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DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

St. Luke 19:29-40; 22:7-39 (3/3) Gospel for Monday of the Week of Cheesefare

Fasting I ~ Gratitude: 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 will meditate on seven readings, all of which aim at strengthening us for the Fast. Each passage considers a particular aspect of fasting: 1) gratitude, 2) strength, 3) repentance, 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 Christ our God, 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 has accomplished already, is accomplishing, and will accomplish, exists prior to all ascetic effort.

The way in which joy, praise, and gratitude to the Lord touch our inner and outer life is made plainly evident during Forgiveness Vespers, which we shall celebrate next Sunday evening. That Vespers completes the transition into the ascesis of Lent. Following an ancient practice, it is customary to sing the Paschal Canon softly at that Vespers.[1] Do you see the connection? Penitential 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.”[2] The Resurrection alters our perception of life, every activity, and the entire Created order. Orthodox Christians do not fast in an absolute 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 who 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 our betrayal and denial of Him are overcome (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. His Passion is in His Own hands.

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![3]

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