The blessed three-day absolute fast. Three days of total abstinence, of prayer, of silence, of intense struggle and inward peace. And today, on Clean Wednesday, that unique three-day ascetical labor received its crown: the first Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in this Great Lent, served as a sacred seal upon the first steps of the Lenten journey.
The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was celebrated by our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Parthenius of Antania, together with the concelebrating clergy. And in that sacred moment of encounter with the Beloved One, when the faithful approached Holy Communion, the church was filled with a joy that only this mystery can give: the joy of the hungry who were satisfied not with bread, but with Christ God Himself. Nearly one hundred and fifty participants in the three-day fast – an unprecedented number – received the Holy Mysteries of Christ, completing the three-day feat of total abstinence with the highest and most beautiful of all things: union with the sweetest Christ.
The hymnography of this day is marked with the sign of the Cross. If Monday was the day of departure and Tuesday the day of deepening, Clean Wednesday is the day when the Church’s gaze turns clearly toward Golgotha:
“Through Thy Passion, O Lord who lovest mankind, Thou hast granted freedom from the passions unto all; by Thy Cross mortify the passions of my flesh.”
Here lies the mystery of fasting in its fullness: our small abstinence – three days without food and water – has meaning only because He, the Sinless One, accepted the Cross for our sake. Our fasting is a response to His love.
The Canon at Matins reveals the depth of that response:
“Let us crucify our members through abstinence, and as it is written, let us watch in prayer, living according to the example of Him who suffered, and by His suffering put the passions to death.”
Let us crucify – not others – but ourselves and our passions. Not our neighbor, but our selfishness and greed. This is the cross every Christian is called to bear, and fasting helps us to take it upon ourselves.
And amid such strictness, what tenderness in the hymnographer’s words:
“The furnace of the passions burns my soul; quench its flames with the dew of Thy mercy. For in Thy loving self-abasement upon the Cross, O Benefactor, Thou hast caused a fountain of dispassion to flow from Thy most pure side.”
A fountain of dispassion from the pierced side of Christ! This image unites the Cross and the Chalice: from that same side flowed blood and water, and today, in Holy Communion, we drink from that very fountain.
Thus the Canon boldly proclaims:
“I praise Thy Crucifixion, O Christ, and the piercing of Thy divine side, from which each day I draw the immortal draught and am sanctified.”
That “each day” finds its expression now in the Presanctified Liturgy – the immortal draught so many souls received today in our church. This is the sanctification for which fasting prepares and which Holy Communion completes.
The stichera at Vespers present the full image of true fasting – not only bodily, but spiritual:
“While fasting bodily, brethren, let us also fast spiritually; let us loose every bond of injustice; let us break every unrighteous yoke; let us give bread to the hungry and bring into our homes those who have no shelter, that we may receive great mercy from Christ our God.”
How powerful this call! Fasting without mercy is empty; abstinence without love for neighbor is hypocrisy. True fasting is an open door and an open hand.
And one more radiant image of hope:
“The Fast has shone upon us brighter than the sun, bringing the light of grace, proclaiming the Cross, the precious Passion, and the saving day of the Resurrection.”
Here is where the Fast leads – not to darkness, but to light brighter than the sun; not to death, but to Resurrection. The Cross is not the end – It is the path to life.
“Through Thy Cross, O Lover of mankind, Thou hast given me strength,” sings the ninth ode. “Grant me to complete the time of the Fast with good courage!”
And we, comforted and strengthened by today’s Holy Communion, repeat this prayer from the depths of our hearts.
Great is the blessing the Lord has granted us: to see the church of Bigorski Monastery filled with so many souls hungry for Christ, who completed the three-day abstinence by approaching the Chalice of Life. It is a sign that faith is alive, that the people thirst for God, that the Church is a mother who nourishes.
May the Lord receive the ascetical offering of all who fasted and communed, for the blessing of their families, for the blessing of the Church and of our people.
The Fast continues. And the Cross bears us forward.
