The two preceding Sundays, of the Last Judgment and of Forgiveness, together constitute - albeit in reverse order - a recapitulation of the whole range of sacred history, from its beginning point, Adam in Paradise, to its end-point, the Second Coming of Christ, when all time and history are taken up into eternity. During the Forty Days that now follow, although this wider perspective is never forgotten, there is an increasing concentration upon the central moment in sacred history, upon the saving event of Christ's Passion and Resurrection, which makes possible man's return to Paradise and inaugurates the End. Great and Holy Lent is, from this point of view, a journey with a precise direction; it is the journey to Pascha.

It is interesting to emphasize another form of the Synodical System, which accentuates the importance of Holy Tradition: the Eucharist itself. In the Divine Eucharist, all Orthodox Christians meet together and in absolute agreement, in Doctrine and practice witness the presence of the Holy Trinity on the altar of the Church. The bishop and the priest pray to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit and transform the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ.

As has already been noted, the authority, the power, and the impact of Holy Tradition are found in the Holy Scripture and the Patristic teaching as a total and unified expression of the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the world. Christ, as the ultimate and Supreme Teacher, Shepherd and King, exercises His authority in the Holy Spirit through the holy Apostles and their successors.

The inner significance of fasting is best summed up in the triad: prayer, fasting, almsgiving. Divorced from prayer and from the reception of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) unaccompanied by acts of compassion, our fasting becomes pharisaical or even demonic. It leads, not to contrition and joyfulness, but to pride, inward tension, and irritability. The link between prayer and fasting is rightly indicated by Father Alexander Elchaninov. A circle of fasting says to him: 'Our work suffers and we become irritable...I have never seen servants [in pre-revolutionary Russia] so bad-tempered as during the last days of Holy Week. Clearly, fasting has a very bad effect on the nerves.' To this Father Alexander replies: 'You are quite right...If it is not accompanied by prayer and an increased spiritual life, it merely leads to a heightened state of irritability. It is natural that servants who took their fasting seriously and who were forced to work hard during Lent, while not being allowed to go to church, were angry and irritable.

Another characteristic still to be added, namely the Tradition of the Church is universal in space and time. Saint Vincent of Lerins, a bishop and writer in France during the 5th century, writes that "we must hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all" (Common, 2). Indeed, the Church with all her members, always, from the time of her inception until the end of time, accepts and teaches everywhere the redemptive work of Christ. This does not mean that the Church and Her Tradition move within numerical, geographical or chronological limits. The Church and Her Tradition, although they live in history, are beyond history.

There is so much more to a Greek Orthodox parish than supporting it financially and attending the Sunday Divine Liturgy. The parish is a community of Orthodox Christian believers who are united by a common Creed of faith, Tradition, and mission.