This Thursday, November 15th, is the beginning of the Nativity Fast. This fast lasts until Thursday, November 29th. Then the Advent Fast follows from December 1st until Christmas Day. So, for the next month and half we Orthodox Christians are encouraged not to eat meat or dairy products such as milk, butter, eggs and cheese. We can still eat fish every day except on Fridays until December 14th. Throughout the year, we are also encouraged to fast at other times, especially during Lent, as well as not to eat meat or dairy products nor to drink wine or use wine or oil in cooking every Wednesday and Friday. These guidelines do not apply to children and the elderly.

We tend to think immediately about whether or not we are observing these guidelines to fasting and whether we should be. We are each unique persons; and we each have the right to decide when and how to fast. Whatever our age, for many of us it might be more difficult to give up chocolate and coffee and tea and TV than meat and milk and butter and eggs. Let’s pause and ask ourselves: What is the purpose of fasting? What kind of fasting might me right for me at this time in my life?

In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus Christ began His ministry by fasting and resisting temptations from the devil. Then, in the sixth chapter of the same gospel, Jesus urged His followers and us not to “be noticed” by others when we fast, but to be aware that God “your Father … sees what is done in secret [and] will reward you.” Those two New Testament guidelines about fasting from Jesus Christ are still true today: it is good to fast before beginning a major new initiative and don’t advertise to others that you’re fasting.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezra proclaims a fast in chapter 8, verse 21, “that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us [and] our little ones….” And the Lord heard Ezra “and listened to” him. That is the kind of the fast that the Orthodox Church recommends to us—to “humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey” for ourselves, our families and our friends.

Now, in fasting we are abstaining from food—keeping ourselves from eating as much food as we would like to eat. Fasting is an act of denying the wishes of the self, of self-denial. So, in deciding whether or not to fast we are confronted with an important decision: Am I living primarily for self or for service to God and service to others? There is no reason to fast if we simply wish to be comfortable and are content not to grow as persons and as Christians. However, if we are seeking to serve God and serve others, then fasting becomes a path to both self-growth and service. As Father John Anthony McGuckin suggests in The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Its History, Doctrine and Spiritual Culture: “Fasting in Orthodox Parish life … [is] a peaceful way of cleansing the mind as well as the body—reminding the flesh that it has to be obedient and in good condition to serve the Lord…. Fasting makes the person more alert, energized and peaceful” (p. 354). That’s an important insight.

When the Church proclaims this time of fasting for the next month and a half, we are being offered an opportunity to combine prayer and fasting for whatever intentions are important to each of us at this time in our lives. Our intentions might be personal and for our families and loved ones, or they might be for a particular situation such as the restoration of peace in Syria or the restoration of unity between the Russian Patriarchate in Moscow and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. We may or may not receive what we ask for, but it is good that we should ask the Lord for what we think we need. If the Lord disagrees and does not think we need what we are asking for, He will not be angry with us. On the contrary, He will still lift us up and protect us and guide us into His purposes for each of our lives.

We are all Christian missionaries. We seek, with prayer and confidence, to bring Christ and His Church to others. It was at a local church in Antioch in the first century that the whole congregation prayed and fasted together and asked the Lord what they should do. They were told, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul [who was to become St Paul] for the work to which I [the Lord] have called them.” So the congregation continued to fast and pray “and laid hands on [Barnabas and Saul] … and sent them away … and from [Antioch] they sailed to Cyprus.”

During the weeks ahead, we too can fast and pray for whatever intentions we decide in our own free will are best for our lives and the lives of others. As Father John Anthony McGuckin reflects in The Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology, “Fasting redoubles the force of earnest prayer and [seeks] to call down God’s [mercy]….” As Father John suggests, “Fasting is [itself] a form of sincere and heartfelt prayer appropriate for times of urgent need and crisis.”

I find Father John’s approach helpful: fasting is indeed a way to strengthen “the force of earnest prayer,” to insist to ourselves and to the Lord that what we are praying for now (at this moment) is very important. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware cites the words of the French theologian and Orthodox Christian, Paul Evdokimov: “The hour through which you are at present passing, the [person] whom you meet here and now, the task on which you are engaged at this very moment—these are always the most important in your whole life” (p. 114 of The Orthodox Way, Revised Edition).

Metropolitan Kallistos continues, in his own words, explaining how our souls and bodies form a unity. I quote: “On the level of the soul [we] are purified through prayer, through the regular [receiving] of the sacraments of Confession and [Holy] Communion, through daily reading of Scripture, through feeding our mind[s] with the thought of what is good, through practical acts of loving service to others. On the level of the body [we] are purified above all through fasting and abstinence…. Knowing that [each human being] is not an angel but a unity of body and soul, the Orthodox Church insists upon the spiritual value of bodily fasting. We do not fast because anything is unclean about the act of eating or drinking… We fast … so as to make ourselves aware that [food and drink are] indeed a [divine] gift … a means of communion with [God]…. Our aim is not to eliminate our passions [and faults] but redirect their energy … to be used positively, not negatively.” Metropolitan Kallistos concludes: “To ourselves and to others we say, not ‘Suppress,’ but ‘Transfigure’” (p. 116, The Orthodox Way). In other words, we can each be aware of our faults and then be changed by prayer and fasting.

Father John and Paul Evdokimov and Metropolitan Kallistos all agree: Whatever kind of fast we choose, fasting empowers each of us to be “more alert, energized and peaceful” So, as we begin the Nativity Fast on Thursday, let us pray and fast together—for our own individual needs, for world peace, for our local church and for Orthodox churches throughout the world.

So be it, as we ascribe as is justly due, all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.