}ll?}lSCII;AL l?IL GB ft Guide for the Greut Fast ~ for Ukraini.an CuthoD.cS -at{ Bishop Bastl H. Losten, n.n. Our Paschal Pilgrimage By The Most Reverend Basil H. Losten, D.D. down out of heaven from God, INTRODUCTION prepared as a bride adorned for Holy Pascha, I the fea st of her husband, and I heard a loud feasts, is the greatest and most voice from the throne saying joyful solemnity of the Christian 'Behold, the dwelling of God is calendar. Pasch a celebrates the with men. He will dwell with Resurrection of Jesus Christ them, and they shall be His within the context of the salva­ people, and God Himselfwill be tion history of the Bible. In the with them; He will wipe away Paschal mystery, we live through every tear from their eye~ and Creation, through the Fall and the death shall be no more! " promise of a Redeemer. through So our preparation for Holy the calling of the Hebrews, and Pascha is a pilgrimage, a pil­ 2 especially the first Passover: the grimage to the New Jerusalem. 7 miraculous Crossing of the Red Our Paschal pilgrimage does not Sea by the power of God. The usually involve much geographi­ Hebrews were on their way to the cal traveling. 8 But our pilgrim­ Promised Land, to Jerusalem. age involves a great deal ofspiri­ And throughout all the ages that tual effort. Saint Athanasius the followed, right up until now, pi­ Great teaches us that, ous Jews wish to celebrate the "Just as Israel, advancing to­ Passover in Jerusalem. ward Jerusalem, was purified Jesus Christ also wished to and instructed in the desert, so keep the Passover in 1crusalem that they would forget the cus- with His disciples; it was neces- toms of Egypt, so it is right that sary that He should be crucified, during the holy Lent, which we that He should die, and that He should rise again from the ha ve taken upon ourselves, we should give our attention dead in Jerusalem, at the feast of Passover. to our cleansing and purification, so that setting forth from Jesus Christ gives us the sacraments of baptism. hol y here and mindful of fasting we can ascend to the upper orders, and the Eucharist within the feast of Pascha; these room with the Lord and dine with Him and share the joy in sacraments are always within the Paschal mystery. With­ heaven. For otherwise, without keeping Lent, it would not out Pasch a there is no Christianity. As Saint Paul teaches, be allowed us either to go up to Jerusalem or to eat the Pascha.,,9 "If Christ is not risen then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.") " But in fact Christ is risen from the We must prepare ourselves well, by repentance, by re­ dead, the first-fruits of those who have fa llen asleep:,4 newing and deepening our knowledge of the Christian Faith, by seeking greater knowledge and understanding of Holy Pascha and the Paschal mystery are at the heart, the Paschal Mystery as we find it in Holy Scripture and in the center, of our Christian Faith. I have said that pious the teachings of the Catholic Church. Jews wi sh to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem; for thi s godly purpose, they go on pilgrimage from every country neG on earth. not begrudging the time, cost, and trouble of the When we plan a long trip somewhere, we often wish to journey. And in every Jewish household, there is meticu­ have a guidebook to give us practical information for our lous preparation for the Passover. Journey and to help us become better acquainted with the We Christians do the same, but in a different way. We places we are to see. We wish to learn more so that our wish to accompany the Lord Jesus Christ who tells us "I travels may be both more enjoyable and more profitable. am no longer going to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer. but I For our Paschal pilgrimage, the Church provides us with am going to My Father and your Father, to my God and such a guidebook, the Lenten Triodion, a service book we your God: you shall go with Me to the heavenly Jerusalem use from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee to in the Kingdom of Heaven."s Saint John the Theologian Lazarus Saturday. 