The Joy of Fasting – Father Pimen Vlad

Many of us see fasting as something painful and to be avoided, but you should know that it is not so. Listen to a warmhearted word from Father Pimen Vlad who proves to us that, in fact, fasting is a source of great joy.

Enjoy!

We meet again, my dear ones. What can I talk to you about now? Last time we talked about Saint Gerasimus, with the lion. Let me introduce you to my lions, the kittens. They’ll show up on camera, I hope they don’t knock over my phone. I allowed them to come here during the filming and that’s why they’re going to show up around here. They’re my friends, they’re used to me, when I do work, right away they’re in action too. Just so you know my cats:  Little Bear, Tiger and Jaguar.

Look, the first week of Lent has passed. I always film [the videos] a few days earlier. So we just passed the first week of Lent and I noticed one thing: you see now the time is pleasant, it’s a little cloudy, but the birds sing, the cats enjoy it too, but nevertheless, this week of fasting has been more laborious, with more effort. All week it rained, but not hard, but like through a sieve, softly, beautiful; God made it a quiet week with rain, with peace.

We also closed the gate. We tried this week to avoid contact with people, not because we hate them, but because we needed a week of silence. Of course there was no eating, as you know, we had several services. We only ate on Wednesdays and Fridays. We tried a little to cleanse both the body and the mind, to clear our soul, even if maybe at first, when switching from having food every day, already on the 3rd day the body feels weak.

But one thing always came to mind: the earthquake in Turkey; there were people found after 8 days, after 10 days, 12 days… I wondered how they survived there for 12 days under the wreckage, they could not move, [they were] out in the cold, maybe some were wounded and in pain, without water, without food.

They resisted, and we, who do this out of love for God and for our own benefit, can’t even bear three days? This thought always came to me and strengthened me: “It is possible, why wouldn’t it be?” It is [possible] if we have a little willpower, it all starts a little bit from the mind.

I’m not talking about those who are physically weak, those who find it difficult, but many things start from the mind: “I can’t do it anymore, it’s hard, I’m tired, weak!” If I accept that, then I give up, I can’t do anything anymore. I can no longer fast, I can no longer do prostrations, I can no longer read in church because I give up.

We always have to be in a good disposition: “I can still do it! I can do a little more! It’s nothing, I’m not dying until tomorrow” and if I want to lengthen the fast a bit, I can. We need a little willpower and a little strength. And let us ask for God’s help: “God, help me! Mother of God, strengthen me to make it to the end, to struggle a little!” And after making an effort like this, you don’t eat for three days, maybe longer (others last a week), you feel joy when you see that you have made it, that you have crossed a threshold.

Of course, with prayer, with silence, with calm, you try to get in touch with God more. I won’t get too much more into fasting, I will tell you that it is possible, especially since there is so much food that is appropriate for fasting. Look, we eat more beans, chickpeas, lentils, rice. We make borscht almost every day: we put potatoes, some nettles, parsley, carrots and it comes out super tasty. There is good food, plentifully so. After that, something sweet.

I even remember Father Iulian, my ninety-seven-year-old spiritual father, who once said to me: “Well, the best dessert is when you take a slice of warm bread and put a spoonful of honey on it!” It’s the most natural and the best of all sweets, not cakes of all kinds. So, simple things. Do you know how much value there is to simple things and how good they are? But not when you’re loaded with food.

Don’t eat until the evening to see how good a tea and a piece of bread or a simple borscht is. But when you start eating well in the morning, they are already no longer good. You look around supermarkets to see what else is fasting friendly, something with the smell of sausage, something with the smell of cheese. I mean, you’re always looking for something to taste good. [But] no, the more you reduce these things, the greater the joy and fulfillment.

I remember seeing much conversation sometimes on this topic: seafood, whether it is proper for fasting or not. Let me tell you, here on the Holy Mountain, seafood can be eaten on Saturdays and Sundays. Here, during Lent, because food is made without oil on weekdays, seafood is allowed on Saturdays and Sundays.

But this does not mean that everyone every Saturday and Sunday eats seafood. It is permitted, but it depends on everyone: who has some, who wants some, and there is not always seafood [to be had]. That is, it does not mean that we only eat seafood all the time. Each according to their possibilities. So, on the Holy Mountain, these are allowed because there were hard times. I know that in the old days, when there was great poverty, besides what they took out of the garden, they also consumed what they caught from the sea: seafood or fish when it was permitted.

