Legalism and fasting

[Anthony A.]

I recently listened to our brother, deacon Michael, CEO of the largest Christian Publishing company in the world, Tyndale House, who also have provided us with the wonderful Orthodox Study Bible. His 2 part message on fasting: http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/eastwest/P7/ had me wondering how far I as an Orthodox sometimes might have tendency of enter into unChristian legalism as we work out our Salvation through fasting and prayer.

Reading the letter of Saint Paul to the Orthodox and Catholic Church, in his letter addressed to our brethren in Galatia, I wonder how many of us live out the heart of freedom in Christ we have while we keep our fasts to strengthen our souls for Christ's heart to be formed in us?

Our Theosis transformation is of utmost important to us all as we seek to be Perfect as our Father in Heaven. Without judging my brethren, I often hear bouts of legalism in their understanding of writings of holy men living in our monastic communities. Brethren sometimes end up in Emergency rooms and in dire straits as our brother and great Saint John Chrysostom found himself. I am amazed that such great a Saint and powerful preacher later in life wish he had not been as strict in his asceticism and in his wonderful message, even after the Great Lent, spoke out the freedom to come to receive the Body and Blood of Christ whether we have kept the fast or not.

In reading of our Apostolic Tradition, I was also surprised to read that our Apostles ate Lamb right before taking communion and that it was normal practice of our brethren in the first century to eat and take communion. Obviously the Church in the Wisdom given to her by God The Holy Spirit has led us into working out our salvation with various fasts to help us in our journey of transformation from Grace to Grace, and I am most thankful for the faithful keeping of the fasts. In balance, I wonder how often we all also experience Freedom in Christ as our brethren in the early Church did, so that we avoid any hint of legalism in our growth in the Grace and Knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ? After all, it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of his heart.

My humble thoughts in searching out God's Living Word in the midst of our Ancient and Holy and Living Tradition.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

The word freedom has been discussed many times on this Forum. For us it must mean freedom from sin and the passions which enslave us. As such this also is accomplished in obedience to a certain ascetic way. This way calls for continual humbling of oneself.

Now according to this way there are many and continuous warnings about severe or undiscerning asceticism- fasting, etc. There are many continual individual examples of this and we must always be very discerning in how we apply the discipline of asceticism to our own lives.

That being said however we also need to discern the spirit of the times. If this is still like 4th century Egypt with thousands running off to the desert then a word of warning is also in order. But if this is an age marked by increasing self indulgence and self direction (with all of its consequent spiritual, moral, psychological & physical suffering) then an open word to be more seriously ascetic could well be in order.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Vasiliki D.]

Again, I will offer a very uneducated response and probably one that wont be accepted. If you wish to take away the legalism behind the fasting find yourself a very good spiritual father be open to him about your struggles and your weaknesses and your sins and he will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

We have an unwritten tradition which says that the first comment (the impromptu comment) by the priest is the direct Will of God ... if you question him further to a point where he changes his comment during the confession then this is no longer the Perfect Will but a permissible will.

I think what it teaches us is that if you act in obedience to your Spiritual Father ((and this obedience is in love for your spiritual father and love for God) then God's Will is being fulfilled.

Many times, I have heard Spiritual Fathers tell peope who have illnesses not to fast from oil on a Wednesday or a Friday and then I hear the people dismiss him and say .. what does he know .. I will keep from oil.

You see what I am saying? If they are disobedient to the Spiritual Father they will cause harm first to their soul and then to their bodies.

All the Spiritual Fathers I know have very good disernment and will never allow anyone to fast beyond their capabilities but then again this is dependant on how much you let them in on your life.

God Bless.

[Andreas Moran]

When I arrived here in Moscow yesterday evening, I was greeted with a 'table' prepared by my mother-in-law. Anyone who has experienced a 'table' of Russian hospitality knows what I mean. Caviar, vodka, champagne, smoked salmon, various dried and smoked fish, salted cucumbers, olives, salad . . . And that was zakuski (starters)! Imagine how I struggled with my conscience! But I remembered that one must be quiet and not give offence!

[Paul Cowan]

When I arrived here in Moscow yesterday evening, I was greeted with a 'table' prepared by my mother-in-law. Anyone who has experienced a 'table' of Russian hospitality knows what I mean. Caviar, vodka, champagne, smoked salmon, various dried and smoked fish, salted cucumbers, olives, salad . . . And that was zakuski (starters)! Imagine how I struggled with my conscience! But I remembered that one must be quiet and not give offence!

Yes, Andreas. I am sure you struggled all the way to the front of the serving line. :) Our best to your wife and family.

[Vasiliki D.]

You sound like you are having a feast! Yum ... be sure to not offend your mother in-law and eat as much as you possibly can :)

[Anthony A.]

Fr Raphael, My spiritual father, a theologian and author from Syria, has provided me with some guidance through our our Orthodox Tradition on fasting regulations and the problems that so many are unnecessarily suffering from, by taking a quote from a saint or a canon and applying it to all times to all Orthodox everywhere. This seems to be especially strong in those wrongly trying to live out monasticism as a monk in their lives without being separated as they are physically.

