May 2015 Web Final

Orthodox Christianity
FOOD COMA AND FASTING IN THE ORTHODOX TRADITION
“Aaah, food coma…” My cousin, Alfred, after a heavy meal
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that you eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2: 17
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam…And Adam gave names to all
cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast. Genesis 2: 19, 20
And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Genesis 3: 11
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth…Every
moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb…And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require
it, and at the hand of man…And behold I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you; and with every living creature . Genesis 9: 2-10
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup
and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. Matthew: 26, 27
Food. Food, and life, and death. The life of the body; the life of the soul, or its death. Clearly, there exists for man and for the creation a deep connection, a
mystery deep and hard to plumb, around food and life and death. Thus it is that Orthodox Christianity has never deviated from the ancient ascetical tradition
of fasting. As when a great unseen beast, without breaking the surface, heaves the face of the waters; so, during the fasts, Orthodox Christians sense, without
fully seeing, the movements of this great mystery. We sense without fully seeing; yet with each passing fast we see something more. The great mystery unveils
itself incrementally, little by little, to the one who watches in patience and in quiet, and in love and in humility. What is it that we begin to see the outlines
of? Of Life and of Light. And of the inner darkness that bars our entry into the Living Light, that prevents our immersion in, and our transfiguration into
the Light. What is this darkness? The Fathers teach that this darkness is the passions that grip us, their talons sunk into our souls. The darkness is our dark
proclivities toward anger, acquisitiveness, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and all the rest. It is our light-mindedness, our preferences for the things of this
world. And they teach that the beginning of the work is the fast. It is the fast that begins to drive a wedge between our deep heart and our passions—that
begins to open that potential space and, little by little, make it into a true separation.
When I deny my stomach, I begin, gradually, at a
visceral and a noetic level, to develop a
recognition that my passion and I are
not synonymous.
And in the light of this awareness, in the space
created by the wedge of the fast, we begin to have
the opportunity to choose for the Light.
NEXT MONTH:
MORE THOUGHTS ON THE FAST
The
Treasure
Hunter
“Don’t do it...
without checking
with me first”
Milton
Sawyer
All chapters copyright © 2014
by author N. M., c/o
St. George’s Church
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