“Forgive me my sins.” “God forgives. Forgive me as well.” (Exchange after Forgiveness Vespers)
“Simple inseparable consubstantial Trinity; holy unity, lights and light, holy three and holy one, we praise God the Trinity” (From Great Canon, St. Andrew of Crete, Seventh Ode, Glory)
We begin the awesome soul-transforming experience of the Great Lent with two services specifically for this time: Forgiveness Vespers and the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. One is dedicated to the cleansing of consciences, the other to elevate our minds to an ever-greater unity with the Holy Trinity. The two are bound together. St. Maximus says that a bird tied to the earth cannot fly, and a person held by passions cannot aspire to union with God. All issues with others must be ended before the soul can be pure and open to spiritual growth. Even if ninety nine percent of the forgiveness exchange is perfunctory - nothing untoward between the two - even one person can be a hindrance to a wholesome life in the Spirit. Better to be sure. Even our Lord Jesus forgave everybody not only for their sake, but for His own as well.
The second service is usually broken into four parts because of its length and served on the evenings of the first week of Great Lent. We have begun the journey to the Kingdom of God. Some expect to get to heaven and ignore the fact that heaven is called by Christ “Kingdom,” and what is a kingdom without a king? To follow Jesus Christ to the Kingdom of God is to know the King. Notice that we assume the Person Jesus calls Father is apparently the King, yet Jesus when He was crucified, wore the title “King of the Jews.” And when we say Father and Son, we know that God is Trinity, and where the Father and Son are, there also is the Holy Spirit. He too shares kingship. Orthodox Christian theology is the revelation of God in Trinity. Notice how the Divine Liturgy begins: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit….” All three Persons have a part in our salvation. We are saved by the Holy Trinity.
We are cleansed, forgiven and purified so that we are better able to grow in the knowledge of the Holy Trinity, and that involves not just our minds but our innermost selves, our souls or nous. We are invited and urged to open ourselves to the Trinity. We are given a foretaste of what heaven will be like, which will be an ever greater comprehension and assimilation of the glory of the Holy Trinity. And there will always be more to be revealed as we develop the capacity to praise the Lord for what is offered and to mature in the ways of the Spirit.
St. Andrew’s Canon interweaves several salient themes. The most obvious is the plumbing of the Bible, both covenants, to lift up those persons who are positive role models to emulate, and the ones who were spiritual failures, types to be imitated and types to be avoided on our journey through this lifetime. Another is the theme of constant self-cleansing; St. Andrew uses terms like penthos, the deep sorrow and lamentation, often for the living dead, as when the bridegroom leaves (Matthew 9:15), or over fallen Babylon (Revelation 18). Third is the glorious invitation to contemplate the Holy Trinity and the revelations offered to the Church for our spiritual nourishment, as in “Trinity without beginning, without separation, indivisible unity, receive me the penitent” [Third Ode, Glory]; “I am the simple inseparable distinctly personal Trinity, and I am the unity united by the substance” [Sixth Ode, Glory].