From my experience, there are those who are so strict in keeping fasts that they snuff the life and spiritual freedom we have so much that leads others to unfortunately throw out the baby with the bathwater and give up on all fasting. I recently had a brother give me his holy bread because he had not kept the strictest fast. I try to explain to him that this is for communion not for taking of holy bread, but to no avail. I fear for his soul's unnecessary bondage and for those who are getting sick spiritually and physically everyday because they are trying to keep the Orthodox Faith but are unfortunately being led away from our Holy Orthodox Life into dead legalism.

Seems like we had the same problem in the Church in the beginning, when our Apostle Paul wrote to the Orthodox Church in Rome, warning them not to use their freedom to sin nor to impose their "brands" of legalism on believers. The balance guidance given to us in the Holy Scriptures, obviously include our LORD eating on Sunday, our forefather David eating of the consecrated bread, our LORD working on the Sabbath and leading others to follow the LORD of the Sabbath in His Perfect sinless example.

As a sad example, many who visit Russian and slavic Orthodox churches note that they go beyond the 4 hour or midnight fasting before communion and have even required that anyone wanting to take Holy Communion has to fast for 3 days on top of the Wednesday and Friday Fasting and no one is allowed to take communion without confessing to the priest first. As a result, many Orthodox do not know the blessing of healing of body and soul that comes from receiving the body and blood of Christ regularly as commanded by Holy Scriptures. This practice is obviously sadly so far from our Orthodox Church of our founding Fathers, Apostles of our LORD, especially since our LORD wants us to communion as often as possible.

I am concerned that so many posts by well meaning fellow Orthodox believers also include this constant struggle with keeping fasts outside of The Spirit and the Freedom we all share in the Grace of our LORD Jesus Christ.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Anthony A. wrote:


My spiritual father, a theologian and author from Syria, has provided me with some guidance through our our Orthodox Tradition on fasting regulations and the problems that so many are unnecessarily suffering from, by taking a quote from a saint or a canon and applying it to all times to all Orthodox everywhere. This seems to be especially strong in those wrongly trying to live out monasticism as a monk in their lives without being separated as they are physically.

The question of balance is critical in one's spiritual life. Which is one reason we need the guidance of our spiritual father and parish priest.

This guidance however as is often pointed out here is always directed to the person involved. Thus what may be too much for one person is required of another.


From my experience, there are those who are so strict in keeping fasts that they snuff the life and spiritual freedom we have so much that leads others to unfortunately throw out the baby with the bathwater and give up on all fasting. I recently had a brother give me his holy bread because he had not kept the strictest fast. I try to explain to him that this is for communion not for taking of holy bread, but to no avail. I fear for his soul's unnecessary bondage and for those who are getting sick spiritually and physically everyday because they are trying to keep the Orthodox Faith but are unfortunately being led away from our Holy Orthodox Life into dead legalism.

As a sad example, many who visit Russian and slavic Orthodox churches note that they go beyond the 4 hour or midnight fasting before communion and have even required that anyone wanting to take Holy Communion has to fast for 3 days on top of the Wednesday and Friday Fasting and no one is allowed to take communion without confessing to the priest first. As a result, many Orthodox do not know the blessing of healing of body and soul that comes from receiving the body and blood of Christ regularly as commanded by Holy Scriptures. This practice is obviously sadly so far from our Orthodox Church of our founding Fathers, Apostles of our LORD, especially since our LORD wants us to communion as often as possible.

If you don't mind- I have cut the paragraph that was in between the two paragraphs above since these are similar in theme and placed it below.

Both of these traditions actually have a long standing place within Orthodoxy.

The first concerns the antidoron of which there really is an established tradition that the faithful fast before receving it. In many places this is in fact not asked for or done (I mean to fast before receiving the antidoron) but in those places where it is done this promotes a pious attitude even when not receiving the Eucharist. This is especially so in parishes where the Eucharist is not received regularly in which case it can easily become a habit for the faithful to have little spiritual preparation unless they plan to receive the Eucharist. So an understanding of the particular circumstances is important here.

Is it so that except in Russian churches the faithful are not asked to confess their sins before receiving the Eucharist? I was not aware of this. If we pay heed to ourselves we should be able to confess daily- or at the very least weekly.

As for the legal aspect of this I would say the use of this word is based on a misunderstanding of what is being asked. Legalism means to require something be done mindlessly or simply as a means of satisfying an external requirement. Concerning the requirement of confession however exactly the contrary is asked for- that one cultivate a continual awareness of the reality of the sacramental life and the commitment that this calls one to. In practice it would be extremely difficult to combine on ongoing practice of confession with a legalistic attitude.

So to confess weekly should not normally seem unreasonable to us. Once the habit is aquired it becomes something that is actually deeply desired.

