Слово в среду недели 1-й Великого поста

It's time for fasting and repentance again! Again, “salvation is closer to us than when we believed”! (Rom. 13:11). And now this precious time has come much sooner than usual, so that the world itself, in a few days, was forced to finish what it had previously loved to continue until the last opportunity. It’s as if the One who rules the circle of times foresaw a special need for us in repentance and hastened to send us Holy Fasting for this purpose. Shouldn't we all the more enter into it with great zeal and love? There is another sign for good. The passage of the Lenten season begins, as is known, from the gates of the lost paradise, for the lost paradise and the fall of Adam are remembered by the Church annually on the last day of the week. Now on this very day, as if at the very gates of a lost paradise, our Savior met us, carried by the Matter, accepted by Simeon, glorified by Anna. Why did you meet at the very beginning of Holy Lent? So that we would more willingly enter into it, pass through more vigilantly and, humbly seeing how He, the Lord and Master of all, submits Himself to the fulfillment of the Old Testament law of rituals, learn to be obedient to the mother’s leadership and the Rules of the Holy Church. So, let us accept fasting not as an enemy and adversary, not as a tormentor and tormentor, but as a mentor, as a friend, as a doctor, as a liberator, as something that brings us good. Indeed, what is it that a post cannot deliver to its lovers? Through fasting, Moses became able to receive the tablets of the Covenant on Mount Sinai. Through fasting, Elijah was honored to see the glory of God on Mount Horeb, and then to be taken from earth to heaven. Through fasting, Daniel blocked the mouths of the lions in the ditch, and the three youths remained unharmed in the furnace from the flames. Fasting raised prophets, protected the apostles, strengthened martyrs, made ascetics, and always and everywhere corrected and healed sinners. By fasting, the Savior Himself prepared Himself for victory over the tempter, for it is said: “Having fasted forty days and slept forty, then hungered” (Matthew 4:2); then the devil came to Him. The tempter imagined that fasting had weakened him and that this was the most convenient opportunity for an attack, but in reality something different happened: all his temptations were dissolved, like a cobweb, by a single breath of the lips of the Divine Faster. Let none of us be deceived by imagining that fasting can be harmful in any way. It may be unpleasant for a carnal person accustomed to satiety, but harmful - no. On the contrary, if our health suffers from anything, then most of all from satiety and intemperance. Fasting, on the contrary, corrects and heals what has upset and damaged gluttony. Many diseases go away from fasting without any medicine. If fasting is not useful to someone, then the reason for this is the wrong way of fasting. For how do some fast? Imagining that fasting consists only in the quality and not in the quantity of food, they, therefore, having abandoned non-lenten dishes, the more immoderately indulge in the consumption of lean dishes, burdening themselves with them beyond measure. Is it surprising that in this case both the head and the stoma (stomach) will suffer? But the reason for this is obviously not fasting, but fasting, so to speak, overeating. Even the unpleasantness of fasting for our sensuality is by no means as great as some imagine who have not experienced fasting at all. For the first time, the unsatisfied habit of eating at a certain time, of course, will remind you of this and disturb you; but defeated once or twice, it will leave you alone, giving way to another habit - fasting. And habit, believe me, is the whole point. Our bodily composition in itself, one might say, has as much need for rest as it does for food. And how could he not need to fast? Fasting is the same for the belly as rest. For all our strength there is a time of rest: there should be a time for the belly. Continuous work is exhausting. The same thing happens with the womb. Not alleviated by fasting, it finally loses the power to do its job. Hence many diseases, all of which can be cured, although we do not notice it, most often by fasting. For, even if we take medicine, if we do not fast at the same time, they will not have any effect. A clear sign that fasting is the main medicine. So, let us enter the fasting field, hesitating nothing, fearing nothing. If we are temporarily deprived of some sensual comforts, then how many spiritual consolations will be presented in their place! In the circle of the church, Holy Pentecost is the same as spring in the circle of seasons. Just as spring is the best time for the body - here it, along with nature, seems to become younger and blooms: so fasting is the best time for the spirit - here it, together with the Church, involuntarily comes to life and is comforted, albeit for a while. Fasting is a spiritual paradise. How many songs that delight the heart! How many prayers lifting up the spirit of grief! How many immaterial fragrances! And the church meal offered every week - I mean Communion! Even the Angels in heaven do not have anything like this. There is something to keep your spirit busy! There is something to nourish, enjoy, and calm down! We should only desire one thing, that we go through the Lenten race as we should, so as not to lose its fruit. For this purpose, we ask you to reflect on yourself and your life in order to see what needs to be corrected through fasting. Without this, we will be like travelers who follow the path, not knowing where it leads and what will happen to them in the end. May none of us be such a traveler! For this purpose, we, for our part, will use not only prayer, but also our word, or even more so God’s, for what we say we take from Scripture. We pray to you, with the words of the prophet, to renew the field, that is, your soul and heart, so that we do not sow on thorns. Amen. You might be interested in: