Evagelos Sotiropoulos, political scientist, freelance columnist
I have written on these electronic pages
previously about Living the Orthodox Resurrection Service and Living
the Orthodox Holy Week; now, to complete the trinity, albeit in reverse
order, is my untrained take on living Lent.
It is difficult to truly experience the
spiritual fruits of Holy Week, let alone the indescribable joy of
Christ’s life-giving resurrection, without actively partaking in Great
Lent.
Think for a moment about how much time
and effort is required to win a professional sporting championship;
players and coaches do not show up only in time to hoist the trophy.
By the same token, we should avoid
showing up only on Holy Saturday evening to receive the Paschal Light.
Living Lent, in order to reap the Resurrection harvest, takes sacrifice.
For Orthodox Christians, Lent is an
“arena of virtues” and one reason why Greek Orthodox wish each other
Kalo Agona (translated accurately but poorly to “good fight”) on Clean
Monday, the commencement of Lent.
