Поучение во время святых постов («Веришь, увидишь больше сего» (Ин. 1:50))

When a shepherd sees his flock profitably grazing in the pasture of life, he rejoices greatly, blessed Christians! So our mother, the Holy Church, when she sees her sons and daughters, born of holy Baptism, in the pasture commanded by her, creating eternal life and giving purity to the soul and body, lightness and vigor to the mind and all members, that is, to those who are in holy fasting and in holy abstinence, she is very happy. For truly, the best pasture and food for Christian souls is holy fasting, by which all kindled enemy intrigues are extinguished and, containing which, people, cleansing their hearts from all evil on those holy days, are honored with the sight of God according to His Divine word: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Seeing obedient and fasting people, the holy church exclaims with love, calls out with joy: come, dine, enjoy the immortal food and the holy Mysteries of Jesus Christ, our God; and he greets those who fast and are worthy of the heavenly gift with the promise of bliss and blessing: blessed are you “and blessed are you by the Lord God, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 113:23). And who of those fasting in those days did not feel in his heart the joy of a godly deed, vigor in the body and purity of understanding in the mind? Who has not tasted the eternal sweetness of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Son of God? Truly, all who have accepted the Lord God with faith rejoice, crying out: “We have tasted and seen how good the Lord is” (cf. Ps. 33:9), and loudly praise: Alleluia! The Lord God, as the Benefactor, says to each of them: “If you believe, you will see more than this” (John 1:50). If, He says, you keep the fast that I commanded to Adam in paradise, and I Himself set for you as an example when I was with you on earth in the flesh, if you taste Me in the Holy Mysteries with zealous faith and believe in the truth of this, you will see more than this, you will see reward in My heavenly kingdom and you will be with Me to the endless ages of ages. Question: Why should we fast? Answer: Because fasting is commanded by God Himself, for in the prophecy of the holy prophet Joel, in chapter two it is said: “And now says the Lord our God: “Turn to Me with all your heart, with hunger in fasting, in weeping and mourning.” And then in the same chapter, below: “Sanctify the fast, preach healing” (Joel 2:12, 15). It is here that God commands that sinful people fast if they want to receive His mercy. So, we must fast, fulfilling God's commandment. In the book of Tobiah, in chapter 12, the Angel Raphael says to Tobiah: “A good deed is prayer with fasting, and doing alms is better than collecting gold” (Tob. 12:8). Let everyone take heed: if the Angel says so, isn’t it obvious that fasting is a propitiation? In the book of Judith, chapter 4, it is written that Joachim, the great priest of the Lord, went around all the people of Israel and said: “Do you know that the Lord God will hear your prayers if you continue in fasting and in prayer before the Lord?” In the book of the holy prophet Jonah, in chapter 3, it is said that the king of Nineveh, having heard Jonah’s prophecy about the destruction of the city, put on sackcloth and forbade the entire city to eat, so that not only people would fast, but also that food would not be given to livestock for three days. How King David fasted, he himself mentions in the psalms: “I clothed myself,” he says, “in sackcloth and humbled my soul with fasting” (Ps. 34:13). And again: “I covered my soul with fasting” (Ps. 68:11). And in another psalm: “My knees are weak from fasting” (Ps. 109:24). This is how this king fasted in order to have God merciful to him! Christ the Savior Himself fasted for forty days and forty nights, “leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21), so that we too, according to our strength, would fast on Holy Pentecost. It is written in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter seventeen that Christ God, having cast out a demon from a certain young man, said to the apostles: “This generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). The holy apostles also fasted, as it is said in Acts 31: “When they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then they, having fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, sent them away” (Acts 13:2-3). And the holy Apostle Paul in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, in the beginning 182, exhorting the faithful, says that “they should show themselves as servants of God,” among other godly deeds he mentions fasting, saying: “In vigils, in fasting” (2 Cor. 6:4-5). And then at conception 193, remembering his exploits, he says: “In hunger and thirst, often in fasting” (2 Cor. 11:27). Who does not know that Moses, having fasted, was honored to talk with God, Daniel blocked the mouths of lions with fasting, and the three youths quenched the power of fire with fasting? And there are many other examples of fasting in the Old and New Testaments and in church history, as the lives of the saints tell about it. So, every Christian believer must keep a holy fast, as God’s commandments and church traditions command. For those who do not fast, the following canon is established, found in the so-called Helmsman’s Book, in the rule 69 of the holy apostles: “If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or subdeacon, or reader, or singer does not fast for forty days, that is, during Lent, and also on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, let him be deposed, unless bodily illness prevents him from the weak are allowed to eat oil and wine according to their strength. If a worldly person does not fast, let him be excommunicated.” Amen.