To the readers of the Kommersant newspaper
Alexy II
Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ!
Once again, the Lord has vouchsafed us to enter the difficult but saving field of Lent. Having reconciled with all people on Forgiveness Sunday, we now begin forty days of contrition for our sins and intense prayer. May God's help and the true expectation of the Bright Resurrection of Christ strengthen our strength in this difficult spiritual ascent.
The fast of the Holy Pentecost was established by the apostles in imitation of the forty-day fasting of our Lord Jesus Christ in the desert, which preceded the beginning of His preaching and public ministry (Matthew 4:I-II). For the great victory of the Savior begins with His rejection of the temptations offered by Satan.
The current fast is called Great Lent both because of the number of its days and because of its significance for the spiritual health of an Orthodox Christian. In essence, a person’s Lenten activity is an image of what his entire life should be from birth to death, dedicated not to the carnal and vain, but to the heavenly and eternal. However, overwhelmed by earthly passions and carried away by the cares of life, mortal man, unfortunately, practically does not achieve this ideal of a truly Christian life. The exceptions are known and remembered by everyone: these are the holy ascetics of piety, to whose prayerful help we invariably resort. However, in the house of the Heavenly Father there are many abodes, and the path of spiritual achievements is not closed to any of us, no matter how weak and sinful creatures we consider ourselves to be. Great Lent is at the same time a great opportunity for every person to show his grateful love for the Lord and change his own life for the better in accordance with the teachings of Christ and His Church. “My soul, my soul, arise, what are you writing off?” - we repeat during Great Lent after St. Andrew of Crete, encouraging ourselves to spiritual awakening and vigilance.
The fasting days of the Holy Pentecost account for approximately a tenth of the year. Thus, the anciently legalized tithe is formed, which we dedicate to the Creator and Lord from each year we live, and in total - from our entire life. This is the time that we free ourselves from worldly entertainment for spiritual sobriety, moral growth, deep confession of sins and repentance.
However, the holy fathers warn a person against the temptations and self-delusions that await him during the forty-day test of faith and humility. “Do not limit the benefits of fasting to just abstaining from food; because true fasting is abstinence from evil deeds... Forgive your neighbor's insult; forgive him his debts... You do not eat meat, but you eat your brother. You abstain from wine, but do not restrain yourself from offenses... Let us fast with a fast that is pleasant, pleasing to God,” St. Basil the Great teaches those who fast.
During the days of the Holy Pentecost, we will be accompanied by the Lenten prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, pointing to those spiritual treasures to which our soul strives: “Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk. But the spirit of chastity, humility, Grant me, Thy servant, patience and love. Grant me, O Lord the King, to see my sins and not to condemn my brother, for blessed art thou unto the ages of ages.”
May the All-Merciful Lord help us to walk the path ahead of the great and holy Pentecost with dignity and righteousness, may He strengthen us with His power in good thoughts and undertakings, and bless us to become partakers of the coming Bright Resurrection of Christ.

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 42 dated March 14, 2000, p. 9