Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Spiritual Life during Lent

Dr. Alexander Roman alex.roman@unicorne.org

The spirit of Orthodox Lent, of the Great Fast, is so wonderfully different in nature to that of the contemporary West that we would truly be amiss if we did not drink deeply of the waters of our Church's spirituality during this time of repentance and returning to God.

Not only Priests and Monks/Nuns have the privilege of participating more fully in the Life in Christ, but also the Laity. Laity face great temptations every day, so every effort expended in the spiritual realm pays great and Divine dividends!

Our Church, like the excellent and nurturing, sweet Mother She is, offers us, Her children, many spiritually uplifting services and recommends a number of practices for the good of our immortal soul.

Of course, as laity, we cannot do everything. But we can do as much as we can and derive immense benefit as a result.

In terms of fasting, we can avoid the foods the Orthodox Catholic Church, following the teaching of the Apostles and of Christ, forbids during Lent.

Those foods aren't good for us anyway, although we should guard against the idea that we are fasting to somehow "lose weight" or "get in shape" cut down on our cholestorol etc. We fast as a way to worship God within an eschatological context, even as we discipline our bodies and prepare these "Temples of the Holy Spirit" for a more intense adoration of God and a more in depth experience of repentance.

If I may share part of my own experience, part of the reason why fasting seems to be such a chore, is that, for the rest of the time, we aren't properly providing our bodies with the correct nutrition it needs. Having received a juicer at Christmas, I have not only lost weight through adding the daily complement of natural fruit and vegetable juices to my diet, but I have also gotten my appetite under control. Fruits, vegetables and grains are not only very satisfying, but they are the way God intended for us to maintain our health. They are also a tremendous help in developing a natural appetite for spirituality. Don't take my word for it - try it and see for yourself. And what better time than the Lenten Fast!

Assisting the needy with extra help during Lent is a great way of entering into the Spirit of the Love of Christ. It is sometimes too easy to send a cheque in the mail to some far off organization that helps the poor etc. We often have needy people who are right next to us who need our assistance.

On my way to work each day, there is a person who always stands by the public transit with his hat out. People often throw a coin or two in, and so I started too. Over time, however, my relationship to this fellow changed. I got to know his name, the fact that he was a former civil servant who suffered a stroke (we should never judge people who hold out their hands for assistance in the street!) and was simply a wonderful person. Now, instead of just throwing a coin at him because others did, I have learned to see Christ in my street person. Now, I look forward each morning to sharing with him what I have. It is a sacramental experience for me. His smile is my morning blessing. At Christmas and Easter, I give him a special present. When I go home at night, he is there waving to me and telling me what wonderful weather we have etc. I truly feel blessed! 

Our prayer lives during Lent require special cultivation. Again, we can only do what we can, but no less! I think that Lent is a special call to us by Christ and His Church to share more fully in the spiritual inspiration and beauty of the Psalms.

The Psalms are from the Holy Spirit, they are the words and thoughts and movements of the heart that God has given us, that He wants to hear from us, and that we need to say to God.

There are different ways of entering into the Spirit of the Psalms:

1) The Horologion or Divine Office. "Seven times a day I praise Thee" sings Psalm 119. Seven has always been the optimal number of times per day that Christians have prayed to God (and once at night). The Horologion or Book of Hours was designed as a special seven-part prayer programme within which context the entire Psalter of 150 Psalms is prayed through once a week and, during Lent, twice a week (as laity, we would do well to praying the Psalms well once a week, every week). The hymns and other Canticles and prayers bring before us the Life and Passion of Christ. At Matins and the First Hour, we sing the Resurrection of Christ and the Canons bring before us the spiritual significance of the day. The Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours, corresponding to 9:00 am, Noon and 3:00 pm call to mind the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Crucifixion and the Death of Christ on the Cross. These are the "Apostolical Hours" glorifying the Holy Trinity, which are specifically mentioned in the New Testament. Vespers at 6:00 pm thanks God for the grace of the past day and begins the new day. During Lent, Great Compline is said most days. It is divided into three parts, to especially Glorify the Holy Trinity and to recall the three times Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Midnight Office is a beautiful prayer in which we are reminded that Christ, when He comes again, will come "in the night" without our knowing and that we need to be prepared for His Coming, like the Wise Virgins, filling up the lamps of our souls with the Holy Oil of God's Mercy and Grace. Even when we can't pray the Hours, even in an abbreviated form, let us say some prayers in our mind wherever we are at the turn of the hour and at the specific times for the Horologion!

