The following in an excerpt from “Eros of Orthodoxy,” translated by Fr. Nicholas Palis and written by Mr. Pantelis Paschou.
The events that we celebrate during the Triodion period are placed by the holy Fathers in such a wise manner, that all the feasts comprise a spiritual ladder. Whoever decides to climb it, living “precisely” and not simply learning what is said and chanted in the Church, is granted to see and taste on the last step, the Incorrupt Sufferings and Mysteries with his spiritual eyes. He is led to experience the “good change” and to be gladdened by the dazzling light and the unspeakable spiritual beauty of the Resurrection.
Thus our Church puts forth a striking image of two men: The Publican and the Pharisee, directly in front of the arena of spiritual struggles and in the beginning of the road which guides us to Easter.
It presents them in their most spiritual hour, the time when they are praying in the Temple. The meaning of the parable is very evident. They are two examples for the Christian, one for imitation and one for avoidance. The one repels us with his hypocrisy, just as he repelled God’s grace, while the other, humble as he is, gains our sympathy, just as he gained God’s attention and grace. Humility say the Fathers of the Church, is the greatest virtue, for without this, we cannot retain any other virtue for long. If man doesn’t have humility, no matter how many riches he has, and good works he does, he remains unjustified in God’s eyes, like a Pharisee and hypocrite.
The Holy Fathers dedicate the 2nd Sunday of the Triodion to the parable of the Prodigal Son.
It should be noted here, that the depth of the humility of the Prodigal Son, surpasses the humility of the Publican. Here a sincere and real repentance takes place with a change of life and an immediate return to the paternal home, to the wide-open embrace of God-the Father that always awaited him. What love this parable shows for the sinful man, for the strayed child of the Mother Church! And I wonder is there someone who hasn’t walked, or who has not sometime walked the slippery and sinful way of the Prodigal? For, whether a little or a great deal, we all see, O Woe, a piece of us in the tortured person of the Prodigal. Even the saints, and Paul himself, the divine-tongued Apostle, named themselves first amongst the group of sinners! But the Mother Church, through the parable of the Prodigal Son which is a condensed summary of the whole Gospel, gives courage to each of us and tells us: My child, no matter how great the multitude of your sins are, don’t despair, don’t fall into desperation. God’s love is much greater. Get up and come with me now. I shall again put on you the first garment, and you shall again be my beloved child”.
Thus does God speak in our Church and he directs his warm and paternal word, to each prodigal: of the body and of the spirit, of the flesh or of alcohol. To the prodigal of every sin, who soils his body or thought, with uncleanness with iniquitous deeds.
The 3rd Sunday of the Triodion is dedicated to the Second terrifying Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s Second Coming, may be a metaphysical problem for a rational person. For the Christian however, it is a Gospel truth: It shall be necessary for all of us to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may reap the things of the body according to his deeds, whether good or bad” says the Gospel. Thus it is certainty that a Second Coming shall occur. It is not known when it shall occur: “concerning that day and hour no one knows”. Now why should the Church put this feast here? The reason is the following, which also demonstrates the Holy Fathers’ great knowledge of the psychology of man in arranging the matters of the Church. “This (feast i.e. the Second Coming of the Lord) is placed after the two parables, so that on learning of God’s philanthropy in these, one does not lead a careless life saying: God is merciful, and when I depart from sin, I am ready to accomplish everything. They placed this fearful day here, so that by death and the expectation of subsequent suffering, those carelessly disposed might be frightened to return to virtue, not only taking courage in His mercy, but mentioning that he is also a just Judge, and giving to each according to his deeds”. How much better would man order his earthly life, and how much more would he watch his every word and deed, if he always had life after death before his eyes, and the unremitting and fearful judgment of the Second Coming!
The fourth Sunday of Lent is called Cheese-eater or Cheesefare “in which we remember the exile of the First-created Adam from the luxury of Paradise.”
From this week–in particular with Clean Monday, which today has ended up the most impure of all the Mondays of the year–Great Lent begins. The Holy Fathers ordained for the Church to celebrate the expulsion of the First created ones from Paradise, because they disobeyed and didn’t keep the commandment of fasting that He gave them. However in the person of the first created we are also expelled who by inheritance undergo all the consequences of that disobedience and expulsion. Thus our Church places before us the first-created ones and tells us “what they have not kept, what happened to them, losing incorruption, we keeping, shall enjoy through fasting”. And fasting is not only abstention from foods: “we shall not perform the abstention of foods, but an alteration of every material passion”. That is not only a material, but also a spiritual fast: “Through fasting, brethren, we shall abstain physically and spiritually,” “we shall purify the soul, we shall cleanse the body. We shall fast just as in foods, from every vice, enjoying the virtues of the Spirit”
The fifth Sunday of the Triodion is the first Sunday of the Fast, the Sunday of Orthodoxy “in which we commemorate the elevation of the holy and venerable Icons.”
This celebration does not resemble the former ones. It has a festive and joyous character, appearing in most of the troparions of the Service of Vespers and Matins that call the Orthodox people to rejoice and be gladdened, celebrating the event of the elevation of the Holy Icons. The event that mainly was cause for the feast of Orthodoxy to be ordained is of course the elevation of the Sacred Icons, which occurred after many bloody battles between the iconoclasts and iconophiles, in Byzantium. The permanent Synod of Constantinople in 843 ended these disputes. It recognized and restored the 7th Ecumenical Synod that was forgotten and put aside by the iconoclasts. The permanent Synod established the feast of Orthodoxy and elevated, in the spirit of the 7th Ecumenical Synod (i.e. that “the honor arises up to the original”) the honorary worship of the Sacred Icons. Underlying this most important matter of Icons (which today needs another crusade to keep them and Orthodox far from western influence) are many other things celebrated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy stemming from the early Church. All of these things appear in the “Synodikon of Orthodoxy” which is published in the Triodion which few of our Churches read some of the excerpts. While in earlier times the “whole Synodikon” was read and all the people responded accordingly either with “memory eternal” for the Orthodox, or with the “anathema” for the heretics.
The Sunday of Orthodoxy was established by the Holy Fathers to strengthen the faithful in the Orthodox faith, to enlighten all who struggle in the spiritual struggle, to guard them against satanic ancient and modern many-named heresies. And to show them the only correct way which they must follow to be saved. For centuries this is the unshakable way that our Orthodox Church walks, i.e. “as the Prophets saw, as the Apostles taught, as the Church received, as the teachers dogmatized, as the World agreed with, as grace shone, as Christ crowned…”
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