SPARKLIGHT - ST. BARBARA GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
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SparkLight
Enlightening Monthly Updates
Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church
April 2021
Illumination by the Spirit is the endless end of every virtue.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has been a blessing to continue to see so many will be able to participate in the services via a direct
of our parishioners attending church services in feed on our large TV and Projection Screen. We
person. With the continuing roll-out of Covid realize that this is not ideal. Please recognize that
Vaccines and the slow easing of State Regulations we all desire to gather as we have in the past – but
we will no longer require reservations for Church we must exercise our patience a little longer. Still,
Services beginning April 1st. we are in a much better position than we were last
year at this time, when only three individuals were
Capacity limits for religious gatherings have been permitted to be present in the Church.
lifted by the State of Connecticut although we must
still adhere to all other health and safety measures, Please continue to only use the front entrance doors
including social distancing and face coverings for in the Narthex to enter the Church for Liturgical
individuals over the age of five. Services. As you approach the doors, you will be
greeted by a Parish Council Member, who will
In order to comply with these on-going regulations, provide you with a copy of the Sunday Bulletin
we will open up seating in other areas of the Church and place your name on the list for contact tracing,
(Education Center Hall and Grand Ballroom) in if needed. We will continue the practice of only
order to fully accommodate all who wish to attend allowing one family at a time to enter the Narthex in
Services at the Church. order to prevent over-crowding.
Seating will be done on a first-come / first-seated Once inside please follow the guidance of the
basis. Meaning that we will seat parishioners in the Parish Council – and they will guide you in regard
Church Proper first, until the Church itself is ‘full’ to to where you may sit. Please note that you may not
its allotted capacity. Afterwards, parishioners will be able to sit in the pew that you may have been
be directed to proceed to the Education Center Hall accustomed to sit. Understand that we are doing
first, and then to the Grand Ball Room where they our best to accommodate all of our parishioners
Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church - 480 Racebrook Road - Orange, Connecticut 06477
to enjoy the services in a safe manner. (We will set since they are responsible for monitoring capacity,
aside pews in the Church for those families who are spacing, entrance, dismissals and more in order
having a memorial service that day – those families to have us maintain best practices in all these
are encouraged to provide the Church Office with a areas, I thank you for continuing to adhere to their
list prior to that Sunday to assist in this process). guidance with your considerate cooperation when it
comes to entering the Church, where to sit, how to
At the conclusion of the service – Parish Council enter, and to exit in an orderly and safe fashion.
members and I will provide more information
regarding the receiving of the Holy Communion Thank you for your continued prayers and support,
Father Peter
/ Holy Unction / Palms / Flowers and dismissal
protocols.
These guidelines will provide us the opportunity
to gather in a safe and responsible manner – and Saint Barbara Scholarship Program
celebrate the services of Holy Week and Pascha
together in person. “Strive to attain to the greater virtues, but do not
neglect the lesser ones.” Saint Basil the Great
In other news, the Parish Council and the “Taste of
Greece” committee have opted to have another Through the generosity of our parishioners the
Odyssey Express on May 15-16, 2021. Given the Saint Barbara Scholarship Program is one of the
current limitations we felt that this was the best most diverse and generous parish scholarship
option. We hope that many will feel comfortable to programs in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
assist in the preparation of the food and during the of America. Since 1990 the community of
event. Please call the Church Office to volunteer Saint Barbara has awarded over $771,000 in
your time and talent. scholarships to students of our parish assisting
them in their scholastic pursuits.
No decision has been made regarding the Odyssey
Festival on Labor Day Weekend as yet – whether The Saint Barbara Endowment Fund Committee
it will be an Odyssey Express – or Odyssey as we manages the funds for these scholarships, and
have known it in the past. We will need to make a the Scholarship Committee administers the
decision by mid-June and will continue to work with awards in accord with the wishes of the donors.
committee members, the Parish Council and State
and Local officials to monitor the ever-changing Currently there are 34 named Scholarships.
regulations.
The completed application form must be
God willing, with the continuing roll-out of submitted no later than May 15, 2021.
vaccines, we hope to be able to resume all activities
in September including Sunday School, Greek All of the eligibilty and procedural questions
Language School, Choir, PATCHES, JOY, GOYA and all can be answered by visiting the link below.
other activities.
Saint Barbara Scholarship Applications
In closing, remember that our Parish Council
members are volunteers that you have selected Now available on-line
to take an important role in the leadership of the
Saint Barbara parish life. One of the unexpected For a full description of the available scholarships
responsibilities that has been added to their list and to access the application visit:
of duties this year is to provide guidance and www.saintbarbara.org/our_parish/scholarships
directions during the COVID pandemic. Therefore,
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period. The word of our Lord echoes strikingly:
“Whoever desires to follow me … let them lift their
cross each day and follow me” (Lk 9.23).
