Great Lent, or Lent, which means “Great 40 Days”, is the most important period of fasting in the Orthodox Christian church calendar, which prepares Christians for the biggest holiday in the church calendar, Easter.
Due to the importance of the season of Lent, it is natural that the path of the faithful Orthodox Christians is not paved with rose petals as “Narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life”. Matthew 7:14.
Elder Ephraim Philotheitis states that the devil uses many tricks during Lent and of course he does this to get us off the path of repentance that all believers, without exception, must follow during this period.
Of course repentance and the fight against the wicked is not only a matter of the mind but in this fight the believer has many weapons which if he uses them he will surely come out victorious.
One of these weapons is Odeipno.
Elder Ambrosios Lazaris used to say that “The reward is an umbrella”
He said this because the devil often does not only use calculations to bend man, but he is used to bringing “setbacks” in our daily life, he is capable of causing even bad people to harm us!
– You will try to say Apodeipno every night with your children. And there will always be one reading aloud, while the others will accompany… they will all be involved in some way anyway. Or, if that’s not possible, be the whole family together and let one of you read it.
Saint Elder Paisios used to say that “If you cannot read the entire Apodeipno, read half or a third”
But what church items do we need to make the reward?
Certain church items certainly help us to be overwhelmed and to experience prayer better.
These are the candelabrum that we should have lit, the holy images of the Virgin Mary with Christ, the image of our patron Saint and of course the censer-censer to burn the incense while we pray.
Happy Lent & Happy Stage
