{"id":70168,"date":"2026-03-21T20:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T01:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=70168"},"modified":"2026-03-22T20:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:21:48","slug":"dancing-through-lent-in-steadfastness-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/dancing-through-lent-in-steadfastness-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Dancing through Lent in Steadfastness and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Teva Regule, March 21, 2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does one grow closer to God?\u00a0 The Gospel often tells us what we should do to live as a follower of Christ.\u00a0 For example, we are to love God and neighbor and do good to others (e.g. Matt. 25: 31\u201346), but it doesn\u2019t give us a lot of guidance on how we grow in our relationship with God and, for us as Orthodox, become more and more God-like\u2014what we call in Greek, theosis<\/em>.\u00a0 This is our goal; this is what we mean by \u201csalvation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is not so much \u201chow to or will I get to Heaven,\u201d but \u201cwho will I become in the process of living a Christian life\u201d?\u00a0 This is where we can look to the wisdom in the writings of those we call the Fathers and Mothers of the Church for guidance. They often outline this process in a three-fold manner\u2014purification, illumination, and, ultimately, deification.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of becoming God-like\u2014for instance, to see the world as God sees it, to have mercy as God has mercy, and to love as God loves\u2014is not linear. In the spirit of St. John Climacus (whose life and teaching we remember on this Fourth Sunday of Lent**), this journey is often depicted as climbing a \u201cladder.\u201d But, I like to think of it as a dance\u2014with steps forwards and backwards, with dips and turns one way or another, but hopefully, moving forward with joy and hope in the resurrection of our Lord and the ultimate victory of Life over death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This dance begins at our baptism.\u00a0 During the service of the making of a catechumen, we ask God to remove from us any delusions and to \u201cfill us with [the] faith, hope, and love that is in [God]\u2026 inscrib[ing us] in the Book of Life and unit[ing us] to the flock of Your inheritance.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0We are then instructed to turn West, an orientation associated with darkness, to renounce Satan and all of his works.\u00a0 We then turn East, an orientation associated with light, and profess our allegiance to Christ.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prefigures the double movement of purification and illumination that is at the heart of our life-long spiritual dance.\u00a0 Turns one way and another. \u00a0In the water\/bath of our baptism we are reborn of water and spirit, symbolically participating in the death and resurrection of Christ. \u00a0In his commentary on the \u201cmysteries\u201d of initiation\u2014Baptism, Chrismation and the repeatable rite, the Eucharist\u2014Cyril of Jerusalem (4th<\/sup> c.) explains that the water\/bath is both \u201ctomb and womb\u201d for us.\u00a0 We have died in Christ, but are born anew, participating in His Resurrection. \u00a0Now, we are to walk in the newness of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We continue this journey throughout our lives\u2014steps forwards and backwards and. sometimes, sideways.\u00a0 Every now and then, we may fall or take a wrong turn.\u00a0 The Fathers call this giving into the \u201cpassions.\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cpassions\u201d are not merely understood as we might think today\u2014to have strong emotions about something, but as \u201cdiseases of the soul.\u201d\u00a0 We might call them addictions.\u00a0 The \u201cpassions\u201d are often natural emotions, but they are ones that have become disordered and, ultimately, underlie our sinful behavior.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our ancient writers often list eight of these\u2014gluttony, un-chastity, greed, anger, listlessness, despair, vanity, and pride.\u00a0 We need to be watchful of these and work to purify ourselves from their adverse effects. Then, we get back up and continue our dance. \u00a0We work to redirect or illumine our thoughts through the practice of the virtues\u2014to respond in faith, hope, love, kindness, patience, humility, and self-control.\u00a0 And the beat goes on.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continue to dance within a community of faith and participate in the life of the Church. In doing so, we are strengthened and grow in relationship with the Triune God. \u00a0In particular, Cyril emphasizes that we do so by our participation in the Eucharist.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBread strengthens [our] hearts\u2026 So strengthen your hearts by partaking of that spiritual bread, and gladden the face of your soul\u2026 and pass \u2018from glory to glory\u2019 in Christ Jesus\u201d (MC4.9)\u2014towards our deification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lenten journey is a microcosm of this grand dance. \u00a0This is when we focus particularly on the \u201chow\u201d of growing in our relationship with God, by fasting and forgiving others (as well as ourselves), through almsgiving, prayer, and consciously and continuously saying \u201cyes\u201d to God in our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lenten dance, just as our lifetime spiritual dance, takes practice and patience.\u00a0 We have to stretch our muscles and work on our \u201ctechnique\u201d in order to master the steps of the dance so that we can dance freely and joyfully.\u00a0 It requires that steadfastness of spirit and hope that we hear today in our Epistle reading and that humility of belief\u2014\u201cLord, I believe, help my unbelief\u201d that we hear in our Gospel reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One of the prominent prayers of the season\u2014the Prayer of St. Ephrem\u2014summarizes our dance through Lent.  It speaks of the double movement in which we began our Christian life\u2014purifying ourselves of those \u201cpassions\u201d which hold us captive, and exercising those virtues we should strive to incorporate in our lives more fully.  The prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk; but grant rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Your servant.  Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge others for blessed are You unto ages of ages.  Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prayer is usually accompanied by three great \u201cmetanias\u201d or prostrations, calling us to a conversion of our perception of reality.\u00a0 In the prayer we speak to the One who gives our life meaning\u2014our Master\u2014the one who, as the noted French Orthodox theologian, Olivier Cl\u00e9ment, says, \u201cgives and forgives and continues [to give us hope] in a future made anew.\u201d\u00a0 He is the One who shows us the way.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, we sometimes find that obstacles stand in our way, often of our own making.\u00a0 The prayer speaks of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.\u00a0 Let us take a look at these \u201cpassions\u201d more closely with the help of Cl\u00e9ment.\u00a0 He understands sloth to not just mean a sense of laziness, but more profoundly a sense of \u201cforgetfulness\u2026the inability to be amazed, to marvel or even to see\u201d (p. 73).\u00a0 It can be expressed as either a sense of inertia or hyperactivity.\u00a0 We forget that \u201call things are rooted in mystery and that mystery dwells within me\u201d (p. 74).\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sloth can often lead to despair, the second of the passions listed.\u00a0 Despair is a sense of cynicism or numbness to the world around me, and ultimately, a loss of hope.\u00a0 Because of this, we may turn to lust of power and idle talk.\u00a0 Cl\u00e9ment posits that, because we have lost our hope, we need slaves and enemies in order to hold someone responsible or to blame for the anxiety that consumes us. [Metania \u2013 a change of the heart\u2026<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Having asked God to free or purify us from these passions, we now ask God to instill in us or illumine us with the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.\u00a0 He emphasizes that these virtues are not \u201cmere morality, but a participation in Christ\u2019s humanity\u201d (p. 77).\u00a0 Chastity is not just about continence, but about integrity and integration.\u00a0 It is desire integrated into communion and transformed by an encounter with the agapic love of the Triune God.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our humility inscribes our faith into everyday life.\u00a0 According to St. John Climacus, it is in humility that we learn from God and as much as we allow Him to dwell in our hearts and souls, we find rest from our struggles (p. 78 referencing the Ladder of Divine Ascent 25.3).\u00a0 We begin to see the world as God sees it.\u00a0 Patience: The virtue of patience puts trust in time.\u00a0 Cl\u00e9ment emphasizes that it is not just earthly time, but time \u201cmingled with eternity.\u201d He emphasizes further that a \u201ctime that moves toward the resurrection is one of hope\u201d (p 80).\u00a0 All virtues now culminate in \u201clove,\u201d whose essence is Christ (p. 81). This gives us an inner freedom that doesn\u2019t separate prayer from service.\u00a0 It allows us to \u201cdiscern [the] person<\/u><\/em> within others\u2026 [and] bring peace to those who hate themselves and who destroy the world\u201d (p. 81) .\u00a0 It allows us to have mercy as God has mercy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the last stanza of the prayer, we ask God to allow us to see our own transgressions and not to judge others.  This requires a sense of self-knowledge that comes from constant watchfulness\u2014attention to our inner thoughts and feelings.  For Cl\u00e9ment to see our own sins is \u201cto die, but to die in Christ in order to be reborn in his Breath and to regain a foothold in the Father\u2019s house\u201d (p. 83).  When we see our own sins and not judge others, we are capable of truly loving the other.  Loving as God loves. [Metania<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And so, we continue our dance\u2014working to free or purify ourselves from the passions that afflict us\u2014taking steps forwards and backwards\u2014and practicing the virtues that illumine our hearts and move us closer and closer to that intimate relationship with God.  This is the relationship that allows us to see as God sees, have mercy as God has mercy and love as God loves.  In doing so we not only become more God-like, but with Christ as our model and guide, we become what we are called to be\u2014truly human. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Excerpts are from Cl\u00e9ment, Olivier. Three Prayers: The Lord\u2019s Prayer, O Heavenly King, Prayer of St. Ephrem<\/em>.  Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir\u2019s Seminary Press, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**Remarks first delivered on the Fourth Sunday of Lent (2025) that, in the Orthodox Church, commemorates St. John of the Ladder. The present version has been edited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TEVA REGULE — The process of becoming God-like\u2014for instance, to see the world as God sees it, to have mercy as God has mercy, and to love as God loves\u2014is not linear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":70194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,46],"tags":[78,4471],"class_list":["post-70168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eastern-liturgy","category-homiletics","tag-lent","tag-metania"],"yoast_head":"\nDancing through Lent in Steadfastness and Hope - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The process of becoming God-like\u2014for instance, to see the world as God sees it, to have mercy as God has mercy, and to love as God loves\u2014is not linear. 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Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and her Ph. D. in Systematic Theology from Boston College and now is an adjunct instructor at her alma mater. Her doctoral work focused on liturgical theology and history. Throughout her life, she has been an active member of the Orthodox Church. At present, she serves as President of the Orthodox Theological Society in America (OTSA) as well as on the board of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, an initiative that aims to educate the faithful about the historical female diaconate and advocate for its revival to meet the ministerial needs of the church and society for today. 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