The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

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Before I begin with my experience with the beginning of Pre-Lent, I feel like I need to point out a  big fact that I missed last night.  Orthodox Christians follow the Julian Calendar, which places our Easter (Pascha) at a different date normally than Protestant Easter.  So while the rest of the world is celebrating Easter on March 31st this year, Orthodox Christians will not be celebrating until May 5th. 

We also call Easter, Pascha, literally meaning "Passover."

Alright, now that we have those things cleared out of the way....

The story of the Publican and the Pharisee is taken from Luke 18:9-14.  This is the story where two men go up to the Temple to pray.  The Pharisee, supposedly a righteous man, prays an extremely prideful prayer, pointing out the reasons he is so much better than everyone else, including the Publican right next to him.  The Publican, typically known as a sinful person because of the fact that tax collectors are not known to be honest, prays a simple prayer, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."

This parable makes us aware of our need for humility.  Pride is the root of all sin, so what better attitude to approach the Lenten season than with humility!  Although this is the theme of the first week, it is also carried through the entire season.  Obviously, our church Fathers realized that this would take some time to sink in!

Father Alexander Schememann paints a wonderful description of humility in his book Great Lent: Journey to Pascha:

 

     "But what is humility?  The answer to this question may seem a paradoxical one for it is rooted in a strange affirmation: God Himself is humble!  Yet to anyone who knows God, who contemplates Him in His creation and in His saving acts, it is evident that humility is truly a divine quality, the very content and the radiance of that glory which, as we sing during the Divine Liturgy, fills heaven and earth.  In our human mentality we tend to oppose "glory" and "humility"
 - the latter being for us the indication of a flaw or deficiency.  For us it is our ignorance or incompetence that makes or ought to make us feel  humble.  It is almost impossible to "put across" to the modern man, fed on publicity, self-affirmation, and endless self-praise, that all that which is genuinely perfect, beautiful, and good is at the same time naturally humble; for precisely because of its perfection, it does not need "publicity," external glory, or "showing off" of any kind.  God is humble because He is perfect; His humanity is His glory and the source of all true beauty, perfection, and goodness and everyone who approaches God and knows Him immediately partakes of the Divine humility and is beautified by it." 

It always surprises me how much thought has been put into the Liturgical calendar. Although at first I was a bit put off by the fact that each day had a scripture attached to it and every Sunday carried the same theme from year to year, I have come to begin to appreciate the order in which the year has been planned.  As Orthodox, we also follow times of fasting during the week and during different seasons at various levels.  Just like the Pharisee in the parable, we typically fast twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays.   Wednesday's are to be a reminder of Jesus' betrayal and Friday's of His Crucifixion.  In order to help humble our attitude we are asked not to fast this week.  We are no better than anyone else and this week reminds us of that fact.  Isn't that so smart!  And I thought all this time we weren't fasting this week so we could clean out our freezers of any lingering red meat (and let me tell you, we will be eating a LOT of red meat this week)! 

It was also pointed out that as the Lenten season progresses services will be getting rather long.  While this makes me a little nervous as a mother of 5 young children, it was explained that these services are intentional.  They will wear us down, helping us to submit to God.  Father Schememann also states in Great Lent:

"We understand then why the services had to be long and seemingly monotonous.  We understand that it is simply impossible to pass from our normal state of mind made up almost entirely of fuss, rush, and care, into this new one without first "quieting down," without restoring ourselves a measure of inner stability.  This is why those who think of church services only in terms of "obligations," who always inquire about the required minimum ('How often must we go to church?' 'How often must we pray') can never understand the true nature of worship which is to take us to a different world-that of God's Presence!- but to take us there slowly because our fallen nature has lost the ability to accede there naturally."

 

I love how the church Fathers acknowledged and had the foresight to realize our humanity.  We are slow learners and in our fast paced world, it can take a lot to adjust our attitude and focus on Christ.  I love how the Liturgy, although seemingly repetitive, always helps to bring me into focus.  While I might miss out on a few "Lord have mercy's" in the beginning of service, I am thankful for the opportunity to try again later in the service.  And of course, what better reminder than to sing "Lay aside all earthy cares" as we proceed to the Eucharistic portion of the service. 

 

It is the same way in the process of Lent.  Although we still have 3 weeks until the official beginning of the Lenten season, we are being prepared slowly each week to help change our attitude and mindset.  Lord knows I need some time to work on my humble spirit! 

 

So this week, as we near the beginning of Lent, we focus specifically on our attitude of humility.  We begin with the Troparion:

"The doors of repentance do thou open to me, O Giver of life, for my spirit waketh at dawn toward thy holy temple, bearing a temple of the body all defiled.  But in Thy compassion, cleanse it by the loving-kindness of Thy mercy." 

 

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgression.  When I think of the multitude of evil things I have done, I, a wretched one, I tremble at the fearful day of judgment; but trusting in the mercy of Thy loving-kindness, like David do I cry unto Thee: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy."

 

And the Kontakion:

"Let us flee the bragging Pharisee, and learn the humility of the Publican, while crying out unto the Saviour with groanings: Be gracious unto us, O Thou Who alone dost readily forgive."

 

There have been a few websites that have been recommended or that I have found helpful while researching the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.

Publican and Pharisee Sunday- This site had some great suggestions of things you could do as a Sunday school teacher or as a parent.

Mystagogy: A weblog John Sanidopoulos-  This site provides some thoughts by Gregory Palamas.

Tridion- This site has the readings for each week of Lent.