Great Lent, 2010

To the Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his first Epistle, the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian writes: This, then, is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (I John 1:5).  There is no darkness at all in Christ, who is “Light of Light, True God of True God’; and there is no darkness in His Bride, the Holy Church, for in her, “the light of Christ illumines all.”

We are entering the sacred season of Great Lent which some perceive to be a season of darkness and gloom, reflected in the somber colors of vestments, the physical exertions of fasting and prostrations and the labor of long services. But to approach the Great Fast with this attitude is to adopt the mindset of the world, which understands only its own pleasure and its own pain. The more the world seeks to increase pleasure and avoid pain, the more the pain, suffering and darkness seem to multiply…

The season of repentance allows us to break through this worldly opposition between pleasure and pain by introducing the reality of God’s grace. It is this divine Grace which, together with our sometimes small efforts, brings about purity of soul and body, and in turn, this purity allows us to participate in the glory of God and to partake of the beauty of His Kingdom. This is why St Silouan can say: “Glory be to the Lord that He gave us repentance. Through repentance we shall, every one of us, be saved. Only those who refuse to repent will not find salvation, and therein I see their despair, and shed abundant tears of pity for them.”

We can only find true peace and lasting joy when we are led out of the despair of our passions and into the light of Christ by His Grace and through our labors of repentance, fasting and prayer. So let us be encouraged as we begin our Lenten journey and listen attentively to the sacred hymns of the Church: Let us joyfully begin the all-hallowed season of abstinence; and let us shine with the bright radiance of the holy commandments of Christ our God, with the brightness of love and the splendour of prayer, with the purity of holiness and the strength of good courage. So, clothed in raiment of light, let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day, that shines upon the world with the glory of eternal life (Sessional hymn, Matins on Monday of the First Week).

I humbly ask for your forgiveness and pray that the Lord will bless each of us with a profitable and peaceful Lenten journey.

Sincerely yours in Christ,