So it is not a sin when someone eats seafood, but let it not be all day everyday, or at least on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, if possible, one shouldn’t eat it during Lent. At least for a little while, to feel the fast properly. It is not the fast of the Holy Resurrection for nothing!

Another thing I would like to say: about children. Many wonder whether to have children keep the fast too or not. If we think about what Father Cleopas said, back at his home, the day before the beginning of the Lent, their mother gathered all the plates and pots, washed them and put them away, and had pots for fasting in which they made only fasting food and from the littlest one to the oldest, everyone fasted.

Now I don’t want to say that you should have your young children fast, but it’s good from a certain age to start getting them used to it too. At first, when they are younger, they should also fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and then slowly, already from the age of 10, I think that children should be able to keep all the fasts. Some may want to start sooner, which is great!

I know families whose children, from the age of four or five, all began to fast. It depends on each case and on the spiritual father they have. It’s not a law, so you know, but it’s good for children as they’re growing to get used to it, because it’s useful, it’s healthy for children.

Do not think that if the child fasts, they will get sick; there are so many foods! If you go into fasting, you have all kinds of borschts you make from vegetables of all kinds, salads. As I said before, there are so many fasting foods that replace meat and all, so that nothing happens!

I remember a family in Athens years ago, with their first child, because the parents were more zealous and they already had a few years since they stopped eating meat, they decided not to give meat to the child either. So, right from the beginning they did not give him meat at all. He sucked on his mother’s breast for more than a year, but when she started giving him food, they gave him fish, carefully cleaned, fish soup, then cheese, milk, all those kinds of things. But until the age of three, they did not give him meat. They once went to a doctor and talking, they said, 

“Hey, is this okay? Look, we didn’t give the baby any meat [to eat].” 

“How? You are crippling your child, he’ll be disabled! What do you mean you don’t give him meat?”

This made them think a bit and that’s when they decided to do bloodwork, but with another doctor, not  the one they had told that they weren’t giving meat to the child. When they saw the results, the second doctor asked what they were giving him to eat, because he had not seen a healthier baby! Nothing was missing from his body, so he was in great health. So did you hear what the doctor who didn’t know they weren’t giving him meat said, how the analysis came out? 

This kid had so much energy when I was in their house that he would almost climb to the ceiling. All day he ran, that’s how much energy he had. Of course, after that, slowly, slowly, growing bigger, they gave him meat too. But I want to explain that even if we don’t eat these foods, it doesn’t mean that something bad will happen, but, in fact, we are healthier.

You see, in monasteries generally meat is not eaten. A statistic has been made here in Greece about how long the monks of Athos live compared to the rest of the population of Greece. The monks of Athos live around 10 years longer than the people of Greece. The diet that does not include meat, the state of tranquility, prayer (that is, another life, as we say here) and God allows them to live longer.

We have here in Athos, elders in their 90s, in their 100s. Elders who lived beautifully. We also see this from the etymology of the word monk – calogeros, meaning good person, beautiful person, or we could say exactly the word elder, beautiful elder or good elder. That’s what it means to be a monk, to become a beautiful elder, a good elder. That is, to age beautifully. When you look back to see that you did not live in vain on earth.

Now back to the kids. At 5 years old, at 7, at 10, at 15 years old, think that these years will pass and now you can do a lot. You won’t get to be this age again! Try a little bit of it all. A bit of fasting, a few extra prostrations. Say to your spiritual father: “Father, allow me to do 20 prostrations a day, 30-50.”

Nothing bad will happen, it’s a kind of gymnastics. The body grows properly, but you’re doing something that at a certain age you won’t be able to do anymore, and it all adds up somewhere out there. Try to earn something every day, no matter how small or how big you are. I remember back home, too, when we were kids, we competed, who would do more prostrations. Slowly, slowly you gather your mind too, you say a prayer, or something. Or one would read the evening prayer aloud and the others would do prostrations. It can be done that way too, so that somehow something is gathered there, in our luggage, because in youth we have power.

During childhood, you have energy, even if you get tired, after 5 minutes you recover and you can do many beautiful things. If you don’t do it, you will regret it later because the years go by and you will reach an age when you get sick, when the body can no longer carry so much and you are sorry: “Well, when I was a child, when I was young, I could have done so much, I had endurance and, look, I did nothing. And now I look back and I’m sorry!”

