By: Reader George Pejnovic

  Why do Orthodox Christians fast, abstaining from certain foods at certain times, and why do Orthodox Christians fast in a special manner before receiving Holy Communion? Before answering these questions, I think it is important to answer another important question, that is: why do we exist, and what is our purpose in life?

  Surely everyone, at one time or another, has asked themselves this question and have, no doubt, struggled to find the answers, even if this issue was but a fleeting thought, lasting only a few moments. Contrary to the answers given to us about our existence and our purpose in life by learned men, philosophers and today's wise educators, the holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church have always taught us that our existence and our purpose on earth is simply to be in union and communion with God. We have, they say, no other purpose on earth.

  But how is it, one might ask, that we come into union with God and how is that we come into communion with Him? Again, the holy Fathers have taught us that we come into union with God and come into communion with Him through prayer, through reading the Holy Scriptures - especially the four Gospels - through reading the lives of the saints - because God is glorified and revealed through His saints - by contemplating and remembering God as our Creator, and the Creator of all things visible and invisible, and especially through partaking of the holy Sacraments of Confession, and - ideally and ultimately - through partaking of the most holy Sacrament of Communion, wherein Christ is truly present in the bread and wine which actually and literally becomes His Body and His Blood during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. But this, perhaps, then brings us to another very important question, a question that has followed, intrigued, and even tormented man since the beginning of time: Does God really exist?

  I spoke, one day, to a friend of mine who told me that he did not believe in God, in the saints, in miracles, or in life after death. Although he was aware of some of the descriptions regarding miracles and the afterlife through various articles I had given him and encouraged him to read, his disbelief and skepticism would always prevail. "Dear friend", I said to him, "it's so unfortunate that you don't realize that all your personal beliefs and opinions are totally irrelevant and hat the numerous articles I had given you in the past explaining the actual existence of God and various miracles as great mysteries of God are all true, whether you believe them or not."

  "Where, dear friend, was the logic of the inhabitants of the earth when they believed that the Earth was flat? Do you not understand that their personal beliefs and opinions were totally irrelevant because the truth of the matter is, the Earth is round, whether they believed it or not? Where, I ask you, was the reasoning of all citizens of old who were thoroughly convinced that the Sun rises from the east to move across the sky and settle in the west? Do you not understand that their personal beliefs and opinions were completely superfluous because the fact of the matter is, the Earth moves around the Sun and the Sun stands perfectly still, whether they believed it or not?"

  "And where, I ask you, was the wisdom of the blind Protestant reformers and the godless secularists who proclaimed that what was in the chalice upon the holy altar was simply bread and wine and merely referred to as the Body and Blood of Christ, when all faithful Orthodox Christians know that it is the very Body and the very Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whether anyone believes it or not? remember always, dear friend, when it comes to God, His existence, and His awesome and great Mysteries, our personal beliefs and opinions will always be irrelevant. God really does exist - whether we believe it or not."

  But why, then, do Orthodox Christians fast, and why do Orthodox Christians fast in a special way before receiving Holy Communion? I'll attempt to answer these questions as simply as possible. Orthodox Christians fast or abstain from all meats and animal products during the lenten days and seasons because the holy Fathers have taught us, through their great and invaluable experience, that all meats and animal products encourage or help to inflame the passions within us. The major or most common passions which often rage within all of us are as follows: pride, covetousness (the craving and desire for power, money or material goods), lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. Al these passions - so common in all of us - are sinful. Sin separates us from God. Therefore, through fasting, we gradually tame or subdue and ultimately overcome our passions or sinfulness so that we can better and easier come into union and communion with God. I should add here, however, that holy Fathers have always stressed that overcoming our passions or sinfulness is gradually accomplished through both fasting and prayer. Fasting without prayer, they say, is not only useless, but can even be spiritually dangerous and damaging to the soul.