Fasting is beneficial

 

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. There is nothing for us to fear; rather, fasting is fearful for the demons. When she is brought before them, they are overcome with fear, they freeze and become paralyzed, and they are bound with invisible chains—especially when she is accompanied by her inseparable companion, prayer. This is why Christ said, “this generation [of demons] does not come out other than with prayer and fasting” (Mt. 17:21). 

 

Since fasting drives the enemies of our salvation far away and is so frightful to them who oppress us, we should love her dearly, not be afraid of her. If there is something for us to fear, it is overeating and drunkenness. Because they handcuff us and lead us captive to the cruel passions, whereas fasting frees us from the torturous passions and grants spiritual freedom to us. Since fasting fights against our enemies, frees us from slavery, and restores our freedom, what other reasons do we need in order to embrace her? 

I remind you of the two chief prophets of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah. They had great boldness before God on account of their other virtues; yet, when they wanted to speak with Him, they fled to fasting, which in turn brought them closer to the Lord (vid. Ex. 24:18; 3 Kg 19:8). 

 

Even long before them, at the very beginning of creation when God made man, He immediately entrusted him into the hands of fasting, in order for her, like a compassionate mother and excellent teacher, to secure his salvation. The declaration “you may eat food from every tree in the garden; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat” (Gen. 2:16-17) was nothing other than a commandment to fast. If fasting was necessary in Paradise, it is much more essential [for us] out of paradise. If it served as useful medication prior to the wound, it is much more useful now that we have become wounded. If it was an indispensable weapon before war broke out with the passions and the demons, it is much more necessary now that the war has been initiated.

 

Fasting made God recall His decision to destroy the Ninevites. Jonah went to Nineveh and conveyed the divine verdict to its citizens: “Three more days and Nineveh shall be destroyed” (Jon. 3:4). When the people heard this, they did not doubt or remain indifferent. Rather, everyone quickly fled to fasting—men, women, masters, slaves, rulers, residents, children, and the elderly. Fasting was even imposed upon the irrational animals. Simultaneously, everyone throughout the city mourned, prayed, and repented. Do you see why I said earlier that we should be afraid of overeating and drunkenness? These two things almost destroyed Nineveh, whereas fasting saved the city from certain destruction.

 

 

The prophet Daniel entered into the lions’ den along with fasting and came out unharmed, as if he had been thrown into a sheep’s pen (Dan. 6:16-23).

The three youths entered into the furnace with fasting, and this is why they exited from the fire with their bodies intact and shinning (Dan. 3:19-27). If that was a real fire, why didn’t it do what fire normally does? If those were real bodies, why were they not burnt like normal bodies? Why? Ask fasting. She will give you the answer; she will solve the puzzle for  you.  It is truly an enigma how human bodies wrestled with and prevailed over fire. Do you see the extraordinary battle? Do you see the even more wondrous victory? Marvel at fasting and receive her with open arms.  

 

Because when she is capable of rescuing people from fire, guarding others from lions, distancing the demons, overruling God’s decision, subduing the crazed passions, restoring our freedom, and granting peace to our soul, when she holds so many goods in her hands, isn’t it foolish for us to avoid and be afraid of fasting? 

New Testament house churches

Many evangelical groups today are proposing that we abandon “traditional” models of “being the Church,” and instead replace that stodginess with what is presumably a more “New Testament” model: that of the “house church” or “cell church.” Essentially, they are promoting that the local Church be a de-centralized assembly, meeting in the homes of various individuals, proportionally scattered throughout a city. The presumption is that this is the “Biblical” model for both fellowship and discipleship, being derived from the New Testament itself. 

 

While we certainly read of “house Churches” in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Cor. 1:11,16; Rom. 16:5; Col. 4:15), typically being the homes of wealthy individuals with enough room for a large assembly of people, the house/cell churches of today do not actually resemble the worship or piety associated with these New Testament prototypes. Beyond this, the house Churches of the New Testament eventually developed into the basilicas of the post-Constantine Roman empire, when the faith was no longer forced “underground” as the result of periods of sporadic, imperial persecution. The same elements present in the earlier house Churches found their way into the more established basilicas and temples of the 4th century and beyond; they were just given a newer and freer context. 