We are called to lift our own cross, following the
Lord and beholding His life-giving Cross, with the
awareness that the Lord is the one that saves and
not the lifting of our cross. The Cross of the Lord is
“the judgment of our criteria,” “the judgment of the
world,” and at the same time the promise that evil in
all its forms does not have the final word in history.
In looking to Christ and under His protection, as
the One who permits our struggle, while blessing
and strengthening our effort, we fight the good
fight, “afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”
(2 Cor 4.8–9). This is the experiential quintessence
also during the present period of the Cross and
the Resurrection. We are on a journey to the
Resurrection through the Cross, through which “joy
has come to the whole world.”
Some of you may wonder why the Church, in the
midst of the current pandemic, would add to the
already existing health restrictions yet another
The Catechetical Homily at the “quarantine,” namely Great Lent. Indeed, Great Lent
Opening of Great and Holy Lent by is also a “quarantine,” a period that lasts forty days.
His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew Nevertheless, the Church does not aim to weaken us
further with additional obligations and prohibitions.
Most honorable children in the Lord, On the contrary, it calls us to give meaning to the
quarantine that we are living as a result of the
With the good-will and grace of God, the giver of all coronavirus, through Great Lent, as liberation from
good things, we are entering Holy and Great Lent, enslavement to “the things of our world.”
the arena of ascetic struggles. The Church knows
the labyrinths of the human soul and the thread The Gospel establishes the conditions of this
of Ariadne, the way out of all impasse – humility, liberation. The first condition is fasting, not in the
repentance, the power of prayer and the sacred sense of abstaining only from specific foods, but
services of contrition, fasting that eliminates the also from those habits that keep us attached to
passions, patience, obedience to the rule of piety. the world. Such abstinence does not comprise
And so the Church invites us once again this year an expression of contempt of the world, but
to a divinely inspired journey, whose measure is a necessary precondition for reorienting our
the Cross and whose horizon is the Resurrection of relationship with the world and for experiencing the
Christ. unique joy of discovering the world as the domain
of Christian witness. This is why, even during this
The veneration of the Cross in the middle of Holy stage of fasting, the approach and experience of
and Great Lent reveals the meaning of this whole the life of the faithful have a paschal dimension, the
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taste of the Resurrection. The “Lenten atmosphere”
is not depressing, but joyous. It is the “great joy” that
was proclaimed as good news by the angel “to all
people” at the birth of the Savior (Lk 2.10). This is the
unwavering “fullness of joy” (1 Jn 1.4) of life in Christ.
Christ is always present in our life – He is closer to
us than we are to ourselves – all the days of our life,
“unto the end of the ages” (Mt 28.20). The life of the
Church is an unshakeable witness to the grace that
has come and to the hope of the Kingdom, to the
fullness of revelation of the mystery of the Divine
Economy.
Faith is the response to God’s loving condescension
to us; it is the “Yes” of our whole existence to Him,
who “bowed the heavens and descended” in order
to redeem the human race “from the slavery of the
enemy” and in order to open for us the way toward
deification through grace. The sacrificial love for
the neighbor and the “care” for the whole creation
spring from and are nurtured by this gift of grace…
The authentic spiritual life is a way of internal
renewal, an exodus from ourselves, a loving ΛΟΓΟΣ ΚΑΤΗΧΗΤΗΡΙΟΣ ΕΠΙ Τῌ
movement toward our neighbor. It is not based ΕΝΑΡΞΕΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΗΣ
on syndromes of purity and exclusion, but on ΤΕΣΣΑΡΑΚΟΣΤΗΣ
forgiveness and discernment, doxology and
