Καλό Πάσχα! Good Pascha!
In the tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy, our ‘fast’ begins today ( nearly a month behind American Easter) I put fast in quotes because in American culture, to fast is to abstain from everything to eat. 40 days would be a long time to go without but in the church there are levels of the fast. In our house, meat is off the table. According to our reading from Fr. Alexander Schmemann, if you don’t abstain, at the very least, from meat then you are not fasting. But that’s us. For some, it’s a strict Vegan diet but for others is what they can do or choose to do. Our kids fasted with us unknowingly as there are so many substitute vegetarian products that resemble meat. They had ‘chicken’ nuggets and were happy.
We rarely abstain from dairy in our house and will eat fish. We don’t go out of our way to seek meat substitutes as that seems to defeat the purpose. There are a lot of veggie options now and I did hit a Burger King for a Impossible Whopper one year but why really?
A lot of this does not work with our American daily lives of working long hours so we make adjustments. Sometimes health issues make it difficult. Rice and pasta and breads are great unless you have diabetes. Then what? It’s a daily struggle for us but a good struggle and worth it in the final hours. Some days we simply skip dinner cause we are bored with our options. It’s ok. We are obviously not starving.
A while back, in my younger days, I did a monastic fast. Strict Vegan, one meal, after sundown. I lost 22 pounds and was a bear to be around so missed the point of fasting totally. When I was at the monastery learning iconography, I participated as the Monks did and took it all in stride. The labor was not overwhelming and I painted and prayed daily. Immersion has a lot to do with it. I loved chanting in the church and participating in all the services but it made me prideful and I had to stop. I still love singing but do it in my studio along with the Russians. 😂
Still now, during the fast, I have a large painting to work on or sometimes I will tie prayer ropes. It all helps me focus on the spiritual aspect of fasting. Painting makes me forget my hunger and troubles and Rachmaninov’s liturgy in the background helps my spiritual focus. I grew up in the Serbian Church so the Slavic nature of the liturgy reminds me of my youth in the church.
This year, we started our journey watching The Island, a Russian film about a monastic that struggled for years with his pride and sin. It’s was so bleak and moody but a great message and food for thought. We have watched stories about the Monks of Mt Athos and anything we can to keep our focus on the spiritual side of life while life around us continues as usual.
We keep our eyes on the eventual resurrection of our Lord and the events that lead up to it. Jim Bishop wrote a book called ‘The Day Christ Died’ a fantastic read for Lent. Really puts you in the period of His last days.
And then, once over, we have the feast! We used have people over every year but we soon discovered our non Orthodox friends had no frame of reference for our joy so we now keep it in the family. Occasionally we have guests but if you haven’t abstained from flesh meats for the last 40 days, the roasted lamb is no treat at all. Just another Sunday dinner.
So Καλό Πάσχα to all. I hope your journey leads to you peace and enlightenment this coming holiday.
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