14:1)

This first passage is a sober warning against idleness and a call toward (nepsis) watchfulness. Being a Christian means living in reality, not partly but fully. It is in this mode of life that the Christian realizes that we must be attentive lest we fall asleep and wake up before the judgment seat of God unprepared. We are called to wake from our slumber, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling for the sanctification of our souls, which is God’s will for our life. As the morning prayers of the Church say, “The Judge shall come suddenly, and the deeds of each shall be exposed. But at midnight we cry out with fear: Holy, Holy, Holy art thou O God: through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.”

The second passage is a call toward fasting that sanctifies rather than condemns. All things in life either deepen our communion with God or deepen our communion with the flesh and the devil, and this includes fasting. Just as knowledge can be a means to humility it can also be a means to arrogance and pride. Likewise, a fast that sanctifies starts, continues, and ends with forgiveness and prayer. If we do not pursue fasting in this manner, the fathers of the Church are clear that fasting without prayer is the fasting of the demons. The Sunday of Forgiveness rightly prepares the believer’s heart for the fasting season. During the end of the service every believer bows to one another, asking, “Forgive me,” and the other responds saying, “God forgives both you and me.”

Week 1 Sunday of Orthodoxy (March 13th)

[24] By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, [25] choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, [26] esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. [32] And what more shall I say?  (Hebrews 11:24-26, 32)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” [49] Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” [50] Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” [51] And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:49-51)

The first passage reminds the believer of the paradox of the Christian faith, and this paradox could be summarized in Christ’s words, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”(Matthew 10:39). In Christianity, we crucify our flesh to resurrect our soul and body; we die to self to live for one another, we lead through humble service, and we live not for the kingdom of this world, but for the kingdom to come. Moses, following this model, chose to suffer great affliction, forsaking the treasures in Egypt and seeking heavenly treasures, all of which are realized in the life of Christ.

The second passage brings us back to the ministry of Christ where Christ tells of the great promises that were yet to come. He calls Nathaniel, and Nathaniel responds by affirming Christ as the Son of God. The Son of God’s response is astounding: Nathaniel, who was seen under the fig tree, will now see with his own eyes the heavens open up and descend upon the Son of Man. This imagery is of Christ being the mediator between God and man. The heavens through Christ now are united to the earth just as Christ Himself unites God with man by taking on flesh. This is a prefigurement of the end time reality of the new heavens and new earth where heaven and earth meet as one, where there is neither pain, nor sorrow, nor suffering. The Sunday of Orthodoxy relates to this as it celebrates the victory of the 7th Ecumenical Council in Nicea (787 A.D). This council condemns iconoclasm and affirms iconodulia, thereby affirming the reality that God has taken on flesh for its redemption, that we may look upon His image and strive to imitate it.

Week 2 Sunday: St. Gregory Palamas (March 20th)

[10] And: “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. [11] They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment;  But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? [14] Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? [2:1] Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  (Hebrews 1:1–2:1) Relate this to Jesus Prayer and Palamas 

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? [9] Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? [10] But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, [11] “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” [12] Immediately he arose…” (Mark 2:8-12)

In week 2 we are reminded firstly of God’s omnipotence and sovereignty. Hebrews first calls us to these realities as they are present in the Father, however the other passage continues to bring out the divinity of Christ. He asks, “by what creature has God subdued all enemies under his feet?” This calls to mind Psalm 2:6-8,12:

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

He follows this by again calling us to a common theme of Lent: earnestly heeding to the things we have heard lest we drift away—namely those things which work for our salvation and deepen our union with God. St. Gregory Palamas, a fourteenth century Saint, reminds us of the practical and theological ways in which we do this. Palamas successfully defended the essence-energies distinction, which affirms that God’s essence is above being, in fact it supersedes it as He Himself is above all created things. Yet God’s energies are the uncreated realities present in creation through which humankind participates in divine life, that we may be one with the Father as the Son is one with the Father (John 17:21). The call to “heed” is therefore not merely intellectual, but participatory. Through prayer and repentance one attains union with God. One way in which the believer practically does this is by reciting the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner,” which Palamas cited ceaselessly.

In the second passage, St. Paul applies the realities only present in God to Christ, namely authority over all creation. This reveals that God the Son is not created but rather eternally begotten, therefore making Him one with the Father. The reality of Christ’s divinity is made explicit as He demonstrates this power in His ministry. A paralyzed man lies helpless and restless. Christ comes to him and not only forgives his sins, but raises the man from his former state. What mere man has the authority to do this? What man raises the paralyzed, heals the sick, raises the dead, and casts demons out? Surely no mere man can do this, yet Christ as the God-man has done so, continues to, and will continue to do so. 