Two distinct features of the most ancient house churches — and in fact, of the most ancient churches that archaeology has unveiled, period — are that of the baptistry and the place of the Eucharistic sacrifice. 

When discussing the Eucharistic controversy at Corinth, Jerome Kodell describes a typical, first century Christian house Church:
 

Archaeology has shown that the typical large home of the period could accomodate about fifty people for a meal, ten in the triclinium (dining room), where the guests reclined on couches, and forty in the atrium (courtyard), where the guests sat around a central pool.  Jerome Kodell, The Eucharist in the New Testament, p. 75 

This description corresponds with that of the two oldest archaeological finds of ancient house churches — those at Megiddo (Palestine) and Dura Europos (Syria), which both date to the 3rd century AD (early-to-mid 200s at latest). Both churches-within-households had a place for baptism (like the central pool mentioned above), an area for the general assembly of people, and a small area for the Eucharistic rite itself (often an elevated platform with a table/altar). 
 

A large, mosaic inscription in Greek at the Megiddo house church reads: “The God-loving Akeptous has offered this table to the God Jesus Christ, as a memorial,” a seemingly obvious reference to the Eucharist, given the words “table” and “memorial.” 

 

It gets even more interesting at Dura Europos, where the extensive discovery has yielded not only abundant examples of Iconography throughout the house church structure (e.g. frescoes of Christ as the Good Shepherd, Christ walking on water, the Samaritan woman at the well, and the myrrh-bearing women at the empty tomb), but also some fragmentary manuscripts in the Hebrew language that show a continuity with the Eucharistic liturgy of the first century Didache and the more developed Apostolic Constitutions. A Greek-language “harmony” of the Gospels (in fragments), that is distinct from the Diatessaron, has also been found at this site. 

The Eucharistic anaphora in the Didache, which has been dated as early as AD 50-60, reads:

Thou, O Lord, Almighty, hast created all things for the sake of Thy name, hast given food and drink to the children of men for enjoyment, but to us Thou hast granted spiritual food and drink for eternal life through Jesus, Thy servant. For all these things we thankfully praise Thee, because Thou art powerful. Thine is the glory forever. Amen.  The Didache, 10
 

The Hebraic fragment uncovered at Dura Europos also includes an anaphora, and it has a strikingly similar composition:

Blessed be the Lord, King of the Universe, who created All things, apportioned food, appointed drink for all the children of flesh with which they shall be satisfied; But granted to us, human beings, to partake of the food of the myriads of his angelic bodies. For all this we have to bless with songs in the gatherings of [the] people.  Fragment A, Dura Europos (circa AD 235) 

Despite being separated in time by at least two centuries, the anaphoras of both the apostolic Church in the first century, and that of this Syrian house church in the 3rd century are strikingly similar. They certainly reflect the same tradition of the Eucharist, and, as Irenaeus has asserted, the Eucharist is where the heart of our faith and theology begins (and ends). Similarities between these and the Judaic blessings for food and wine should be noted, as well.
 

The Christians of both the Didache and 3rd century were certainly assembling in the large homes of wealthy believers, but the detailed instructions for the rites of Baptism and the Eucharist in both sources indicates a community gathering for a purpose that is quite distinct from a simple Bible study, lecture, and sing-along. 

So while evangelical groups in our present day might be attempting to emulate the house churches of the “New Testament” church, it can be demonstrated with great clarity that these ancient Christian communities were gathered together primarily for the celebration of the Mysteries of Christ: Baptism and the Eucharist. Incidentally, I wouldn’t expect to find any Iconography in a present day house church, either. 

If a Christian today wants to assemble in a way that is comparable to these ancient and “New Testament” era house churches, the best way to do so is within the apostolic Church itself, where these traditions have been preserved for centuries; and that church is the Orthodox Church.

