Thursday we recall how at the Last Supper Christ blessed material
Lenten Triodion — translated by Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware
bread and wine, transforming them into His Body and Blood. Those who fast, so far from repudiating material things, are on the contrary assisting in their redemption. They are fulfilling the voca tion assigned to the ‘sons of God’ by St. Paul: ‘The created universe waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. . . .
1,0 Kontakion for the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
The creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and will
obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. W e know that
the whole creation has been groaning in travail until now’ (Rom. 8 :
19-22). By means of our Lenten abstinence, we seek with God’s help to exercise this calling as priests of the creation, restoring all things to their primal splendour. Ascetic self-discipline, then, signi fies a rejection of the world, only in so far as it is corrupted by the fall; of the body, only in so far as it is dominated by sinful passions. Lust excludes lo ve: so long as we lust after other persons or other tilings, we cannot truly love them. By delivering us from lust, the fast renders us capable of genuine love. No longer ruled by the self ish desire to grasp and to exploit, we begin to see the world with
the eyes of Adam in Paradise. Our self-denial is the path that leads
to our self-affirmation; it is our means of entry into the cosmic
Translated by Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware. Edition triodion.en.ware.