Friday, March 11, 2005 Meat Fast
Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem
Kellia: St. John 14:1-11 1st Vespers: Zechariah 8:7-17 Gospel: Zechariah 8:19-23
St. John 14:1-11, especially vs. 3: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to Myself; that where I Am, there you may be also." From the outset of turning our thoughts to the
connections between fasting and the age to come, we will do well to heed what Bishop Kallistos Ware says, that "at the
Messianic banquet in the Kingdom of heaven there will be no need for fasting and ascetic self-denial. But, living as we do
in a fallen world, and suffering as we do from the consequences of sin, both original and personal, we are not pure; and so
we have need of fasting."
Are there, therefore, connections we need to consider profitably between the timeless, eternal "now" of the coming age and
the days and seasons of Orthodox fasting and abstinence in this present life? Quite so! For the Kingdom of heaven is
impinging upon us, making its influence felt at present on everything in this created order, including our fasting and
abstinence. Further, since we hope to enjoy the fullness of eternity, and since fasting is one means for purifying ourselves
so that we may be found worthy of the age to come, then how greatly we need to understand that the purifying askesis of
fasting prepares us for eternity.
First, then, let us lace together two important events that unite the present world and the age to come: God's initial creation
of the universe and His assumption of our human nature into the Godhead by the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
both events God repudiates any notion that the material elements are evil in-and-of themselves. Further, God's actions call
into serious question the assertion of some that the fall deprived us humans of all goodness and the capacity for communion
with God. In the words of Archimandrite Akakios, the fall "was part of a dynamic process of deviation which led to
disobedience and which changed the course of human growth from something natural to something unnatural." Let us
agree with Bishop Kallistos that "those who fast, so far from repudiating material things, are on the contrary assisting in
their redemption." Let us see fasting as a deliberate choice to share in the restoration of oneself, mankind, and the entire
created order which "groans and labors...to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God" (Rom. 8:21,22).
Do you see how the King of the age to come embodied Himself in time and taught us how to fast and purify ourselves? As
St. Isaac the Syrian notes, "For after His baptism the Spirit led Him into the wilderness and He fasted for forty days and
forty nights. Likewise all who set out to follow in His footsteps make the beginning of their struggle upon this foundation.
For this is a weapon forged by God, and who shall escape blame if he neglects it?" You see, beloved of the Lord, the
Kingdom of God is impacting us even now, making us "children of God" even though "it has not yet been made clear to us
what we shall be" (1 Jn. 3:2). So, let us fast to purify ourselves and become worthy to stand before our Lord and King and
hear Him say, "Well done."
Of course, for Orthodox Christians the decision to fast is not a matter of individual choice but is carried on within the what
Archimandrite Akakios calls "the course of correction established by the Church's experience and expertise." In this he
follows the entire mind of the Holy Fathers. As Bishop Kallistos says, "This accepted pattern, expressing as it does the
collective conscience of the People of God, possesses a hidden wisdom and balance not to be found in ingenious austerities
devised by our own fantasy." Fasting should not bring us close to Satan, but, rendering us sensitive to the spiritual world,
prepare us for the age to come.
O Good Father, I have withdrawn from Thee and wasted the gifts of the soul in riotous living. Make me as one of Thy
hired servants, since Thou alone art most compassionate.