thanksgiving, according to the experiential wisdom Τιμιώτατοι ἀδελφοί καί τέκνα ἐν Κυρίῳ εὐλογημένα,
of the ascetic tradition: “It is not food, but gluttony
that is evil … not speaking, but idle speech … not Εἰσερχόμεθα, εὐδοκίᾳ καί χάριτι τοῦ ἀγαθοδότου
the world, but the passions.” Θεοῦ, εἰς τήν Ἁγίαν καί Μεγάλην Τεσσαρακοστήν,
εἰς τόν δόλιχον τῶν ἀσκητικῶν ἀγώνων. Ἡ Ἐκκλησία,
With this attitude and these sentiments… we ἡ ὁποία γνωρίζει τούς λαβυρίνθους τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης
welcome Holy and Great Lent in the Church, singing ψυχῆς καί τόν μίτον τῆς Ἀριάδνης, τήν ὁδόν τῆς
and chanting together “God is with us,” to Whom ἐξόδου ἀπό αὐτούς — τήν ταπείνωσιν, τήν μετάνοιαν,
belongs the glory and might to the endless ages. τήν δύναμιν τῆς προσευχῆς καί τῶν κατανυκτικῶν
Amen! ἱερῶν ἀκολουθιῶν, τήν παθοκτόνον νηστείαν, τήν
ὑπομονήν, τήν ὑπακοήν εἰς τόν κανόνα τῆς εὐσεβείας,
† BARTHOLOMEW of Constantinople μᾶς καλεῖ καί ἐφέτος εἰς μίαν ἔνθεον πορείαν, μέτρον
Fervent supplicant for all before God τῆς ὁποίας εἶναι ὁ Σταυρός καί ὁρίζων ἡ Ἀνάστασις
τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
Ἡ προσκύνησις τοῦ Σταυροῦ, μεσούσης τῆς Ἁγίας
καί Μεγάλης Τεσσαρακοστῆς, ἀποκαλύπτει τό
νόημα τῆς ὅλης περιόδου. Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου ἠχεῖ
καί συγκλονίζει: «εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεσθαι
4 • SparkLight www.saintbarbara.org
... ἀράτω τόν σταυρόν αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμέραν καί εἰς τό στάδιον τῆς νηστείας, ἡ θέασις καί βίωσις τῆς
ἀκολουθήτω μοι». (Λουκ. θ’, 23). Καλούμεθα νά ζωῆς τῶν πιστῶν ἔχει πασχαλινόν χαρακτῆρα, γεῦσιν
αἴρωμεν τόν ἰδικόν μας σταυρόν, ἀκολουθοῦντες Ἀναστάσεως. Τό «σαρακοστιανό κλῖμα» δέν εἶναι
τόν Κύριον καί ἀτενίζοντες τόν ζωηφόρον Σταυρόν καταθλιπτικόν, ἀλλά ἀτμόσφαιρα χαρᾶς. Αὐτήν τήν
Αὐτοῦ, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει ὅτι Κύριός ἐστιν ὁ σώζων καί «χαράν τήν μεγάλην» εὐηγγελίσατο ὁ ἄγγελος «παντί
ὄχι ἡ ἄρσις τοῦ ἡμετέρου σταυροῦ. Ὁ Σταυρός τοῦ τῷ λαῷ» κατά τήν Γέννησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος (Λουκ. β΄,
Κυρίου εἶναι «ἡ κρίσις τῆς κρίσεώς μας», ἡ «κρίσις τοῦ 10), αὐτή εἶναι ἡ ἀναφαίρετος καί «πεπληρωμένη
κόσμου», καί συγχρόνως ἡ ὑπόσχεσις ὅτι τό κακόν, εἰς χαρά» (Α´ Ἰωαν. α΄, 4) τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ζωῆς. Ὁ Χριστός
ὅλας τάς μορφάς του, δέν ἔχει τόν τελευταῖον λόγον εἶναι πάντοτε παρών εἰς τήν ζωήν μας, εὑρίσκεται
εἰς τήν ἱστορίαν. Προσβλέποντες πρός τόν Χριστόν πλησιέστερον εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀπό ὅσον ἡμεῖς εἰς τόν ἑαυτόν
καί, ὑπό τήν σκέπην Αὐτοῦ ὡς τοῦ ἀγωνοθέτου, μας, πάσας τάς ἡμέρας, «ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ
τοῦ εὐλογοῦντος καί κρατύνοντος τήν ἡμετέραν αἰῶνος» (Ματθ. κη´, 20). Ἡ ζωή τῆς Ἐκκλησίας εἶναι
προσπάθειαν, ἀγωνιζόμεθα τόν καλόν ἀγῶνα, ἀκατάλυτος μαρτυρία περί τῆς ἐλθούσης Χάριτος καί
«ἐν παντί θλιβόμενοι ἀλλ᾿ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι, περί τῆς ἐλπίδος τῆς Βασιλείας, τῆς πληρότητος τῆς
ἀπορούμενοι ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι, διωκόμενοι ἀποκαλύψεως τοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς Θείας Οἰκονομίας.
ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι, καταβαλλόμενοι
ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀπολλύμενοι» (Β´ Κορ. δ´, 8-9). Αὐτή Ἡ πίστις εἶναι ἡ ἀπάντησις εἰς τήν φιλάνθρωπον
εἶναι ἡ βιωματική πεμπτουσία καί κατά τήν συγκατάβασιν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός ἡμᾶς, τό «Ναί» μέ ὅλην
σταυροαναστάσιμον αὐτήν περίοδον. Πορευόμεθα μας τήν ὕπαρξιν εἰς τόν «κλίναντα οὐρανούς καί
πρός τήν Ἀνάστασιν διά τοῦ Σταυροῦ, διά τοῦ ὁποίου καταβάντα», διά νά λυτρώσῃ τό ἀνθρώπινον γένος
«ἦλθε χαρά ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ». «ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου» καί νά μᾶς ἀνοίξῃ
τήν ὁδόν τῆς κατά χάριν θεώσεως. Ἐκ τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς
Ἵσως τινές ἐξ ὑμῶν διερωτῶνται, διατί ἡ Ἐκκλησία, Χάριτος πηγάζει καί τρέφεται ἡ θυσιαστική ἀγάπη
σοβούσης τῆς πανδημίας, προσθέτει εἰς τούς πρός τόν πλησίον καί ἡ «φροντίς» διά τήν κτίσιν
ἤδη ὑπάρχοντας ὑγειονομικούς περιορισμούς καί ὅλην....
