Thursday, March 10, 2005 Meat Fast
Anastasia the Patrician of Alexandria
Epistle: 40 Martyrs Sebaste: Hebrews 12:1-10 Epistle: Jude 1:11-25 Gospel: St. Luke 23:2-34, 44-56
St. Luke 23:2-34, 44-56, especially vs. 49: "But all His acquaintances, and the women
who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things." These faithful ones did not die physically
with Christ, but watched His death at a distance, yet, in another way, they did "die." St. Athanasios urges us to note "how
much a fast can do, and in what manner the law commands us to fast. It is required that not only with the body should we
fast, but with the soul. Now the soul is humbled when it does not follow wicked opinions, but feeds on becoming [i.e.:
adorning] virtues. ...virtues and vices are the food of the soul, and it can eat either of the two according to its own
will....Such was the case with our Lord, Who said, 'My meat is to do the will of My Father which is in heaven' (Jn. 4:34)."
If our "meat" is not God's will, the soul inclines downwards being malnourished by self-will and sin. Fasting can become
a "little death" if we choose to find life in it, dying to the passions of our bodies and souls. When we choose to die to our
will because we would rather join the Lord at His Table and partake of the will of the "Father which is in heaven," then, by
such fasting, we may die with Christ and live. Let us see how to begin this dying with the Lord to receive His life.
The High Priest, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin brought the Lord Jesus to Pilate to have Him condemned to death. Caiaphas
saw clearly that it was "expedient...one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish" (Jn.
11:50). These leaders of the Jews feared Jesus. They believed that His teaching and His ministry would create unrest that
would bring sharp reprisal from the Roman authorities. Flush for the moment in their power, with the Lord Jesus
blindfolded and bound, the Sanhedrin "mocked and beat Him" freely (Lk. 22:63, 64).
To follow the Lord truly often requires us to surrender our power in humility, to "turn the other cheek" (Mt. 5:39) and to
forgive those who wrong us. Such are the times when we must reject the choice to "incline downwards" in favor of and do
the will of our Father in heaven.
Pilate was under pressure (vss. 23:2-5,11-22). He inclined to release the Lord Jesus, but the voices of the Sanhedrin leaders
were insistent and "prevailed" (vs. 23). Pilate found only a good man in Jesus and no faults, yet, to keep the "Pax
Romana," it was expedient to acquiesce to these leaders rather than to risk a tumult (Mt. 27:24). If, in our fasting, we
would die with Him, we shall have to find more in Christ Jesus than "a good man." We shall have to find the Savior.
Herod was contemptuous of the Lord Jesus when "He answered him nothing" (Lk. 23:9), when He did no miracles to
entertain him. To die with Jesus Christ it is necessary to find in Him more than entertainment and diversion. Only when
we perceive that He is Life, fulfillment, and our restoration to God shall we risk fasting and dying with Him.
The Centurion in command of the execution squad did his duty. Spending hours at the Cross, watching the manner of the
dying, seeing all that took place, and the nature of the Man, he was transformed. In three hours, that pagan Roman soldier
who began by mocking Jesus (vs. 37), ended by glorifying God: "Certainly this was a righteous Man" (vs. 47). Holy
Tradition tells us that the transformation continued in Longinos. He went on to Baptism and martyrdom. If we will let the
eyes of our hearts look upon the dying of our Savior, we too shall find what St. Demetrius of Rostov says of Longinos, that
it is "better to be an outcast with Christ...and to labor in solitude for God" than to continue among those who mock,
disdain, and ignore the Faith.
The Pious Joseph of Arimathea "had not consented" with the Sanhedrin (vs. 51), being a "good and just" man (vs. 50), and
he did what he could. Beloved, let us learn to fast and die. I beseech Thee to purify me with Thy showers of forgiveness
and lighten me with fasting.