10 [I n 1995 the Sisters of Saint Basil the describes it in this way: Great published an English translation of the Lenten "And I saw the holy ci ty. the new Jerusalem, coming Triodiol1 . II This valuable book consists of the actual texts PASCHAL PILGRIMAGE - SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOWER 3 - of the prayers our Church invites us to use, prayers written not forget the angels who announced the Resurrection, who many centuries ago by some of our greatest saints which ministered to Christ in the wilderness. Your own guardian have nourished countless generations of our faithful. I hope angel is there to help you in this pilgrimage, and through­ that many of our parishioners will obtain copies of the out your life. Remember the myriads of saints who have Lenten Triodion, and will put it to good use every year.] made this pilgrimage and who are glad to share it with you. The Lenten Triodion and its proper use in our prayer And especially remember the Blessed Mother of God, the and worship are among the key elements in our tradition Virgin Mary of whom we shall speak later in this Instruc­ and our expectation of the heavenly kingdom. Pope John tion. Paul II teaches that, F'utII. "If tradition puts us in continuity with the past, eschato­ Lent is a time of fast and abstinence. logical expectation opens us to God's future .... S1. Athanasius teaches us that "in no manner is it pos­ "The East expresses in a living way the reality oftradi­ sible to go up to Jerusalem, and to eat the Passover, except tion and expectation. All its liturgy, in particular, is a com­ by observing the fast of forty days.,,16 memoration of salvation and an invocation of the Lord's return. And if Tradition teaches the Churches fidelity to St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote: "Christ fasted .. before what gave birth to them, eschatological expectation urges his temptation; we fast before Pascha. As far as the num­ them to be what they have not yet fully become, what the ber of fasting days goes, it is the same,17 but the difference Lord wants them to become, and thus to seek ever new in the significance is important: Christ fasted against temp­ ways of fidelity, overcoming pessimism because they are tation, but for us this fast is symbolic of dying with Christ, striving for the hope of God who does not disappoint.,,12 and this fast is a purification to prepare for the festival. Christ fasted totally for forty days, but we adapt our fast­ This characteristic of our divine worship is particularly ing to our strength, even though some are led by zeal to go true of our celebration of Lent and Holy Pascha. beyond their strength. The universal Catholic Church places special emphasis Christ gave the Paschal MysterylS to the disciples in an on the tradition of the Eastern Churches, and stresses "that upper room, after supper, and the day before He suffered; the full union of the Catholic Eastern Churches with the but we celebrate the Paschal Mysteryl9 in churches,2o and Church of Rome which has already been achieved must before food,21 and after His Resurrection."n not imply a diminished awareness of their own authentic­ The traditional fasting regulations required total absti­ ity and originality.,,13 23 nence from meat from Meatfare Sunday until Pascha Instead, we must be proud of our authentic tradition, (eight weeks), and total abstinence from dairy products24 realizing that we are "the living bearers of this tradition, from Cheesefare Sunday until Pascha (seven weeks). These together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters,,,14 and we regulations do not bind under pain of sin, and I have no should always "attain to an ever greater knowledge and intention of attempting to impose them on anyone. In more exact use,,15 of our authentic tradition. contemporary society there are two serious impediments One can take up this work at any moment; the riches of to the traditional fasting regulations: cost and time. It is our tradition are always there for us. But Great Lent is a possible to eat proper meals in accordance with the tradi­ particularly appropriate time, because every year during tional regulations, especially with the array of fresh and Lent we try to renew ourselves, to seek freedom from hab­ frozen foods now available. However, many of the foods its which may keep us from God, and we try to grow in the (particularly shellfish) which one would have to purchase love and knowledge of God. If we follow the "program" to maintain such a dietary regime are so expensive that which the Church offers us in the Lenten Triodion, we shall buying them on a daily basis would cause a severe eco­ gain a great deal, and find our Christian lives remarkably nomic hardship for most people. True, we should be pre­ deepened. That program has several elements: liturgical pared to make financial sacrifices for our faith. But it would prayer, private prayer, fasting, spiritual reading, and char­ be incongruous to go on an expensive diet of luxury foods ity.