Liberation through Great Lent

Giving up chocolate or taking on more Bible study during Lent are common sacrifices for Christians during 40 days of penitence building up to Easter.

Sacrifices of treats and time take willpower. Still, they’re a bit lightweight compared with the lenten fasting and other rigors Eastern Orthodox Christians shoulder to underscore the importance of Christ’s resurrection to their faith.

Even so, the Rev. Alexander Leong, the new head of Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Pacific emphasizes that his church’s strict no-meat diet "exists to liberate us and set us free, and not to restrict us."

Leong, who came from Cali­for­nia to head the Makiki church in September, said, "Fasting is seen as a tool to bring us closer in relationship to God, to place our dependence in him, to curb the sinful impulses of the flesh, to be kind and charitable to our fellow human beings."

The Orthodox Church calls this season Great Lent, which began this week with Clean Monday (to denote a new beginning). Western churches, including the Roman Catho­lic and mainstream Protestant churches, began Lent with Ash Wednesday this week. Easter will fall on the same day this year — April 20 — for both churches. Eastern churches use the Julian calendar, while Western churches follow the Gregorian/international civil calendar.

Leong said in addition to not eating any animal protein, church members are asked to eliminate fish, dairy products, oil and wine. Oil and wine are permitted on Saturdays and Sundays, however. Forty days of Great Lent fasting ends April 11, right before Holy Week, but there are other kinds of fasts until Easter, he added.

"The danger of fasting is you can become too focused on the rules" and the temptation to "show off," he said, noting that fasting should be quietly personal and dependent on one’s health.

Great Lent is "filled with many beautiful services," which are longer, held more frequently and stress incorporating substance and solemnity.

During the lenten season, each Sunday service follows a theme focusing on messages to pray more, give extra to charity and forgive one another, he said. Every Friday evening, the Akathist Hymn is sung while "you’re standing for one hour. People love that service" because it praises the Virgin Mary, who "holds a special place in our hearts."

Prodded on by a jam-packed schedule, Leong said, "the 40 days seems to go too fast. It’s a joyful celebration. I kinda miss all those services when it’s over."

Leong first experienced Pascha, the church’s term for Easter, as a 15-year-old and found the elaborate two-hour service enchanting.

"What struck me about the Greek Orthodox Church was the richness of the worship. All the five senses are used, and your whole being is involved in worship."

Leong continued, "What really impressed me was how we greet each other with the words, ‘Christ the Lord is risen,’ and then, ‘Truly is risen’ is the response," he said. The congregation also sings the hymn "Christ the Lord Is Risen," and "everybody has lit candles and we proclaim Christ’s victory over death."

Leong added that so much of Orthodox liturgy language is put in the present tense, instead of the past tense, so congregation members feel like they are part of an event that is actually happening.

A favorite Easter custom shared by Western and Orthodox churches is the dyeing of eggs, the symbol of new life. But Orthodox churches dye their eggs red rather than a pastel color to recall the bloodshed of Christ on the cross. As the priest hands each person a red egg, he proclaims, "Christ is risen!" in the first hour of Easter Sunday, after the midnight service, he said. A red egg is also placed in the center of specially prepared bread.

Leong’s congregation of 150 consists of members with varied roots — Greek, Rus­sian, Serbian, Romanian, Asian and others.

He is one of few Asian priests in the Greek Orthodox Church. Before coming to Hawaii with wife Nicole and three children, Leong served at Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Vallejo, Calif., for 10 years.