LENTEN ENCYCLICAL

To all things there is a time, and a season for every matter under heaven. A time of birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to pull down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to lament, and a time to dance; a time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to abstain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

These particular verses from the Holy Scriptures came to mind as I listened to the Life of our righteous Father Euthymius the Great, while it was being read during the vigil on the eve of his feast-day. The Saint’s feast is celebrated on the twentieth of January according to the church calendar, and the account concerning the Saint, written by the pious monk Cyril of Scythopolis, had the following to say about his manner of life:

As for the intervals between services, the Saint spent them at home, day and night in prayer, psalmody, reading the Holy Scriptures, knowing that "he who meditates on His Law day and night shall be like a tree planted near the running waters which shall bring forth its fruit in due season" (Psalm 1:2,3). Therefore he gave to God in due season the proper fruit: in a time of anger, he would bring to God the fruit of brotherly love and patience; in a time of gluttony, his fruit was temperance; when attacked by temptations of any bodily pleasures, then continence would flourish in him. And thus, taking up his athletic* struggles each day, he accomplished abstinence regarding his tongue and the pleasure of the stomach, complete poverty, and true humility and sanctification of the body. In fact, extremely concerned for the virtue of continence, he kept the lamp of his virginity unextinguished, filling it always with the oil of mercy and compassion for others.

Thus, my beloved Orthodox Christians, we behold yet another radiant example in the Lives of the Saints of how these mortal men and women, who were born of flesh and blood even as we are, were transfigured by the grace that was given them. We see that what might have been a time for sin in others became — for them — a time for virtue. In a most profound and literal manner, they truly "redeemed the time," as the Holy Scriptures say.

When we say that they were transfigured by the grace that was given them, this was not only because of God’s election, but also because they diligently sought and pursued this sublime goal. They passed their time in prayer, psalmody, reading the Holy Scriptures, and hence, in due season, they brought forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). They loved God much, and therefore they became much beloved of God.

Hence, to paraphrase Ecclesiastes, this is why our holy Mother, the Church, provides us with a time to obtain spiritual birth, and a time to die to our destructive desires; a time to plant the seeds of virtue, and a time to pluck up the tares of our sins; a time to kill our deadly passions, and a time to heal the festering wounds of our souls; a time to pull down the walls of enmity, and a time to build up the bonds of a love that "seeks not its own"; a time to weep over our failings, and a time to laugh at and ridicule ourselves for our ludicrous vainglory and arrogance; a time to lament over the misfortune and poverty of our enemies, and a time to dance for joy over our rescue from death; a time to throw away our stony hearts, and a time to gather together the precious stones of consecrated works, built upon the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. I Cor. 3:12); a time to embrace our Saviour, and a time to abstain from embracing the enemy of our salvation; a time to seek the precious Pearl (Matt. 13:45), and a time to lose the riches that make it so difficult for us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 19:23); a time to keep vigil, with fasting and prayer, and a time to cast away the "vanities and false frenzies" (Ps. 39:6) that squander the time that has been allotted to us; a time to rend "the handwriting that was against us" (Col. 2:14), and a time to sew for ourselves the spiritual garments of incorruption (I Cor. 15:53); a time to be silent in prayer in our inner chamber, and a time to speak of the marvellous works of God; a time to love both God and man, and a time to hate the works of Satan; a time of implacable and unrelenting war against the spiritual hosts of wickedness, and a time of peace and blessedness in the everlasting and Heavenly Kingdom.

This consecrated time of the Holy and Great Fast is a God-given opportunity for us to become like that psalmic tree "planted near the running waters," that is, the stream of tears of compunction and prayer. Like Saint Euthymius the Great, whose life was mentioned at the beginning, may we likewise offer unto God the spiritual fruit of the virtues during Lent, that together with the holy Church we also may chant:

The season hath arrived which is the beginning of spiritual struggles, the victory over the demons, even invincible abstinence, which is the adornment of the angels and our boldness before God; for thereby Moses became a conversant with the Creator, and received in an invisible manner a voice in his hearing. O Lord, deem us worthy thereby to worship Thy Passion and Thy holy Resurrection, since Thou art the Friend of man.