The Season of Great Lent is the longest and strictest Fasting season of the Ecclesiastical calendar. It was in the 3rd century AD that Lent was initiated to which the fast of the Passion-Week, which was practised very long time earlier, was added in the 2nd quarter of the 4th century AD. With the addition of the Passion-Week, Lent therefore lasts for seven weeks. This Great period is called Tessaracoste (Quadragesimal), which comes from the word forty (40 days of fasting). The Institution of the 40 days of Lent precedes the Resurrection of Christ’s feast of Easter.
Lent is a period of preparation for the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. It is the living symbol of man’s entire life which is to be fulfilled in his own resurrection from the dead with Christ. Indeed, it is a time of renewed devotions, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is particularly a time of forgiveness, which is the ending of a resentment, indignation or anger when an offence has either subjectively or objectively occurred. The Lord said, “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, (Matthew 6:14). Forgiveness has the power to set us free of every past hence it is centered on Love which enables us to store up treasures in heaven, (Matthew 6:20).
Lent is not just a change of diet and the compliance with all of ecclesiastical regulations concerning fasting. That would be, understanding Fasting as an end in itself, thus, required by God and carrying in itself its merit and reward. But Orthodoxy maintains that, Fasting is but a means, one among many, towards a higher goal – the spiritual renewal of man, his return to God, true repentance and therefore true reconciliation. The Church spares no effort in revealing and warning us against a hypocritical and pharisaic type of fasting, as against the reduction of religion to mere external obligations. Christianity is above all; a religion of Forgiveness with no other content rather than Love and it is primarily the renewal of that Love, a return to it and a growth in it that we seek in the Great Lent.
In the Orthodox concept, Great Lent is not a season of morbidity and gloominess. On the contrary, it is a time of joyfulness and purification. It is our repentance that God desires and not just our remorse. We sorrow for our sins, but we do so in the joy of God’s mercy. We mortify our flesh, but we do so in the joy of our resurrection into life everlasting. That is to say, we make ready for the resurrection during Great Lent both Christ’s Resurrection and our own too. Thus, the very mystery of true happiness is revealed.
Great Lent is a “workshop of Holiness”, where the character of the faithful is spiritually uplifted and strengthened. Where his life is rededicated to the principles and ideals of the Gospel; where the faith culminates in deep conviction of life; where apathy and disinterest turn into vigorous activities of faith and good works. Perfectly stated, Lent is not for the sake of Lent itself, even as fasting is not for the sake of fasting too.
But rather, as noted above, they are means and not an end itself, by which and for which the individual person prepares him or herself to reach for, accept and attain the calling of his saviour. Therefore, the significance of Great Lent is highly appraised as it constantly and consistently improves the standard of faith and morals of her Militant members. The deep intent of the believer during the Great Lent is, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
Fasting and prayer makes us more sensitive to God’s personal presence. At important times of their lives, the Prophets all fasted and prayed. And so did Jesus, the Apostles and the Church Fathers. When the Jews under captivity in Babylon were released to go back to Jerusalem around two and half millennia ago, they declared fasting to ensure God’s protection in their journey (Ezra 8:21 and 22). In our transient journey to eternity, our ultimate trust and security is to be in God who strengthens us to conquer all kinds of temptations, accusations and intimidations. At this year’s Lenten Fast, Christians nation-wide are enjoined to collectively seek the presence of God more deeply so as to attract His divine protective power against all sorts of intimidations and persecution.
The Lenten fast and penitence should be undertaken willingly and not by compulsion. Apostle Paul says, “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). It is the human tendency to fight always, but its proper orientation is not against each one of us or even other people. But rather, against evils within us and evils in the society.Conquering the passions like hatred, avarice, jealousy, greed, lust, corruption, and favoritism, etc, all through the Lent.
Rev. Fr. Chrysostomos Onyekakeyah is Orthodox Pastor of St. Christophers’ AwoIdemili Parish, Imo state.