μίαν ἀκόμη «καραντίναν», αὐτήν τῆς Μεγάλης
Τεσσαρακοστῆς. Πράγματι, καί ἡ Μεγάλη …Ἡ γνησία πνευματική ζωή εἶναι ὁδός ἐσωτερικῆς
Τεσσαρακοστή εἶναι μία «καραντίνα», δηλαδή ἀναγεννήσεως, ἔξοδος ἀπό τόν ἑαυτόν μας,
χρονική περίοδος διαρκείας τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν. ἀγαπητική κίνησις πρός τόν πλησίον. Δέν στηρίζεται
Ὡστόσον, ἡ Ἐκκλησία δέν ἔρχεται νά μᾶς ἐξουθενώσῃ εἰς σύνδρομα καθαρότητος καί ἀποκλεισμούς,
ἔτι περαιτέρω μέ νέας ὑποχρεώσεις καί ἀπαγορεύσεις. ἄλλά εἶναι συγγνώμη καί διάκρισις, δοξολογία
Ἀντιθέτως, μᾶς προσκαλεῖ νά νοηματοδοτήσωμεν τήν καί εὐχαριστία, κατά τήν ἐμπειρικήν σοφίαν τῆς
καραντίναν πού βιώνομεν λόγῳ τοῦ κορωνοϊοῦ, μέσῳ ἀσκητικῆς παραδόσεως: «Οὐ τά βρώματα, ἀλλ᾿
τῆς Μεγάλης Τεσσαρακοστῆς, ὡς ἀπελευθερώσεως ἡ γαστριμαργία κακή…, οὐδέ τό λέγειν, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ
ἀπό τόν ἐγκλωβισμόν εἰς τά τοῦ «κόσμου τούτου». ἀργολογία…, οὐδέ ὁ κόσμος κακός, ἀλλά τά πάθη».
Τό σημερινόν Εὐαγγελικόν ἀνάγνωσμα θέτει τούς Με αὐτήν τήν διάθεσιν καί τά αἰσθήματα…
ὅρους δι᾽ αὐτήν τήν ἀπελευθέρωσιν. Πρῶτος ὅρος ὑποδεχόμεθα ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ τήν Ἁγίαν καί Μεγάλην
εἶναι ἡ νηστεία, ὄχι μέ τήν ἔννοιαν τῆς ἀποχῆς Τεσσαρακοστήν, ιἄδοντες καί ψάλλοντες ὁμοθυμαδόν
μόνον ἀπό συγκεριμένας τροφάς, ἀλλά καί ἀπό τό «Μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός», ᾯ ἡ δόξα καί τό κράτος εἰς
τάς συνηθείας ἐκείνας, αἱ ὁποῖαι μᾶς κρατοῦν τούς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν!
προσκολλημένους εἰς τόν κόσμον. Ἡ ἀποχή αὐτή δέν
συνιστᾷ ἔκφρασιν ἀπαξιώσεως τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλά † Ὁ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως
ἀναγκαίαν προϋπόθεσιν ἐπαναπροσδιορισμοῦ τῆς διάπυρος πρός Θεόν εὐχέτης πάντων ὑμῶν
σχέσεώς μας μέ αὐτόν καί βιώσεως τῆς μοναδικῆς
εὐφροσύνης τῆς ἀνακαλύψεώς του ὡς πεδίου
χριστιανικῆς μαρτυρίας. Διά τόν λόγον αὐτόν, καί
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Lent and the Consumer Society first aspect, our interdependence as members of
By: Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia the human race, is asserted in a striking manner
through the selection of Scripture readings in the
The following is the conclusion of the article that was published in period immediately before Lent. Exploring the
the March edition of SparkLight. choice of texts, we discover what my history teacher
at school used constantly to repeat to us: “It all ties
Sharing up, you see, it all ties up.’
