While our Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, as most Eastern Christian Churches, still puts a lot of emphasis on the period that has become known as Lent in the West, it does stress the fact that our efforts are only truly valuable if they are voluntary. We do not fast or engage in other ascetical practices to make God love us more or even be more disposed to forgive us our weaknesses. We cannot change God’s attitude towards us. He unconditionally loves us and only desires that we come to know how very much He does love us. Further, He knows that we can never achieve perfection and, more importantly, doesn’t expect us to achieve perfection in this lifetime. Being a saint does not mean that a person reached perfection. All God wants for us is to come to a deeper awareness of His love and to desire, ever more deeply, to cooperate with His grace and grow in the likeness of Jesus, His Son. He shares His Spirit with us so that we have the power and ability to grow in the likeness of Jesus.

As I was preparing this issue of the Bulletin it dawned on me that our Church begins the Great Fast with a remembrance of Adam and Eve being forced out of Paradise and ends the Great Fast with the remembrance of Christ pulling Adam and Eve out of the grave. The way the Eastern Church   understands Easter tells me the meaning of the exodus of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. It tells me that when we live without an awareness of God’s role in our lives we are living outside of Paradise. When we truly believe that God came into our world in the Person of Jesus to show us how to live, He revealed to us that with His help we can freely make this world His Kingdom.

It is interesting that in Western Christianity there is no real mention that Christ freed Adam and Eve from captivity to Death. In the East this is quite prominent in our Easter Icon and in the Tropar that we sing over and over again. The persons that Jesus is depicted as directly pulling out of the grave are Adam and Eve. I would have you think about this and, if you have any thoughts about it, please send them to me because I would love to hear your reflections. I truly think that our iconography reveals quite clearly our approach to spirituality and salvation. This is the traditional icon of the Resurrection. It represents the impact of the Lord’s resurrection. In the East It is not appropriate to represent Christ coming out of the tomb – it   wasn’t seen by anyone. Real salvation is understanding this reality!