The Beginning of the Great Fast (Lent)

Last updated on: March 4, 2019 at 4:59 am by Henry Karlson

The Beginning of the Great Fast (Lent) 2019-03-04T04:59:37-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The beginning of the Great Fast in the East: Forgiveness Vespers with the Rite of Forgiveness at St. John The Baptist Cathedral in Washington, 2018.
Source: Yuri Gripas / flickr

The Great Fast, Lent, is not only the time set aside to prepare the faithful for the Paschal (Easter) celebration, it is also the time during which the faithful should reflect upon their temporal existence and their preparation for their participation in the Resurrection of Christ at their own resurrection in the eschaton. The time of Lent can be seen to represent temporal, earthly existence and the slow spiritual evolution or pilgrimage of life which we go through before we reach our final destination of eternity. We already share in the glory of the resurrection thanks to baptism and the sacraments which we receive, but insofar as we continue to think, live and act with influences from our old, fallen mode of existence, we are not fully there yet. Throughout our lives, we feel he taint of death, the taint of sin, corrupting us, destroying us, indeed, turning us away from the glory of being which we receive from the resurrection as we return to the nihilism of sin.

Lent, therefore, should be the time of year during which remember our time on earth is a time in-between death and life. Thanks to grace, we are capable of sharing in and participating in the glories of life as it slowly awakens us out of our state of sinful death, and yet we continue to experience the corruption of sin trying to take us over, to defile and destroy that remnant of life which we have within us. Lent is the time in which we come to know, and therefore, come face to face with all the inclinations of sin which remain in us, those inclinations which would lead us to the edge of 8,existence and beyond to the nothingness of death. We see that we exist between full life and death, and that we must move ourselves onward towards life. We do not have to do it alone. Like the people of Israel wandering in the desert, we find that God is willing to give us what we need so that we can be strengthened and nourished so as to make out way to the end of our journey: the fullness of life manifested and experienced in and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as Lent prepares us for Easter, so it also prepares us for to receive the full fruit of Christ’s glorious triumph over death. The Paschal feast is, as Alexander Schmemann explained, not just a memorial of Jesus’s temporal resurrection at one time and place in history, but a celebration of the transcendence of that event as we participate and share in it, both in our liturgical celebration of the event, but also in the transformation it brings to us, preparing us for the end of our lifelong journey by our entrance into the kingdom of God:

Thus on Easter we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection as something that happened and still happens to us. For each one of us received the gift of that new life and the power to accept it and to live by it. It is a gift which radically alters our attitude towards everything in this world, including death. It makes it possible for us to joyfully affirm: “Death is no more!” But it is our whole faith that by His own death Christ changed the very nature of death, made it a passage — a “passover,” a “Pascha” — into the Kingdom of God, transforming the tragedy of tragedies into the ultimate victory. [1]

Physical death is now a passage, and not the end. Spiritual death, if left to its own devices, would use physical death to bring us to our final end as it seeks the nihilistic destruction of being as the solution to all the angst and anxiety contained in fallen being. But Jesus shows us that we must take a journey with him, to share with him the outcome of death, to see that physical death has an end, an end which we do not have to embrace and hold onto as spiritual death tries to tell us. The Great Fast seeks to detour us from the end which spiritual death would have for us, and it does this by having us detach ourselves from the spiritual poisons which are set before us that would lead us to embrace sin and the spiritual death which comes from it. While this often means we engage various ascetic practices, such as fasting, we must remember that ascetic detachment is not the point, but only a tool. Faith, hope and love, and the virtues which flow from them, is what these practices are meant to establish within us. The Great Fast reminds us to disconnect from all unwholesome desires, all the enticements and poisons of spiritual death, so that we turn away from the selfishness and despair that comes as a result of spiritual death and towards the charity which we should have, the charity that opens us up to Christ and the eternal life which he wants to bring to us.

As the Great Fast begins in the Christian East, the words of Isaiah are read, reminding us as to what our focus should be:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isaiah 1:16-20 RSV).

We must do more than stop doing evil, we must seek after the good. We can’t just fast and ignore injustice: we must rather recommit ourselves to personal acts of charity and social justice, doing what we can to help those in need, including and especially transforming the structures of sin into structures of grace and justice. [2] The Great Fast is about our entering into a new relationship with God, reasoning together with him in the way in which we can explore justice and charity with him: reasoning with God is reasoning with love, and to listen to his reason is to listen to the dictates and expectations of love. What the Great Fast would have us do is put aside all that has come in the way of love, all the attachments which blind us to the injustices around us, so that we can truly reason with God and follow his reason so as to execute it in our lives.

The Great Fast, thus, is not about depriving us from food and drink and the pleasures of life, but rather, it is about cutting off all things which get in our way and impede our progression to eternal life. The time of the Great Fast reminds us that we are on this journey: indeed, in the Christian East, Scriptural readings focus on this journey, looking to the spiritual genius of the Jews and their holy writings as a way to remind us of what is expected in that journey. The passage of the people of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land is the passage which we experience, again and again, year after year, when we come to the time of Lent. We are journeying from the slavery of sin to the promise of the kingdom of God. We seek God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The Great Fast demonstrates how heaven and earth are to be bridged: both by the miracles of God in our lives, giving us the spiritual strength to go on, but also in the activity of the people of Israel, showing that we have our part to play, that we must be willing to follow God and his direction, so that we too can come to the end of our journey and follow after Jesus to the promised land of milk and honey.

[1] Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1969; rev. ed. 1974), 12.

[2] It is important to see that Isaiah, in his decree, compared the sin of Israel to that of Sodom, demonstrating that his understanding of the sin of Sodom was the same as Ezekiel: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.” (Ezek. 16:49-50 RSV). God was willing to forgive and transform Israel, even as God is willing to forgive and transform us, if we take on the cause of justice and overturn the avarice and pride that leads to the destruction of the poor and needy.

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook

Previous Post

February 28, 2019

Eschatological Speculations

Next Post

March 5, 2019 Purity of Heart

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz