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His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
-An excerpt from His Holiness' book The Spirituality of Fasting.
We are not of the type of people who fast and, while fasting, long for the time to break our fast. On the contrary, when we are not fasting we long for the time when fasting will return.
A spiritual person rejoices over the periods of fasting more than he does over feast days during which he eats and drinks. Many are those who long for fasting during the fifty-day period that follows Easter and during which there is neither fasting or continual prostration. Their longing for fasting increases so strong that they rejoice at the arrival of the Apostles' fast having been deprived of the joy of fasting during the preceding fifty days.
Those who are spiritual rejoice so much at fasting that general fasts are not sufficient for them. Thus, they urge their father confessors to allow them to add their own additional fasts. They support their request with the argument that their spiritual condition becomes stronger during the period of fasting, their health improves and that their bodies become lighter.
Those who claim that fasts should be shortened and reduced in number attest to the fact that they have neither experienced the joy of fasting nor known its benefits.
God willing, we shall discuss in the coming chapters the benefits of fasting as the source of joy for the spiritual and the lifestyle for the monks.
A Way of Life -
So loved was fasting to our fathers the monks, that they made it their lifestyle.
They fast, with the exception of feast days their whole life. They did not suffer from physical fatigue but discovered in it spiritual delight, found satisfaction and became accustomed to it.
It was once said that on one occasion, at the advent of Lent in the desert, a herald was sent calling upon monks and drawing their attention to the sacred fast. When one of the elders heard the herald's exhortation, he said to him: "Son, what is it this fast you are talking about? I am not aware of it because all my days are the same. (Ie. that all of them are days of fasting)."
Saint Paula the anchorite used to eat only half a loaf of bread at sunset.
Some monks used to fast every day until sunset like a holy monk who once said; "Thirty years have passed by during which the sun has not seen me eating".
Some monks used to fast for days. Saint Makarius the Alexandrian, for example, fasted though out the year and ate only once week during the Holy Lent, while visiting the Monasteries of Saint Pachomius.
The fasting of our fathers, were not confined to specific periods, or the length of time, but also as form of monasticism, applied it to the kind of food they ate.
Abba Nofer, the anchorite, ate dates from a palm tree at his place of seclusion. Saint Moses the anchorite, as well as Saint Pigimy, another anchorite, ate desert grass and drank from the morning dew.
Consistent fasting regulated the lives of the Fathers.
This lifestyle of a monk becomes comforting and harmonious for both the body and the soul. A stable lifestyle, to which they become accustomed which regulates their lives.
As for the pitied laymen, they sway from one extreme to another when fasting. They deprive themselves of food only to break their fast to partake of anything they desire.
They abstain for a while, to allow themselves what they want for another period, then go back to indulgence, thus they sway between abstention and indulgence. They build, then destroy, and then build again, only to demolish again without recovery.
True fasting is to train oneself in self-control, to follow for the rest of your life.
Self-control becomes a blessing for his life, not only during the time of fasting when we change the time and the food we eat, but also during the normal days.
In this context, fasting is not a punishment but a blessing.
Confessor fathers used to impose as a sever form of punishment for their spiritual sons, to break their fast early, to eat meat or appetising foods. This was done in order to abase their spiritual son’s proud heart that thinks of itself to have become a hermit or an ascetic. He would thus bring down his arrogance by making him eat and feel abased to rid him of thoughts of vain glory.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 March 2008 )
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His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
-An excerpt from His Holiness' book Words of Spiritual Benefit. Revised from the
original for translation and grammar.
To have a powerful effect on your spiritual life during Lent, you need to follow certain exercises.
These exercises, when you apply them to life's situations, will help you benefit from your fast:
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To exercise giving up a specific sin, from the sins that prevail upon you, and which is repeated in many of your confessions.
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To
exercise learning some Psalms from the Agpeya. You may choose one or
two Psalms from each of the seven prayers, especially the Psalms that
leave an effect on you.