That’s why, my dear ones, you should be doing your best. The younger you are, the more so. Don’t sit looking down at your phones all day. It’s wasted time. Think about it, you spend time on your phone, an hour, two, ten hours pass… wasted time, during which you could have gone to meet neighbors, friends, play, run. We used to play hopscotch, we played ball, tennis, whatever. There were so many beautiful games, related to gymnastics, that strengthened the body, gave people endurance.

Sometimes I see those who come here and want to help us: they don’t even know how to hold the broom in their hand or dig or cut something. It turns out they never had to do something like that. We need to learn a little bit of everything. Since I was a child, I have liked to learn everything. If someone said something, I would go and watch to learn. I looked at someone who was working and saw what he did and tried it myself. Even though I didn’t succeed at first, I slowly learned.

It was useful to me, I built here, I did a bit of everything. I mean, in my time, I learned things and it was useful in my life because I didn’t have to turn to others to do something for me, I was able to do it myself instead. So let’s try to learn, that’s why God gave us reason. He gave us our mind so that we could develop it. If we spend our time only on the Internet, the mind shrinks and becomes smaller and smaller, not developing. But when we create, we try beautiful things, everything becomes much simpler.

We learn and it is easy for us in life, everything becomes easy. But always with our hope upwards. We get up in the morning and say, “Thank You, Lord! Thank you, Lord, that I woke up today! Help me and take care of me, where I go and what I do, so that I do not harm anyone, do not make mistakes, do not upset You!”

In the evening, again: “Thank you, Lord, thank you, Mother of God, that I got home. Many may not have arrived, but I’m glad I got to my family!” Yes, dear ones, let’s try a little to strengthen our body, mind and soul. Especially now during the fasting period, with a little effort, let’s keep fasting. Come on! Maybe those of you who didn’t make it the first week, start now, give something up for a bit, nothing happens, you won’t die!

You will see how much joy you will have at the Holy Resurrection when you see that you have also managed to keep the fast, how you will live the Holy Resurrection and how much joy you will receive! You will be able to say: “I have worked too. That’s all I could, Lord! Between work and children, I managed to keep this fast!” A little prayer, some prostrations, going to church a little more often. 

There are so many wonderful services! You don’t even realize how many services, how many beautiful things you can learn at church! Now there are those prayers with prostrations:

“O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth,  despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.”

This prayer is repeated constantly in the church throughout Lent. It is done with 3 prostrations, and after that 12 bows are done. There are four that are repeated:

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, cleanse me, a sinner! You who hath made me, save me! I have sinned immeasurably! Lord, forgive me!”

This is repeated four times. There are 12 bows and again the first prayer I said is repeated and another prostration is made. Say this prayer at least once a day. It’s so beautiful and it’s during Lent now. There are so many prayers at church, if you go there:

“Lord of the Powers, be with us; for in times of distress, we have no other help but You. Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us!”

There are other prayers:

“God is with us. Understand, all ye nations, and submit yourselves: For God is with us” and many others, which no longer come to mind. They are beautiful prayers, beautiful chants, that we can rejoice in.

Try [to go] to Vespers, when you can, [go] to a Liturgy where there is one. Go, take advantage of this time, which is often wasted in vain, and rejoice, dear ones. God didn’t make us sit and feel sorry for ourselves, in self-pity. [Saying], “Look what is happening in the world, what will happen to us…” Some people ask: “Father, is it the time to have more children? Do you see what is in the world?” Yes, my dear ones, have as many as God gives you, because God will also take care of them, He will take care of them. If you struggle as best you can, He will take care of them too. No matter how tomorrow will be, you live beautifully today. Enjoy all God has given you today and He takes care of everything else.

Yes, dear ones, let us enjoy all that He has given us. Let us glorify God every day, let us thank Him every day; let’s live beautifully because life is short. May the Mother of God help us and may the good Lord always take care of us.

The kittens, how they’ve been running around here. They kept distracting me, they wanted attention, what can I do?

May the Mother of God help us! God help us, dear ones! Courage, in all this madness of the world! Don’t get caught up in its spell, with news all day long about how one is bad, another is good, another a hero, another is crazy…. Do not go after these, put them aside, pray, straighten out your life, confess, Commune and if tomorrow is the end, we would go to Christ, we would go in joy. Never mind, life on earth passes, every day people die. When the time comes at least to have confessed, to have received Communion, reconciled with those around us and we go to eternity with love and joy, dear ones!”

May God help us!

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