composure, the time of preparation for the meeting with christ, participation in his suffering and sunday. in order to properly set ourselves up for the coming days of the holy pentecost, which is another name for great lent, we need to remember the event for which we are preparing ourselves during the lenten days. easter is the main christian holiday, the greatest hope for all of us. after all, having risen from the dead, christ opened the door to eternal life for every person. the resurrection of christ became for us the triumph of triumphs. but let's remember that our new testament passover was preceded by a more ancient holiday, which was established in honor of the exodus of the israeli people from egyptian slavery. this ancient event contains important spiritual images that are needed. every

christian understands, and the lenten liturgical texts remind us of this. since the time of the pious joseph, son of jacob, the people of israel lived in the land of egypt, but over the years their life became unbearable. the egyptians forced the israelis to do hard work, tortured them, and mocked them. in this sorrow, the people of god began to cry out to god for deliverance and, hearing the desperate plea of ​​the israelis, god sent the prophet moses to them, who led the exodus of the israeli people from egyptian slavery. and there is a deep spiritual meaning in this. like the people of israel in egypt, many people are in bondage to sin, and there is no need to be embarrassed to admit it. but any sin, even if it is giving some kind. fleeting pleasure brings

torment to the soul, chips it, does not allow the best sides of a person’s life to show. as a result , a person no longer lives according to his own will, but following by the dictates of his sinful habits, suffering from such a life, he continues to remain in it for years, justifying himself with words. everyone lives like this, and how could it be otherwise, and what can be done? but it could be different. the israeli people would certainly have continued to live in egypt, not just for 400 years, as the holy scriptures testify to us. and these years he suffered from oppression, but the people were given moses, who put an end to slavery. therefore, great lent is the time of our exodus from a sinful life to a pious life with christ. all spiritual exercises which. offers us in the coming fast

days repentant prayers, bodily fasting, bowing, abstaining from activities that distract us, attending lenten services, all of them help us throw off the shackles of sinful habits and emerge from the darkness of an ungodly life to the light of christ's resurrection. this is one of the purposes of fasting. the exodus of man and the slavery of his passions. sometimes orthodox christians tend to reduce fasting exclusively to physical abstinence from one kind of food or another, to a diet, and this is good, but this is not enough, and this is necessary in fasting, but if a person fasts for a year, 5, 10 years, only observing abstinence from food, this indicates that he has stopped in spiritual growth.

the church fathers also paid attention to this. this is how saint basil the great teaches us, saying: the benefits of fasting are not limited to abstinence from food. and further he explains, because true fasting is elimination of evil deeds. fasting is a time of active correction of one’s life, abstaining from overeating, idleness, lies , theft, deceit, and condemnation. and many other sins that every person can continue for yourself, which destroy a person. but the even deeper essence of fasting is to abstain from evil and fill your life with positive content. learn to do good, through the mouth of your prophet isaiah, says the lord. how to do this? what do i need to do? what does he expect from me? lord, these questions should

concern us during lent, in order to understand this, we need to distract ourselves from the vanity, from the empty. formations from the endless race of consumption in which many are involved, and for this, the church calls for a special fasting service, which attracts us to its prayerfully quiet, peaceful, fasting services, which have been formed in the church for many centuries, filled with deep, heartfelt prayers and texts of sacred scripture, all this helps us to set ourselves up for repentance, to turn our look inside, not only the events of sacred history, but inside yourself, ask yourself important questions, is everything that i do pleasing to god, do i treat everyone fairly, according to

am i acting with love towards my neighbors , am i fulfilling my duties according to my conscience , am i reconciled with everyone, if we... find in ourselves, in our thoughts, actions that are inconsistent with the will of god, and this will always be found in everyone’s sympathetic, impartial gaze ourselves, then we must correct this with god’s help. real fasting is that we, realizing our sins, actively bear fruits worthy of repentance, supporting in word and deed those who find themselves in difficult circumstances, without turning away from the needs of their neighbors. and this is how we must do it not only during fasting, but throughout the rest of your life. and fasting serves those calls that force us to rethink our lives and fill it with god’s

presence. thus, a christian who truly lives the time of fasting rises to a new spiritual level every year. he purifies his soul more and more and becomes closer to god. the people of israel wandered through the desert for 40 years before entering the promised land to live a free life, and before that they spent 400 years in captivity in egypt. 40 days holy pentecost we will have to climb the spiritual ladder of great lent. to enter into the bright period of easter joy, to enter into the joy of your lord. each week of the coming pentecost will be like steps on a ladder leading us to the celebration of easter. the church will remind us

of the triumph of orthodoxy, as an event emphasizing the importance of purity of doctrine, of the great spiritual wisdom of st. john climacus, of the sincere repentance of st. mary of egypt, all these spiritual means we can and should use it for our purification, spiritual growth and drawing closer to christ. for a glorified christian who really goes through this period with dignity, lent becomes a time of special spiritual joy, the spring of the soul, a person has a desire to remain in this state as long as possible... and a person , going through fasting correctly, sometimes regrets that the fast is already ending, he reaps good fruits and wants to strive to have even more. a natural question may arise, what kind of joy is there when you have to

restrict, force? the point is that correct understanding of fasting cleanses a person’s soul and helps him gather himself inside. fills it with love, creating a place for god’s action in him, moreover, gives place to god himself, such closeness to god revives a christian, fills him with deep spiritual joy and meaning, makes him truly free. dear brothers and sisters, today you and i have entered a saving time that is important for us, the spring of the soul. great lent, i would like to wish all of us god's blessings on that spiritual work, to to which the church calls us , so that we become more attentive to ourselves and our neighbors, actively correct our lives, ascend to a new step on the spiritual ladder,

virtue leading to christ, and bear fruit to the risen jesus christ for us, on a good path, with god blessing.