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To exercise learning the Bible readings
of the different hours, divide them into parts, analyse them, knowing
that for each prayer there are three or six parts.
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To exercise the mental prayer of what you have learned. You may pray during work, on the road, while with people or at any time.
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Use
these prayers, Psalms and Bible readings as a sphere for contemplation,
to enable yourself to pray them with depth and understanding.
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To
exercise spiritual readings: either by reading from the Bible
regularly, with understanding and meditation, or reading the lives of
the Saints or some spiritual books, so that you gain a profitable yield
of deep readings.
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During lent, you may exercise learning the
hymns of lent and the Passion Week, and repeating them until you are
full of their spirit. The same is true of Advent.
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You may exercise a certain higher level of fasting, under the supervision of your spiritual father.
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There
are many spiritual exercises in the field of dealing with people...
such as gentleness, patience, enduring others' weaknesses, controlling
anger, using words of praise and encouragement, serving and helping
others, kindness and meekness.
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Other exercises in purity of the
heart: Such as modesty, inner peace, love of God, being satisfied
without grumbling, quietness with no disturbance, internal joy in the
spirit, faith and hope.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 07 March 2008 )
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His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
-The 2006 Papal Christmas Message.
Peace on the Feast of the Nativity.
 We
congratulate you my brethren on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, to
Him be all Glory. We hope for you all on this Feast a joyous year,
blessed by God, and that He may bless the whole world.
And on
the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we remember among its many
meanings that the angels sang saying, “Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace and goodwill towards men.” (Lk 2:14) Today, we hope that
our contemplation will be on peace, which God wills for Earth,
especially as the world and every person needs peace.
There are three types of peace which each person needs: peace with God, peace with people, and peace of heart.
Peace
with God is that a person lives a life of righteousness and stays far
from all sin and evil. Therefore sin is distance from God, and enmity
from God and disobedience of His commandments. If man disobeys his God,
man looses his peace.
He
who lives in peace with God has a pure heart. And when we speak of
peace with God and of purity of heart, we do not imply that man should
live in righteousness against his will, but rather, true goodness is
what the heart seeks willingly, not that which is imposed on him.
He
who lives in peace with God will naturally live in peace with others,
as he does not struggle with others, nor do others struggle with him,
he will not fear others, but love them.
We
pray that peace will spread among people and that they may live far
from aggression, not encroaching on or abusing others. The peaceful
person does not encroach on others, and if he is abused by another,
bears with patience, and pardons and forgives. The Lord Jesus commands
peace and tolerance, and the Holy Bible says, “Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good,” and also “if your enemy is hungry,
feed him; and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.”
(Rom. 12:20-21).
When
your relationship with God is shaken, you lose your inner peace, and if
lusts and desires overcome you, you also lose your inner peace. Thus to
live in peace, do not worry about tomorrow.
If
you place your life in your own hands, you will be troubled; and if you
place your life in the hands of others, you will be troubled even more;
but if you believe that it is in the hands of God, you will find rest.
Those
who believe in God’s planning for their lives, are not troubled, but
live continually with inner peace, which fills their hearts. The person
with peace of heart, does not fear evil, for he says to the Lord as
David the Prophet says, “If I walk in the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil.” (Ps 23:4)
The
faithful person lives in peace, for God exists and acts and manages
all, and is the protector and the helper. However, the one who has lost
peace, even imagines difficulties when they do not exist, and even
though there is Divine power surrounding him, he does not recognize it,
and that is his great crisis.
If
you have an accepted prayer, you shall live in peace, and you will feel
that since you have placed your troubles in prayer before God, and that
He has received your case and surrounds it with His abundant mercies,
He will lift your sufferings.
And
in the beginning of this new year, we pray that God intervenes and
solves the problems of individuals and nations, even if they seem
complicated and unsolvable. “For that which is impossible with men, is
possible with God.”
May this year be a blessed one,
Pope Shenouda III
January 7, 2006
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 January 2009 )
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