The Holy Priest-Martyr Eleutherius; Our Venerable Father Paul of Latra (956); Our Holy Father Stephen the Confessor, Archbishop of Surozh (8th century)
Hebrews 4:1-13; Luke 21:12-19
Nativity Fast.
Read Hebrews 4:1-13
This past summer, our Patriarch, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, offered 15 thoughts on “true and healthy rest” and what that looks like in the Christian understanding.
We know from the Book of Genesis that God, having worked for six days creating the world, rested on the seventh. All of us are called to model that standard in our own way of life, working diligently for six days and resting from this work on the seventh.
What does this rest encapsulate? What should it look like? Among these 15 thoughts, three stand out. First, we cannot become slaves of work or pleasure. Second, true and healthy rest renews our entire being, both body and soul. Third, we should dedicate our day of rest to serving God and others.
While Sunday has and always will be our day of rest, our secular world no longer values the importance of that day, and so, our day of rest may not always work out to be Sunday due to our work schedule. Nevertheless, our day of rest should differentiate itself from our days of work. As St. Paul says to the Hebrews, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest…” (4:11), so as to witness to the necessity of setting apart a day spent with the Lord, entering into His rest and being renewed in and through Him in both body and soul.
Patriarch Sviatoslav’s original list can be found at the following link, in Ukrainian: http://news.ugcc.ua/articles/pyatnadtsyat_dumok_blazhenn%D1%96shogo_svyatoslava_pro_spravzhn%D1%96y_%D1%96_zdoroviy_v%D1%96dpochinok_90477.html