One may compare Great Lent to a journey across a river teeming with rapids: the traveler encounters temptations, like rocks below the surface, everywhere, and it is only by following the marker buoys showing the river's depth, that one can get to the other shore. The Sundays of Great Lent are those markers. This fast consists of five weeks. (The sixth Sunday is already the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.) The liturgical meaning of each week is expressed in its Resurrection Service. Each Sunday has a theme taken from a specific event described in the Gospels, and an event in the history of our Church. That is to say, each Sunday celebration has meaning both in terms of the Gospel and in terms of history. As we shall see, they complement one another.
On the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Church celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy, both Orthodoxy's triumph over iconoclasm and, its overall triumph over all of the heresies. The Fast begins on a victorious tone, but at the same time issues a call to spiritual caution. This celebration, while apparently somewhat discordant with the message of the Gospel and Epistle texts setting forth the principal meaning of the day's service, brings a particular dynamic to the development and unfolding of the Fast.
The same may be said of the second Sunday of Great Lent, on which we remember St. Gregory Palamas, the condemnation of his enemies, and the confirmation of his teachings. It was adopted by the Church in the 14th Century, and in a certain sense, is a second Triumph of Orthodoxy. At first glance, these two Sundays would not appear to be relevant to the theme of fasting. Yet, they set a very important and specific tone, providing a Theological understanding of what Great Lent really is. We now turn to very important landmarks in Orthodox understanding of life. The triumph of Gregory Palamas over Varlaam, who had denied the possibility of communing with the Divine light of Mt. Tabor, is an important point in the history of Orthodoxy. The Theology of light had already begun in the very beginnings of the Gospel. The opening verses of the Gospel according to John point out "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world..." God is the True Light, and man may commune with that Light.
The third Sunday of Great Lent is known as the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross. One must note that all of the hymns sung on that Sunday speak not of sufferings on the Cross, but rather of victory and of the joy of the Resurrection. The meaning is clear: we have reached the midpoint of Great Lent. Our physical and spiritual podvig is beginning to tell, and we feel a certain weariness. The Fast is, after all, a kind of journey, a journey toward the days of Pascha. We pause to rest at the Cross, and It gives us strength.
The fourth Sunday commemorates the Venerable St. John of the Ladder [Climacus], and the fifth commemorates St. Mary of Egypt. In the persons of these saints, we find not only ascetics, but perfect examples [to be emulated]. In part, in St. John's Ladder, in which directions for spiritual practice are set forth, each endeavor is described a kind of step on a ladder of ascent. Commemoration of those saints in the second half of Lent encourages and inspires the faithful to carry on their spiritual battle.
Now let us return to the primary meaning conveyed in the Sundays of Great Lent and revealed in their Epistle and Gospel readings. The First Sunday. In remembering the righteous ones of the Old Testament, the Holy Apostle Paul concludes by saying "And all these, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us…" (Hebrews 11: 39-40) The Gospel reading which immediately follows explains, "…thou shalt see greater things than these…Verily, verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (John 1:50-51) This means that you, who believe on Christ, who are preparing for Pascha, will see all of that promised, the Heavenly Kingdom. But you will see it only if you believe and repent, if you amend your vision and your way of life, if you will want [to see] it and will accept Christianity as a podvig, will make an attempt to break out of the ordinary.
The Gospel reading of the Second Sunday, taken from the Gospel according to Mark, relates the example of the paralytic who was lowered through the roof to be at Christ's feet. The text includes the extremely important words, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, 'Son thy sins be forgiven thee.'" Here are brought together mankind's response to the Divine challenge, and the forgiveness of the man's sins, followed by his healing.
In the readings from the Epistle to the Hebrews beginning with the Third Sunday of Great Lent, the meaning of the sacrifice offered by Christ begins to unfold. As Paul says, it was that sacrifice that opened for each of us, entry through the inner curtain, into the Holy of Holies of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel according to Mark read on the Fifth Sunday tells of our Lord Jesus Christ's voluntary suffering, while in the excerpt from St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews read on the Fourth Sunday, we hear that the Son of Man will be betrayed, given over into the hands of sinners, and killed. The text echoes that in the Gospel according to Mark. "And the third day He shall rise again!" (Mark 10:34) is confirmed in the readings of the 5th Sunday, as if fulfilling all that had been promised. Lent is like a condensed history of the Good News, a crossing over to an understanding of the appearance in the world of Savior, proceeding through his being belittled and disparaged, culminating in His voluntary sacrifice on the Cross for the salvation of the world.
"Parish Life", 2003