How, in the third place, are we to understand 1. Shortly before Lent, we celebrate on February
the distinctive value of the Lenten Fast in today’s 2nd the feast known in the West as ‘The Presentation
world? Contemporary society, as we are all acutely of Christ in the Temple’, or ‘The Purification of St.
conscious, is marked by a twofold breakdown in Mary the Virgin (Candlemas). In the Orthodox
fellowship or koinonia: a breakdown in the human Tradition, this is called ‘The Meeting of our Lord
community, and a breakdown in the cosmic and God and Savior Jesus Christ.’ When the infant
community. On the human level, we see not only a Christ is brought to the temple on the fortieth day
growth in lawlessness and violence – accompanied by his mother and St. Joseph the foster-father,
in many countries by a widening economic gap and is received by Simeon the Elder and Anna the
between the rich and the poor – but also, most Prophetess, this is seen as symbolizing the meeting
fundamentally of all, an ever-increasing threat to of the Savior with his chosen people (see the Gospel
the survival of the family, which is the primary social reading for the day, Luke 2.22-40, especially verses
unit on which all other forms of society are based. 27-32). Thus, not long before the actual beginning
of the Great Fast, the Lenten leitmotif is already
established: meeting, encounter, relationship. I am
Lent is an attempt truly a person – a prosopon or ‘face’, to use the Greek
term – only if I meet and face other persons, if I look
to reassert our into their eyes and allow them to look into mine. I
true relationship need you in order to be myself!
with our fellow 2. Three weeks before the Great Fast, we start to
humans and with use the special service book for Lent, the Triodion,
on what is known as ‘The Sunday of the Publican
the created order. and the Pharisee’ (Gospel reading: Luke 18.10-14).
The Pharisee’s fault is that he refuses to recognize
the publican as his brother. In his unloving
On the cosmic level, we have tragically weakened rejection of the publican, the Pharisee denies the
the life-giving bonds which unite us to our material essential relationship of koinonia which unites him
environment. As we destroy the rainforests and to his fellow humans. He exemplifies exactly the
create holes in the ozone layer, we would do well to predicament from which, during the Great Forty
recall the words from the ‘Service When in Danger Days, we are striving to escape.
of Earthquake’, found in the Orthodox Euchologion,
or Book of Prayers: ‘The earth, although without 3. The next observance, seven days later, is ‘The
words, groans and cries out: Why, all people, do you Sunday of the Prodigal Son’ (Gospel reading: Luke
pollute me with so many evils?’ 15.11.13). The parable of the prodiigal is basically
the story of the loss and the recovery of personal
In the face of this twofold breakdown, Lent is an relationship. At the outset, the younger son goes
attempt to reassert our true relationship both with astray because he thinks in terms of things rather
our fellow humans and with the created order. The than persons. ‘Give me the share of the property
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that falls to me,’ he says to the father (Luke 15:12). commemoration of the dead, all-embracing in its
He is not interested in his personal relationship with scope:
his father, but only in the property that he expects
to inherit. And the result of this repudiation of To those who died in faith on the mountainside or
personal relationship on his part is that he finds the road, in the tombs or the desert, monks and
himself ‘in a far country’ (Luke 15:13), alienated, in married people, young and old: grant to them all, O
exile, lonely and self-isolated. Christ, a dwelling with your saints.
To the faithful who were taken from this life
suddenly, at a time that they expected not, in the
midst of joy or sorrow, of prosperity or misfortune:
The path of give rest, our Savior, to them all.
repentance To those destroyed by cold, killed by falling
that he has from their horse, overwhelmed by hail, snow or
thunderstorms, crushed by rocks or suffocated in
to traverse the earth, give rest, O Christ our Savior…
involves The community of which we are members, so
a restoration we proclaim on this ‘Saturday of the Dead’, is not
obliterated or severed at our departure from this
of personal life. The risen Christ has destroyed death: in him we
relationship, a return to his are all alive, and in him we are all one. Thus, in our
prayers on this Saturday for those who have died,
father, his family and the we testify that the koinonia to which we belong is a
community of his home. single and undivided fellowship of both living and
departed.
The path of repentance that he has to traverse 5. On the next day, eight days before Lent, we
involves a restoration of personal relationship, a observe ‘The Sunday of the Last Judgment’, or ‘The
return to his father, his family and the community of Sunday of Meat-Fare’, as it is also known, for it is
his home. His return is sealed by a great feast, and the last occasion of which meat is permitted until
the purpose of every feast is precisely to express we reach Easter Sunday. In the epistle reading
koinonia fellowship. Food is a mediating bond, (1 Corinthians 8.8-9.2), the theme is once more
and so each common meal is an affirmation of personal relationships. Persons are far more
community. When the elder son refuses to join the important than rules about fasting, St. Paul insists:
feast, what he is doing is to exclude himself from ‘Food will not commend us to God’ (1 Corinthians
relationship and community. This is clear from the 8.8). What matters is not the strictness with which
way in which he refers to the returning prodigal; he we observe regulations concerning food, but the
does not call him ‘my brother’, but says to his father, degree of sensitivity that we show towards the
‘this son of yours’ (Luke 15.30). Until he can learn distress and uneasiness of our fellow humans.
