First Sunday of Lent- Sunday of Orthodoxy

Growing up Byzantine Catholic means that you grow up with icons in your life. I have about 8 in my dorm room right now. I can't imagine not being able to venerate an icon when I go into a church. I also can't imagine someone trying to come into my room, taking my icons and burning them, but that is something that happened in the 8th Century. The period was known as the period of the Iconoclasts. Soldiers would go into churches and whitewash all of the icons in them because they believed they were idolatrous. This was finally resolved during the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. I'll never forget the year my priest decided to demonstrate how shocking Iconoclasm was. It was the first Sunday of Lent, probably 8 years ago. During his homily he had a paintbrush and paint can and went up to an icon of an angel which he himself had painted on the wall of our church and began to paint over it. Gasps were heard throughout the church. How on earth could he do that? Sensing our shock, Fr. Tom removed the tin film of clear plastic that covered the icon, but his point was well taken. What must it have been like for those Christians in places like Constantinople to see their beautiful churches whitewashed?

When I was younger we celebrated this Sunday of Holy Images (as it is sometimes called) by creating our own icons. In our Eastern Christian Formation classes we would take a piece of stained wood, pick out an icon that had graced the cover of our church bulletin over the past year and decopage it onto the wood. Then, during the beginning of the liturgy we would process around the church with them. Just recently I found an icon of the Crucifixion which I had made some 12 years ago!

One of my favorite things to do during Lent is to pray the prayers in a little prayer book I have called "Great Lent and Great and Holy Week With Blessed Theodore Romzha". It has prayers in it for each day of the week and then a special hymn for each of the weeks of the Fast. The prayer book was published three years ago in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Theodore Romzha. Blessed Theodore was a Byzantine Catholic bishop in present day Ukraine and he was martyred by the Communists for defending his catholic faith and refusing to convert to Orthodoxy. One of his most famous quotes was "To die for Christ means to live forever". I think it is important to place figures before us who have undergone the ultimate sacrifice for their Faith in order to strengthen my own faith. A great good to read about those who suffered under the oppression of Communism is called "Finding a Hidden Church" by Christopher Zugger.

One of the prayers we pray often during Lent is the prayer of St. Ephraim. We pray it every day whether that is in the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy or our private devotions. It is a wonderful prayers because it encapsulates the true spirit of the fast. It was written by St. Ephraim the Syrian who lived in the 4th Century. The prayer is as follows:

"O Lord and Master of my life,
spare me from the spirit of apathy and meddling,
of idle chatter and love of power.
(make a prostration)

Instead grant to me, Your servant,
the spirit of integrity, and humility,
of patience and love.
(make prostration)

Yes, O Lord and God,
grant me the grace to be aware of my sins
and not to judge others, for You are blessed,
now and ever and forever. Amen
(make prostration)"