Returning from the 'foreign land' of the godless life... to the 'homeland' of the godly life!
It is unspeakably comforting for our 'prodigal' soul to know (when it returns repentant to the 'oasis' of Divine communion... after its wandering in the 'desert' of Egoistic loneliness) that it is waiting for it, even if it does not deserve it, to be met by... the Love of the Heavenly Father!
"O Patriarch, open your arms to me quickly, I have wasted my life in vain, in unspent wealth, in the absence of Your mercy. Now, do not be impoverished, do not be arrogant in heart... I am a sinner... Save me!" [ 1 ]
(From the Hymnology of "Prodigal Sunday")
INTERPRETATION: Heavenly Father, hasten to open Your Fatherly embrace to me…! I have squandered in a prodigal life the spiritual wealth that You have bestowed upon me… and now I return to You again, naked and destitute, aiming only at the inexhaustible wealth of Your Fatherly Mercy…! Do not despise my heart, poor in virtues - and rich in passions! - which now returns to You again. I have sinned… I repent… Save me!
The 2nd Sunday of the Triodion, which the Mother-Church dedicated (along with the entire previous week) to the "Prodigal" of the Gospel passage, is a Spiritual 'Feast'... that all of humanity 'celebrates'! Because, somehow/once each of us has been, more or less, a 'prodigal' son or daughter! Having deludedly imagined that our disconnection/autonomization from the Source of life... God would supposedly 'liberate' us, we cut off all communion with Him! Self-exiled from the Paradise of His Love, we migrated "to a distant land" and wandered, temporarily or more permanently, in the murderous desert of passions...! And we could have 'left our bones' there... in the desert, if we had not found a 'path of repentance' for our return to the Oasis of Fatherly Love and Forgiveness!
Although Christianity, in general (in institutional dimension and relevance to other religions) is a 'religious' system, the Orthodox version of it is far from being 'just another religion' close to the others! The Niptic Experience of the Orthodox East... is not a 'religious' but a therapeutic system... that psycho-heals people, with the remedies of Divine Grace! Every 'religious' system expresses the anguish of man... to find God. And if he does not find Him... to 'invent' Him (!), in order to feel safe in His almighty shadow! In diametrical contrast to this, Christianity expresses the 'anguish' of God Himself to find man! And Orthodoxy, in addition, expresses God's providence to heal him from the passions... to which he has voluntarily become enslaved, and to prepare him 'in life' for his salvation in eternal life!
Theodore Dostoevsky, having converted from militant atheism to Christ, had written with deep shock that: Even if the entire Gospel had been lost, and only the 'parable of the Prodigal Son' had been saved... it would be enough, alone, to 'summarize' comprehensively and replenish the entire missing Gospel! For, in no 'religious system' of the world, does God appear so merciful, compassionate, condescending and amnesiac... as the loving Father of the Gospel passage! He does not simply 'wait' in his House... but goes out on the street to welcome his prodigal son, who returns from the 'sojourn' of sin! And, not only does he forgive him, but he also fully restores him to his former honor… which he enjoyed before his disuse…!
The Evangelist Luke preserved (Luke 15:11-32) this parable of Christ, as follows: A father had two sons. The younger, demanded his share of the inheritance, and went abroad… where he squandered his property in debauchery. When he became completely bankrupt… he was forced, in order to survive, to work for an inhumane boss as a swineherd…! With the little food he received, he could not satisfy his hunger… and he stole from the carob pods of the swineherd. In the midst of his terrible suffering, he remembered with pain the noble life he enjoyed in his Father's House, and decided to return to his Father. He would ask him to forgive him… by hiring him as a worker in his work! But the loving Father accepted him as his son... and surrounded him with love and honor, despite the jealous objections of his older brother!
People, when we slip into… disconnection from Divine Love, and distance from His Fatherly embrace… it is, not because living close to Him we are tortured (because, how is it possible for anyone to suffer in the cool 'oasis' of Love…?!), but because the Plan deceives us with its deceptive promises! An identical repetition of the primordial deception of the Arch-Liar Satan! That, if we dare our 'revolution' against the 'Father-Master' and 'stand up' to His 'tyrannical' authority… attempting to 'escape' from His 'prison of Love', we will -supposedly- conquer the freedom 'we deserve'…! But "a lie has short legs" and soon our deception by the sworn enemy of our souls is revealed... plunging us into shame and despair!
And then, truly, we get 'what we deserve', but... it is not what we had imagined when deceived! It does not... coincide with the unlimited freedom and carefree enjoyment that the Devil has given us! Of course, we 'enjoy' the 'self-determination' of our existential autonomy... (in short, we do our own will...)! But that is not success... when it is combined with a merciless guilt-conscious torture...! Indeed, when, after recovering from the 'intoxication' of sin, there in the 'foreign land' of passions... and the squandering of all the resources of our Father's 'property', we end up 'on the mat' of spiritual ruin...! And then we are forced to work for 'alien citizens' (demons) to 'herd pigs' (vile passions), stealing pig feed... bitter carobs (substitutes for joy...) to satisfy our hunger!...
