“We are all called to strive for perfection"

Priest Dimitry Shishkin

Orthodox Christians have begun the ascetic labor of Great Lent. Many have waited for this time of increased repentance with joy, but there are also those who look at it with dread. Pravoslavie.ru asked several priest of the Russian Orthodox Church to give us a few comforting words as we set out upon the holy forty-day fast.

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“We are all called to strive for perfection, and prayer and fasting are the best helpers in this work”

Priest Dimitry Shishkin, rector of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in village of Pochtovoe (Diocese of Simferopol and the Crimea):

—The main joy of the fast, strange as it sounds, consists in the possibility for our change and transformation. It is in the possibility to become something different; to comprehend, hear, and feel that other world that exists not somewhere on another planet but here and now—however it remains completely unseen and non-existent for those who do not seek it and do not try to retune themselves, so that they could enter this most bright and blessed world. And we must definitely all retune ourselves and change, because the fleshly life we are so used to, without which we can’t imagine any other life, changes us and makes us so fleshly that it seems to us that this state and worldview is the only one possible and natural. Meanwhile this fleshly life is in fact absolutely unnatural, because God calls all us people to a special, supernatural life in His Kingdom. This is our goal, this is our calling, and it is the greatest human joy—the aim of all human strivings.

The problem is that we do not understand this or feel it clearly. And even if we know about this, then that knowledge gives nothing to our hearts and souls, because we with our fleshly lives deprive this knowledge of its main strength—living and direct experience of communion with God. Of course, everything is relative in this world, there are varying degrees of a person’s nearness to God and varying measures of tasting His holy blessings, but we are all called to strive for perfection, and prayer and fasting are our best helpers in this work. The Lord Himself said that it is fasting and prayer that help us in a mystical way to change, be transformed, and begin to live in another way—an indescribably joyful, bright, and peaceful life here and now. Peaceful does not mean carefree and easy, but rather free of torment and a doubting heart that comes from sin, from the consequences of a sinful life, which torment and burden a person at times more than material hardships and disorder.

In this fortunate possibility to change and begin living a different life in accordance with the Lord is the main sense of fasting. We will seek this repentant change. And the Holy Church gives to us all the necessary means and “tools” for this. Only obey! Just obey, and that’s all. Begin doing as thoroughly and piously as possible all that the Holy Church offers you in order to be with the Lord—and soon you will see what a saving, bright, and joyful (regardless of the flesh’s complaints) path it is that the Church leads you on to a different, higher, glad and radiant life. This is precisely why the Lord took our sins upon Himself, why He suffered and died on the Cross, and then rose on the third day—so that we, believing in Him and following Him, might become participants in this holy and immortal life. What happiness, what joy there is in this—if only we could understand it! And after all we can, if we wish, make use of this blessed source of fasting and prayer, commanded us by the Lord.

Priest Dimitry Shishkin
Translation by OrthoChristian.com

2/26/2015

See also
“A proud faster make himself like the demons, who never eat.” Great Lent “A proud faster make himself like the demons, who never eat.” Great Lent
Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin “A proud faster make himself like the demons, who never eat.” Great Lent “A proud faster makes himself like the demons, who never eat.”
Orthodox pastors at the beginning of Great Lent
Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin
Having cast out the unclean spirit from the demon-possessed youth, the Lord said to His disciples who had tried before Him to heal the unfortunate one but couldn’t: This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Mt. 17:21), by this setting forth fasting as a means of spiritual warfare on the same level as prayer. Blow The Trumpet in Zion Blow The Trumpet in Zion
Fr. Barnabas Powell Blow The Trumpet in Zion Blow The Trumpet in Zion
Fr. Barnabas Powell
All too often it’s easy to miss the warnings in my life because my life, my soul, my mind is flooded with my own “voice.” The selfish wants drown out that “still, small voice” that is screaming at me that I am going down a wrong path. Fasting and Great Lent Fasting and Great Lent Fasting and Great Lent Fasting and Great Lent
The word “fast” means not eating all or certain foods. As Orthodox Faithful, we can fast completely at certain times of great importance, and especially each time before receiv­ing Holy Communion. Usually, fasting means limiting the number of meals and/or the type of food eaten. The purpose of fasting is to remind us of the Scriptural teaching, “Man does not live by bread alone.” The needs of the body are nothing compared to the needs of the soul. Above all else, we need God, Who provides everything for both the body and the soul. Fasting teaches us to depend on God more fully. The First Week of Great Lent: Advice from pastors The First Week of Great Lent: Advice from pastors
Igumen Nektary (Morozov), Archpriest Igor Shestakov, Archpriest Vasily Mazur, Priest Vladimir Voitov The First Week of Great Lent: Advice from pastors The First Week of Great Lent: Advice from pastors
Igumen Nektary (Morozov), Archpriest Igor Shestakov, Archpriest Vasily Mazur, Priest Vladimir Voitov
With whatever inner disposition we begin any task—that is how we will carry it out. It is the same for the fast: with whatever disposition we enter the fast—that is probably how we will go through it. That means that we need to relate to the first week of Lent with particular responsibility. On St. John Climacus, and the Miraculous Revelation of Patriarch Tikhon's Relics On St. John Climacus, and the Miraculous Revelation of Patriarch Tikhon's Relics
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) On St. John Climacus, and the Miraculous Revelation of Patriarch Tikhon's Relics On St. John Climacus, and the Miraculous Revelation of Patriarch Tikhon's Relics
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
The Patriarch was the spiritual leader of the Russian people during a very difficult time. He continues to be so during our difficult time in Russia—a time of schism, separation, and falls. The Church's duty in such trials is to inspire and unite the people for the sake of saving their native land, faith, and truth, serving for unification. God Can Fill Us God Can Fill Us
Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews God Can Fill Us God Can Fill Us
Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews
The great multitude and the disciples who followed Jesus in today’s gospel, the 8th Sunday of Matthew 14:14-22, certainly knew the story of the Israelites and the Manna in the wilderness. So when Christ takes the five loaves and two fish and feeds 5000 men, not counting women and children (vv.17,21) the people must have begun to understand that He was indeed the Son of God, the same God who fed the Israelites hundreds of years before.
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