Monday through Saturday we are overwhelmed with work, school, and friends. Oftentimes, we find ourselves just drifting through life with no direction. During the Great Lent, we have to strip ourselves from the specious assurance of the Pharisee who fasted, it is true, but not in the right spirit.
Fasting is not an end in itself. It is extolled in the services as the Feast of feasts and Triumph of triumphs. Lenten abstinence gives us the saving self- dissatisfaction of the Publican (Luke 18:10-13). In the same way that true repentance cannot be forced upon anyone, each of us makes the choice to turn away from our sinful ways and go toward our loving, for giving Father in Heaven.During Great Lent, the Church teaches us how to receive Him by using the two great means of repentance— prayer and fasting. Malankara Orthodox Church P.O.Box 17318, Doha Qatar +974 44165722 +974 44165723. moc@mocdoha.org. The Great Lent. Working for the Unity of the Church. Blessed is the King who adorned the Holy Church with Fasting, Prayer and Vigil.” Rahaim ‘layn aloho abo aheed kool ethraham ‘layn.Created by : Ipsr solutions ltd We need to revive our commitment to fasting and prayer and the rest of the Church will respond to this call.
But now I return, merciful Lord, and cry to You: I have sinned.”© 2015 The Malankara Orthodox Church, All Rights Reserved.The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. Our busy schedules rarely allow us any time to think, let alone pray. We are at the threshold of the Great Lent. For example, besides controlling what goes into our mouths, we must control what comes out of our mouths as well. Apart from God, there is nothing.
To help keep us focused, the Church every year compresses for us this journey as it prepares us to greet the Feast of Christ’s Resurrection. Blessed is the First-Born who encompassed our weakness with the wall of His great fasting. We have to believe the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual weapon that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil. This is the goal of our life-long spiritual journey, a journey from death to life, from darkness to light – a restoration to paradise from which we have departed. Begging His mercy we strive for true repentance, that we may receive His salvation in all joy.Great Lent: ‘Restore Me To The Paradise From Which I Departed’The center of the liturgical year in the Orthodox Church is Kyomtho, the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. Justifiably so, for as the Apostle Paul declares, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (I Cor. It is a time when we shake off what is bad and dead in us in order to become able to live, to live with all the vastness, all the depth, and all the intensity to which we are called.
We are called to move away from temptations and distractions that lead us to sin. It is a long journey and we travelers get weary; we get distracted and wander off or even lose sight of the road.
We fast from food, or a food item, as a reminder that we are to fast from sinning and doing evil.You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website.There are several benefits of fasting. For by means of it a man can overcome that one who with fruit overcame Adam; He became greedy and gobbled it. The Holy Spirit refreshes our soul and spirit, and we experience the joy of the Lord as seldom before. Most important of all, we need to control our thoughts, for thoughts are the source of our actions, whether good or evil. The Great lent or the fifty day's lent is observed as a preparation for our Lord's death on the cross and His resurrection. Fasting is more than not eating food. Saint John Chrysostom teaches that it is more important to fast from sin. The Lent period is the third cycle in the Liturgical year. Are our words pleasing to God, or do we curse God or our brother?The other members of the body also need to fast: our eyes from seeing evil, our ears from hearing evil, our limbs from participating in anything that is not Godly.