once more to say ‘my brother’, the elder son will If by eating ‘food offered to idols’ I ‘wound the
inevitably remain out in the cold, self-excluded from conscience’ of another person, then it is better for
the human community – in short, an ‘unperson’; for me to abstain from such food, even though eating
without mutual love there is no true personhood. it is not in itself sinful (1 Corinthians 8.10-12). The
decisive criterion is mutual love, not the observance
4. On the following Saturday there is a special or non-observance of fasting and abstinence.
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In the Gospel reading, the parable of the sheep ‘Let not him who eats despise him who abstains,
and the goats (Matthew 25.31-46), exactly the and let not him who abstains pass judgment on
same point is implied. The determining principle him who eats’ (Romans 14.3). If we fast in a spirit
of the last judgment is not the rigor of our ascetic of censoriousness, we deprive our fasting of any
self-denial, but the practical compassion that we spiritual value. God is interested not in my diet but
show to our neighbor. At the second coming, I shall in my relationship with other persons.
not be asked how strictly I fasted, how many vigils
The same point is underlined, in a much more
fundamental and far-reaching manner, in the
The determining Gospel reading for this Sunday (Matthew 6.14-21).
Here Jesus emphasizes the crucial importance of
principle of the mutual forgiveness: ‘If you do not forgive others
last judgement their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses’ (Matthew 6.15). The meaning here is
is not the rigor not that God denies forgiveness to us, deliberately
withholding his pardon. On the contrary, God is
of our ascetic always eager to forgive us; but if we on our side
self-denial, but the practical are not willing to extend forgiveness to others, we
simply render ourselves incapable of receiving into
compassion that we show to our hearts the forgiveness that God is offering to
our neighbor. us. Unless we ourselves forgive, we are not open to
the divine forgiveness. God does not shut us out,
but it is we who closed the door in his face through
I kept, how many prostrations I made. I shall be our hardness towards others and our unrelenting
asked: Did you feed the hungry? Did you give drink resentment.
to the thirsty? Did you take the stranger into your
home, did you clothe the naked, did you visit the The message of the Sunday Gospel is re-enacted
sick and those in prison? That is all I shall be asked. in visible form through the ceremony of mutual
forgiveness that takes place in many monasteries
In both the Scripture readings for this Sunday, then, and parish churches at the end of Vespers on the
there is set before us all clear and unmistakable same day. The monastic superior or parish priest
order of priorities. Persons come first, rules of kneels before the congregation, asking pardon and
fasting come afterwards. Our Lenten abstinence saying, ‘Forgive me, a sinner’; and then the others
will be worse than useless if it does not bring kneel before him, each saying the same words. The
us closer to our fellow humans. A fast without forgiveness is given on a one-to-one basis; each
love is the fast of demons. What is the use of our comes in succession and kneels before the superior
abstinence, protests St. Basil the Great (d. 379), if or celebrant, who kneels likewise in return, and then
instead of eating meat we devour our brother or the members of the congregation go round the
sister through cruel gossip?” It is better to eat meat, church and kneel individually before one another,
and at the same time to be kind and humble, than requesting and transmitting pardon.
to eat nothing but lentils and to be a sour rigorist.
This ceremony of mutual forgiveness, so far from
6. Last of all in the pre-Lenten period, there being merely a ritual form, can be and often is a
comes ‘The Sunday of Forgiveness’, on the day profoundly moving moment, altering the lives of
immediately before the start of the actual Fast. those who participate. Symbolic gestures of this
The epistle reading (Romans 13.11-14.4) takes up kind have a decisive effect. I can recall occasions
the same theme as the previous Sunday’s epistle. when this exchange of forgiveness on the threshold
8 • SparkLight www.saintbarbara.org
of Lent has served as a forceful catalyst, suddenly In fact, in the Gospels, Jesus does not simply speak
breaking down long-standing barriers and making of fasting alone but often employs the doublet
possible a true re-creation of relationship. What the ‘prayer and fasting’ (see Matthew 17.21; Mark 9.29).
Vespers of Forgiveness surely proclaims, in actions If we fast, it is in order to render ourselves more apt
that speak louder than words, is that the Lenten for prayer, that is to say, in order to bring us back
voyage is a journey which none can undertake into relationship with God.
alone.
The early Christians expanded this doublet
‘It all ties up.’ The pre-Lenten period shows us into a triad: along with prayer and fasting they
plainly what is the true character of the Great Forty emphasized the need for ‘almsgiving’ (ελεημοσύνη),
Days. The Lenten springtime is a season when, by for acts of specific and practical compassion
God’s mercy, our wintry heart thaws and we come towards others. The money that we save through
back into relationship both with God and with each fasting and abstinence is never to be spent
other. The two forms of relationship, Godward and upon ourselves, but should be given to those in
special need. Moreover, as we have already seen,
what we are to share with others is not only our
Our Lenten abstinence will be money but ourselves; we are to give our time,
our companionship, our loving concern. So the
worse than useless if it does reawakening of our relationship with God in
not bring us closer to our prayer comes to fulfilment in the renewal of our
relationship with others. Fasting, prayer and acts of
fellow humans. compassion form a single whole.
