The Start of the Nativity Fast: Why do we fast from foods?
We have
begun the joyous and holy Nativity Fast. The fast begins on November 28, or forty days before the Nativity in the
flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and ends on the feast itself or
January 7, according to the secular calendar.
Just as the Jews wandered in the wilderness for forty years before
entering the Promised Land, the Holy Church leads us for forty days into the
wilderness of the Fast before entering into God’s promise revealed on the
Nativity. For the Jews, it was in order
to shake off the bonds of slavery —physical, mental, and spiritual. An entire generation of people born and
raised in Egyptian slavery was to die before those who no longer remembered
being slaves and those who were born free were allowed to enter the “land
flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3:8).
And so it is with us: we must shake off the bonds of slavery to sins and
passions—physical, mental, and spiritual.
We must cease being slaves of sin and become friends of Christ by
keeping His commandments (John 15:14).
There are
several aspects of the fast, all of which are important and connected to each
other. The first thing about which many
people think are the limitations in the quality and quantity of foods that we
eat. The Nativity Fast is not as strict
as some other fasts—fish is allowed on all Saturdays and Sundays, except the
last weekend before Nativity (January 2-3), and on several Church Feasts: The
Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (December 4) and its apodosis (December
8), the feasts of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Theotokos (December 10), Sabbas
the Sanctified (December 18), the Conception of the Theotokos (December 22),
and Saints Herman of Alaska and Martyr Peter the Aleut (December 25).
The Holy
Church gives to us times of fasting in order to help heal and restore our
corrupted nature. An athlete does not
win a prize before patiently exercising discipline and “self-control in all
things” (1 Cor. 9:25). And if we are to
receive an “imperishable wreath” (ibid.), we must do the same and begin by
taking control of that in us which is most material, restoring the
divinely-ordained order and reaching to that which is the most spiritual. If we cannot control our bellies, how can we
hope to control our tongues and thoughts, how can we hope to even begin to
fight our passions? We must learn to
discipline our bodies, because without this foundation we cannot begin to build
the walls of the temple of our soul. And
just as the purpose of a foundation is not in itself, but in that which can be
built upon it, the purpose of taking control of our flesh is in freeing the
soul from being controlled by it.
This
year, the beginning of our Nativity Fast came on the day after
Thanksgiving. I know that for some, the
main dish was not a turkey or a pumpkin pie, but other people, whom they tore
apart and devoured by gossip, judging, evil talk, and back-stabbing. What good is their fast if they continue to
feast on humans? What good is their
abstinence from meat if their tongue flings about like a butcher’s cleaver?
The King
and Prophet David says, “Keep your tongue from evil” (Ps. 34:13), and “I
will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth”
(1, 2). If we want our fast to be more
than a weight-loss program, we must follow the regiment prescribed by the
Prophet. We should learn to control our
tongue and our thoughts by directing both to communion with God. At all times but especially during fasts, we
must be “sober and watchful,” because our “adversary the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). But in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we
have a sure protection from the attacks of the devil.
Run to
Christ in prayer, but be watchful that your prayer does not become like “a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).
Pay close attention to the words of prayers; make them not just
someone’s words repeated by you, but truly your own words that come from your
whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind (cf. Matt. 22:37).
Run to
Christ in reading the Gospels, but be watchful that it does not become a chore
whose meaning is forgotten the minute that the book is closed. Ask the Most Holy Theotokos to help you keep
all the things that you read in the Gospels and to ponder them in your heart
(cf. Luke 2:19, 51) as you go about your day, glorifying God for his abundant
mercy to us.
Run to
Christ in reading the lives of His saints, but make sure that you own life
follows in the footsteps of the holy men and women that came before you. We do not study the lives of the saints for
their literary value or as some pastime before we go to bed. They are a living example of what it means to
be a Christian, and to love God, and to love one another.
Most
importantly, run to Christ in the Communion of His Body and Blood, but do so in
humility and repentance, lest with the morsel Satan enters into you, as he did
into Judas (John 13:27).
May the
all-merciful God bless this time of our fasting. May He accept our small human efforts and by
His divine grace “which always heals that which is infirm and supplies what is
lacking,” receive our prayers and guide our lives toward His commandments. May He “sanctify our souls, make chaste our
bodies, correct our thoughts, and purify our intentions” that together with
“the assemblies of angels and the choirs or martyrs” we may always glorify the
Holy Trinity.
By Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov
Source: https://frsergei.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/on-the-beginning-of-the-nativity-fast/
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