“May He open unto me the gates which I closed.” - From Vespers of Forgiveness Sunday

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Whenever we embark on a journey, it is presumed there is a place of departure, a route, and a destination. In today’s technologically advanced society, all three of these are made easy in any number of ways, with devices and applications on our phones which tell us how to go. The journey is finished successfully when we know where we are going and arrive safely. Often in the Church we hear Great Lent referred to as a journey, in which we undertake many challenges in our spiritual life, knowing that our ultimate destination is the Feast of Feasts!  

If we were to take this a few steps further, however, the journey throughout the Forty Days is our humility and repentance, turning from our sins towards Christ’s victory on the Cross. Looking at the hymns of the Church, we see the road map of this journey expressed to us in detail. On the eve of Great Lent, we commemorate Adam’s lament on the expulsion from Paradise, and hear the following words the Saturday night before the Sunday of Forgiveness:

“O Precious Paradise, unsurpassed in beauty, Tabernacle built by God, unending gladness and delight, glory of the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints, with the sound of your leaves pray to the Maker of all:

May He open unto me the gates which I closed by my transgression, and may He count me worthy to partake of the Tree of Life and the joy which was mine when I dwelt in you before...”‍

Notice how the hymn refers to “the gates which I closed.” Although the hymn refers to Adam, it also refers to all of us, exhorting us to acknowledge our own fallenness before God, as well as to “partake of the Tree of Life,” that is, the Cross and the ultimate victory! The beginning of Lent therefore, is the lament of our sins (Adam), and the end is the victory over them through Christ (the New Adam).

May we follow the directions for this journey which the Church gives to us each year, that we too may repent of our sins through prayer and fasting, and find that the gates of Paradise have been opened to us once again!  ‍

Kali Sarakosti!  Blessed Lent!
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With love in Christ,

Father Nikolaos Bekris

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