For us living in Greece, the journey of the Great Fast begins today and continues for 50 days. In the past, when the Great Fast started to approach, I used to see it as a burden and complain about it such as “I won’t get to eat what I want” and  “we eat the same old boring food every day”  and  “I am going to put on so much weight because of the carb intake” and so much other self-fish reasons. After many years, I began to understand the purpose and joy of participating in the Great Fast; not only did I grow spiritually, but I also looked forward to it every time it came around, as it served as a means of strengthening my spiritual state while commemorating our Lord’s passion and resurrection. When we don’t understand why we’re fasting, we feel like we’re being held captive or that these are a set of outdated rules imposed by our Church Fathers. But let’s dig deeper into what it all means.

Here are some questions and answers we can reflect on to help better understand the Great Fast:

What is the Great Fast?

 A fast that goes on for 50 days (in the Assyrian Church of the east, I will do a separate post on why it goes on 50 days).  A time when we abstain from meat, meat by-products, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. It is the most important fasting season in the Church which commemorates the Greatest feast of the Church year which is the Resurrection of our Lord.

What is the purpose?

It is the purification of the heart, the enlightening of the mind, and the liberation of soul and body from sin.  The Great Fast is intended to prepare us not only to commemorate but also to enter into Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection, as well as to accept and fulfill our Savior’s calling. When fasting is combined with prayer and almsgiving, our spiritual state will undoubtedly be strengthened and purified. With the help of God, fasting and prayer bring conviction to our lives; we recognize our sins and weaknesses, we learn not to be enslaved to our body’s desires, and we work to form new and fruitful habits to rid ourselves of these vices.

How do we participate in it? 

Prayer & Reading- Through spending more time in prayer and contemplating on the Holy Scriptures. It’s important we set ourselves up with a reading and prayer routine, don’t think it has to be an hour of prayer and an hour of reading, everyone is different and you adjust it to what works with you, it’s important to remember, quality of prayer is better than the length of prayer.

Attending Church Services regularly – Find out what services are running throughout the Great Fast and do your best to attend them. Perhaps starting with attending morning prayers on Sundays before the Liturgical Service starts.

Give up something– Besides food, is there something else we can give up during this time? perhaps watching a tv show, keeping off social media or playing a game.

Be on guard-  Being aware of what topics we talk about and what activities we participate in, are they fruitful or hurtful?

Contemplation – Sitting in silence for at least 5-10 minutes or longer each day while trying to recognize what are our sins are so we can pray about them.

Almsgiving – Give to those in need, whether it’s money, items, or even your time. 

If you have any other suggestions, please pop them in the comments below!

What are the benefits? 

We draw closer to God, our Spirit becomes stronger, we see our true selves, we let go of bad and sinful habits and we become renewed. During the fast it will be hard to see all these benefits, you might see them after the fast has ended and you will be thankful.

As Christians, we should all be fasting because it is the most glorious time of the year! Our Lord, God, sent His only Son to die for us in order to set us free from the sins and slavery of this world and to give us the opportunity to live with Him in the kingdom of heaven; the least we can do is participate in it with love and without complaint while giving thanks to His Holy Name.

P.s, Remember this: the new and fruitful habits we acquire during fasting e.g prayer, reading, and letting go of things that cause us to sin should start to become part of our lives post fasting.  May you be strengthened and guided during this time! If you liked this post please share it. God bless.

“Do you fast? Then feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget the imprisoned, have pity on the tortured, comfort those who grieve and who weep, be merciful, humble, kind, calm, patient, sympathetic, forgiving, reverent, truthful and pious, so that God might accept your fasting and might plentifully grant you the fruits of repentance.” – St. John Chrysostom.