Posted 65 days ago
Lent and Easter in the Orthodox Christian Tradition
By Denny Sellen, Seattle University
Lent, literally “spring” in Anglo-Saxon, is not simply a preparation for the Feast of Easter, but a time of rebirth. Lent is a time of spiritual house cleaning, in which self-examination, prayer, church attendance and fasting are stepped up from the average for the spiritual well-being of congregants.
Easter, commonly known as “Pascha” in the Eastern Tradition, is the greatest feast of the Church, since Resurrection is the crowning achievement of Christ’s Incarnation. The resurrection is not simply a “completion” of the Passion as in many Western Traditions, but rather, the Passion is a forerunner to the Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is second only in importance to Creation and hence, it is often times referred to in terms of an inaugural new creation of creation itself. With the Incarnation of Christ, the entirety of creation (down to the tiniest particle of an atom in the corner of the universe), receives again the possibility of doing what God has created it to do—reflect His image and through this, assist in bringing humanity to union with God.
We were created for the very purpose of union with God (known more formally as theosis), and all of our thoughts, actions, words, etc., are not only to be reflections of this, but to aid it as well. Lent is simply a periodic stepping up of the normal process, a time to further distance oneself from the contentment one finds in the pleasures of the body and clear the mind for further focus on Christ. Yet, it is not supposed to be like pushing back the tide—returning to our old ways and themes afterwards. Instead, each Lent, we allow ourselves to be stretched even further and further, past our comfort zones and into the presence of the Divine.
As individuals, we do not know what to do, though we have a yearning to do something, with the overflow of love we have inherited from God our Father. We know that we want to love God, but we do not know how to do this. The Church, the Living Body of Christ, the pillar and groundwork of Truth, teaches us how to focus the entirety of our beings on truly loving and serving God. Obedience to what the Church dictates in Lenten observances is crucial since it is all too easy to be either slack and thus ignore the spiritual nourishment provided by the great fast, or on the other hand to become far too zealous (beyond our long term abilities) and in the end, burn out in which case, we also deprive ourselves of that spiritual nourishment. During this time, obedience to God, the Church, and our spiritual father (a monastic priest who is highly experienced in the spiritual life and acts as a guide and compass in our spiritual lives) is stressed even more than usual since obedience is the denial of our own will in deference to that of God’s will (“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…”). Had Adam and Eve continuously deferred their wills to that of God, much trouble would have been avoided.
Lent is a total of fifty days in the Eastern Tradition. It begins with a preliminary ten-day period before the beginning of “Great Lent,” which is another forty days. (Unlike the Western Tradition, Great Lent includes Sundays.) During this time, Orthodox Christians abstain entirely from meat and dairy. In addition, they abstain from fish, oil, and alcohol as well with the exception of a handful of days. Total consumption of food is generally decreased, and some will eat only one small meal per day for significant portions of the fast. In monasteries, the fasting is very intense, usually inaugurated with a week of total abstinence from food—though, of course, liquids are allowed in a small measure.
During Lent, the usual Sunday Liturgy and Saturday evening vigil are served, as well as a specific liturgy known as the Pre-sanctified Gifts Liturgy on Wednesday and Friday evenings. Also, the famous service known as the Canon (hymn) of Repentance” written by Saint Andrew of Crete (740) is done several times during the first week of Great Lent and once again shortly before Easter.
Before Great Lent, there are five themed Sundays. The first is Zacchaeus Sunday, which reminds us that the desire to see God is the beginning of true change; Zacchaeus went to great lengths of climbing up a tree to see Christ. The second is the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee in which we are called to accept the fact that most of us, like the Publican, have lived lives far less than the standard God has given us. We are called to true repentance; it is not empty religious pietism that will save our souls but humility and deference to God. The Third Sunday is that of the Prodigal Son, in which we are to “come to ourselves” see ourselves as being in a state far from what God desires of us, as did the prodigal son. In turn, we return to God with repentance where we are welcomed with open arms. The fourth is the Sunday of the Last Judgment in which we recall that in addition to desiring to see God, seeing ourselves in a true light, and then returning to God with repentance, we show our love in our deeds to one another.1 In addition, we recall that God will judge us all; the cares and concerns of this life are fleeting, but God’s judgment is inevitable. Finally, there is Forgiveness Sunday during which we focus on Christ’s words: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses.”2 This Sunday marks the beginning of the forty days of Great Lent and reminds us that we are to begin the cycle not in gloom, but by forgiving others and so entering with as little excess baggage as possible.
