Our Venerable Father Martinian. The Holy Women Zoe and Photini (Svitlana)
According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Zechariah 8:7-14; Zechariah 8:19-23.
Read Zechariah 8:19-23
As we enter into the Great Fast let us do so with eagerness and anticipation of the good things to come. Our sojourn on earth is in many ways a fast. We live in a world that is fallen and imperfect. By linking fasting to the fallen world we live in, we begin to realize that the end to which we are striving towards is a world in which fasting and fallenness no longer exist. In other words, we long to be in heaven. Heaven is the ultimate goal and the fulfillment of a lifelong journey of fasting. The time of the Great Fast is meant to remind us of that journey to heaven. By enduring the hardships of the fast we will feast on the day of Christ’s resurrection. So to as we endure the hardships of life, we are to remember that the end of life is meant to be the beginning of a life of perfect bliss and happiness. If our focus remains fixed on God then we will not be disappointed when the time of our fasting comes to an end.