The Christmas Fast

George Arabatzoglou, 
Reader of the Archdiocese of Athens – Church of Saint Luke in Patision

Another blessed period of fasting begins, of spiritual struggle and effort to turn our minds to God, each with his own strength and spiritual “philotimo” and always in consultation with their spiritual father.

This fast begins on November 15 and lasts until December 24, while on December 25, when we celebrate the birth of our Christ, we break the fast from everything regardless of the day. During this period of forty days of Christmas, we abstain from meat and dairy products, while we can eat fish all days of the week except Wednesday and Friday.

The fish is consumed until December 17th and in some exceptional cases, mainly in the countryside, the consumption of fish is completed on December 12th, however this is an exception and is not included in the official "fasting calendar" of our Church, which is provided for by the sacred Rudder.

Holy Martyr Plato in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Plato was from the country of the Galatians, from the city of Ancyra, brother of the Holy Martyr Antiochus. Because he confessed his faith in Christ, while still a young man, he was led before the ruler Agrippino. He was beaten by twelve soldiers and stretched out on a fiery bronze bed, while they were whipping him from above. He was then burned in the armpits and on the sides with fiery balls, while a strip of skin was removed from his back. Afterwards they scraped his flesh and sides so much that his appearance was altered. And then he met his end with the sword.

The Holy Hymnographer cannot fail to point out for Saint Plato what constitutes the treasure of every martyr: his living faith in Christ ("through your intimate active faith"), his upliftment with His love ("you are completely uplifted by the love of the Creator"), the constant contemplation and vision of His beauty and graces with the eyes of the soul ("contemplating with the eye of the soul, always gazing upon the comeliness of the Creator, and reflecting upon the ineffable beauty"), things that made him, on the one hand, clothed with the garment of prudence and the saving grace of God, transcending even the pains of martyrdom itself, and on the other hand, to be joyfully in the vastness of Paradise (“O glorious one, you measure the purest expanse of the eternal kingdom”). The poet even presents the Saint as a priest who offered himself as a sacrifice to Christ (“you have been shown as a divine priest, O Martyr, offering yourself as an unblemished sacrificial burnt offering”), and in a way as a spectator who observes himself, as if someone else were suffering (“as in another's body, most illustrious one, you endured suffering as if competing in the contest of another, becoming a spectator of the struggle in which you contended").

Prologue in Sermons: November 18

Through Humility, We Shame the Devil and Drive Him Away From Ourselves and From Others

November 18

(On Humility, Which Is What Demons Fear)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Since the devil, through pride, abandoned obedience to God's will and was cast out of heaven for it, it is clear that this sin is most contrary to God, as the chief sin of the devil, the enemy of God and the destroyer of human souls. From this, it follows that if pride is especially dear to the devil, then, of course, humility is especially unbearable. Yes, brethren, the devil cannot tolerate humility, and those who possess this virtue put him to shame and drive him far away, both from themselves and from others.

Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea was a rare man. The mere fact that when he went to Neocaesarea he found few believers (17 Christians are mentioned), while when he left, he left few unbelievers (also 17 in number), reveals the zeal of his faith, the power of his word, the power of the miracles that God granted him. The Holy Hymnographer cannot help but apply to him the prophetic saying: “the zeal of God has consumed you, Gregory.” Seeking to find figures similar to Gregory, the ecclesiastical poet, Saint Theophanes, resorts to the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament. The Saint resembles Moses, he says, who, like him, received the tablets of faith on the mountain of mystical theophany, legislating piety to the people: “You have become a new Moses through your deeds, receiving the tablets of faith on the mountain of the mystical theophany, legislating piety to the peoples.” He resembles the Prophet Samuel, who ascended the mountain of theoria: “ascend on high, like Samuel, to theoria.” He resembles the Prophet Daniel, who, just as the gift of interpreting dreams was given to him, the mystery of faith was revealed to him in a dream: “for as the dream was to him (Daniel), so the mystery of faith was revealed to you.”

Saint Hilda of Whitby (+ 680)

St. Hilda of Whitby (Feast Day - November 17)

Brief Life

Hilda, born in Northumbria in 614, was a grandniece of King Edwin of Northumbria and daughter of Hereric. Hild is her correct name and means "battle." Both she and her uncle were baptized by Saint Paulinus at York in 627, when she was 13. She lived the life of a noblewoman until 20 years later she decided to join her sister Saint Hereswitha at the Chelles Monastery as a nun in France. In 649, Saint Aidan requested that she return to Northumbria as abbess of the double monastery (with both men and women, in separate quarters) in Hartlepool by the River Wear.

After some years Saint Hilda migrated as abbess to the double monastery of Whitby at Streaneshalch, which she governed for the rest of her life. Among her subject monks were Bishop Saint John of Beverly, the herdsman Caedmon (the first English religious poet), Bishop Saint Wilfrid of York, and three other bishops.