Part III. Practices: B. Fasting

Fasting

Our Blessed Saviour fasted before beginning His ministry. His command on fasting is clear : “when thou fasted anoint thine head and wash thy face ...” (Matt. VI : 16-18). He told His disciples when they were bewildered at their inability to cure the lunatick vexed boy : “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Mark IX : 29; Matt. XVII : 14-21). Throughout the Scriptures, fasting is practised preliminary to repetance, in anticipation of a feast, or before carrying out a specific mission. Besides, the very first command issued by God to Adam implied fasting; He said to him : “of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it”. (Genesis II : 16-17). And the fall of Adam and Eve was due to their inability to abstain from eating the forbidden fruit. Consequently, when our Saviour incarnated to redeem mankind, the first temptation attempted at Him by the devil was the temptation to eat : “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread”. And the Lord of Life shamed the tempter by His reply that man shall not live by bread alone (Luke IV : 3-4). In obedience to the Divine Command and the Divine Example, the Coptic Church practises fasting; She offers five reasons, they are :

1 — it is a means for purifying the body from heavy foods and sparing it gluttony;

2 — it is a practice in controlling bodily appetite (self discipline) ;

3 — it is a striving to recapture the state which Adam and Eve enjoyed before their fall;

4 — it is a spiritual preparation by which a person tries to make himself fit for coming near God — in this it can be considered an expression of man’s love for God.

5 — it is the means by which to sympathize with the hungry by experiencing hunger and being bound by fasting to limit satisfying it.

Since fasts are a spiritual preparation, they invarially precede any feast, that the fastive joyousness may be really felt. Hence, the fasts of Coptic Church are :

(a) ADVENT : preceding Christmas (forty three days) then the three days preceding epiphany;

(b) LENT : (fifty five days) — the forty fasted by our Lord, the Passion Week, and an extra week to make up for nonabstinence on Saturdays;

(c) three days in commemoration of Ninevah’s accepted repentance;

(d) fast following immediately after Pentecost called Apostles’ Fast, because the Apostles fasted as soon as they were filled with the Holy Spirit in preparation for their ministry and in remembrance of our Lord’s answer to the Pharisees : “Can the children of the bride chamber fast ... the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days”. (Mark II : 18-20). This fast is variable depending on Easter date.

(e) Fast ending with our Lady’s Assumption, lasting fifteen days, hence, it is called “The Virgin’s Fast”. In addition, every Wednesday and Friday of the year (with the exception of the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost), are fast days. Because the Jews plotted against the Christ on Wednesday and crucified Him on Friday.

Fasting among the Copts means restricting their diet to the produce of the earth only. Even those who practise abstinence, eat either vegetables or fruits when they do eat, and no butter is used in cooking it.

With prayer and fasting comes :