Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as that of the Holy and Glorious Apostle Philip!

Tomorrow the Nativity Fast, or, like it is sometimes called, the Philip Fast, begins. It lasts for forty days and finishes on the feast of the Nativity of Christ. All of the four long fasting periods are beneficial for our spiritual life and call us to pay serious attention to them. This is relatively simple to do in regards to Great Lent, because throughout that entire fast there are many church services, and all of them, without exception, direct us to prepare for Pascha. We can’t say the same about the Nativity Fast. Although it is quite long, the services, for the most part, do not reflect the lenten season. They are performed as they would be throughout the rest of the church year. The secular world which surrounds us likewise does not help us with the fast, but, on the contrary, especially in December, distracts us from our spiritual life. Parties, lighthearted gatherings, secular carols, tasty food, – all these distract us from prayer, repentance, ascetic struggles, the newborn Christ and pull us down to worldly things. Realizing all of this and finding ourselves on the doorstep of lent, on what should we concentrate today, so as to spend the following days constructively?

Probably we can focus our attention not so much on the church services and their texts, but instead on the church calendar and on the saints that are commemorated throughout the days of the Nativity Fast. These saints will give us the correct direction so as to successfully navigate the fast and will also provide an antidote against the influence of the secular world around us.

Let’s note that today the memory of one of the twelve apostles is celebrated and that during the Nativity Fast two other disciples of Christ, the apostles Matthew and Andrew, are commemorated. It seems to me that this is no coincidence, but that the calendar was purposely set up so as to highlight that God in truth became a man, was born of the Most-Pure Virgin, and was present here on earth. The apostles were eyewitnesses of this, especially the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, who accurately recorded all that he saw and heard. Thus, the memory of the apostles reminds us that the Nativity of Christ is not simply a nice story, but a historical event that changed the course of our lives and opened to us a path to salvation.

It is also nearly impossible not to notice that throughout all of the Nativity Fast, many of the Old Testament prophets are commemorated (Prophets Obadiah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggei, Daniel, the Three Youths, the Prophetess Anna). On the final two Sundays of this lenten period all of the Old Testament saints are remembered. On the days of these saints we can remember that the birth of the Saviour was foretold many years before He appeared. Let this be for us an impetus to take the texts of the Old Testament prophets, study them, and learn how the Church interprets their writings.

In the middle of the Nativity Fast, we celebrate the memory of three saints whose lives were tied, at least for a short while, with Bethlehem (Sts. Savva the Sanctified, John of Damascus, and Nicholas of Mira). Perhaps the memory of these saints can remind us of the birth of the Saviour in Bethlehem and, in such a way, give us the strength to not falter in our lenten struggles.

Throughout this lenten period the memory of some especially revered martyrs is also celebrated: Sts. Gurias, Samonas, and Abibus; the Five Martyrs of Sebaste; Great-Martyrs Barbara and Catherine. Like all martyrs, they preferred losing their earthly life so as to inherit the heavenly and to see their Christ. Let us take their example and lay aside the pleasant things that surround us, so that on the day of the birth of the Saviour we can accept the Grace of God.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, in ancient times three Wise Men used a star, which had appeared in the dark sky, to find the newborn infant Christ. In our dark times, when a large part of the world has forgotten about Christ and His Nativity, the Church offers us not one star, but many stars, i.e. the lives of the saints, so as to lead us through the days of the Nativity Fast and reach the cave in Bethlehem, the manger, and the newborn Infant. With God’s help, let’s begin this wonderful journey!

priest Alexis