During Lent, one should try to exercise abstinence from certain types of food and encourage oneself to pray more than usual, said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine in his homily at the evening service on March 1, 2020, the Information and Education Department of the Ukranian Orthodox Church reports.
“The Lord gave us fasting not so that we kill ourselves with fasting, but for us to kill our passions. The sinful “oncology” that we have is destroyed by fasting. And if a person fasts in a correct way and does not go to extremes, then they begin to feel better … and receive benefits for their soul,” said the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The metropolitan recalled that each person should fast according to his or her state of health. During a fast, he noted, consistency and diligence are more important than a strict measure of abstinence.
“There are such extremes during Lent that, as they say, some day a person eats so much that he cannot breathe, and the other day he eats so little that he cannot breathe. Extremes shake both the spiritual and bodily forces of a man. Consistency here is even more important than a measure of abstinence. … Even a small measure of fasting, observed with consistency, is beneficial for the soul,” said His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry.
“May the Lord help us during Great Lent to work to the best of our abilities, to abstain from certain types of food, to force ourselves to pray more. We should not wait when we want to pray, but we should push ourselves to go to church more and participate in a public church prayer, to do good, and to humble ourselves before people. It will be a feat that cleanses a person of spiritual and bodily defects and makes us worthy to see the light of the Resurrection of Christ,” concluded the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
