Fasting: Same Rules for Everyone (Desert and Big City)
One of the more curious features of living in Greece is that, if you go to a football match on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, one of the messages relayed to the crowd at half-time is always: “The Triodion is open! Bring your family and friends to...
Lenten Verse for the Day: ‘Fasting in the body, let us also fast in the spirit..’
‘Fasting in the body, let us also fast in the spirit, loosing the bonds of injustice. Let us abandon agreements made under duress. Let us break all unjust commitments. Let us give bread to the hungry. Let us welcome the homeless poor into our houses, so that we may gain...
True Fasting
Metropolitan Ioïl (Frangkakos) of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia ‘Indeed, I tell you, they have their reward’. Whatever we gain and achieve in virtue and our moral perfection is an inviolable treasure and, moreover, one that’s personal, inalienable. It’s not ‘about us’, it’s ‘us’, not even the body and senses,...
Understanding and Living Our Faith: How We Experience Lent and Fasting
“Many Christians, unaware of the great value of fasting, either keep the fast with difficulty or reject it altogether. We should not be afraid to fast but embrace it with joy.” (St. John Chrysostom) Fasting is so much more then abstaining from certain foods. Christ reminds us in the Gospels...
![1st Discourse on Fasting [5]](https://myocn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/megas_vasileios-OCN-389x350.jpg)
1st Discourse on Fasting [5]
Saint Basil the Great Fasting in the Old Testament But let’s tie our words to history, examining the antiquity of the fast. It was passed down as a paternal bequest and thus preserved, from one generation to the next, until it came down to us, as our own possession....
1st Discourse on Fasting [4]
Saint Basil the Great Through fasting we return to paradise 4. Because we didn’t fast, we left paradise. Let us fast, then, so that we can return to it. Look at Lazarus, who entered paradise through fasting (Luke 16, 20-31). Don’t imitate Eve’s disobedience, don’t accept the serpent again...
![1st Discourse on Fasting [3]](https://myocn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/st-basil-the-great-OCN-389x350.jpg)
1st Discourse on Fasting [3]
Saint Basil the Great Do you think I derive its antiquity from the Law? Fasting is older than the Law. Just be patient and you’ll see the truth of this. Fasting was the first commandment of God in paradise. When Adam and Eve broke it, it marked the fall...
1st Discourse on Fasting [2]
Saint Basil the Great We should fast without hypocrisy and cleanse the soul from sins. ‘Pour oil on your head and wash your face’ (Matth. 6, 17). This saying is inviting you into sacramental rituals. If you pour oil on your head, you’re anointed; if you wash, you’re made...
1st Discourse on Fasting [1]
Saint Basil the Great Fasting is a prophetic command ‘Sound the trumpet on the day of the new moon, in the glorious day of your feast’. (Ps. 80, 3). This is a prophetic ordinance. For us, the readings (Is. 58, 4-6) resound louder than the trumpet and any other...
Asceticism or Pleasure?
If I was to ask any Christian what is more detrimental to your spiritual life, asceticism or pleasure, I think the answer would be asceticism. Pleasure is good, it is what God wants for us, right…? Let us look at two examples from the Bible, the first is Solomon, who...
