We are in the last week before Great Lent, the week of Cheesefare. Our preparation is coming to an end and wherever we are, we are entering Great Lent. I hope that we are all eagerly awaiting this with joy.
This is what the troparia urge us to do. The Church, as we are about to reach the gate of Great Lent, is still trying to prepare us for it. This week, the troparia already from Monday onwards, speak of the approach of Great Lent; that the fast is approaching, the spiritual struggle is coming.
The Church has dedicated the Saturday of Cheesefare to ascetics. Why do we “commemorate all those who have shone in asceticism”?
“We commemorate all the men and women who shone in asceticism,” in other words, all those who were sanctified by completely dedicating themselves to love Christ above all things, to serve as models for us as we enter our own ascetic path.
The Church has also designated this Saturday, one day before we enter Great Lent, to remember the holy ascetics, to honor them, to celebrate them, so that we may have them as helpers. We therefore ask them to help us, because they know what struggle means, what asceticism means, what fasting means, prayer, devotion, repentance, salvation. They know what it means to put away sin from ourselves and face our passions and desires that may hinder us from being filled with the light of Christ. They have gone through all this. Let us ask them, as we too enter the stadium.
In the epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (12:1).
That is, just as in a stadium where athletes go to compete, the fans sit around the stands, those who adore them, who want them to win, and encourage them, so it is with the saints. We see this in the temples. That is why not only are there portable icons in the temples, but the walls are also painted. Thus, in the temple with the paintings, we feel the saints around us, who encourage us, who strengthen us and help us to compete in the same stadium as they did and to reach the finish line, as they did, so that our souls may be saved.
The Church therefore ordained that we commemorate the holy ascetics, on the one hand, to ask them to help us now, as we enter the stadium of virtues. On the other hand, to imitate the saints. We must emphasize it at this time that the Christian who has not learned to have the saints as the measure of his life makes a great mistake and has something else, someone else as the measure, or has himself, his mind, his judgment as the measure.
We are deceived by weaknesses and such, and if we simply stick to what our own thinking says, we will fall, we will come to nothing. And the little struggle that we will make at this time may also be in error. The measure is the saints. The saints should always and especially at this time be kept in mind; especially the ascetic saints, who sought most of all to imitate Christ and sought to present themselves to Him as an offering worthy of His love.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
This is what the troparia urge us to do. The Church, as we are about to reach the gate of Great Lent, is still trying to prepare us for it. This week, the troparia already from Monday onwards, speak of the approach of Great Lent; that the fast is approaching, the spiritual struggle is coming.
The Church has dedicated the Saturday of Cheesefare to ascetics. Why do we “commemorate all those who have shone in asceticism”?
“We commemorate all the men and women who shone in asceticism,” in other words, all those who were sanctified by completely dedicating themselves to love Christ above all things, to serve as models for us as we enter our own ascetic path.
The Church has also designated this Saturday, one day before we enter Great Lent, to remember the holy ascetics, to honor them, to celebrate them, so that we may have them as helpers. We therefore ask them to help us, because they know what struggle means, what asceticism means, what fasting means, prayer, devotion, repentance, salvation. They know what it means to put away sin from ourselves and face our passions and desires that may hinder us from being filled with the light of Christ. They have gone through all this. Let us ask them, as we too enter the stadium.
In the epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says: “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (12:1).
That is, just as in a stadium where athletes go to compete, the fans sit around the stands, those who adore them, who want them to win, and encourage them, so it is with the saints. We see this in the temples. That is why not only are there portable icons in the temples, but the walls are also painted. Thus, in the temple with the paintings, we feel the saints around us, who encourage us, who strengthen us and help us to compete in the same stadium as they did and to reach the finish line, as they did, so that our souls may be saved.
The Church therefore ordained that we commemorate the holy ascetics, on the one hand, to ask them to help us now, as we enter the stadium of virtues. On the other hand, to imitate the saints. We must emphasize it at this time that the Christian who has not learned to have the saints as the measure of his life makes a great mistake and has something else, someone else as the measure, or has himself, his mind, his judgment as the measure.
We are deceived by weaknesses and such, and if we simply stick to what our own thinking says, we will fall, we will come to nothing. And the little struggle that we will make at this time may also be in error. The measure is the saints. The saints should always and especially at this time be kept in mind; especially the ascetic saints, who sought most of all to imitate Christ and sought to present themselves to Him as an offering worthy of His love.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
