Now we are entering the fasting
period before Christmas, before the Birth of the Son of God, considered as the
Queen of all Celebrations. This fasting period lasts for 40 days. Fasting is
always a current theme within the Christian world. It was even one of the
topics examined and verified in the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox
Church (Crete, 2016). Additionally, fasting has existed since the beginning. We
find it in Genesis and the Garden of Eden. We also find the notion of fasting
in many books in both the Old and New Testaments. Below we have the issue of
fasting, which pleases God, as explained by Isaiah (58:1-12):
58 “Cry aloud, spare
not;
Lift up your voice
like a trumpet;
Tell My people their
transgression,
And the house of
Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me
daily,
And delight to know
My ways,
As a nation that did
righteousness,
And did not forsake
the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the
ordinances of justice;
They take delight in
approaching God.
3 ‘Why have we
fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted
our souls, and You take no notice?’
“In fact, in the day
of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your labourers.
4 Indeed you fast for
strife and debate,
And to strike with
the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as
you do this day,
To make your voice
heard on high.
5 Is it a fast that I
have chosen,
A day for a man to
afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his
head like a bulrush,
And to spread out
sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a
fast,
And an acceptable day
to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the
fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of
wickedness,
To undo the heavy
burdens,
To let the oppressed
go free,
And that you break
every yoke?
7 Is it not to share
your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to
your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the
naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself
from your own flesh?
8 Then your light
shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall
spring forth speedily,
And your
righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord
shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall
call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He
will say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you take away the
yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the
finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 If you extend your
soul to the hungry
And satisfy the
afflicted soul,
Then your light shall
dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness
shall be as the noonday.
11 The Lord will
guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul
in drought,
And strengthen your
bones;
You shall be like a
watered garden,
And like a spring of
water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among
you
Shall build the old
waste places;
You shall raise up
the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be
called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of
Streets to Dwell In.