Quote of the Day: St. Ephraim of Syria

This is the fast which exalts; which appeared from the First Born,
So as to extol the younger ones. There is occasion for delight for the discerning ones in fasting;
When one sees how much he has grown. Fasting secretly purifies the soul
So it can gaze on God and grow by the vision of Him.
For the weight that is from the earth, bends it back to the earth.
Blessed is He Who gave us fasts,
The sheer wings by which we fly to him!

From St. Ephraim of Syria's Hymns on Fasting.

Quote of the Day: St. Jonah the Prophet

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord...and Jonah...cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

So the people of Nineveh believe God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor beast...taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?"

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

From the Prophecy of St. Jonah.

Quote of the Day: St. Augustine of Hippo

The more days of fasting there are, the better the healing is; the longer the period of abstinence, the more abundant the gain of salvation is.

Maslenitsa!

Across the lands of the old Russian Empire the festival week of Maslenitsa, observed throughout the Orthodox Christian world as the last week to eat animal products (excluding meat) before the start of Lent, has begun. More about the ongoing celebrations in Russia can be found here. Yours personally with be celebrating with an eclectic mix of kefir, phad thai, ice cream, and Moroccan flan :-). Enjoy!

An Excerpt from "Thoughts on Fasting and Temperance" by St. Sebastian

Such is the mercy of God's condescension towards us, that we should be again restored to the former dignity, which we had enjoyed through His love to man, and which mercy we did not carefully keep. Fasting is a type of the future life, an imitation of the incorruptible existence...Do not flee from the difficulty of fasting, but set up hope against the trial, and you will obtain the desired abstinence from food. Repeat to yourself the words of the pious: "Fasting is bitter, but paradise is sweet; thirst is tormenting, but the spring, from which he who drinks will thirst never again, is at hand." The body is importunate, but the immaterial soul is much stronger—strength is dead, but nigh is the resurrection. Let us say to our much-craving stomach what the Lord said to the tempter: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Luke 4:4). Fasting is not hunger, but a little abstinence from food, not an inevitable punishment, but a voluntary continence, not a servile necessity, but a free selection of the wise. Pray and you will be strengthened; call, and a prompt helper will come to your assistance.

Quote of the Day: St. Augustine of Hippo

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

Expect the Unexpected

My trusty laptop recently died. It'd been in hospice for a while and I had hope that it would make it to the New Year, but alas, its appointed time came Thursday morning :-(. Thank God I was already planning on picking up my new laptop next weekend, but in the meantime my internet access might be hit and miss. (I'm using a friend's old laptop right now, but it's on life support itself, so God knows how long it will last.) In the meantime posts that I've already scheduled will continue to automatically post at their appointed times (like the quotes of the day and the interview with Fr. Pimen), but I can't make any guarantees for anything beyond that.

Your prayers, as always! 'Fasting without prayer is the fast of demons' and I fear I've already fallen into that sort of fasting not even a week into this year's Prophets' Fast :-/. I hope this finds you well in God's mercy wherever you are!

With love, The Management. ;-)

Quote of the Day: St. Paisius of Neamts

A moderate and sensible fast is the foundation and chief of all virtues. One should fight evil as one fights a lion and a fierce serpent—in the infirmity of the body and spiritual poverty. He who wishes his mind to be firm against defiled thoughts should make his body refined through fasting.

Quote of the Day: St. Sebastian the Equal-to-the-Apostles

The speech of him who fasts is plain and distinct; the mind is pure, and then it is that the mind shows forth its true image of God, when, as if in an immaterial body, it quietly and undisturbedly exercises the functions belonging to it.

Quote of the Day: St. Nicholas of Libertyville

Gluttony makes a man gloomy and fearful, but fasting makes him joyful and courageous. And, as gluttony calls forth greater and greater gluttony, so fasting stimulates greater and greater endurance. When a man realizes the grace that comes through fasting, he desires to fast more and more. And the graces that come through fasting are countless...

Quote of the Day: St. Ephraim of Syria

"If you, O man, do not forgive everyone who has sinned against you, then do not trouble yourself with fasting. If you do not forgive the debt of your brother...then you fast in vain. God will not accept you. Fasting will not help you, until you become accomplished in love and in the hope of faith. Whoever fasts and becomes angry, and harbors enmity in his heart, such a one hates God and salvation is far from him."

Quote of the Day: St. John Chrysostom

"The point is not only that we should come to church each day, that we should continually listen to one and the same thing, and that we should fast for the whole forty days. No! If If we, from continually coming here and listening to the teaching, do not acquire anything and do not derive any good for our soul from the time of the fast all this does not procure for us any benefit, but rather serves for our greater condemnation when despite such concern for us by the Church we remain...the same as before."

Quote of the Day: St. Basil the Great

"By fasting it is possible both to be delivered from future evils and to enjoy the good things to come. We fell into disease through sin; let us receive healing through repentance, which is not fruitful without fasting."