Week 3 Veneration of the Cross (March 27th)

[14] Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  (Hebrews 4:14-15)

[34] When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. [35] For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:34-35)

Week 3 reflects on certain characteristics of Christ’s priestly station and the paradoxical nature of the Christian life. Firstly, we are reminded that God through Christ not only forgives and redeems sin, but understands the very struggles which we go through. This reminds me of the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, “For that which is not taken up (or assumed) is not healed.” God assumed human nature to redeem it, and by this He experienced the weaknesses and temptations that all men face, yet He did not fall into them. A beautiful picture is painted: that which is assumed is not only healed but understood, thereby presenting us with the sacred image of God intimately knowing our wounded lives. He walks with us—hand-in-hand—with great care, compassion, and intimate knowledge of what and who we are. This makes the Christian religion expressly unique. Christianity is the only religion on the earth in which the Deity understands what it means to suffer, what it means to be human, and ultimately what it means to redeem our sad realities. As the second passage makes clear, it is through losing our life that we find it in Christ. Moreover, it is through self-martyrdom that we attain eternal life and through service that we receive fulfillment, and ultimately through death to sin that we attain divine life.

Week 4 Sunday: St. John Climacus (April 3rd)

[17] Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, [18] that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. (Hebrews 6:17-18)

 [28] And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” [29] So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:28-29)

Here we are presented with the comforting reality of God’s unchanging nature. God does not change as creation does because He is complete in Himself. Therefore He is unable to change as He has no need to. It is by this reality that all of God’s promises come to fruition, including the defeat of the enemy and all demonic powers. 

In the passage above, Christ casts out a demon that the disciples were not able to. He ends this dramatic scene by stating, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” This reminds the believer in the midst of Lent to be steadfast in the practice of prayer and fasting. These passages of victory over various illnesses also tell us that Christ is the physician of all sickness. Whether we are paralyzed in our sin as the man of Bethesda was paralyzed, held captive by the enemy as this boy was held captive by the demons, or dead in our sins as Lazurus was dead in the tomb, Christ brings us life. St. John Climacus relates this reality to fasting here: 

Fasting is a struggle against nature and the removal of all that stimulates the palate, the inhibition of lust, the excision of evil thoughts, liberation from dreams, purity in prayer, the radiance of the soul, the defense of the mind, liberation from blindness, the gateway of remorse, humble sorrow, joyful remorse, a break from speaking, an agent for stillness, a watch for obedience, alleviation of sleep, health of body, a means to dispassion, a clearing of sins, a door to Paradise and its joy.

Week 5 Sunday: St. Mary of Egypt (April 10th)

[13] For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, [14] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14)

[33] “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; [34] and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” (Mark 10:33-34)

This week is special to me as it is the week I was Christmated. Not only this, but St. Mary of Egypt was the first Saint in the Orthodox Tradition that drew me to the Church, and the first icon that I bought. How special it is that the Saint which drew me to Orthodoxy would be the one that I commemorate on the day I joined the Church! I find this to be a confirmation of God’s caring providence upon my life.

In Hebrews, St. Paul contrasts the ritual cleansing of the Old Testament sacrificial system with the conscience-cleansing sacrifice of Christ. St. Mary not only believed this reality, but lived it. In her blessed life, she defeated the passion of lust and fornication. Through prayer, fasting, and self denial, her conscience was cleansed from dead works to a life that served the living God who gave her abundant life. 

How was this accomplished? This is told in the second passage. Christ, who is life, defeated death by death, thereby granting life to those in the tombs of sin and death to those who repent and trust in him. It is through His three day resurrection that we are resurrected to life. 

Week 6: Lazarus Saturday (April 16th)

[28] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. [29] For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

[24] Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” [25] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (John 11:24-25)

The last week before Holy Week we are prepared for a prefigurement of Christ’s resurrection. Lazarus, who was dead in the tomb, is now brought to life. It is through this miracle that Martha says to Christ that she knows that she too will rise on the last day. Christ responds by saying that whoever believes in Him shall see life. This draws us to the latter half of the first passage where God is described as a consuming fire. As we see in this life, fire can be a source of life or destruction. For example, fire can refine gold and bring life to it, or it can reduce paper to ash. The difference is not in the fire, but in what meets it. Our relationship to God is the same. It is our posture before His holiness that determines whether we experience life or death. Through repentance and grace, that same light that burns paper to ash will refine us like gold.