Orthodox Russians are now embarked on the Great Lent, a fasting season that lasts for 7 weeks and ends with the feast of Easter, celebrated this year on 27 April. So, it has arrived again, a glorious period for Christians, associated with a renewal of the spirit. During these days, very special Lenten prayers and chants are sung in church, permeated with the sentiments of penitence: “Gracious God, have mercy on me!”
Of course, the purpose of the fasting is not only an abstention from meat and dairy products, for through this we restrain the flesh. To a great degree, Lent bears a spiritual significance for us. And let him turn away from evil and do good… these words of the Holy Writ very aptly sum up the essence of Lent. The scorpion can exist without food for longer than any other living creature on Earth, but, despite such “abstinence”, it still remains a scorpion.
The Holy Fathers say, “Have you aggrieved your near ones? Did you lament your fate to God in your trials and tribulations? Have you borne any grudge or hatred or envy towards someone? Are you vain and proud of your ostensible merits? Do you thank the Lord for all He has granted you? Is your heart, perhaps, ruled by vain earthly cares?” All true Christians should repent their sins and seek to alter their lives during the days of Lent.
Our contemporary Archimandrite Raphael wrote, “Some are perplexed, and say, ‘How can I ask for forgiveness, if a person has insulted me, offended me, displayed untoward cruelty in respect to me?’ But, the Lord said, Pardon, and you will be pardoned. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. (Luke 6:37-38). The greater an injustice you forgive, the greater the reward and grace you shall receive from God. Quite often, in response to this, you hear, ‘But, I was offended wrongfully!’ However, this is but our temporary forgetfulness. For have we not sinned, too, and not received due punishment for this? So, now, in this offence against us, we are paying in full for our own sins. Very illustrative is an example from the life of the St Ephraim of Syria, whose penitent prayer is heard in churches throughout the entire period of Lent…
Once, not far from the place where he resided, they discovered a dead person. The saint was suspected of murder, seized, and placed in a prison cell to await the verdict of the court, and, quite possibly, the death penalty. St Ephraim wept and asked God, ‘Is there justice in this world?’ Suddenly, he recalled how in childhood he was minding a herd of sheep. A pilgrim was passing by and the dogs attacked him. The little Ephraim could have called them off, but was hesitant in doing so, and the man was torn to pieces and died. So, then, the saint realised that his trials were his punishment for his childhood sin. And he exclaimed, ‘Oh, Lord! How righteous and just Thy ways are!’
The Lord sends us people who insult, offend, and use us wrongly as punishment for our sins, committed at some time in our lives”.
Lent, as a period of fasting preceding Easter, is an ancient Christian tradition which all Christians ought to observe, for it is bequeathed by the Lord. Lent gives us yet one more opportunity to reject our sinful and vain lives and renew our spirits, a chance to embrace our true moral and spiritual roots.
18 March 2008
Lyubov Tsarevskaya
Voice of Russia World Service
This is Russia
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=24445&cid=117&p=18.03.2008 (in Russian and English)
