Holy Christmas Fast

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We wish to remind you that today is the beginning of the Holy Christmas Fast. Over the forthcoming days and weeks, by fasting we will prepare ourselves in the most dignified way, as Orthodox Christians, for the blessed joy of Christmas, and will make our hearts a cradle for the Newborn Child, Christ. The first of God's commandments, given to our ancestors in Paradise, which they should have followed out of their love for the Creator and each other, was the commandment to refrain from eating the forbidden fruit, which freed human beings from the temptations of the flesh.

Jesus Christ Himself established the fast, fasting in the desert for forty days and His disciples followed His example, as did martyrs and all Orthodox Christians for centuries up to today. Fasting is a time when we refrain from eating food containing fat, but also from committing any sins, because it is only then that our efforts, both spiritual and temporal, are successful. Fasting is our joy because in cleansing our body and refraining from passion we strengthen our will and with spiritual eyes we look at the mysteries of life, which have been hidden from us. God Himself is the Witness that the demons are 'banished by fast and prayers', and so both are necessary as preparation for meeting the Divine Child, Christ.

So that we can, together with the Bethlehem shepherds, embrace the Heavenly Guest, we must abstain from food with fat in it, big meals and alcohol, until Christmas. Let us practise virtue and take care to avoid worldly temptation so that we have the strength to try and attain heavenly virtues.

Let us pray more during the Christmas Fast because prayer is the conversation of the pious soul with God. Let us forgive each other our transgressions and let us confess honestly, every time as if it is the last time, because repentance is the ornament and flower of all virtues, the spring at which our soul is cleansed and nourished.

It is especially important that, in fear of God, we teach our children to pray and fast because it is only in this way that they can understand the great mystery of the Son of God coming to earth and the celebration of Christmas. This is the only way that they can grow up to be true human beings and Orthodox Christians who are close to the mysteries of this world and the next.

HAPPY AND BLESSED BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTMAS FAST!

London 28 November 2014
Your priests, father Goran and father Dragan