Continued 👇🏾
✍🏾The Fast of the Prophets and the Period of Teaching
During this fast:
The prophets fasted and prayed.
The apostles fasted and received blessings.
The Church Fathers established the tradition that we, the faithful, should also observe this fast so that we may receive blessings like them.
✍🏾 The Season of Teaching(Astemhro)
According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the period from Hidar 6 to Tahisas 7or 13) is called the period of teaching (Astemhro).
Astemhro :(when it writes with the letter “ሀ”,in Amharic alphabet ) means the time of teaching the period when the Gospel and the goodness of God are preached widely.
The root of the word is:
Mehare – taught, gave instruction, led, showed, advised.
Temhire – learned, taught.
This signifies a time when God’s goodness, compassion, patience, and saving work are widely proclaimed in the Church.
Astemhro (when it writes with “ሐ”in Amharic alphabet) also means a time of mercy and forgiveness.
The root:
Mehare – forgave, forgave a debt.
Amhare – to please, to forgive, to show pity, to grieve.
This is a Ge’ez verb expressing acts of mercy, compassion, and intercession, showing how one responds to the needs and sufferings of others.
✍🏾 Spiritual Meaning
The period of teaching is a time when God instructs us about His goodness and mercy. He teaches that:
He forgives all our sins.
We, the faithful, should also forgive one another.
"May the God of the Prophets, Apostles, Righteous, and Martyrs accept our fasting, grant us the blessings of the Holy Virgin Mary, the holy prophets, and apostles, and bestow His holy will upon us, that we may inherit His Kingdom!"
May the name of the Holy God be praised forever and ever in every tongue that He has created, today and always.
May the blessings of God's mother, the virgin, and the cross be upon us.
Amen.
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