2) The Psalter, in the Byzantine tradition, is divided into twenty kathismata and each ends with penitential prayers. Sometimes it is more convenient to pray the Psalter this way for lay people. The prayers are very meaningful. Traditionally, Orthodox Christians pray three kathismata per day to get through the Psalter once in the week. Others say four kathismata. Still others say seven to correspond to the seven-fold daily prayer to God. The Psalter is so wonderful that the more we make use of it, the more we want to. At the end of each kathisma and at the end of most services, there is prescribed the recitation of Lord have mercy (Hospody Pomiluj or Kirie Eleison) 40 times. To avoid losing ourselves in the count, we should simply use our thumbs to point to the twelve divisions across our other four fingers. Go up and down across for twelve, then back for another twelve, then back across for another, making 36. Then count each finger separately, with the thumb to make up the number 40! This is how the monks of Mt Athos keep count of their 40 Kirie Eleison. 

3) Also, the Psalter can be said as is, without any additional prayers, whether in accordance with the Kathismata or not. The Western Church divides the Psalter into three fifty-psalm parts, called the three "Fifties." In the Old Roman Rite, each Psalm ends with a Doxology, "Glory be to the Father." In the Celtic Rite, the Fifties are divided into twelve and thirteen-Psalm portions, beginning and ending with an "Our Father" (13 Psalms, 12, 12 and again 13 = 50). The Coptic Rite does the same, based on the number 12 since an Angel is said to have appeared and prescribed this number of Psalms during the Divine Office, which is why each Coptic Hour has at least 12 Psalms in it. One could also simply say twenty Psalms per day and thirty on Sunday. Again, our choice.

4) Another way of experiencing the spirituality of the Psalms is to recite the Our Father 150 times. The Our Father is a compendium of the Psalms and Orthodox Monks, especially St Seraphim of Sarov, recite it, with prostrations, every day in this way. If one had the time, fifty Our Fathers could be said in the morning, then at noon and then at night. The Apostolic Canons prescribe three periods of Prayer for us every day. Or we could say twenty Our Fathers for the seven hours of the day and thirty Our Fathers for the seventh time. We should use our prayer ropes to count the prayers. The same is true of reciting the "Rejoice, O Mother of God" or Orthodox Hail Mary, 150 times per day, a practice that, according to St Seraphim of Sarov started much earlier in the Orthodox East than in the Catholic West.

5) The Jesus Prayer. Lent is a time in which we should deepen our constant Prayer of the Heart: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." This is the Epiclesis of Jesus Christ, and we should use it to call down God's blessing on everyone we meet during the day, just like Lev Gillet did in London, using the Name "Jesus" as a silent blessing over the people he came across. Again, the Jesus Prayer has been organized as a Psalter. St Basil the Great prescribed three hundred Jesus Prayers for the three parts of each of the twenty Kathismata of the Psalter. To recite the entire Psalter of the Name of Jesus would be to recite 6,000 Prayers, much like the Pilgrim in the "Way of the Pilgrim." We could get through one such Psalter each week if we recited 1,000 Jesus Prayers. Divided over the day, it is not such a terrible burden. Again, the more we say it, the more we want to say it. We should also say it at other times, when we don't have a prayer rope in hand. Whenever we are depressed or feel we want to do something for which we will be sorry later, the Jesus Prayer is carefully prescribed for us by the Church.

6) Scripture. Lent is also a great time during which to get into the Bible, especially the Gospels. The five chapters of the Gospel of John, Chapters 13-17 inclusive, are called the "Testament of Christ." St Nicodemos the Hagiorite of Mt Athos recommends reading a daily portion from the Testament, which he calls the "Heart of the Bible." The first seventeen verses of the Gospel of John should be recited by us daily and we should strive to commit them to memory. Also, Chapter Six of the Gospel of John, which deals with the Eucharist, is also a frequent must read. Early Christians received their spiritual training by learning the Psalms by heart as well as the Gospel of John (or another Gospel). To read the Gospel is to receive great grace from the Word of God Who is Christ. During Lent we need to fast from the food that serves only the flesh, and feed on the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven, through Holy Communion and the Gospel.

This is what I wanted to share with you with respect to Lenten spirituality.

I would like to close with the special blessing God asked Moses to recite over the people:

The Lord bless you and keep you! 
The Lord make His Face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you!
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and grant you peace! 

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