And just like that, Lent starts again. We hear the cries of Adam in Orthros:

Woe is me; I cannot bear the disgrace, I who was formerly king over all earthly creatures. Behold, I am now captive because of a counsel aside from the law.

We hear Christ telling his disciples how to fast and how not to fast:

And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. (Matt. 6:15)

We exchange an embrace at Forgiveness Vespers, asking forgiveness and giving forgiveness to each other. And it’s time to set out.

For some reason, it’s on my mind to pass along a passage from St. Theophan the Recluse that made a profound impact on me when I first read it 15 years ago or so. It was some of the most important advice about Lent that I ever got, and I try every year to live it out a little more.

It’s so easy to stay busy with dietary restrictions and extra prayer services and miss the whole point of Lent. In the book “Spiritual Warfare” (turned into an excellent three-book series by Fr. Jack Sparks), Saint Theophan tells us what the Lenten duties are, but also — this was the important part for me — what they’re NOT:

…We must first learn what constitutes Christian perfection. If we have not learned this lesson, we may turn away from the right path and go off in a different direction, thinking all the while that we are progressing toward perfection. …

Some people — those who judge by appearances — say the perfect Christian life consists in carrying out fasts, vigils, prostrations, sleeping on bare earth, and similar severities of the body. Others will say it consists in saying many prayers at home and attending long services in church. Still others think perfection consists entirely of mental prayer, solitude, isolation and silence. …

But all the virtues mentioned above do not, in and of themselves, constitute the Christian perfection we are seeking. They are only means and methods designed to help us acquire it — and they may or may not do so.

There is, of course, no doubt these things do help some people to attain perfection in the Christian life. There are virtuous people who practice these virtues as they should, to acquire strength and power against their own sinful tendencies. Through these practices, they gain courage to withstand the temptations and seductions of our three main enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. By using these means properly, and at the right time, they gain the spirtual support so necessary to all servants of God, and especially to beginners.

On the other hand, these same activities may do more harm than good to those who take them as the sole basis of their life and their hope. It is also dangerous to undertake them independently or inappropriately, without the direction of a spiritual father or guide. The harm can come, not from the nature of the deeds, but through the fault of those who use them improperly — giving attention only to the external practice, allowing their hearts to be moved only by their own will and the will of the devil. In their case the devil, seeing that they have left the right path, gleefully refrains from interfering with their activities, even allowing them to increase and multiply their efforts in obedience to their vain ideas.

As a rule, people who rely on their righteous deeds as their sole basis of life and hope display certain discernible characteristics:

• They always wish to be considered better and more important than other people.
• They want their own way and are stubborn in their decisions.
• They are blind in everything concerning themselves, but are very clearsighted when it comes to examining the words and actions of others.

If someone else is held by others in the same esteem these people think they enjoy (or should enjoy), they cannot bear it and become openly hostile to that person. And if anyone intereferes with them in their pious activities, God forbid! They immediately become indignant, boil over with anger, and become quite unlike what they are believed to be.

If, desiring to bring them to a knowledge of themselves and to lead them on the right path to perfection, God sends them afflictions and sickness — or allows them to be persecuted, the means by which He ordinarily tests His true and real servants — this test immediately shows what is hidden in their hearts and how deeply they are corrupted by pride. For whatever affliction comes upon them, they refuse to bend their necks to the yoke of God’s will and to trust in His secret and righteous judgments.

Now, having seen clearly and definitely that spiritual life and perfection do not consist in these visible virtues of which we have written, we must learn in what they do consist: in coming near to God and dwelling in union with Him…

Do you now see what all this means, brothers and sisters? Like most sincere Christians, you are probably already expressing your readiness and are longing to reach the height of such perfection. Blessed by your zeal! But prepare yourself for labor, sweat, and struggle, beginning with your very first steps on the path. You must sacrifice everything to God and do only His will. You will meet within yourself a multitude of desires, all clamoring for satisfaction, whether or not it agrees with the will of God. Nor can you reach perfection all at once — sometimes a lifetime is required.

Just to re-state, if the fasts and prayers and extra services are not the goals but only the means of achieving the goal, what is it we’re really striving for?

Here is the truth we must absorb: The greatest and most perfect thing a human being can ever desire to achieve is to come near to God and dwell in union with Him.

Or, for those who are up for a lengthy read, go HERE and read how St. Seraphim of Sarov put it to a humble questioner on a snowy day in 1831. It may take a while to get you there, but — like Lent — it’s worth the trip.