God loves His rational creatures, but at the same time He respects the freedom He has given us, as a 'structural' element of our personality. He respects our choices, even when they do not include Him... and He 'suffocates' within His philanthropic-child-loving Fatherly bowels, His pain for our apostasy, awaiting our repentant return. As soon as this occurs... -even if and when it occurs- God lovingly embraces our repentant soul, forgivingly writing off our spiritual debts. He restores our lost value and honor to the previous (and even higher...) level of spiritual intimacy with Him, as before our rebellion and self-exile... in the miserable 'foreign life' of the passions.
Repentance means repentance… a change of mind… a change of way of thinking. More precisely, it means our psycho-mental conversion: from the sick state of egotistical self-sufficiency… to the humble awareness and admission of sin, which is a promise of incipient health. It is a ‘transition’ to the spirit of humility and brokenness, in the face of the unspeakable Goodness of God… when His Light reveals our deep dark self. The awareness of our passionate state, with the painful experience of the traumatic experience of the passions that we have cultivated within ourselves, is the first step towards our psycho-conscious restoration. This is followed by the realization of the great decision, for a practical change of life, Confession… and redirection of our path towards God…!
All the 'scenarios of apostasy' from our Heavenly Father are 'written' on the 'centrifugal tendency' of our soul, to exit and move away from the magnetic attraction and influence of Fatherly Love, so as not to limit the pleasurable... abuse of the 5 senses...! Because, there is a big difference between: a) utilizing the senses 'god-like', i.e. as spiritual beings, with a strong desire and attraction towards eternal and immortal life, who long to submit joyfully to the liberating will of God! & b) using our senses 'animal-like', i.e. as merely biological beings, without any perspective and longing for eternity...! Rational beings, who choose to 'name ourselves' irrationally...and to foolishly distance ourselves from the 'power of Love' of our God!
Every person, depending on the 'disposition' he feels towards God (whether loving, as a child towards a Father... or servile, as an employee towards an Employer... or fearful, as a slave towards a Master...) forms an 'existential behavior', which determines the quality of the Relationship that connects every soul with Him. If he loves Him as a Father... he obeys in order to please Him, without seeking or expecting anything in return! If he serves Him as an Employer... he submits to Him out of self-interest, in order to obtain His favor and to reap the maximum benefit (e.g. heaven)! If he trembles at Him as a Master... he complies with His Commandments with servile timidity, in order to avoid punishment (e.g. hell)!
Repentance requires courage, heroism and a fighting spirit. Just as all goods are acquired with effort, so salvation requires hard work, uncompromising self-denial and a self-sacrificing struggle. The devil attacks with fury, preventing us from “coming to ourselves”. He mines our path to discourage us, uprooting every intention of repentance from within us. Furthermore, he projects pessimistic thoughts into our minds… that, supposedly, God will not forgive our mistakes… and thus we remain bound to our passions and unrepentance. But God never ceases to love us and awaits our return to His Fatherly embrace. For He Himself assured us that “There is joy in Heaven… over every sinner who turns to God with sincere repentance…” (Luke 15:7)!
REFERENCES-FOOTNOTES
[ 1 ] A poetic/musical rendition of the 'experience' of the Prodigal... which every repentant soul experienced or experiences, when touched by Divine Grace!
Lyrics – music – interpretation: Polymnia Panayi. (Listen to the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFyNiWj1YnM )
The decision to return, from the 'foreign land' of sin... to the Heavenly Palace of the King Father, of every 'prodigal' prince or princess...
In vain did I wish, my Father, to live
And from Your Kingdom I exile myself
I fled to a far country, far from Your Face.
Only with pleasures did the wretched one feed himself
I spent and scattered Your wealth.
For a little temporary joy that sin gives
And now that I return to Your House with tears,
I behold the wealth of Your Love again.
Father, with my works I have killed my soul
But You are my Life and my Resurrection
I have seen Your mercy and longsuffering.
And I hoped that in You I would find Salvation.
You gave me Your Grace under Petrachili
You opened the gate of Paradise for me again.
You gave me Your Body, so that my soul might be nourished.
To be enlightened, to be sanctified, to be united with You
I remain speechless and amazed, Your love is indescribable.
Your divine Tolerance has filled me with tears.
How you enclose the nakedness of my soul in your embrace
and do you order me to be dressed in splendid robes?
I am not asking You to accept me as one of Your children.
Just one corner in Your House, Father, give me
To live in Your Kingdom, to hear Your Voice
To rejoice and be glad at the sight of You
You will rejoice, my Father, for Your child too.
Who found Repentance and his return
Who hated and left the intoxication of pleasure
Who was dead and came to life, and was found dead...
