"My soul is fasting from passions
and my whole body follows her...
Only the necessary desires
and my skull is a place of repentance all day long..."
– Nikos Karouzos- [ 1 ]
The Manna-Church of the Orthodox Christ-worshippers, proceeding from the teaching of our God-man Lord and the mortgages of the Apostles, has established the sacred institution of Fasts, as a spiritual 'marathon' for the exercise of the faithful. Scattered throughout the liturgical year, 4 Fasting 'marathons' [ 2 ] call upon spiritual athletes-marathon runners to participate in competition, for mental strengthening and spiritual upgrading. [ 3 ] The organization of these spiritual 'marathons' is carried out on the 'basis' of a need: not to fall, as athletes, into mental laziness... but to exercise diligently, so that we may always be spiritually flexible... and psychophysically fit! Moreover, and in order to prepare ourselves appropriately for the Great Feasts of our Faith.
Every Christian today (the eve of the entrance into Great Lent), like another animated 'sailboat'... sets sail from the 'moor' of forgiveness (the Vespers of forgiveness...) setting sail into the 'vast blue' of the Lenten 'Archipelago' of Lent! The purpose of every 'sailor' is to sail the 40-day sea of Abstinence... 'trading' Goods of eternal value! By practicing an unconventional 'entrepreneurship' that invests in the 'big trade' of intangible Goods... he manages, with the Grace of God, within the short time of 'trading' (fasting) to acquire great spiritual wealth! Heavenly gifts... that can nourish many needy people around him! Because, having treasured up in God, from the super-profits of the 'trading' of the Virtues, he returns as a wealthy 'good citizen'... to benefit (also) his poor compatriots...!
Afternoon of Cheese Sunday... and, after the devout "Vespers of Forgiveness", the Mother Church gave the mental 'slogan' for the start of the 40-day Lent! From this time until Easter, Orthodox Christ-worshippers everywhere on earth direct every effort towards one goal. To detoxify our psychosomatic organism through fasting, from the poisonous toxins that the POOR NUTRITION of our body and soul has accumulated within us, opening the door to all potential diseases! The accumulation of 'toxic waste' and the dispersion of 'toxic fumes' within the body (from consumption of pleasurable... but harmful foods) and within the soul (from unrepentant-unconfessed sins, which remain unforgivable...), poison the physical and spiritual organism, disrupting the 'hormonal' harmony of our soul, like 'endocrine disruptors'...!
The action, on the body and the soul, of the toxic loads… that penetrate us, from our incorrect dietary choices, and destroy our nature from within, fatally undermining our psychosomatic health! Their entry into the metabolic system of cells, poisons the enzymes, preventing their basic functions, such as the production of energy, hemoglobin and protein synthesis, leading to cell death! Similarly, the contamination of the 'aquifer' of our soul, by the (spiritual) toxicity released by the neglected (unrepentant - unconfessed - unforgivable) conscientious transgressions of the Divine Will within us... transfers the disharmony and damage to our basic psycho-mental functions, degrading intellect, judgment, memory, conscience, (empathy)...!
The necessity to form a FASTING management of our (material and immaterial) diet, of the quality/quantity of the nutrients we ingest psychosomatically… is of vital importance! Because it compromises the harmonious survival of our physical and spiritual organism! The need to frequently detoxify our psychosomatic system - if we cannot live constantly 'detoxifying', fasting - is imposed by human 'physiology' itself. Of course, we can ignore it and be indifferent… but we cannot avoid the consequences of our choices! A fasting psychosomatic diet will help in a harmonious way of life… which will benefit both the body in maintaining good health, and the soul in its difficult struggle [ 4 ] against passions and demons…!
“The stadium of virtues is renewed, those who wish to compete, enter, reviving the good fight of fasting. For those who compete lawfully are justly crowned… And taking up the armor of the Cross, let us fight against the enemy…”! (From the hymnology of Cheese Sunday)
INTERPRETATION: The Athletic Stadium of the spiritual 'Olympics' has opened. Those who want to compete, enter... having undertaken the good fight of fasting. For those who compete lawfully... justly and are crowned! And after we have raised the invincible Cross armor of Christ on our shoulders, let us fight bravely against our common and unyielding enemy, the devil. [ 5 ]
Most Christians consider fasting as a spiritual 'obligation', which is a consequence of our Christian identity, with the aim of weakening the passions and strengthening the virtues. However, fasting, beyond an obligation of athletic discipline… [ 6 ] for the Athlete of Faith, is - for every conscious Christ-worshipper - also a great right… Of erotic self-offering to the Bridegroom Christ! If we truly desire to please our "Crucified All-Love", our Lord Jesus Christ, we necessarily need participation in the sport of fasting, through the exercise of which we show our devotion to Christ! We need to love it… not only for what it is: a powerful weapon of spiritual victory over demons [ 7 ] but, above all, for what it can and must become: a 'tool' of cleansing, purification and sanctification…!
True fasting, which pleases God and becomes the cause of the greatest psychosomatic benefit for man, is something… far beyond simple nutritional deprivation, as the Manna-Church teaches us. [ 8 ] Life in Christ is a vast field of competition, which includes and supports a multitude of athletic events! Each of these athletic efforts (which can be individual or collective) and especially fasting, cultivates our fighting spirit and hardens our will, so that we may be resistant and unyielding to our sworn enemies demons, who are wicked and unclean spirits, determined to destroy us… separating us eternally from God.
