Venerable fathers, dear brothers and sisters,
On 23 February Great Lent begins – the grace-filled time given to us by God for preparation for the feast of feasts and the triumph of triumphs – the radiant Resurrection of Christ.
The period of preparation for the holy Forty Days has come to an end. Before our spiritual eyes have passed the images of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, the Last Judgment, and the Expulsion of Adam from Paradise. Through the Gospel parables the Church of Christ reminded us of the importance of humble prayer and of the boundless mercy of God, which unfailingly responds to the sincere repentance of a person. We heard the account of the final Judgment of God, at which the measure of our justification or condemnation will be our attitude toward our neighbor. The biblical narrative of the expulsion of our foreparents from Eden warns us of the terrible power of sin and the destructive consequences of violating the commandments.
Now we enter upon the arena of the Fast, which sets before us the ideal of Christian life, in which the material is subject to the spiritual and a person seeks прежде всего “the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Blessed Augustine expressed a profound thought: “God saves us, but not without us.” In order to resist evil and grow in the virtues, it is necessary to cultivate strength of will, steadfastness, and firmness. As St. John Cassian the Roman says, the Lord “for our small efforts repays with immeasurable generosity.” Through restraint in food, abstention from vain pursuits, attentive reading of Holy Scripture, and intensified prayer, we are given the opportunity to return to the natural state of human nature, to free our hearts from passions, and to train our minds to be guided by the Divine law.
Observance of Great Lent is our response to the Savior’s call: “Repent” (Matt. 4:17). Yet along this path we encounter many obstacles, among which the principal ones are a lack of awareness of our own sinfulness and a failure to understand the seriousness of the consequences of departing from evangelical moral norms. In spiritual blindness, even the smallest faults of our neighbor are clearly seen, while the beam in our own eye goes unnoticed (Matt. 7:4). The Apostle John the Theologian warns: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Therefore so insistently and repeatedly during the Forty Days are heard the words of the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian: “Lord, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother.”
In the ancient ascetical manuscript “Sayings of the Egyptian Fathers” there is a story about a holy ascetic who was present at a monastic council in a skete. The discussion concerned a negligent monk. The elder remained silent, then rose, left his cell, and returned with a sack of sand on his back. In his hand he held a small basket into which he had poured a few grains of sand and kept it before him. The astonished brethren asked, “What are you doing, father?” The ascetic replied, “This large sack of sand represents my own numerous sins. But I keep them behind me so as not to see, remember, or grieve over them. And these grains before me are the sins of my neighbor; of them I remember, constantly think, and judge.” He concluded his lesson with these words: “Should it not be the other way around – to place only one’s own sins before oneself and earnestly ask God for their forgiveness?” Let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul: “Each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Looking attentively within our own soul, seeing our sins and passions, let us turn with a plea for forgiveness to Christ, and if our repentance comes from a pure heart, we have firm hope that God will accept it and forgive our iniquities by His grace, for He is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, and there is no sin that can overcome His great love for mankind (cf. Ex. 34:6).
“With faith and love let us draw near, that we may become partakers of eternal life,” – this insistent call of the Church is heard at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Great Lent. The Forty Days are the most favorable time for active participation in the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, through which a believer is given the pledge of the future, immortal life and becomes a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). The celebration of the Eucharist and partaking of the holy Mysteries of Christ are a necessary condition for salvation. “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53), says the Lord. According to St. John Chrysostom, “only those who partake worthily will meet the Lord coming from heaven.”
On the day called Forgiveness Sunday, the Lord requires of us, if we wish worthily to enter the days of Great Lent, one essential and indispensable condition – reconciliation with our neighbor. Christ gives us the fundamental rule of life according to the Gospel: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12). Mutual forgiveness may be called the cornerstone of authentic spiritual life. The Savior says: if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matt. 6:14–15). We humbly ask God to send into our hearts His saving grace, through which we may find the strength and courage to ask forgiveness of others and sincerely forgive those who have wronged us.
Let us firmly believe that the Lord will not leave us without His help in the forthcoming labor of the Fast, that the grace of the Holy Spirit, in response to prayer, effort, and patience, will supply every human weakness and correct our shortcomings. May Christ the Savior accept our striving for goodness and growth in the work of God as the widow’s modest offering (Mark 12:42). Not only in the forthcoming sacred days, but continually – throughout our whole life – let us strive to ensure that firmness of faith and steadfastness of hope do not weaken within us, let us grow in good works, “that in all things God may be glorified” (1 Pet. 4:11).
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