My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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TODAY--NOVEMBER 15th THE ORTHODOX CHURCH BEGINS THE 40-DAY NATIVITY FAST
According to our Holy Orthodox Christian Tradition today, November 15th, we commence the 40 day Nativity Fast, one of four seasons of the ecclesiastical year during which we, the Orthodox Christians, are summoned to intensify our spiritual lives through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (charity). We are guided by our Holy Church, to observe a fast as we prepare for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh (Incarnation).
"Let us fast an acceptable and very pleasing fast to the Lord. True fast is the estrangement from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood, and perjury. Privation of these is true fasting.
One of the longest established disciplines of the human body is that of fasting. Among pagan religions, Judaism and Christianity fasting is considered an important element of religious practices. Fasting (Gk. nesteia) literally means a total abstention from food for a certain period of time. It also means abstention from such pleasures as celebration of birthdays and marriages and, as developed later in the Christian era, even church festivals. Fasting appears early as an act of devotion among the Jewish people, but without the formalized rules developed later. Even in the early Christian Church fasting was practiced among many, but not according to rules. Fasting generally was considered "a work of reverence toward God."
The New Testament does not record the special dates and days of fasting nor specific methods of fasting. The Jewish people could fast on Monday and Thursday, but it was not compulsory. The first Christians instituted feasts and fastings after Jewish patterns, but the interpretation of their fastings was different.
The origin of fasting in the Christian Church is to be found in many sources. The first Christians inherited the practice of fasting from the Jews. Fasting also has pagan origins. The Church usually tried to replace pagan fastings and feasts by giving Christian meaning to those observances through worship in the True God, moral uprightness, fasting, prayer and repentance. Fasting was developed as a meritorious work before God. Fasting became an obligatory practice among monks and nuns, who kept strict fastings in the assumption that their fastings would support their concept of virginity. Fasting was included in the vows of the first Christian monks.
The fact that fasting was not determined in specific days and certain foods originally, indicates that fasting in itself, for the sake of fasting, was not considered as such.: "when He fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards ahungered" (Matthew 4:2); the second time when Christ admonished the Disciples on fasting versus hypocrisy in the Sermon on the Mount:
"Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for the disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They, have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (St. Matthew 6:16-8; cf. Isaiah 58:5)
The Lord does not refer to specific days, foods or complete abstention from foods. Christ does not refer to them as not having been fixed either, nor does He mention days and foods, because they were known to the people of that time. Here Christ refers to fasting as a sincere attitude of deep humility and repentance, with discipline and vigorous uprightness, all to be held in secrecy, as quoted above (cf. Matt. 6:4,6).
Fasting, compared to other Christian activities, is a means, not an end in itself. Nevertheless, it is the only practice that has to do with the nutrition of the body, having a direct effect upon its physical nature, which in turn affects spiritual well-being as well. This is why the Church at the beginning of the Christian era adopted the practice of fasting, establishing procedures of duration and specific types and quantities of food. During these specific days of fasting, the faithful either abstained from foods entirely or would take only a certain amount of bread and water (xerophagia). New Testament references state attitudes and principles of fasting, but not pertaining to specific days of foods.
Peter the Martyr in his Sermon on Penitence mentions the two fixed fast days of the week. From his writings, the Sixth Ecumenical Synod adopted as a canon of the Church that:
"Wednesday is to be fasted, because then the Jews conspired to betray Jesus; Friday, because He then suffered for us. We keep the Lord's Day as day of joy because then our Lord arose.
Fasting has remained an act of dedication to the Will of God which reflects piety in prayers and alms-giving (charity) and especially in self-control and self-determination according to the Holy Scripture.
Fasting before Christmas is for 40 days, from November 15 through December 24th, during which period fish may be eaten. It is important to note that fasting as an observance and dedication to the Will of God presupposes a healthy body strong enough to endure the bodily effects of fasting. For those who are ill or weak in body, fasting may be regulated in terms of duration and selection of certain foods in order to retain their health and fulfill their obligations at work and at home.
Children should be instructed as to the purpose and meaning of church observances such as the procedures of fasting. Children should be taught the ideals of abstention from foods and from iniquities and their relationship to prayer, alms-giving, self-control, and love. Children of sound health should fast. The main purpose of children fasting is to make them aware that fasting is a dedication and pledge to obey the principles of faith in Christ. Infants are not required to fast.
Saint Clement of Alexandria ( 150-215 A.D.), a great theologian, wrote in his Selection from the Prophets:
"Fasting is abstention from foods according to the meaning of the world, but the food does not make us either more just or more unjust. Yet, in its mystical meaning it declares that as the life of each one depends upon food, total abstention is the sign of death. Thus we ought to abstain from worldly things, for we would die as far as worldly matters are concerned, and after that, when we partake of food of divine nature, we will live in God. Above all, total abstention empties the soul of matter, and presents the soul pure and nimble to the body according to the divine words. Then, on the one hand, worldly nourishment consists of temporal life and iniquities, while divine nourishment is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, prudence as our Lord said in Matthew: 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (5:6), where truly He attributes this longing to the soul and not to the body."
Saint Isidore, a great teacher of the Church, says: "Fasting in respect of food is of no benefit for those who fail to fast with all their senses; for whosoever is successfully waging his battle must be temperate in all things."
Saint John Chrysostomos (345-407 A.D.) said that the purpose of fasting is to prepare for partaking of the Holy Eucharist and for the Christian solemn celebrations. Saint John taught many times that fasting is not merely the abstention from certain foods, but mainly an abstention from evil doings.
Saint John Chrysostomos also warns against hypocritical fasting:
"It is possible for one who fasts not to be rewarded for his fasting. How? When indeed we abstain from foods but do not abstain from iniquities -- when we do not eat meat, but gnaw to pieces the homes of the poor - when we do not become drunkards with wine, but we become drunkards with evil pleasures; when we abstain all the day, but all the night we spend in unchastened shows. Then what is the benefit of abstention from foods, when on the one hand out deprive your body of selected food, but on the other offer yourself unlawful food?"
Fasting Guidelines: Nativity Fast
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of this fast are strict fast days. On these days we abstain from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, fowl alcoholic beverages, and olive oil.
Tuesdays and Thursdays of the fast are Wine and Oil days. On these days the fasting discipline is relaxed a bit to permit wine and olive oil.
Saturdays and Sundays of the Fast are fish, wine, and olive oil days. On these days the fast is relaxed even more to permit fish with backbones in addition to wine and olive oil.
Foods that are permitted on all days are vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and shellfish. (Source: On Fasting from Iniquities and Foods by Fr. George Mastrantonis)
My God bless you all!
With agape in Christ,
+Father George