Joyful celebration of the fast. 3rd Week of Great Lent – Wednesday Matins

"Joyful celebration of the fast"

WHY follow the commandments? Because we will change.

Orthodox Math

3rd Week of Great Lent – Wednesday Matins

 

 “As we continue in the joyful celebration of the fast, we cry aloud: keep us all in peace, O Lord, deliver us from every snare of the enemy, and in Thy surpassing love count us worthy to venerate with love Thy precious cross, through which thou grantest to the inhabited world Thy mercy, O Thou who alone art most merciful.” Great Lent, the Third Week, Wednesday, The Sixth Hour, Sessional Hymn, Tone Two (by Theodore)

 

The services are enthusiastic! I love to hear their enthusiasm about the living of the spiritual life, and their frequent enraptured meditation on the truths and dogmas of our faith. I hope you do too.

 

This hymn is one of many during the Great Fast that count this “tithe” [1] of the year as great blessing, and joy.

 

This attitude is a different perspective for some of us. For some, Great Lent is a time to “give up” things, and deal with inconvenience and difficulty in planning meals.

 

The reason for these feelings is a serious misunderstanding of the Fast, and also the main reason for the Fast, the following of the commandments.

 

The Fast is not IMPOSED upon us, nor are any of the sweet commandments of the Lord imposed upon us. We follow the commandments because they are the only way of life, and because we will be changed and perfected.

 

Does anybody want to stay the same way they are right now? Do you still want to have bouts of laziness, depression, shame because of your behavior and intrusive thoughts that make you feel dark and cold? If you like this state, you may have it forever, and you need not do anything to achieve it!

 

If a person wants to change, the Fast is a joyful time, because it facilitates change. We will not always be in our current, wretched condition; we will be changed.

 

The joyful faster always has that “blessed hope” [2] within him when he fasts. The fast may truly have great difficulties and sorrows for us, but the Christian is joyful, even in his sorrow, because he knows that he is getting better. Most of the time, we cannot “feel” that we are getting better; we will believe this only as we continue to struggle and God sends us ineffable consolation.

 

To those who consider the phrase “joyful fast” and oxymoron, the church hymns constantly invite: “Come and see!” [3]

 

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-03-wednesday_2009+sixth-hour+sessional-hymn,-joyful-celebration.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-03-wednesday_2009+sixth-hour+sessional-hymn,-joyful-celebration.doc

Original post: http://stnicholasdallas.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-lent-third-week-wednesday-joyful.html

 

All Lenten Lectionary readings are available

in multiple file formats at

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent/lenten-lectionary.html

Readings for the Sixth Hour, Vespers and Divine Liturgy are included,

with the prokeimena and troparia sung before and after the readings.

 

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Daily LentenMeditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

 

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!

 



[1] Great Lent and Holy Week, including Holy Saturday is 36 days, and therefore encompasses almost exactly a tenth of the days of the year, and many spiritual writers have commented on this.

Here is the math:

  • Great Lent is 6 weeks long, and Saturday and Sunday are not rigorous fasting days. Counting only weekdays, this gives us 6 weeks of 5 days each = 30 days.
  • Holy Week is also a week of fasting, so this adds another 5 days. We are now at 35 days.
  • Since Holy Saturday is considered to be a fast day (we can have wine, but not oil), we add another day, giving us 36 days.
  • 36/365 = 9.8 percent, or, rounded up, 10%, a tithe of the year.

 

[2]  “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-14 KJV

 

[3] And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”(John 1:46).

 

This is from the story of Jesus calling Philip and Nathaniel as his disciples, read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Our entire life should be spent answering this question!  “Nazareth” is not just a place, but mystically represents the human heart. The question whose answer we must pursue is “Can we become completely good and perfected?” This is a dogma of the church, but no dogma is powerful and salvific to the individual unless it is believed and lived.

2 comments

  1. Father, Bless,
     
    I confess that I have mixed emotions during the Fast. I know it is a great blessing and a joy and there are moments when I can feel this in my heart, as well as simply know it in my mind.  Unfortunately, too much of my time is spent mindlessly, busily moving through it, forgetting that this time is different from any other.  However, there are times of deep concentration on the Fast that are neither mindless nor entirely joyful.  For me, at times, the Fast is also a personal Gesthemane–a time of great sorrow and struggle. Unlike the Lord who had only His will to surrender to the Father, I have a heavy burden of sins. And although I do not have the strength and holiness to sweat blood, at times I sweat and groan over the seemingly impossible and often painful task that is before me. Unlike the Lord, I waver between "Thy will be done" and "My will be done", often struggling to see His face and the Joy that is set before me:
    "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
    Hebrews 12:2

  2. Hi. I just wanted to let you know that some parts of your site are difficult to read for me, as I’m color blind. I am afflicted by deuteranopia, however there are more varieties of color blindness which will also get issues. I can understand the largest part of the website Okay, and the areas I have problems with I am able to read by using a special browser. All the same, it’d be cool if you would remember us color-blind folk when doing the next site revamp. Thank you.

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