Return to God

Take an interest, at last, in your salvation, O sinner.  Seclude yourself, collect your thoughts and say to yourself:  how much time have you spent feeding the lusts of your flesh and imagination, and what benefit has it brought you; what have you attained by doing this?  Alas, my soul, what a state we have reached, what disorder! 

Look—everyone around me is adorned with virtues and truly fears God; but I alone walk in darkness.  Early in the morning do I repent of my deeds, yet a short while later I commit even worse errors.  The Lord has given me strength and health and lo! I take this for granted and incur the wrath of my Creator. 

Why art thou so apathetic, O my soul:  Why art thou so careless?  After all, thou canst not stay here forever. When the end comes, the Lord will send His angel to get thee and thou wilt have to leave this place whether thou so want or not.  What then? 

Acknowledge at last your extreme wretchedness, O man, and stop contradicting Him Who created you and opposing His commands.  Boldly say to the enemy who seduces you: 

You, O devil, made me an object of shame for angels and men when I took your irreverent advice.  You inspired me to think:  for once I will satisfy my craving and lo! this small act became for me a great abyss and I gave myself up to your shameful desires.  The water found a small crack and made of it a big crevice. 

You have clouded my mind with impure thoughts and hurled me from sin to sin.  You have annihilated my restraint on the pretext of bodily infirmity.  You have alienated me from prayer and vigilance.  You have implanted in me love for money, excusing this with the approaching long years of old age.  You have dried up my tears.  You have hardened my heart.  You have made me stray from obedience to Christ. You have multiplied my distractions.  You have made me insubordinate.  I have reached the point where I fail to labor over needful things and occupy myself with vain endeavors instead.  You have taught me envy and slander.  You have made me haughty, irritable and wrathful.  You have taught me gluttony, drunkenness and sensuality.  You have trained my thoughts to scatter while I read and sing psalms; thus I pray and do not know for what; I read psalms and meanwhile I surrender my thoughts to unrestrained wanderings. 

 

Having thus exposed the wiles of the enemy, tell him with conviction:  I have had enough of you, O devil.  And leave the evil one and join yourself to the man-befriending God.  Are you wounded?  Despair not.  Have you fallen?  Get up and say bravely: now I have begun.  Fall down before your merciful Master and confess your sins.

 

But before you say anything He will already know what you intend to say.  Before you open your lips, He will see what is in your heart.  You will not be able to say, “I have sinned,” before you see Him stretch forth His hands to receive and embrace you.

 

Approach with faith and He will cleanse you straightway as He cleansed the leper, lift you from your bed as He lifted the paralytic, and raise you from the dead as He raised Lazarus.

BLESSINGS BEYOND BARS

I am pleased to share with you BLESSINGS BEYOND BARS, the Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry’s Lenten youth project. Click on this link http://theorthodoxprisonministry.org/blessings-beyond-bars/.  There you’ll find a complete Sunday School lesson plan designed to both educate youth and bless those behind bars. 

 

Children will learn about prison ministry in a positive way and be able to create a unique craft that turns into a fund-raising box to use throughout the Lenten season and beyond, if desired.  Monies raised will help OCPM purchase Orthodox books, Bibles, prayer books and icons for prisoners.  This is a great way to encourage your children to bless the incarcerated—“visiting them” through prayer and provision of practical materials. 

 

So often churches are looking for new projects to involve young people in ministry.  We tend to think of prison ministry as something that can only be done by adults.  Not so.  We may not have considered that young people can both pray and help make it possible to bless prisoners with practical, edifying materials.  A child can certainly pray for prisoners, many of whom have families—spouses and children or parents and siblings on the outside.  It is not only the prisoner who suffers by incarceration—families suffer, too, by extension.  I’m glad that OCPM has made a way for churches to educate and involve our youth in prison ministry this season.  I hope your church family will want to be involved in this Lenten project. 