Also keep in mind that where confession was/is so absolutely called for in the Russian church this is in circumstances where the faithful only receive the Eucharist a few times a year or even less. Then of course confession is called for. Let's say though that many Liturgies occur in a row (eg Holy Week); then in many parishes continual confession is not asked for- unless of course the communicant has something on their conscience.



Seems like we had the same problem in the Church in the beginning, when our Apostle Paul wrote to the Orthodox Church in Rome, warning them not to use their freedom to sin nor to impose their "brands" of legalism on believers. The balance guidance given to us in the Holy Scriptures, obviously include our LORD eating on Sunday, our forefather David eating of the consecrated bread, our LORD working on the Sabbath and leading others to follow the LORD of the Sabbath in His Perfect sinless example.


I am concerned that so many posts by well meaning fellow Orthodox believers also include this constant struggle with keeping fasts outside of The Spirit and the Freedom we all share in the Grace of our LORD Jesus Christ.

Again, please don't get me wrong. Legalism can become a problem for any of us and I suspect that in the sense of a quid pro quo relationship with God most all of us fall into this to some extent.

However I do not think that legalism is really the main problem for us. Rather it is of waking up and recognizing the means of salvation offered to us by the Church.

Certainly it will be through this that we begin to experience what freedom means as Christ intends for us.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Eric Peterson]

"Everybody must preserve what was defined by common ecumenical decisions, but a particular opinion of a church father or a definition issued by a local council can be followed by some and ignored by others. Thus, some people customarily shave their beards; others reject this practice by local conciliar decrees. Thus, as far as we are concerned, we consider it reprehensible to fast on Saturdays, except once a year (on Holy Saturday), while others fast on other Saturdays as well. Thus, tradition avoids disputes by making practice prevail over the rule. In Rome, there are no priests legitimately married, while our tradition permits men, once married, to be elevated to the priesthood.

"When the faith remains inviolate, common and catholic decisions are also safe; a sensible man respects the practices and laws of others; he considers it neither wrong to observe them nor illegal to violate them."

* This excerpt was taken from a letter from St. Photius the Great to Pope Nicholas I of Rome in the year 861 A.D.

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This is to say that one must not make universal that which is a local custom. Confessing weekly or before each communion is a local custom. No one should make it universal. What is universal is having a current confession, which is a matter for an individual's spiritual father.

[Andreas Moran]

In England, anyway, in the Greek jurisdictions, confession before every communion is not the norm. In the Russian church in England, and most definitely here in Russia, communion without confession the evening before is not possible. During Holy Week here in Russia, even though one makes one's confession and takes communion the next day, confession is still necessary even if one takes communion the following day or day after. So, one can make confession on Holy Friday evening to take communion on Holy Saturday morning. One goes to church on Holy Saturday evening for Pascha but must still make confession that Saturday evening to communicate in the Paschal liturgy early Sunday morning. Admittedly, this is in our church where the priest is a hieromonk but, if I may be forgiven for saying so, it seems too much to my mind, especially as there is only one priest and we can wait more than an hour for confession after a three-hour service. Of course, things can happen in the mind at any time, but in my experience, I'm too tired during Holy Week in Russia to have any inclination to anything sinful!

[Vasiliki D.]

What I personally have come to understand is that each Church has its OWN character and God allows flexibility between these cultures to accomodate for the different ''characters'' of each church ... for example, what works in the Russian church may not be a healing fact for a Greek church or Vice Versa and the same goes for Serbain, Constantinople etc etc.

Each of the churches has been shaped by different experiences, has different environmental, social, political demands and the people that make the church have different aspects of their spiritual life that need nurturing and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, of His body knows what is best for each jurisdiction.

That is why, we should not look over the fence at the neighbours house and fix up our yard accordingly. If God has placed us in a particular jurisdiction we look at it with its cultural traditions and follow it and if we come across a person who is from another jurisdiction we encourage them to follow the traditions of their church and so on and so forth.

?

[Anthony A.]

Interesting thought Vasiliki. With your thought that much of what is healing to one culture is death to another, would you recommend that we put aside the other cultural expressions coming to us from Orthodox lands into United States and Europe, so we can discover our own character in our Churches in the west as ONE Holy Orthodox Church apart from administrative difficulties and divisions then?

[Anthony A.]

Andreas, My wife and I found great transformations through practicing confession. We wanted to do it every week and continue to enjoy the blessing, but our Priest took us aside and softly rebuked us for such practice. He said if all of us should come to confession every week, then the priests could not do thier work and the Church would be on hold too long. Painfully we humbled ourselves and now live mostly outside of priestly confession but constantly in confession before Christ. Although not the same pressure, it is great to confess our sins and receive by faith God's forgiveness in Christ, but I really hope one day we are allowed to return to more regular confessions to our priests.

[Andreas Moran]

As always, we are guided by our priest but one trusts that priests will take the golden way and avoid extremes. The situation in our parish church here in Moscow is unusual in that the priest is alone whereas it is usual in the churches here to have at least two priests, and one hears confessions in the evening as the other takes the service. Two priests in almost every church seems a luxury but that is the norm in Moscow.