The beginning of Great Lent and the true meaning of repentance
After the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Sunday of the Prodigal and the Sunday of the Last Judgment, the fourth Sunday of Triodion is considered by many as the climax of the carnival. However, from a more theological perspective, it is the last Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent.
This Sunday the Vespers service is known as Vespers of Forgiveness. On Mount Athos the ritual is a little different. After Vespers, dinner follows in the dining room (Trapesa) at the end of which the service of the Apodeipno is read. When the Apodeipno is completed, according to the order, each participant approaches and bows to the gospel, puts penitence (metanoia) on the abbot and stands next to him.
The following do the same, until all the participants have put penitence on everyone.
What does it mean to put penitence (metanoia)?
The concept of repentance (metanoia) in the vocabulary of modern Greek society is a misunderstood concept. Most often it is understood as a mere verbal statement, with which a series of issues are easily and quickly attempted to be bypassed. However, as becomes apparent in a series of ascetic texts, the real meaning of repentance is something deeper and has to do with the content of human desire.
Human desire from birth and infancy is connected to various fantasies of dominance and omnipotence. Humans want everything as their own from childhood. The fact that they do not have, it forces them unconsciously and consciously to make an undesirable compromise. With this compromise, human desire does not change.
It is simply limited. Thus, deep down, human beings do not have peace. Peace can be found with repentance (metanoia), as its real content is the change of desire. With repentance as a mental process, man releases his desire from the pursuit of dominance and is reconciled with his finite existence. This can be cultivated and seen through a series of practices. One of these is fasting (nisteia). Fasting is a practice of expressing and cultivating this reconciliation. However, the word fasting is as misunderstood as the word repentance. Some think that fasting has to do with clean and unclean foods. Others consider it a moral duty, with which they will confirm their moral self-image. Others try to give the concept a broader character in relation to what man says and does. However, in this case too, the concept is at the service of the moral self-image of man and therefore of his imagination of how great and right he is.
In all these ways, the true meaning of fasting is canceled. This true meaning is the reconciliation of man with his finite character and his surrender to the One who surpasses him. This reconciliation is a source of true peace and rest for man, as he ceases to be tormented by a morbid fantasy. Of course, it is a continuous struggle and a process that has no end throughout the life of man.
Some years ago, a young man was going by boat from Ouranoupoli to Daphne on Mount Athos. In the boat met a monk, with whom he started talking. Among other things, the monk recounted an incident with an elderly monk who had an accident with a tractor while he was working in the garden of his monastery. Ultimately, although he was seriously injured, he did not die. The other monks told him that he was saved because he had the grace of God. And he replied: "God took pity on me, because I have not yet repented"!
Dr Stratis Psaltou