 

For more info about OCPM and what they have to offer, please see the Ortho Thought posting here:  http://otftd.blogspot.com/2014/02/ortho-xian-prison-ministry.html
 

God’s peace,

Presbytera Candace

These prayers can be said for all who are in prison or for a specific person:

Almighty God, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, come to the aid of those in prison (or Name) and grant them (him or her) Your peace in the midst of this difficult time in their (his or her) life. I believe Lord, that all of the trials of life are under Your care and that all things work for the good of those who love You. Take away from those in prison (Name) all fear, anxiety and distress. Help them (him or her) to face and endure their (his or her) incarceration with faith, courage and wisdom. Grant that this trial may bring them (him or her) closer to You for You are our rock and our refuge, our comfort and our hope, our delight and our joy. I trust in Your love and compassion. Blessed is Your name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. 

O God, our help in time of need, Who are just and merciful, and Who hears the prayers of His people, look upon those in prison (or Name) and have mercy on them (him or her) in the midst of the troubles that now beset them (him or her).  Deal with them (him or her) not according to their (his or her) iniquities, but according to Your great mercy. We are the works of Your hands and You know our weaknesses. I pray to you to grant them (Name) Your divine helping grace and to endow them (him or her) with patience and strength to endure their (his or her) hardships with complete submission to Your Will. Only You know their (his or her) misery and sufferings. You are their (his or her) only hope and refuge. Help them (him or her) to flee to You for relief and comfort, trusting in Your infinite love and compassion, that in due time, according to Your perfect will, You will turn their (his or her) distress into comfort. We rejoice in Your mercy, and exalt and praise Your Holy Name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The meaning of confession

 

Excerpt from a sermon by Protopresbyter Sergei Chetverikov +1947

…First let us discuss confession. In order to properly grasp its meaning, let us turn to examining our inner spiritual life. We know that within us there is a constant struggle between good and evil. And the true Christian life begins in us only when we consciously take the side of good and attempt to defeat evil.

As long as we idly dismiss our internal life without discerning good and evil within it, and passively give ourselves over to our desires and amusements, whatever they might be, making no accounting of ourselves, we will not live a Christian life. Only when we painfully sense our failings, when we condemn ourselves and thirst for renewal, only then do we embark on the path of Christian life. Let us look at concrete examples. Consider the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector. The Pharisee attends the Temple of God, performs many good deeds, but we still would not say that he lives a life of truth. Why not? Because he is completely satisfied with himself. He does not have the keen sense of pain over his impurity, he praises himself for his righteousness, he has not noticed the abyss of sin which lies within him. The Tax-Collector, on the contrary, has performed no good deeds. But he clearly sees the depth of his sinfulness and grieves. He asks one thing of God, mercy, that is salvation. This is the genuine Christian attitude.

Another example is from the sixth century, in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, where a young sinner named Maria lived. Her sin was sweet and pleasurable. She was carefree and exuberant. She never even perceived the call of her conscience. She had no understanding of herself. Simply for the novelty of it, she joined a group of worshipers heading for Jerusalem to celebrate the Elevation of the Cross of the Lord. The whole way she sang sinful songs, poisoning the peace of the pilgrims in their lofty spiritual moods with her shameless acts and mockery. Finally, she arrived in Jerusalem and without thinking, just out of curiosity, followed her fellow travelers to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. But what happened then? When she tried to step over the threshold of the church, some unseen power stopped her. She was horrified, and ashamed before the others. She did not wish to show that she could not enter the church, but all of her efforts were in vain. Then a bright light shone before her and she saw her entire past life. She saw things she had never noticed before. She saw that she was unworthy of entering the church, for she was too impure. And then she wept bitterly. From this moment, her internal struggle began, to which she dedicated the rest of her life.

So we see that sometimes man pays no attention to his faults and sins and lives for many years without care, and then, the time comes for his eyes to open. Some experience it in an instant, as did St Mary of Egypt, others experience it with great effort over a long period of time.

