Acts 13:1-3
Liturgy, fasting and hearing the Holy Spirit: Barnabas and Saul sent out as missionaries
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyre′ne, Man′a-en a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping [leitourgounton] the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
In July the Orthodox Church in America will be holding its 18th All-American Council. This is the gathering every three years of bishops, clergy and lay leaders from across North America. The All-American Council is the highest legislative and administrative authority within the OCA, and this year its focus will be on the question, “How to Expand the Mission?” This was the same question set before the very first North American church council in 1907, at which Saint Tikhon presided. And it’s the question that the Church has faced from the beginning, as it did in first-century Antioch.
Notice that the answer to this question is “heard” from the Holy Spirit during times of liturgy, prayer and fasting. This is not to discount the value of meetings and careful planning. But if we want to be successful in our planning, we need prayer and fasting as the nurturing environment of practical decision-making. Something mysterious—perhaps unexpected—and yet very practical happens in the course of attentive liturgy, prayer and fasting. So in Antioch, the community discerned that Barnabas and Saul should be sent out as missionaries. And their commissioning is then also accompanied by prayer and fasting.
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In his commentary, Saint John Chrysostom focuses on the value of fasting. Or rather, he asks his congregation just to begin by refraining from luxurious living, rich foods and excessive drinking. He gives some pointed commentary to both women and men.
Do you see what a great thing fasting is?... A great, yes a great good is fasting: it is circumscribed by no limits. When need was to ordain, then they fast: and to them while fasting, the Spirit spoke. Thus much only do I ask: I don’t say to fast, but to abstain from luxury. Let us seek foods to nourish, not things to ruin us; seek meals for food, not occasions of diseases, of diseases both of soul and body: seek food which has comfort, not luxury which is full of discomfort: the one is luxury, the other mischief; the one is pleasure, the other pain; the one is agreeable to nature, the other contrary to nature…
And first, let us address ourselves to the women. There is nothing uglier than a woman given to luxury, nothing uglier than a woman given to drink. The bloom of her complexion is faded: the calm and mild expression of the eyes is rendered turbid, as when a cloud intercepts the rays of the sunshine. It is a vulgar, slave-like, thoroughly low-lived habit. How disgusting is a woman when from her breath you catch sour whiffs of fetid wine: a woman belching, giving out a fume of decomposing meats; herself weighed down, unable to keep upright; her face flushed with an unnatural red; yawning incessantly, and everything swimming in a mist before her eyes! But not such, she that abstains from luxurious living: no, this abstinence makes her look a more beautiful, well-bred woman. For even to the body, the composure of the soul imparts a beauty of its own. Do not imagine that the impression of beauty results only from the bodily features. Give me a handsome girl, but turbulent, talkative, railing, given to drink, extravagant, and tell me if she is not worse-looking than any ugly woman? But if she were bashful, if she would hold her peace, if she learned to blush, if to speak modestly, if to find time for fastings; her beauty would be twice as great, her freshness would be heightened, her look more engaging, filled with modesty and good breeding.
Now then, shall we speak of men? What can be uglier than a man in drink? He is an object of ridicule to his servants, of ridicule to his enemies, of pity to his friends; deserving condemnation without end: a wild beast rather than a human being; for to devour much food is proper to panther, and lion, and bear. No wonder that they do so, for those creatures have not a reasonable soul. And yet even they, if they be gorged with food more than they need, and beyond the measure appointed them by nature, get their whole body ruined by it: how much more we? Therefore has God contracted our stomach into a small compass; therefore has He marked out a small measure of sustenance, that He may instruct us to attend to the soul…
Would you enjoy a real luxury? Give to the poor; invite Christ, so that even after the table is removed, you may still have this luxury to enjoy. For now, indeed, you have it not, and no wonder: but then you will have it. Would you taste a real luxury? Nourish your soul, give to her of that food to which she is used: do not kill her by starvation… Christ is pining through hunger, and are you frittering yourself away with gluttony?
Then let us not endure to see our soul wronged because of the body, but let us make the soul herself more clear-sighted, let us make her wing light, her bonds looser: let us feed her with discourse, with frugality, feeding the body only so much that it may be healthy, that it may be vigorous, that it may rejoice and not be in pain: that having in this way well ordered our concerns, we may be enabled to lay hold upon the highest virtue, and to attain unto the eternal good things by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom, to the Father and Holy Spirit together, be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Update
This Sunday evening, the Archives Advisory Committee will begin its meeting at the Chancery, continuing to makes plans and decisions for preserving and housing the OCA’s valuable collection. On Monday members of the Metropolitan Council arrive for the start of the Spring MC meeting.