Yet, even though fasting itself is not the primary
humanward, presuppose each other. I cannot draw purpose of Lent, at the same time fasting and
nearer to God unless I draw nearer to my neighbor, abstinence – in the Orthodox usage no sharp
and I cannot draw nearer to my neighbor unless I distinction is drawn between these two terms – are
draw nearer to God. Lent signifies in this way not not to be marginalized or dismissed as unimportant.
only offering, not only mission, but mutual love. In fact, the Orthodox are encouraged to fast with
considerable strictness. If Lent is indeed to be
The purpose of Lent is to break down barriers, so a time of sacrifice, this must apply among other
that we can more fully share our life with God and things to our eating and drinking. In the seven
with each other. From one point of view, then, the weeks from Clean Monday to Holy Saturday,
aim of the Great Forty Days is ‘decentralization’, Orthodox Christians are expected to observe what is
the displacement of my fallen self from the center basically a ‘vegan’ diet. Meat is forbidden, together
of my attention, so that there is room in my heart with all animal products (eggs, milk, butter and
for others and for my Creator. Lent teaches each cheese); wine and olive oil are allowed only on
person to say, not simply ‘I’, but ‘I-and-Thou’; not Saturdays and Sundays, and on a few other feast
simply ‘me’, but ‘us’. In our present-day consumer days; fish may not be eaten except on the Feast of
society, dominated by selfishness and the the Annunciation and Palm Sunday.
lust for possessions, that gives to Lent a direct
contemporary relevance. In practice, relaxation of these regulations is allowed
with some frequency within the Orthodox Church
Thus it becomes evident that fasting, which is often today, especially for those living in families where
regarded as the chief feature of Lent, is not an end the other members are non-Orthodox or even
but a means. Fasting is valueless if it fails to bring non-Christian. There are three useful guidelines to
about a restoration of relationships. be kept in view. First, we should not fast in such a
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way as to damage our health or to make ourselves Sunday in a hymn at Matins. We cannot enter into
inefficient in our work. Secondly, we should not fast the joy of the Lenten springtime except through
‘like the hypocrites’(Matthew 6.16), in such a way as cross-bearing.
to excite notice or to draw attention to ourselves.
When we are eating in the home of others, it is Nevertheless, even though fasting, rightly practiced,
often humbler and most Christ-like to accept what does indeed involve sacrifice and self-denial, it is not
is set before us, raising no objections, rather than to to be construed exclusively in negative terms. Its
demand an alternative that conforms to the rules. If purpose is most definitely positive: not to chastise
our fasting embarrasses others or causes them extra the body, but to render it spiritual; not to fill us
work, something has gone badly wrong. with weariness and self-disgust, but to break down
our sinful senses of self-sufficiency and to make us
conscious of our dependence upon God. Fasting
is certainly an ascetic podvig, but its effect is to
bring about a sense of lightness and freedom, of
wakefulness and hope. ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts:
the fast…shall be to the house of Juda seasons of
joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts’ (Zechariah
8.19).
Walking Gently on the Earth
The sense of community which Lent seeks to
establish is not limited to our relationship with
God and our relationship with out fellow humans.
It extends yet more widely. Lent is a time when
we also restore our relationship with our material
environment: first of all, with our own physical
bodies, and then with the world of nature – with
the animals and the plants, with earth, air, fire
and water – with which our bodies bring us into
contact. Lent reactivates our membership not only
The purpose of Lent is to break of the human community, but equally of the cosmic
koinonia. Anyone who does not love trees does not
down barriers, so that we can love Christ’, as Fr. Amphilochios (1888-1970), the
gerontas of Patmos, used to say, That, too, is part of
more fully share our life with the meaning of Lent.
God and with each other.
‘Every thing that lives is Holy’, said that great
prophet of eighteenth-century England, William
Thirdly, at the same time, our fasting should be Blake. Glossing his words, we may add that ever
more than merely casual and nominal. It should be thing the God has made is in some sense alive. Lent
sufficiently exacting for us to notice and to regret cleanses the doors of our perception, so that we
what it is that we are denying ourselves. Lent recognize anew this intrinsic and universal holiness.
will have lost its value if it ceases to be a podvig, a The Great Fast teaches us, in the phrase used by
struggle against our fallen selfishness. ‘Through the the American Indians, to ‘walk gently upon the
Cross joy has come to all the world’, we affirm each earth’. Confronted as we are by an ecological crisis
10 • SparkLight www.saintbarbara.orgthat is escalating on a horrific scale, we can recover within marriage – on a much more profound level
through our observance of Lent a sacramental view – through sexuality. What fasting and abstinence
of the universe. do is to assist us in liberating ourselves from greed
and lust, so that both these things become not
In what way? It is all too easy to misinterpret Lent a means of private pleasure but an expression of
in a Manichaean sense. People seem to think that, interpersonal communion.
