👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽Is the #Apostles’ #Fast (sene tsom) a Clergy Fast or a Christian Fast?
Beloved in Christ,
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through our Lord Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead and poured His Spirit upon the apostles, sanctifying them for the salvation of the world. As we approach the sacred season of the Apostles’ Fast, we must not remain in confusion or indifference, nor let error cloud the light of truth. For ignorance, when it concerns divine ordinances, leads not to innocence but to negligence. Therefore, let us open the eyes of our soul and behold the richness of this holy fast, which is not reserved for the clergy alone, but is a fast for the whole Body of Christ.
I. The Error of Restricting the Fast to the Clergy
There are those among the faithful who refer to the Apostles’ Fast as “the Priests’ Fast.” Why do they call it so? Is it because of reverence? No. It is the tongue of excuse, a subtle device used by those who desire to escape the labor of fasting. They cloak their negligence under a veil of false interpretation, declaring, “This fast belongs to the apostles, and we are not apostles. It is for priests, for they are their successors.”
But this is a deception, beloved. For although it is called the Fast of the Apostles, it is not exclusive to them. Such thinking flows not from the Spirit but from the flesh. For even in the days of old, the faithful imitated the lives of the saints and apostles not with mere lip-service, but with discipline, struggle, and self-denial. If the fast were for the apostles only, why then does the Church call all the baptized those confirmed on the 40th and 80th day, and who have reached the age of seven to partake in it?
Are the bishops and priests the only ones baptized? Are they the only ones called to holiness? Is the race of the Kingdom run by a select few, while the rest sit as spectators? God forbid! For as the apostle saith, “You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). If we are built upon their foundation, then we must also walk in their path.
II. The Apostolic Origin and Purpose of the Fast
This fast is not a modern invention, nor a clerical tradition. It is the very fast observed by the apostles themselves those blessed pillars of the Church after they had received the Holy Spirit and before they were sent into the world to proclaim the good news. The fast was not for show or tradition, but for preparation: a sharpening of the soul, a cleansing of the heart, and a humbling before God, so that the Gospel might be preached with purity and power.
Shall we not, then, fast as they fasted? Shall we not seek God’s blessing before we speak, serve, or even breathe in His holy name? This is a fast of proclamation, a fast of commission, a fast of sanctification. We fast that we too might receive the grace they received that we might be strengthened for our mission, as they were for theirs.
III. The Universal Call to Fast
Hear now the voice of the Church, unwavering and clear: This fast is to be observed by all Christians clergy and laity alike. The canon of the Church, guided by the Spirit and sanctified by time, has declared that “we should fast every year in honor of the apostles and other saints, so that the grace and wealth of the Holy Spirit that rested on them may rest on us as well” (Ft. Nga. 15:586). Do you not desire this grace? Will you not labor for this heavenly wealth?
As the apostles fasted for strength to proclaim Christ, we fast to become worthy of their inheritance. We fast to remember how they forsook all things for the sake of the Gospel. We fast to partake in their sufferings and glories. They left houses and families, they wandered from land to land, they suffered beatings and imprisonment, and finally, offered their blood as the seal of their testimony. If they bore all this for us, shall we not fast in their memory?
Continues 👇🏽