Prohor Blog

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The Great (Easter) Lent begins on Monday following Forgiveness Sunday, may it be blessed and easy for us. This fast is dedicated for the preparation, and in honour and memory of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ rose from the dead and with His death He nullified death, and, as a result all of us who believe and follow Him will inherit resurrection and eternal life. God gave this assignment (goal, purpose) to man whilst still in paradise, the Garden of Eden; man had to fulfil only one commandment, to abstain, i.e. to fast. If fasting was necessary for man in paradise in order to reach the goal then it is needed even more so in this land of alienation and apostasy.

The purpose of earthly life is transfiguration of the fallen man in us, ascension of the renewed one, and acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is achieved by the voluntary crucifixion of the old and sinful man, by restraint and vigilance over our heart, its purification as well as liberation from the passions that imprison us and make us slaves of the devil and convicts of death.

Fasting is one of the means that most directly helps in that struggle (endeavour), first for their neutralisation, and then victory over them and liberation. However, fasting should not only be understood as abstinence from a certain type of food on predetermined days of the year, but, our entire Christian life and way of existence should be in constant vigilance and self-control until the moment of purification of the heart from the passions and the acquisition of the grace of The Holy Spirit in us. With fasting we try to fix (nail, keep) our minds on God, and in everything we do, to have the grace of God in us and not to deviate from it, and afterwards the Holy Spirit Himself will teach us how to maintain that grace in us and how to reach our purpose (goal, assignment), as we mentioned at the beginning.

True fasting contains in itself all the virtues: repentance, humility, mercy, carnal endeavour, etc., and above all prayer. Fasting without prayer and other virtues is just a simple physical discipline, diet and even vanity and delusion. Fasting is a virtue of the Church and therefore has catholic (universal) dimensions. That is, we fast and struggle not only for ourselves but for everyone else. Fasting and prayer are a great gift of God without which there is no deification nor salvation. They are our grateful participation in the Cross of Christ, and therefore in His resurrection. Therefore, let us love fasting and arm ourselves against our enemy.

Fasting is also a loving obedience to the Church so that we do not disturb the catholicity (unification, universality) of the Church and Its (Her) organization. Fasting is a very essential part, important in our Church. The Holy Orthodox Church since the apostolic times, following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, established fasting, determined the time of fasting and what type of food Christians should eat during fasting.

This Lent is a strict fast without oil from Monday to Friday, except Saturdays and Sundays when oil is permitted in the fast.. Oil is also permitted for consumption on the days when the Great Holy Days fall, and these are: “The discovery of the head of St. John the Baptist”, “St. 40 Martyrs of Sebaste (Newlyweds)”, “Assembly (Synaxis) of St. Archangel Gabriel” and “St. Martyr Agatangel of Bitola”. For the consolation and support of those who attend the long and difficult worship services, the Holy Fathers allow oil to be consumed on the day when the great canon of St. Andrej Kritski is read and before Saturday’s Akathist (Standing prayer, Hymn). Oil is allowed at the halfway point of Lent and on Holy Thursday in regards to the Last Supper. Fish is eaten in two days during this fast – Annunciation and Palm Sunday, depending on when they fall. Most often, the monks and even the most zealous Christians in the world hold a complete three–day fast in the first days of the Lent. It is a three-day total abstaining of eating or drinking anything and on Wednesday during the Liturgy of the previously sanctified Gifts they take communion with the Body and Blood of Christ. The first thing they will taste after three days is Christ Himself.

This is the rule of fasting, but there is one traditional rule that in its time and in some occasions, in some things is justified and in other things is unjustified. This traditional rule has penetrated so deeply among our people that it even obscures the correct way of fasting. According to the traditional rule, one fasts only the first and the last week without oil (this rule even violates the correct rule of fasting on Saturdays and Sundays), and then some people fast a little, and some do not fast at all during that period and without confession they take communion. We should be careful, on given occasions even that way is good, but if we want to be true Christians and already know the correct rule, we should do our best to fulfil it.

Each fast has its own weight and its own essence. The holy fathers of the Church decided that the Great Lent would last 40 days the same as the Lord fasted, and one more week in addition, as a mourning week, beginning from the entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) until the Resurrection, after the Resurrection we rejoice and do not fast because the Bridegroom (of the Church, Jesus Christ) is with us. After Easter is the “Bright Week” and there is a canon for that week we should not fast and every day we should go to church and take pleasure in the mysteries of God. It is a law that must be obeyed.

We should emphasize that this is a general rule of the Church, and everyone is assigned his personal rule with the permission and blessing of the Spiritual Father.

“Exclude the sick from fasting first, because if they are allowed fish and oil, they deserve it.” But no one, even at the hour of death, is allowed to eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, except on Easter and on other days allocated by the Church. Fasting is excluded on Wednesdays and Fridays that fall after the “Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee”, “Meat-Fare Sunday” and “Easter Sunday”.

Those who do not fast at all, let them start fasting, if they intend to be saved and their souls to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However they cannot immediately take upon themselves the strictness of the whole rule, but first let them fast on Wednesdays and Fridays in the first and last week of the fasting, and then, in due course, they will endeavour, and the Lord will help them to accept the full rule, so that after a while they will fast properly.

We should also prepare for Communion with fasting, prayer and confession in the other feasts of Christ and Bogorodica (Birth-Giver-of -God; Mother of God), for the feasts of our great Macedonian and all-Slavic Saints Clement, Naum and others, as well as for the feast of the Patron Saint of the church we attend for God’s worship (service.) Because, only by being partakers of the Holy Gifts of God (Body and Blood of Christ – Holy Communion), we truly and fully participate in the event we celebrate, which is especially important for our salvation. This is not only said by me, but also by the Holy Fathers and the canons of the Church.

Again, how the canon is to be implemented in the life of the Church and in each believer is determined individually by the Spiritual Father. That is why a blessing is required from the Spiritual Father in order to partake of the Holy Communion.

When it comes to this, it is necessary to note that without regular confession of our sins and counselling with the Spiritual Father, no one should approach the Holy Communion.

Confession is the deepest necessity for every person. That is why in everyday life people often tell their loved ones their ‘burdens’, but it is not the same. Man cannot be saved by an ordinary person.

Speaking about spiritual fasting, the Holy Fathers of the Church always give special importance to the prayer, especially to the so-called “Jesus Prayer” – Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.

Fr. Gavril Galev

Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,

Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia

Photo by: Fr. Gavril Galev