The Beginning of Great Lent

OCA Chancery
Syosset, New York

To the Venerable Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful
of the Orthodox Church in America
Dearly beloved,

The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel (Mk 1:15).
These words mark the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus in the Gospel according to Saint Mark. They reveal that if Christ is to be followed into his Kingdom there must be repentance. They provide the foundation for the holy days set before us which lead to the radiant day of the Savior’s Resurrection.

“The time is fulfilled,” for Jesus, the new Adam, has taken upon himself sin and death in order to regenerate everyone and everything. The Kingdom is in our midst and we are called to enter by repentance. Indeed these words form the very core of the Gospel. Yet, paradoxically, they are words that have been deprived of their meaning and power because in our fallen human nature, we embrace the false Gospel of our culture.

What is proclaimed by this false gospel is self love and self empowerment. From this false Gospel those called to enter the Kingdom of God have turned to the kingdom of this world where the sin of the old Adam—the sin of self love—can only offer an existence destined for mortality.

Repentance is our return to the Kingdom of God. Repentance is a turning away from self love and self empowerment which lie at the foundation of all human misery and division. Repentance restores us to a right relationship with the Kingdom of God

Through repentance the ascent to God becomes united with prayer and fasting. Within this ascetical dynamic—a dynamic of love for God and neighbor—we re-discover our own death and resurrection with Christ. Only from within this dynamic of love will the world repent and believe in the Gospel. Only within this dynamic of love will we come to love ourselves in a way that is no longer self serving or self satisfying, but focused on doing the will of God. This is the goal of the lenten Spring from which blossoms new and eternal life.

As we prepare to enter the great school of repentance, I humbly ask for your continued prayers and forgiveness. May God grant each of us a most fruitful Lenten season.

With love in Christ,

+ THEODOSIUS

Archbishop of Washington

Metropolitan of All America and Canada