Monday, March 7, 2005 Meat Fast
Hieromartyrs of Cherson
Kellia: Psalm 57 LXX Epistle: 3 John 1:1-15 Gospel: St. Luke 19:29-40; 22:7-39
St. Luke 19:29-40, 22:7-39, especially vss. 22:28-30: "But you are those who have continued with
Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink
at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Today, the Church asks us to fast from
all flesh meats, and, thereby, to take one small step toward the full exercise of the Great Fast. In one week, on Pure
Monday, we shall assume the full Lenten struggle. This week, we have prepared meditations on seven readings from the
Gospels, all of which aim to strengthen us for the Fast. Each passage considers a particular aspect of fasting: 1) gratitude,
2) strength, 3) judgment, 4) dying with Christ, 5) the Age to come, 6) piety, and 7) three essentials in ascetic labor.
Orthodox fasting derives its distinctive nature from the Church's knowledge of God. Hence, for the Faithful, fasting is
inseparably bound to the Incarnation of our Lord, His teaching about fasting, His saving Death and Resurrection, the Holy
Mysteries, and the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Gratitude for what God the Holy Trinity has already
accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish, exists prior to all ascetic effort.
The way in which joy, praise, and gratitude to the Lord touch all aspects of life is made plainly evident during Forgiveness
Vespers which we shall celebrate next Sunday evening. That Vespers completes our transition into the full Lenten ascesis.
Following an ancient practice, it is customary to sing the Paschal Canon softly at that Vespers. Do you see the connection?
Lenten sorrow has come, yet "sotto voce" we sing this beautiful Resurrection hymn of praise from the future Paschal
Liturgy, with its joyous announcement: "Christ is risen from the dead." Also notice that the singing of the Paschal Canon
occurs exactly during the time that the Faithful seek forgiveness from one another. The mind is inexorably drawn to the
"Glory" of the Canon with its final commands: "be illumined, embrace one another, let us speak, brothers, even unto those
who hate us, and forgive all for the sake of the Resurrection." The Resurrection alters the perception of life, every activity,
and the entire Created order. Orthodox Christians do not fast in an absolutely penitential mode detached from the reality
and joy of Christ's Resurrection.
This irrepressible joy appears in the Passion narratives of all the Gospels. The heart gratefully connects the Lord's coming
victory to the words of the crowd which rejoiced and praised God as He rode into Jerusalem (Lk. 19:38)! No Christian
reads the account of the Lord's Last Supper in isolation from the eucharistic gratitude of the Divine Liturgy (vs. 22:16). We
fast gratefully, knowing that all betrayal and denial are overcome, even one's own (vss. 22:21-23, 33-34). How
strengthening to know that "...the things concerning Me have an end" (vs. 22:37), for the end is revealed in His
Resurrection. All events are in the hands of our Blessed Savior.
Because we have died with Christ and are buried with Him, we know that we also live with Him (Rom. 6:8). As His
Resurrection frees us from sin, and enables us to have "...fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life" (Rom. 6:22), so we
are grateful. The risen Lord empowers us to rule over our passions, to fast from sin, even as we practice material
abstinence. To withdraw from earthly things whets the spiritual appetite for Christ's heavenly gifts. We gratefully
experience the same nourishment He described to His disciples at Sychar in Samaria - "I have food to eat of which you do
not know" (Jn. 4:32). Orthodox fasting does not devalue earthly things, but in gratitude, restores them to their true function
within God's good creation.
O Christ our God, Who alone art sinless and hast risen from the dead, Glory to Thee Who hast given us fasting to quench
the uprisings of passions and to reconcile us to Thee!
