Fr. Stephen Freeman / Glory 2 God for all things
EΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Μια μοντέρνα Σαρακοστή – Μετάνοια από τον σύγχρονο κόσμο
Few things are as difficult in the modern world as fasting. It is not
simply the action of changing our eating habits that we find
problematic – it’s the whole concept of fasting and what it truly entails. It comes from another world.
We understand dieting – changing how we eat in order to
improve how we look or how we feel. But changing how we eat in order to
know God or to rightly keep a feast of the Church – this is foreign. Our
first question is often, “How does that work?” For we live in a culture
of utility – we want to know the use of things.
Underneath the question of utility is the demand that something make
sense to me, and that I be able to ultimately take charge of it, use it
as I see fit and shape it according to my own desires. Perhaps the fast
could be improved?
Our modern self-understanding sees people primarily as individual
centers of choice and decision. A person is seen as the product of their
choices and decisions – our lives are self-authenticated. As such, we
are managers.
Of course there are many problems with this world-view from the
perspective of Classical Christianity. Though we are free to make
choices and decisions, our freedom is not unlimited. The largest part of
our lives is not self-determined. Much of the rhetoric of modernity is
aimed towards those with wealth and power. It privileges their stories
and mocks the weakness of those without power with promises that are
rarely, if ever, fulfilled.
Our lives are a gift from God and not of our own making. The
Classical Christian spiritual life is not marked by choice and
self-determination: it is characterized by self-emptying and the way of
the Cross.
When a modern Christian confronts the season of Lent – the question
often becomes: “What do I want to give up for Lent?” The intention is
good, but the question is wrong. Lent quickly becomes yet another
life-choice, a consumer’s fast.
The practice of the traditional fast has been greatly diminished over
the past few centuries. The Catholic Church has modified its
requirements and streamlined Lenten fasting (today it includes only
abstaining from meat on the Fridays of Lent – which makes them similar
to all the other Fridays of the year). The Protestant Churches that
observe the season of Lent offer no formal guidelines for Lenten
practice. The individual is left on their own.
Orthodoxy continues to have in place the full traditional fast, which
is frequently modified in its application (the “rules” themselves are
generally recognized as written for monastics). It is essentially a
vegan diet (no meat, fish, wine, dairy). Some limit the number of meals
and their manner of cooking. Of course, having the fast in place and
“keeping the fast” are two very different things. I know of no study on
how Orthodox in the modern world actually fast. My pastoral experience tells me that people generally make a good effort.
Does any of this matter? Why should Christians in the modern world concern themselves with a traditional practice?
What is at stake in the modern world is our humanity. The
notion that we are self-authenticating individuals is simply false. We
obviously do not bring ourselves into existence – it is a gift. And the
larger part of what constitutes our lives is simply a given – a gift. It
is not always a gift that someone is happy with – we would like
ourselves to be other than we are. But the myth of the modern world is
that we, in fact, do create ourselves and our lives – our identities are
imagined to be of our own making. We are only who we choose to be. It
is a myth that is extremely well-suited for undergirding a culture built
on consumption. Identity can be had at a price. The wealthy have a far
greater range of identities available to them – the poor are largely
stuck with being who they really are.
But the only truly authentic human life is the one we receive as a
gift from God. The spirituality of choice and consumption under the
guise of freedom is an emptiness. The identity we create is an
ephemera, a product of imagination and the market. The habits of the
marketplace serve to enslave us – Lent is a call to freedom.
A Modern Lent
Thus, a beginning for a modern Lent is to repent from the modern world itself. By this, I mean renouncing the notion that you are a self-generated, self-authenticating individual. You are not
defined by your choices and decisions, much less by your career and
your shopping. You begin by acknowledging that God alone is Lord (and
you are not). Your life has meaning and purpose only in relation to God. The most fundamental practice of such God-centered living is the giving of thanks.
- Renounce trying to improve yourself and become something.
You are not a work in progress. If you are a work – then you are God’s
work. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in” (Eph 2:10).
- Do not plan to have a “good Lent” or imagine what a “good Lent” would be.
Give up judging – especially judging yourself. Get out of the center of
your world. Lent is not about you. It is about Christ and His Pascha.
- Fast according to the Tradition instead of according to your own ideas and designs.
This might be hard for some if they are not part of the traditional
Church and thus have no fasting tradition. Most Catholics have differing
rules for fasting than the Orthodox. If you’re Catholic, fast like a
Catholic. Don’t admire other people’s fasting.
If you’re Protestant but would like to live more traditionally, think
about becoming Orthodox. Short of that, covenant with others (family,
friends) to keep the traditional fast. Don’t be too strict or too
lenient, and if possible keep the fast in a manner that is mutually
agreed rather than privately designed. Be accountable but not guilty.
- Pray. Fasting without praying is called “the Fast
of Demons,” because demons never eat, but they never pray. We fast as a
means of drawing closer to God. Your fasting and your prayer should be
balanced as much as possible. If you fast in a strict manner, then you
should pray for extended periods. If you fast lightly, then your prayers
may be lighter as well. The point is to be single – for prayer and fasting to be a single thing.
- To our prayer and fasting should be added mercy
(giving stuff away, especially money). You cannot be too generous. Your
mercy should be as invisible as possible to others, except in your
kindness to all. Spend less, give away more.
Eating, drinking, praying and generosity are very natural activities.
Look at your life. How natural is your eating? Is your diet driven by
manufactured, processed foods (especially as served in restaurants and
fast food places)? These can be very inhuman ways of eating. Eating should take time.
It is not a waste of time to spend as much as six hours in twenty-four
preparing, sharing, eating and cleaning up. Even animals take time to
eat.
- Go to Church a lot more (if your Church has
additional Lenten services, go to them). This can be problematic for
Protestants, in that most Protestant worship is quite modern, i.e.
focused on the individual rather than directed to God, well-meant but
antithetical to worship. If your Church isn’t boring, it’s probably
modern. This is not to say that Classical Christianity is inherently
boring – it’s just experienced as such by people trained to be
consumers. Classical Christianity worships according to Tradition and
focuses its attention on God. It is not there for you to “get something
out of it.”
- Entertain yourself less. In traditional Orthodox
lands, amusements are often given up during the Lenten period. This can
be very difficult for modern people in that we live to consume and are
thus caught in a cycle of pain and pleasure. Normal pleasures such as
exercise or walking are not what I have in mind – although it strikes me
as altogether modern that there should be businesses dedicated to
helping us do something normal (like walking or exercising), such that
even our normal activities become a commodity to consume.
- Fast from watching/reading the news and having/expressing opinions.
The news is not presented in order to keep you informed. It is often
inaccurate and serves the primary purpose of political propaganda and
consumer frenzy. Neither are good for the soul. Opinions can be deeply
destructive to the soul’s health. Most opinions are not properly
considered, necessary beliefs. They are passions that pass themselves off as thoughts or beliefs. The need
to express them reveals their passionate nature. Though opinions are a
necessary part of life – they easily come to dominate us. Reducing the
need to express how we feel about everything that comes our way (as
opposed to silently weighing and considering and patiently speaking what
we know to be true) is an important part of ascesis and self-control.
I could well imagine that a modern person, reading through such a
list, might feel overwhelmed and wonder what is left. What is left is
being human. That so much in our lives is not particularly human
but an ephemeral distraction goes far to explain much of our exhaustion
and anxiety. There is no food for us in what is not human.
And so the words of Isaiah come to mind:
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who
have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without
money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and
eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in fatness (Isa
55:1-2).
“Let your soul delight itself in fatness…” the irony of Lent.
