Lent readies faithful for feast

My favorite time of the year is here. I look forward to it because I feel free.

For many who do not understand, it is a time when the church imposes what is sometimes called the Great Fast.

It is a period made up of rules and regulations that can limit our outlook on life.

Some may ask, who made up these rules? Aren’t they man-made? Why do we have to follow them?

If we look at this fast in the proper light, we would not see this as an imposition on ourselves, but an opportunity to help bring us closer to God.

In the Orthodox Christian world, Great Lent began this year on Feb. 27. It is a period where we are called to fast and pray to prepare ourselves for the most important of all events — the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our whole Christian existence centers on Christ’s death and Resurrection.

Through the Resurrection of our Lord, we are offered redemption and are freed from the ancestral original sin.

Pascha, as the Orthodox refer to Easter, is the feast of feasts. It is the ultimate celebration, and we are uplifted with the joy of the presence of our living Lord.

Great Lent is a preparation period. It reminds us of the 40-day fast of our Savior in the wilderness. It is the most important and most ancient of the fasts of the Church.

In the Orthodox Church, this fast period is 40 days long. It prepares us for the Passion or Holy Week.

In addition to the 40 days, we add Holy Week, which begins with the Saturday of Lazarus. The addition of Holy Week makes our fast period actually 49 days.

When we are faced with a great event or if we are going to meet someone important, we prepare ourselves.

For instance, if one is about to meet the president of the United States, he would prepare himself. He would make sure his house is in perfect order. Perhaps, he would invest in new clothes. I am sure he would carefully prepare the words he would say and be well versed on topics to be discussed.

The same applies to the church and Pascha. Preparation is required in order to receive the King of Kings in our hearts. This is not a reenactment of something that happened 2,000 years ago. It is an event that is alive and happens today.

That is why great care is placed on this preparation period known as Great Lent.

Many say these guidelines of the church are man-made. That may be true to a certain extent.

Christ himself followed the Jewish law, which also can be said is man-made.

Our Lord did say that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.

We have to look at these guidelines that the Church gives us as God-inspired and God-led.

As we enter Great Lent, we are faced with a difference in our lifestyle. We are asked to fast, to abstain from certain foods, and to cut back on entertainment.

In the church, there are extra services, penitential in nature. We are asked to spend more time in prayer asking God to fill our hearts with His deep love and compassion. The services have longer readings from the psalms and prayers which dispose the soul toward repentance.

We are called to begin the process of preparing ourselves spiritually for all of the events that lead to Christ’s passion, and in turn to His Holy Resurrection.

Sunday church services take on a different nature. First, we celebrate the older Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, instead of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Although the liturgies are similar, St. Basil’s has longer silent prayers. Each Sunday a different theme is introduced to remind us of our commitments to God. These themes bring out the theology of the Church, which has maintained us for more than 2,000 years.

The first Sunday, which is this weekend, centers on the triumph of Orthodoxy. In the eighth through the ninth century, the church was challenged with a 150-year struggle over the use of icons. Many did not understand the proper value of icons and thought that the believers who venerated icons were participating in idol worship.

As this distorted belief was resolved, Empress Theodora in 842 A.D. proclaimed that the Restoration of the veneration of icons should be celebrated.

This celebration will be observed during a vesper service at 5 p.m. Sunday at St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church, 4955 Glenwood Ave., Boardman. All Orthodox churches in the area will participate.

The Rev. Thomas M. Constantine is pastor of St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church in Boardman.