Louis Milicich, OCAN Vice Chair
The Paschal Great Fast each year is a solemn invitation by the Church to its sons and daughters to repent, i.e. to have a change of mind and to reorient our lives, which the Fathers call "metanoia." For Orthodox Christian attorneys, this special period is our opportunity to reflect not only on our personal habits, but also on our professional habits. First and foremost, we should make sure that our professional life does not negatively shape and affect our spiritual life. And conversely, the Great Fast should be our chance to take our new-found spiritual commitments and to use them to transform our legal work.
The legal profession prizes mastery of language, precision of thought, and the ability to advocate with clarity and conviction. Yet these same strengths can become spiritual stumbling blocks for Orthodox Christian attorneys. In law school, in our firms and in our corporate legal departments, we are trained to argue, to anticipate weaknesses, and to defend positions which, many times, are not our own. We learn how to speak quickly, decisively and verbosely, and our loquaciousness often causes us to fail to listen to the arguments and the cries of others. The Paschal Great Fast helps us to firmly confront these tendencies and directly reminds us that our salvation is not won through argumentation, and that the most important "case" we will ever plead is the one we each will bring as we stand before God on the day of our final judgment
Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving—the pillars of the Paschal Great Fast—should not be merely private disciplines. They are also tools that should reshape our posture toward the world, our fellow man and the legal profession. Fasting teaches us restraint, which is contrary to our profession, where aggressive assertiveness is often rewarded. Prayer demands contemplation and silence, again contrary to our field, which is dominated by many (empty) words. Almsgiving reorients us toward mercy, while the legal system is geared toward punishment and judgment. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving should not weaken our professional abilities, but, rather, should help us become advocates who pursue justice without losing compassion, who speak truth without arrogance and condescension, and who remember that every person—client, colleague, opposing counsel, adversary, judge—is made in the image of God and, that they, like us, struggle with the temptations of the fallen world in which we all live together
The Paschal Great Fast also calls us to confront the more subtle temptations of the legal world: the pride that comes from so-called expertise; the impatience that is bred and fed by man-made deadlines; the cynicism that grows from witnessing human conflict and suffering, day after day after day. The Church does not ask us to abandon the legal profession but does call us to make an effort to sanctify it and everything around us. The courtroom, the conference room, and even those quiet hours drafting documents alone, should all become arenas for our spiritual growth. Each time we choose integrity over expediency, patience over irritation, and humility over self‑promotion, we participate in a sort of ascetic struggle just as surely as when we fast from certain foods.
Perhaps most importantly, the Paschal Great Fast and the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, the Feast of Feasts, reminds us that justice—true justice—is ultimately God's work. We Orthodox Christian lawyers labor within imperfect systems, with imperfect knowledge, on behalf of imperfect people. Pascha frees us from the illusion that outcomes rest solely on our shoulders. Pascha and the Resurrection remind us to practice our profession diligently, while entrusting the results of our work to the One, who is both Judge and Healer.
May the "podvig" of the Fast soften our hearts, sharpen our conscience, and deepen our reliance on and trust in God, and may the light of Pascha illuminate both our personal lives and our legal work.
April 2026
© 2026 Louis Milicich