Христос посеред нас! Christ is amongst us!
The Nativity Fast:
During this month we are in the midst of the Nativity fast which leads us on a journey to the Nativity of our Lord, then to the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan, and concludes with the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple. These Feasts of our Lord are of great importance to the church because not only do we celebrate the birth of our Lord, we also are given the building blocks and an understanding of how a Christian should begin their lives. When we look at these feasts closely we can see that they are out of order in that Christ was baptised as an adult. Our Church fathers have specifically placed the feasts in this order on our church calendar because we as a church baptise infants and at the conclusion of the baptism the newly baptised child is churched thus imitating the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple.
The Nativity fast that begins this journey is also called Philips fast as it begins just after the day commemorating St. Philip. This fast is a 40 day period prior to the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and is patterned after the Great Lenten Fast period prior to Pascha (Easter). The major differences are that we do not celebrate Pre-Sanctified Liturgies as there is no restriction on serving the Eucharist during the week, and there are less strict fast days throughout the fast, however it is still considered as important as the Lenten Fast. By saying this, we understand that as being good Christians we should be trying to fast from dairy and meat to the best of our abilities. After the fast starts (for us on the 29th of November) the first Major Feast we see is the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple which brings us into the Nativity season because starting with this Feast we begin to sing the Canon of Christ’s Nativity and begins the singing of the liturgical hymns of the Nativity. The next important day celebrated is the day which the church commemorates Holy Apostle Andrew the First Called. This is seen as an important part of our fast because Andrew being the first called of Christ calls us to meet the Messiah just as he called his brother Apostle Peter to meet the Messiah whom we are all seeking.
A pivotal figure within our current society as well as within our church community is the celebration of St. Nicholas and his arrival to our churches. This commemoration reminds us as Christians how we are to live and as St. Nicholas imitating and lived a life of Christ; we too must try to imitate St. Nicholas and give not just our lives to Christ, but give our material possessions, monies, and food to those who have none. We are always very blessed that at this time of year St. Nicholas visits our parishes to help spread Christ’s message to our children.
This period of Fasting that we go through prior to the Nativity of our Lord sometimes takes a back seat the Great Lenten fast and we at times to do even see this period as being nowhere near as important. It is proper for us to try to the best of our abilities not just to fast but to take this Fast as well as all of the Fast periods or Fast Days of our church just as we would fast within the Great Lenten period. If you have any questions or need assistance with how to safely fast during these times I am available to give assistance. May God bless all of us and give us the strength to partake in this journey with a level of sincerity and honesty that will bring us closer to Him as we partake in this Nativity fast.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Peter Haugen
