Lent: The Tithe of the Year
Fr Thomas Hopko
In Orthodox Church tradition, the season of Great Lent is called, in the liturgical books, the “tithe of the year.” We know that in the Bible the believers were obliged to give ten percent of their possessions, their time, their crop, their money to the Lord, to the temple. And the rule of the tithe wasn’t at all because ninety percent of our possessions are our own and ten percent belong to God.
The tithe was to remind the people of God that they belonged to God, that he had saved them, he had delivered them from Egypt, that he was their God. And so that they would never forget that God is God and they were to keep his ordinances and commandments and that all things belonged to him and that they possessed things as gifts from him, they were obliged to this rule of ten percent. Of course in the New Testament when the Lord Christ came, the teaching was if you will be perfect, you give everything, and you follow me. And as some of the saints like John Chrysostom say: “We speak about giving all, and then we don’t even give the ten percent.”
Now this lenten season, as far as time is concerned, is just about exactly ten percent of the year. If we have 365 days and you have 40 days of the lenten season and then, in the Orthodox tradition again, the Holy Week of Christ’s Passion added on, that adds up to be virtually ten percent of the year. And the lenten season is that time of the year when believers, Christian believers, try to be what they ought always to be and to do what they ought always to do, but don’t.
It’s not a time for a special pious devotional activity. It’s a time for normal Christian life and normal Christian activity, the way it should be lived all year round but is not. So the season of repentance, the lenten spring as it’s often called, this “tithe of the year” is when the believers mobilize themselves individually and together, corporately, to try to be God’s people, to be a Christian, to be a human being, to be a person, as a Christian, to know that we were not simply brought of Egypt into Palestine.
We were brought from death to life, earth to heaven. We are in the new Passover. We belong to God, not simply because he delivered us from earthly bondage, but we belong to him because we were bought by the Blood of Christ, redeemed from hell itself, from death itself, in order to live forever with God.
Now during this “tithe of the year,” Christians are called to do all those things which open them up to the grace of God, all those disciplines that prove that they are believers. Usually they’re summarized, as they are in Orthodox tradition, in the Gospel readings on the Saturday and Sunday before Lent begins, by those three teachings of Jesus that are found in the Sermon on the Mountain—when you pray, when you fast, and when you give alms or more technically, more correctly translated, when you do acts of mercy.
So the lenten season would be a time for praying—personally, corporately, in one’s heart, in one’s room, in one’s church, as a member of the Church. It would be a time for fasting in secret—abstaining from foods, not overeating, realizing that our food and drink is the Word of God, and not some physical food, our food is the Bread of Life who is Christ himself. And then also that it would be a time of doing acts of mercy—helping others, giving to the poor, spending time with people.
And then in addition to those three things, you would have confession of sins; you would have a practice of silence; so many things, reading the Bible, that Christian believers should be doing all of the time. So the lenten season is that “tithe of the year,” when we try to be and do what we should be and do at all times.
A few years ago, I was asked: “Father Thomas, if you summarized, in the shortest form, what a practical life of a believing Christian, of a human being who believes in God and believes in Christ, what would it be like? What kind of maxims or rules would that include?”
And in response to that request, I made up a list of what I called “55 Maxims,” 55 things that a believer, very simply, would do if they were really a believer and were really obedient to God and wanted to live the way God would have us live. And I will just now, read these maxims to you.
Be always with Christ. Trust God in everything. Never forget God.
Pray as you can, not as you think you must. Pray as God inspires you to pray, not as you want to, but as God gives. And for a Christian, that would mean in one’s heart, in one’s room, and in one’s Church.
Have a keepable rule of prayer that you do by discipline. You can’t just pray when you feel like it. You have to pray by discipline, the times of day where you would remember God and say your prayers.
Say the Lord’s Prayer several times a day—just as one is getting into one’s car or walking into one’s office or into one’s classroom or before eating a meal, when waking in the morning, when going to sleep at night. Just say the Lord’s Prayer. It’s the prayer that the Lord gave, a short prayer, but it contains everything that a human being needs to pray if Christ is crucified, raised, and glorified.
Have a short prayer that you constantly repeat when your mind is not occupied with other things. This short prayer could simply be “Lord have mercy” or “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy.” The person just might say “Jesus.” A person might say “God,” but just some short prayer that fills the mind when the mind is not working in order to have the remembrance of God in one’s life, in one’s heart.
We, Orthodox, would say make some prostrations when you pray. Kneel down. Bend over. Bow down. Use your body. As St. Ephraim, “If your body is not praying when you’re praying, you’re not really praying.” Prayer is not just an activity of the mind and heart. It’s an activity of the whole person.
Eat good foods in moderation. Fast on fasting days, and of course during Lent that’s an entire fast. But eating good foods, not the kind of foods that could harm you and eating in moderation and when fasting, fasting in secret.
Practice silence, inner and outer. Just sit for a few minutes everyday in total silence. Turn off all the appliances. Open one’s self to God. Don’t think about anything. Watch the thoughts that come, and turn them over to God.
Do acts of mercy in secret. Just do some good things that no one knows about.
Do acts of mercy in secret.
Go to liturgical services regularly.
Go to confession and holy communion regularly.
Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings.
Reveal all your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person regularly.
Read the scriptures regularly.
Read good books, a little at a time.
Cultivate communion with the saints.
Be an ordinary person, one of the human race.
Be polite with everyone, first of all family members.
Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
Exercise regularly.
Live a day, even a part of a day, at a time.
Be totally honest, first of all with yourself.
Be faithful in little things.
Do your work, then forget it.
Do the most difficult and painful things first.
Face reality.
Be grateful.
Be cheerful.
Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
Never bring attention to yourself.
Listen when people talk to you.
Be awake and attentive, fully present where you are.
Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
Speak simply, clearly, firmly, directly.
Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out.
Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
Don't complain, grumble, murmur or whine.
Don't seek or expect pity or praise.
Don't compare yourself with anyone.
Don't judge anyone for anything.
Don't try to convince anyone of anything.
Don't defend or justify yourself.
Be defined and bound by God, not people.
Accept criticism gracefully and test it carefully.
Give advice only when asked or when it is your duty.
Do nothing for people that they can and should do for themselves.
Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
Be merciful with yourself and others.
Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
Focus exclusively on God and light, and never on darkness, temptation and sin.
Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God's mercy.
When you fall, get up immediately and start over.
Get help when you need it, without fear or shame.
