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Published by the
Orthodox Church in America,
March 9, 2005
Archpastoral Message of
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman at the
beginning of Great Lent 2005 |
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To the Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy,
Monastics and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in
America
Dearly Beloved in the Lord:
Let us observe a fast
acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. True fasting
is to put away all evil, to control the tongue, to
forbear from anger, to abstain from lust, slander,
falsehood and perjury. If we renounce these
things, then is our fasting true and acceptable.
The words of this hymn, sung at Vespers on the
first day of Great Lent, challenge us to take a
deeper look, not only into the very spirit of
repentance, but into the very depths of our souls
and our lives.
Indeed, Great Lent is a time of renewal and
preparation for our encounter with the empty tomb
of the risen Lord. It is a time in which we strive
with intensity to put aside those things which
separate us from the love of God and prevent us
from loving others, to gain control of our
passions, and to place our focus on Our Lord and
the gifts He has so graciously shared with us. As
such, we are challenged to look beyond the
external aspects of our fasting, our intensified
prayer, and our almsgiving and, as the words of
this hymn clearly state, abstain from and renounce
those things which prevent us from seeking all
that is “true and acceptable.”
As we hear in the readings from Genesis proclaimed
at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, we were
created in the image and likeness of God, to be in
communion with Him and with one another in a bond
of eternal love. But sin entered into the world,
disfiguring and distorting creation. And with sin
came a lack of control, anger, lust, slander,
falsehood, perjury, and ultimately, death – things
that had and have no place in that creation which
the Creator Himself called “good.” Yet, in a
supreme expression of divine love, the
only-begotten Son of God took on our human nature
for our sake, sharing with us His triumphant
victory over, as the lenten hymn states, “all
evil.”
Despite this, we stand in constant need of
repentance, because we all too often “miss the
mark” of that which is “true and acceptable.” In
an effort to renew our “fallen image,” we are
given the opportunity to fast, not just from food,
but from those things that continue to separate us
from God and alienate us from one another. As
such, we pursue the fast to gain control of those
things that so often control us, to fast and pray
and reach out to those we too often ignore, not in
order to suffer, but for the purpose of liberating
ourselves from all that prevents us from communing
with Our Lord and with others.
So, as we fast from food, let us also fast from
all that separates us from God and others. Let us
seek His forgiveness, while also seeking – and
offering – forgiveness for those things that have
separated us from Him and our neighbors. Let us
strive to incorporate all that is “true and
acceptable” to God in our lives during this
blessed season and to live it well beyond the
joyous day of Resurrection. And let us, as
individuals and as the Church, shun all evil, that
having been renewed in Christ, we may be accounted
worthy of His victory and the new life that He so
graciously offers to all who, in truth, accept it.
With love in Christ,
+ HERMAN
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada
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