moses916 wrote:
which of the Holy Fathers did not fast? Which of the saints did not fast, save for the ones who were martyred not yet being Christian or St. Dismas the wise thief on the cross and other rare exceptional cases?
We can\'t tell. Even the ones you list may have fasted from meat. Only God knows who fasts--internally and externally.
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#16
Ok I\'m done on this thread... forgive me if i offended anyone. Hopefully the sayings of the Fathers will be heard.
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#8
It seems to me that we have two parties on this thread, each getting upset at something that really hasn\'t been said by the other.
I can\'t imagine that anyone would argue that fasting of some kind is not essential and incumbent on us all for spiritual growth. Even that basic fasting, fasting from evil--who could deny that that is necessary?
It also doesn\'t seem to me that anyone is telling anyone else how to fast. If one\'s spiritual father has mitigated one\'s fasting, well and good. But that is an exception to the general practice of fasting during the church year.
It\'s not at all out of place for a layman to quote edifying passages from the Fathers. St. Nektarios did the same when he was a layman--as an employee writing notes for customers on packing paper.
The original post on this thread was about how the Church\'s fasts had been neglected--and it offered some advice on how to keep the fasts. I don\'t see what the problem with this was unless one wants to say that the Church does not tell us to fast in certain ways at certain times. To me, it seems that the only reasons why the practice of fasting is not universally known or followed in the Church are ignorance and negligence.
I\'m not trying to accuse anyone of this. It just seems to me that postings on each side of the debate have an intended audience which has not yet appeared on this thread. I find that a lot on Orthodox Circle.
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#1
the title of this thread, and the picture of the chap in white looks scary.
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