PREPARATION FOR THE HOLY AND GREAT FAST

PREPARATION FOR THE HOLY AND GREAT FAST 

Fully Bathed in the Light of the Resurrection “Walk as children of light”

• “he that loveth his brother abideth in the light” (Ephesians 5:8; I St. John 2:19) 

A Let us rediscover the true meaning of of asceticism:

• a joyous rejection of what is beyond what one needs

• the sharing of what is excess with the poor

• the continuous glorification and appreciation of God

• a Godly orientation “towards the Other”—towards our Lord, our brother, towards all creation—with reverence and dutifully. 

B Let us not forget:

• without love, no act of asceticism will lead us to the Great Encounter, to the Nuptial Mystery of our union with Christ...!

• We will be brought to judgment first and foremost “for negligence in things virtuous and for not having loved our neighbor.” 

C The Holy Ascetic Saint Theodore dwelled atop a pillar (as a Stylite) for forty-eight years.

• To his naive question about his “future recompense,” a Holy Angel informed him:

• “It will be the same as the recompense of a certain actor in Damascus, who gave away all of his possessions to a poor woman...!” 

D “The Devil does not eat, drink, or marry....!

• And he, who is technically the greatest ascetic, is not, for all that, any less a demon”! 

E Let us constantly direct our asceticism towards its main purpose:

• purity of the heart and its

• receptivity to love, that it might be filled with the Light of the Resurrection!

† Bishop Cyprian of Oreoi Acting President of the Holy Synod in Resistance