A Review by Ed Aust
“Jumping into Lent without preparation can be as dangerous for us spiritually as trying to climb Mount Everest without preparation would be to us physically,” Phoebe Farag Mikhail writes at the start of her book Hunger for Righteousness: A Lenten Journey Towards Intimacy with God and Loving Our Neighbor.
I thought I was prepared for Lent until I read Mikhail’s book, which opened my eyes to the beauty and challenge of the Lenten journey. I now see Lent as more of a communal expedition than a solo trek toward Christ on Easter Sunday.
Mikhail writes from the perspective of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the largest Christian Church in Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa region, which traces its origins back to the Apostle Mark. The Orthodox Church takes group Lenten practice more seriously than many mainline church denominations. She points out that Orthodox Lenten fasting and almsgiving have more to do with collective solidarity with people experiencing poverty than with personal abstinence. Even confession and repentance are a “restoration of the entire community to their inheritance from God.” “Lent is a communal fast,” writes Mikhail. “We climb that spiritual mountain together.”
Mikhail structures the book around the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Each of its three sections examines a part of this beatitude—“Hunger and Thirst,” “Righteousness,” and “Filled”—beginning with striking quotes from early Christian saints and theologians. Each chapter focuses on how saints, pilgrims, and Biblical characters have lived out the beatitude in often startling ways. I’d never heard of St. Abraam of Fayoum, a 19th-century Egyptian bishop known for his solidarity with the impoverished, both Christian and Muslim; or Abba Serapion, an early Christian monk who gave away his clothes to those in need. And while I’d read the story of Tamar in Genesis, I never thought of her as a model of righteousness “in her willingness to play a part in God’s great economy of salvation, even at great risk to herself.”
This devotional guidebook is both historically informative and theologically dense. It is, in part, a primer for understanding the many world traditions of Lent—Coptic Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and others—with deep respect for all of them. More importantly, it serves as a wise companion for the Lenten journey, layered with spiritual insights and anecdotes.
The wisdom in Hunger for Righteousness is not just for Orthodox Christians during the Lenten season; it’s a book for all Christians to savor and highlight year-round. Throughout the book, Mikhail reminds us that Jesus “did not say, ‘Blessed are those who are righteous.’ He said, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for it.’ This is all he asks. He asks us only to desire righteousness, and he will fill us. He will fill us because Jesus Christ himself is righteousness, and all he asks is that we desire him. All we need to do is turn our eyes to the mountains. Our help will come from the Lord.”
Hunger for Righteousness: A Lenten Journey Towards Intimacy with God and Loving Our Neighbor by Phoebe Farag Mikhail was published by Paraclete Press in 2025.
Ed Aust is a writer and photographer in Oakland, California, and serves as poetry editor of Radix Magazine.