Each Sunday of Great Lent possesses its own theme as well. The first is the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which marks the year when the last of the seven Ecumenical councils of the Orthodox Church took place and the iconoclasts were finally defeated.3 During this feast we remember that we are called to be obedient to the truth of the Church regardless of cultural consensus and pressure. The next Sunday is the Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas (d. 1359) who championed the idea that humans are able to become participants of the uncreated light of God’s divine glory even in this life. He argued that not just the soul undergoes purification, illumination, and theosis, but the entire human, including the body, since God created us in our entirety. The Veneration of the Cross is the third Sunday, which calls us to remember that not only is the crucifixion a historical reality, but that we are called by Christ to “take up our cross” and follow Him regardless of what we are going through at that time.4 The fourth Sunday is the Ladder of Divine Ascent. It refers to the work by Saint John Climacus (+606), which sets out in detail the various stages of spiritual warfare one undergoes in our struggle towards Christ. This day reminds us that “the kingdom of God is taken by force” and that “he who endures until the end will be saved.”5 The fifth is the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt, the repentant harlot. This day reminds us that no amount of sin and evil can keep a person from God so long as they truly repent; it is never too late to begin true repentance. Finally, Palm Sunday recalls Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem and begins the final week of His life prior to the crucifixion. This can also be interpreted as the triumphal entry of Christ into the soul of the believer. Each of these Sundays is representative of the stages and maturities we reach to, attain, and then use as building blocks in our spiritual struggle for union with Christ.
Following Palm Sunday is “Holy Week,” the week commemorating the betrayal, suffering, and death of Christ. During this week, Holy Thursday recounts what is commonly known in the West as the Last Supper, but in the East is the Mystical Supper because it is not the last, but rather the first and the reality of the Mystical Supper becomes present in each Eucharistic celebration. Holy Friday is the day on which Christ was crucified and died for us. During the service, the 12 Passion Gospels are read in strict solemnity. Holy Saturday is also a very solemn day, but ends with joy (because Christ harrowed hell) and anticipates the Resurrection. From Thursday evening until Sunday morning, no food and only limited liquid is taken in remembrance of the suffering and death of Christ.
On Sunday Christ rose from the dead, “destroying death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”6 The service begins early, usually around five in the morning and goes for several hours. Some parishes begin a vigil at 10:00 PM and carry it through to the Sunday morning liturgy, which they celebrate at two in the morning. We begin the service early because it was in the early morning that Christ’s tomb was found with the massive stone rolled away and empty. The Resurrection is central to the Christian’s faith in Christ as the Eternal Son and Logos of the Father. Christ redeems humanity, which had been sunk in sin and unable to break the hold of death. Through the resurrection of Christ’s humanity by His divinity, He shattered the power of death once and for all. With the hope of resurrection, the fear of death was destroyed, thus destroying the power Satan had on humanity through death.7 Death was powerful because it simply took people, but death was unable to take Christ and thus became powerless. Instead, Christ took death. In the Resurrection of Christ, death has lost face before all humanity, and no longer holds the same control through fear that it once did. Humanity was now able to hope in Christ, knowing that Satan is powerless and God is Lord.
This year, Orthodox Easter falls on April 27th, but we cannot forget that our whole lives are to be a celebration of the Resurrection of Christ; not just once a year, or once a week, but that our personal faith is the greatest celebration and a living icon of the Resurrection.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit: One God. Amen.
Further Reading
Father Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha
Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church: New Edition
“*Orthodox Church of America“:www.oca.org.
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