Main news for 24 February 2025

The original meaning of fasting is mourning, whether personal mourning, connected for example with the death of someone close, or public mourning, for example on the occasion of some national disaster. It is no wonder that on a day of national mourning, in the streets of Jerusalem one could see people publicly expressing their grief; in the East such a practice is still quite widespread today. And one of the gestures that express grief is torn outer clothing. Meanwhile God says: tear not your garments, but your hearts. External signs are not needed; turning back and repentance are more important. Why is that? Is grief, sincerely expressed even if publicly, as was customary among the Jews of those times, not a sign of repentance? Apparently, not always. Grief certainly makes one think, and sometimes even reevaluate something in one's personal or public life. But not always: it can also produce hopeless sorrow, hatred of life, and a desire to take revenge on the one considered responsible for what happened. And outward, especially public, expressions of grief only inflame these feelings, often hindering the spiritual processes that could really help. What can help, clearly, is a sober assessment of what has happened, repentance for sins committed, and turning to God with a request for help. And the prophet offers the people just such a path: the path not of emotional outbursts, but of serious spiritual work that will help them make the right decisions and find a way out of a situation that may seem completely hopeless.

Joe 2:12-13

NOTES

Father Alexander Schmemann writes in his Journals (October 12, 1976, p. 297): "The beginning of 'false religion' is the inability to rejoice, or rather, the refusal of joy. Yet joy is so absolutely important because it...

Father Alexander Schmemann writes in his "Journals" (October 12, 1976, p. 297): "The beginning of 'false religion' is the inability to rejoice, or rather, the refusal of joy. Yet joy is so absolutely important because it is the unmistakable fruit of the sense of God's presence. One cannot know that God is and not rejoice. And only in relation to joy are the fear of God, repentance, and humility correct, genuine, and fruitful. Outside this joy they easily become 'demonic,' a distortion in the very depth of religious experience. A religion of fear. A religion of pseudo-humility. A religion of guilt: all these are temptations, all these are spiritual delusion. [...] Fear of sin does not save from sin. Joy in the Lord saves."

But this is exactly what the prophet Joel calls us to remember today. Yes, he speaks of "fasting, weeping, and mourning." But for what purpose? Why does such a great man as Theophan the Recluse, in his word for today, not want to see the words that follow these tragic ones? What makes him break off his reflections on such a hopeless note: "The priests do not stop crying out: 'Spare us, Lord!' But from the Lord there surely comes the stern answer: 'I will not spare, for there are none seeking mercy.' Everyone stands with his back to the Lord; they have turned away from Him and forgotten Him."

All this is true, but not the whole truth, not the whole truth. Yes, the world has become corrupt; we see this with our own eyes. But if we allow ourselves to stop at such heartrending notes, then our whole faith will become neurasthenia. And for most believers it already is neurasthenia, and 90% of them should be referred to psychiatrists - sadly.

But one need only hear at least what the prophet says today: "And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk", and immediately remember what the Apostle answers: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1). For people may tell us that the prophet is only promising us that this will happen someday, and that the fulfillment of the promise is being delayed. But precisely the assurance of things hoped for is our faith. This we must without fail remember, and somehow see and do in our own life.

Great Lent begins today. The texts we read speak about what is most important at this time, yet how far all this is from our ideas of fasting...

Orthodox worship, including the cycle of readings from Holy Scripture, takes on a Lenten character starting today...

Orthodox worship, including the cycle of readings from Holy Scripture, takes on a Lenten character starting today. Today, as on a true fasting day, the liturgy is not celebrated, and at the sixth hour and at vespers we read the words of the prophet Joel. Two passages from the prophet's book are most closely connected with the beginning of the Fast, and the creators of the Church Typikon wanted us, before the Fast, to listen with them to these words of God.

The first reading begins with words about the meaning of fasting. They come after the prophecy about the day of the Lord, about the coming of God into the world being like fire that destroys every sin and every falsehood. The prophet sees and describes scenes of countless disasters coming upon the universe, "for the day of the Lord is coming." And the Lord's words become the answer to this vision of the prophet: "Yet even now, says the Lord, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God; for He is good and merciful, patient and abundant in mercy, and He relents over disaster." God says that His will is for our repentance and salvation.

But, as in ancient times (and the book of the prophet Joel was written at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries B.C.), the words remain timely for us: "Tear your hearts and not your garments." All the efforts we make during the Fast are directed toward weeping with the heart, even for a minute, and in this sorrow finding Christ. The prophet speaks of this at the end of the passage: "And you, children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God." The Lord Jesus Christ will repeat this thought in the Sermon on the Mount, saying, "But you, when you fast, wash your face..."

The second reading, which includes the end of the book of the prophet Joel, calls us to regard the coming time as the last time. The day has come when repentance and turning back can no longer be postponed. The Lord comes to His people, and those who desire to find life will go out to meet Him.

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