Let us apply all this to ourselves. Trace your own actions, your intentions, your words. Yesterday you might have hurt someone with a harsh word, with insulting suspicion or a poisonous barb; a day earlier some mean, lowly desire may have gnawed on your soul and yet you did not abandon dwelling on it but even tried to enjoy it; or you had the chance to sacrifice your peace or comfort to help someone, but you declined to do so, etc. If you are vigilant and honest with yourself, you would see that your life is a web, a huge network of such small but significant wicked moments, which comprise a significant part of your existence. If we ignore this, thinking that this is all normal, this means that you have not yet begun to live the Christian life. Our Christian life only begins when we say: No, I do not wish for such disgusting things to live in my soul! I wish to be pure and good! I wish to be a true Christian! But as soon as you attempt to take this path, you will be convinced of the following: the struggle against evil within yourself is exceedingly difficult, painful and exhausting. You will see how wicked your emotions are, how your filthy thoughts and desires, unwillingly, without your consent, take hold of you, push you towards one ugly deed or another. You may utter a harsh word or make a foolish move, and then you will begin to understand that you should not have said that, or done that, whereas before you never thought twice that whatever you said or did was wrong. You will begin to feel the great truth of the words of Apostle Paul: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Romans 7:15).

Moreover, you become the plaything of your evil tendencies, you feel that your inner being is being tarnished, blackened by these wicked desires, your thoughts are confused, your passions are dirty, your will is weakened. How, one asks, does a person rid himself of all this filth? How is one to expel it? Will all of this remain forever? Sometimes when you share your spiritual sorrows with another, you feel unburdened. But when you do this, you only share your sorrows, you do not relieve yourself of them. Something else is needed, a truer means of salvation.

The renowned spiritual author St Theophan the Recluse, in one of his essays, tells us the following: there was a young man who was in deep sorrow that his many sins have stained his soul. Grieving, he fell asleep. He dreamt that an angel descended to him from Heaven, and with a sharp knife slit open his chest, pulled out his heart, cut it into pieces, removed all the rot and filth within it, carefully replaced it and healed the wound in his chest. The young man awoke and felt himself cleansed of his sin. Would it not be so good for us to experience just such a wondrous healing as this bright angel brought? But this angel is in fact given to us! It is the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Mystery of confession.

We know that Jesus Christ brought holy life to this earth. This holy life is imparted to humanity through the Church and the Holy Mysteries. Confession is the Mystery of holy repentance. It was established so that through it we could purify ourselves of all the filth of sin. As He established this mystery, Jesus Christ said to His disciples: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained,” (John 20:22-23). And to this day the pastors of the Christian Church, with the power given to them by the Lord, release the sins of those who repent, and the grace of the Holy Spirit purifies their hearts.

In this way, confession is not some vague, strange custom that we have to blindly participate in for some reason, but an extremely important and exceptionally crucial means of moral recuperation and correction, which answers the demands of our own moral nature. To refuse to confess is the same as if we suffer from some physical ailment and, knowing what the most effective medicine is, neglecting to take it out of ignorance or laziness, and so to allow the disease to worsen. Our sins are spiritual disease. The medicine for this disease is confession. To neglect to use this medicine means that we do not wish to lose our sinful impurity and accumulate more and more of it.

Holy Ascension Monastery, Ukraine

If you have about an hour that you can set aside for watching this Russian documentary with English subtitles, you won’t be disappointed: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyV2P27EGZ0  

This documentary focuses on the Holy Ascension Orthodox Christian Monastery in Ukraine. The monastery started in 1994 with 4 monks. Now, the monastery has 90 monks and they are raising 220 orphan/abandoned children, many of whom have significant handicaps.   

The monastery is about 2 miles from the Romanian border, so you’ll hear singing in both Ukrainian and Romanian in the church.  It’s truly a beautiful and heartwarming film.  God bless these holy monastics and the children they love and shelter in Christ’s Name.

Orthodox nuns released from captivity!

This is an answer to the prayers of many--thank God for His great mercy!  Read here:  http://www.antiochian.org/rejoicing-release-captive-nuns