Even if the Fasting is Over, Let the Piety Remain - St. John Chrysostom

Many Orthodox Christians have had to learn the hard way how to prepare not only to fast, but to feast. A feasting period, like we begin on Pascha and Christmas, requires us to remain watchful and sober if we are to preserve the grace we gained during the fast and avoid falling back into our old sins and bad habits. St. John Chrysostom is well aware of this and offers a timeless word to all who wish to take up their cross and follow Christ. -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you, the hospitals for all the passions: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/-HELP: An Orthodox ministry devoted to helping those struggling with drunkenness: https://inexhaustiblecup.org/-PRAYER to overcome addictions: Akathist the Theotokos, “The Inexhaustible Cup”:—Text: https://prescottorthodox.com/text-akathist-inexhaustible-cup/—Audio (sung): https://youtu.be/dl55FVl2cE0?si=Zp-TtI_b4GHVjwkz0:00 Beginning0:20 After fasting, we fast a different fast2:39 Consequences of eating and drinking too much3:41 The drunkenness from wine and the drunkenness NOT from wine7:03 Continued analysis of St. Paul’s words / prodigal young men8:18 Drunkenness is a self-chosen demon10:19 “neither fornicators…nor drunkards will possess the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-11)11:32 The reasons St. John teaches this to neophytes 13:47 “Human nature is inclined to nothing so harmful as ease.” / Examples of the Ancient Jews17:02 The shining example of Apostle Paul19:48 Consider what gifts, what dignity the King of all has given us20:52 Unlike in human affairs, only we can remove our God-given dignity as Christians initiated into Christ21:55 Keep watch and preserve our baptismal purity24:01 Shine your weapons and armor, and spite the devil25:01 Final exhortationThis reading comes from “Baptismal Instructions” by St. John Chrysostom, pp. 80-92. Different versions exist online, and you can buy a copy here: https://svspress.com/saint-john-chrysostom-baptismal-instructions-hardcover/"Devils take great delight in fullness, drunkenness, and bodily comfort. Fasting possesses great power and it works glorious things. To fast is to banquet with angels.” -St. Athanasius the Great_______Beloved, even if the fasting is over, let the piety remain. Even if the time of the holy quarantine is gone by, let us not put aside the memory of it. Let no one feel displeasure at this exhortation; for I do not say it to impose on you another period of fasting, but because I wish you both to relax and to display not a more exact kind of fasting -- but the true one. For it is possible for one who is not fasting to fast. How is this? I shall tell you. While on the one hand we are taking food, let us, on the other, abstain from sin. For this is the fasting which helps us, and it is with this fasting in view that we abstain from food, so that we may more easily run in the course of virtue. Therefore, if we wish both to take proper care of the body and to keep the soul free from sin, let us take heed and act accordingly.You did not need exhortation and advice during the holy season of Lent as much as you need it now. During that season the practice of fasting made you be temperate, even in spite of yourselves; but now I am afraid and I fear the freedom from this obligation and the relaxation which it produces. Human nature is inclined to nothing so harmful as ease. Therefore, our loving Master, from the very beginning, has put on human nature a kind of curb and, in His great providence, has condemned man to toil and misery.Sin, however, is born precisely from such sources as wantonness, gluttony, and too much sloth. Therefore, I exhort, since we know clearly that these are wrong, let us not use what is wrong on the pretext that we are relaxing.But just as the sober and vigilant man whose conduct is worthy can continue to be a neophyte, so is it possible after a single day for a man to relax his vigilance and become unworthy of that title.In the case of bodily beauty, once the countenance has become ugly and has lost its beauty because of old age, disease, or some other bodily condition, it cannot return again to its peak of splendor. What happens is characteristic of nature, and on this account it is impossible to return to the luster of one's former beauty. But in the case of the soul, if we are willing, this can happen through the ineffable kindness of God. The soul which was once sullied and became disfigured and disgraced by the multitude of its sins can quickly return to its former beauty, if we give evidence of ample and exact repentance.With great zeal let us range ourselves against [the devil], taking careful thought for our own salvation, that we may be able to flee his wiles and that, having remained unwounded ourselves, we may draw down on our souls the help of heaven. _______Orthodox Wisdom is dedicated to sharing the writings and lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!