First Saturday of the Great Fast: Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit; Our Venerable Father Timothy of Symbola; Our Holy Father Eustathius, Archbishop of Great Antioch.
Day 6 of the Great Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.
Hebrews 1:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:1-10; Mark 2:23-3:5; John 15:17-16:2.
Read Mark 2:23-3:5
On the first Saturday of the Great Fast, the Church places before us the witness of the Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit, a soldier who became an offering for Christ. He refused idolatry at all costs, even at the cost of death, making his body a living sacrifice of love for Christ. In this, he fulfilled the Lord’s word: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). St. Theodore’s courage shows that true sacrifice begins long before blood is shed, as it is formed in the discipline of the will and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The Fast trains that discipline. If we are attentive to our heart, we will notice that the Fast strips away illusion and exposes divided loyalties, exposing for us where we need to grow. St. Basil the Great writes: “Fasting gives birth to prophets, strengthens the mighty; fasting makes lawgivers wise. It is the safeguard of the soul” (On Fasting, Homily I). We marvel at the amazing witness of the martyr’s endurance, which is a beautiful flower blossoming forth after much spiritual training and maturation. What the Fast purifies, persecution proves.
St. John Chrysostom teaches: “Fasting is a medicine; but medicine, though useful, becomes useless through the inexperience of the user” (Homilies on Statues 3.5). The Fast is not abstinence for the sake of abstinence, but rather it is a therapy for the passions. St. Theodore’s life reveals the human potential the soul has when healed by the Lord of fear and attachment to worldly things.
For this reason, the Church honours St. Theodore at the beginning of Great Lent to remind us that the goal is interior freedom and attachment to Jesus Christ. Through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and the practice of our continual fidelity to Christ, a Christian becomes capable of the same total gift, handing our life over to our Saviour in our thoughts, words, and deeds.