because they are encouraged to fast, there must be
something shameful about enjoying one’s food. By Recovering through the Great Fast a right attitude
the same token, when married couples are urged to our bodies, we recover also a right attitude to
to abstain from sexual intercourse during Lent, the creation as a whole. We are helped to value
they may be in danger of imagining that sexuality each thing for itself – not just for the way in which
is a defilement. Such conclusions are erroneous it serves our own ends – and at the same time we
and deeply harmful. ‘God saw everything that he are helped to see the divine presence at the heart
had made, and behold, it was altogether good and of each thing. The Christian, it has been said, is the
beautiful’ (Genesis 1.31). Our bodies as created by one who, wherever he or she looks, sees everywhere
God, are essentially good; food and drink is God’s Christ and rejoices in him: ‘Lift the stone, and you
gift, and so is sexuality; all material things are will find me; cut the wood in two, and there am
potentially a sacrament of his presence, a means of I’. That is the true aim of fasting: it renders the
communion with him. creation personal and transparent, so that we regain
our sense of wonder before the sacredness of the
Why then are we told to fast and to abstain? The earth. It assists us to see all things in God, and God
answer is that, although the world as God’s creation in all things.
is ‘altogether good and beautiful’, it is also a fallen
world. More exactly, our attitude as humans
towards the divine creation has been distorted The sense of community which
by sin – both by the original sin that we all inherit
and by the sins that we each individually commit.
Lent seeks to establish is not
Fasting and abstinence correct the distortion in limited to our relationship
our relationship with the material world, purifying
us from the effects of sinfulness, and restoring our with God and our relationship
primal vision of the created order. Asceticism is with our fellow humans. It
in this way not a negation but a vindication of the
innate holiness of all material things. extends yet more widely.
Fasting teaches us first of all to have a right attitude
towards our own body, with all its needs and In this manner, through fasting and voluntary
impulses. Through fasting we school the body to self-restraint we come close in spirit to the Blessed
participate in the spiritual life, so that it becomes – Virgin Mary at the moment of the Annunciation,
to use the phrase of Saint Maximus the Confessor and we reassert our freedom and personhood in
(d. 662) – ‘the soul’s messenger’. Our aim is not the God. So long as we are dominated by greed and
body’s repression but its transfiguration. Properly lust, then in our relationship to material things we
understood, asceticism is a fight not against but for are profoundly unfree and depersonalized. Once we
the body. Through ascetic self-restraint we reaffirm cease to see material things as objects and regard
the materiality of our body, but at the same time we them as means of personal communion, once we
seek to render that materiality spiritual. Asceticism stop grasping them compulsively and begin to offer
does not mean that we repudiate the legitimate them back to God in thanksgiving, then we become
pleasure that is conferred through eating, and also free and personal once more. At the same time,
www.saintbarbara.org SparkLight • 11we make the all-important transition – so often Lent, so far from being world-denying, is in reality
emphasized by ecologists from a way of life based intensely world-affirming. This is a fallen world, full
on what I need. of ugliness and pollution caused by human sin and
selfishness. But it is also God’s world, a world full of
Such are among the kites that each beauty and wonder, marked everywhere with the
Lent we are encouraged to set flying signature of the Creator, and this we can rediscover
in the sky. The Great Forty Days through a true observance of the Great Fast.
proclaim a world-view utterly at
variance with the standards “Lent and the Consumer Society,” Andrew Walker
of our consumer society. and Costa Carras (edd.), Living Orthodoxy in the
Modern World (London: SPCK, 1996), 64-84.
As the Lenten Fast returns each year, we can make
it a season of inner springtime – an occasion, that Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia is a titular
is to say, for renewed sacrifice and self-offering; for Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
renewed schooling in our baptismal commitment Great Britain. From 1966-2001, he was Spalding
and for renewed missionary witness; for renewed Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford
sharing between self and neighbor, and between Univserity and has authored numerous book and
self and cosmos. articles pertaining to the Orthodox Faith.
The Most Precious Thing On Earth
There is an old legend according to which God said
to one of His angels: “Go down to earth and bring
back the most precious thing in the world.”
One angel bought a drop of blood from a person
who had sacrificed his life to save another. God
said, “Indeed, O Angel, this is precious in my sight,
but it is not the most precious thing in the world.”
Another angel caught the last breath of a nurse
who died from a dread disease she contracted in
nursing others to health. God smiled at the angel
and said, “Indeed, O Angel, sacrifice in behalf of
others is very precious in my sight, but it is not the
most precious thing in the world.”
Finally one angel captured and brought a small vial
containing the tear of a sinner who had repented
and returned to God. God beamed upon the angel
as He said, “Indeed, O Angel, you have brought me
the most precious thing in the world - the tear of
repentance which opens the gates of heaven.”
“Philokalia: the Bible of Orthodox Spirituality”
by Rev. Antony M. Coniaris
Icon of the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee
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