The 'fasting' management of our life lies in our need to put under precise control all the 'incoming', through the senses, within us... as well as all the 'outgoing' from our mind and heart. And although the Gospel only condemns the 'outgoing' [ 9 ] as harmful to our soul, it is obvious (from another perspective) that even the 'incoming' can cause enormous damage to our psychosomatic organism, if we allow them to flow in uncontrollably...! All our conventional senses collect 'food' from outside: sight images... hearing sounds... smell smells... taste delicacies... touch touches...! A 'rhostatic tap' (fasting) at the entrance of each sense... as well as at the exits of the mind and heart... could help us a lot!
The fasting 'crossing' has begun, and with it the spiritual 'trading'...! Let us dare to be entrepreneurial, to 'trade' the Spiritual Goods cultivated by fasting, which never lose their value, but remain eternally indestructible, as long as we protect them - with the Virtue of Humility - from the sudden robber and murderous attacks of sea pirates...!
REFERENCES-FOOTNOTES
[ 1 ] See the entire excellent poem "Dissolve your illness" by the great N. Karouzos: https: //www.myriobiblos.gr/texts.texts/greek/grpoetry/karouzos.html
[ 2 ] The Mother Church has designated Wednesday and Friday of each week as days of fasting for all Orthodox Christ-worshippers, thus honoring the special sanctity of these days, since: on Wednesday the holy Passion of our God-Man Lord began, and on Friday they culminated on the Cross. Also, as our Spiritual Trainer, she has organized the four 'marathons' (fasting periods) for our spiritual exercise, establishing:
a) the 40-day Lent before the Great Feast of Easter…
b) the few-day Fast before the Feast of the Holy Apostles…
c) the 15-day Fast before the Feast of the Theotokos...
d) the 40-day Lent before the Great Feast of Christmas…
The concept of psychosomatic exercise, in all cases of spiritual competitions, but especially of Lent, is 'inherent' with our Christian identity! The fasting exercise of the Christ-worshippers... goes back to the God-Man Christ himself, Who, before beginning His preaching to the world, withdrew for 40 days into the desert, to pray and fast... thus giving us a 'model' of struggle. The Faith of the Orthodox East has a martyr's and ascetic 'ethos', i.e., par excellence, athletic and struggle! Every event of our life in Christ... has the weight of a 'sports event', and our participation in it, although optional, constitutes 'accreditation' of our true love for Christ, and tangible certification-confirmation of our Orthodox Christian 'ethics'...!
[ 3 ] “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day…” (2 Cor. 4:16)
INTERPRETATION: Although our outer 'man' - the body - wears out (when it is strained athletically in the race in Christ...), our inner 'man' - the soul - in contrast to the body, is constantly renewed and spiritually strengthened, moving towards the renovation of our entire existence...
[ 4 ] “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places…” (Eph. 6:12).
INTERPRETATION: The spiritual struggle undertaken by Christ-worshippers is not a struggle against beings of flesh and blood, but against the wicked principalities and powers, against the multitudes of unclean spirits, the infernal world-rulers who rule in the darkness of this sinful age. Our struggle is waged against wicked spiritual beings, and is done out of love for Christ and for the sake of His Heavenly Kingdom.
[ 5 ] The exhortation of the Manna-Church to its spiritual children: “The stadium of virtues is renewed, enter, you who are willing to exercise…” [ Listen to the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13T__lUN0_I&t=114s ]
[ 6 ] In general, man always reacts negatively to 'obligation'. The discipline of Athletes, however, in sports ethics... as well as in a stable program of daily sports training and a relatively restrictive diet, and in general a respectful attitude towards human physiology... is an inviolable rule in Sports! This is even more the case in the spiritual struggle of Faith, where as fighters we must demonstrate absolute 'athletic discipline' to the calls of our trainers (shepherds), because our opponents (demons) are immaterial, monstrous and supernatural beings...
[ 7 ] Our Savior Jesus Christ Himself, in the Gospel passage of the healing of the demoniac who had a mute spirit, revealed to us that: one of the all-powerful spiritual weapons in our fight against evil and unclean spirits is Fasting:
“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting…” (Mark 9:29)
INTERPRETATION: This 'lighthouse' of unclean demons cannot be forced to flee by anything else... except by prayer and fasting!
[ 8 ] “Let us fast an acceptable fast, pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is the estrangement from evil, restraint of the tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, from gossip, from lies and from oaths. The poverty of these, fasting is true and acceptable…”!
(From the hymn of Clean Monday)
INTERPRETATION: Let us fast the fast that pleases Christ! For true fasting is our alienation from sins and passions! The avoidance of gossip, the abstention from anger, the separation from filthy desires, the abolition of gossip, falsehood, and swearing. The cessation of all these is the true and God-acceptable fast!…
[ 9 ] “Whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated. But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the evil things that a person does. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies… These are the things that come out of a person!” (Matt. 15:17-20)
INTERPRETATION: Whatever enters (as food) into the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated. But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart… and this is what defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies… These are what defile a person.
Christ, here, teaches us that spiritual purity does not depend on external types or foods, but on the heart. What enters the mouth (food) is of a material nature, passes through the body and is excreted. On the contrary, what defiles a person is of an immaterial nature, comes out of his mouth as speech, but concerns (evil) thoughts and desires that originate in his heart. Ultimately, FASTING can and should work both ways: controlling all the 'incoming' and 'outgoing' of our existence!
