www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology "Few Russians follow strict Orthodox fast"

I agree that we should not concern ourselves with how others fast. To do so, is to tempt the passion of pride. The Lenten ascetical practices of fasting, abstinence from other pleasures, and our increased prayer life and humility is best saved for discussing with our spiritual fathers.

The number of those Orthodox who fast in the Greek archdiocese of America and in modern day Greece is also very, very low. We were just discussing this tonight after Great compline at church with a soon to be Orthodox priest. Everyone does what he can, and if that means abstaining from gossip, criticism, idle talk, insults, and/or gummie bears and/or chocolate, then so be it...who are we to judge? For those who do nothing at all, again, we are not to judge. Many of us here were once among those ranks.

from "Daniel Heenan�s Account of Battling the Abortion Business and Washington D.C. Police"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/070212a.html

The best answer I could give to my students� innocent inquiries about how I could have lost these cases was based on the realization that the battle for life is, at its heart, a spiritual battle. As committed Catholics, honesty is important to us. As committed abortion proponents, deceit and dishonesty is part and parcel of their business. The very term they use to describe themselves, �pro-choice�, is the most poignant illustration of this fact. Is it realistic for us to expect true justice from a system that can rationalize abortion?

More alarming yet was the fact that during the trial all three defense witnesses, including the defendant, revealed themselves as being either Catholics or former Catholics. This was particularly embarrassing for me as I was being represented by a group of fervent evangelical Christians from the American Center for Law and Justice. This begs the question then, of to what extent is the proliferation of evils like abortion in our society at its root a failure of the Church to effectively carry out its mission? What would be the state of the abortion industry in this country if all the so-called Catholics were really Catholic? Could Planned Parenthood survive without the support of Catholics?

So often, and rightly so, we criticize the bishops for their failure to discipline the likes of Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. But, should we really expect them to do so when the faith is not being taught on the most basic level to the extent that a security guard who admits to being raised Catholic can testify that his job is to put his life on the line to defend Planned Parenthood? Though these witnesses all know that the Church is opposed to abortion, they evidently do not think that is of much consequence. The battle is thus not merely a legal and political one. Demons like these can, perhaps, only be expelled through much prayer and fasting, as our Lord once said. For this to happen, true Christians zealously pass down and defend the fundamental teachings of the faith.

I am often tempted to not fast. Everyone else seems to be having a grand old time eating whatever they want; why not me?

But Christ said, "This kind can only be driven out by prayer and fasting."

Here is an example of what that means, both when it is carried out and when it is not. It is an excerpt from an essay by a woman who protested an abortion clinic and who went to court over it -- and lost.


My point is this: there cannot be spiritual truth without spiritual living, because they are the same thing.

When we think that the truth of religion is just a bunch of ideas, when we forget that our pattern of living is the major part of the truth of our lives, we get this kind of deadly nonsense: pro-choice Catholics, legalized abortion, and a culture increasingly defined by lust, gluttony, anger and greed.

My two cents worth. Please say a prayer for me that I can and will keep the Fast. Everyone at the Byzcath Forum is in my prayers.

-- John