I miss
Ash Wednesday, the Western liturgical churches’ entry into Lent. The ashes on
the forehead in the shape of the Cross, the important reminder that we are
mortal: “Dust you were and dust you shall be.”
We don’t
have that wonderful tradition in Eastern Orthodoxy, to which I converted in
2007. And I miss it. But I so appreciate our own opening stanza of the long,
slow spiritual symphony of Great Lent, known as “Forgiveness Sunday,” just
passed.
Orthodox
Christians enter Lent with a special post-Liturgy or evening vespers service
that launches us into “Clean Monday,” the first day of the rigorous Lenten fast
(about which more below).
The
forgiveness service begins as any other vespers, but it soon changes with
different hymns and more mournful prayers. In the midst of the service, Lent
begins as the choir cries out in earnest supplication:
Turn not away thy face from thy servant; for
I am in trouble:
hear me speedily. Attend to my soul, and
deliver it.
From the ends of the earth I cried unto thee.
I shall be protected under the cover of thy
wings.
I will praise thy name forever.
As they
mournfully sing, the altar cloth is changed to Lenten purple and the priest
changes into dark vestments to symbolize mourning.
At the
service’s end, our first Lenten act is to ask from and offer forgiveness to
everyone present—not collectively, but individually from person, to person, to
person. This is one of the most powerful moments of the Church year. One by
one, each parishioner bows or prostrates, first before the priest, and then
each other, asking, “Forgive me, a sinner.”
Each
responds with a bow or prostration, asking also for forgiveness and assuring,
“God forgives.” Each then exchanges the kiss of peace.
The
service is a healing balm. It is hard to bear grudges when all have shared such
an intimate mutual humbling. Indeed, Forgiveness Vespers is emotionally
intense, tears often flow and hugs of true reconciliation are common.
Why start
Lent with a service that almost forces us to forgive? “Lent calls us to
spiritual perfection,” explains Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou in
Meditations for Great Lent , “which is impossible without love and forgiveness.
Thus before Lent begins, we are called to forgive all who have wronged us. Only
then can we hope to attain perfection, which is the likeness of God.”
Having
given and received forgiveness, we enter the desert journey of the Great Fast.
Unlike many Western traditions, we Orthodox don’t choose what to “give up” for
Lent (although we often do that as well—for example, a friend in my parish is
foregoing all social media). Rather, during the forty days of Lent (and Holy
Week thereafter), we are asked by the Church to become essentially vegan: No
meat. No dairy. No fish (other than shellfish). Not only that, other than on
weekends, we also abstain from wine and olive oil.
Why such
a rigorous course? Papavassiliou again elucidates (my emphasis):
The purpose of our fasting is spiritual.
Spirituality must not be viewed as something that does not concern the body,
but as something that is made possible through and within the body. . . . The
desires and needs of the flesh can all too often overpower the spirit. Fasting
is a means of restoring balance between soul and body, a means of bringing the
flesh under the control and will of the mind and spirit.
The Great
Fast is one of those times when we must journey alone. Yes, it helps to know in
times of weakness that we are simultaneously sharing the same struggle with
three hundred million others. But Lenten ascesis is a matter of solitary steps
through the desert.
This
discipline is not intended to draw us away from others. Moreover, the Church is
very clear that fasting per se is not virtue, nor is failing to fast sin.
Indeed, we are strictly instructed not to judge in this regard. If we see
someone we know to be Orthodox eating a hamburger, it is none of our business.
We have our own vegetables to fry. The arduous Lenten disciplines of the Great
Fast help us, again in the words of Papavassiliou, “turn back to Paradise to
the Life of Eden” so that “like Moses, we too may see God.”
By Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow
at the Discovery Institute’s Center
on Human Exceptionalism.
Source: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/03/forgiveness-sunday-opens-the-door-to-orthodox-lent
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