His Eminence Archbishop of Cetinje, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Joanikije, served the evening service at the Cetinje Monastery on Forgiveness Sunday.
In his sermon, His Eminence Bishop taught the faithful about the importance of fasting as a deeper human need, emphasizing that Great Lent is the model for every fast in the Church.
“First of all, during Lent, we curb our bodily passions – we free our body, which has become fat in excess and has become heavy and weak, but during Lent it is freed from all this, but let us see that we fast according to our measure. Those people who are physically and mentally healthy can fast more strictly, but it is not so much a matter of strictness, but of fasting with a blessing. We should also have our own spiritual father and, if we have any doubts, we should receive a blessing from our spiritual father for a stricter or milder fast, and we should do so in order to prevent any arbitrariness in this regard and in order to respect the blessing of the Church in this way,” said the Metropolitan.
Metropolitan Joanikije emphasized that we do not fast only physically, nor do we only free the body, but we also free the thoughts and the soul, because the soul also thickens and becomes distorted by passion, pleasure, malice and malice if a person does not strive to acquire spiritual values.
“Physical fasting should serve us as a stepping stone to spiritual fasting. In order to succeed on the ladder of spiritual fasting, it is necessary to master physical fasting and not let it be a problem for us. A person does not need much to maintain his physical strength and ability to function, but the habits of eating and drinking are some spiritual passions and spiritual needs. Man has become reborn and alienated from spiritual life, and because of lack of discipline he has collapsed a lot, and as we free ourselves from both through fasting, we also come to the meaning of fasting in general. However, during this fast we prepare ourselves in particular and this fast has a special seal. We are preparing to bow down to the sufferings of Christ, to ascend together with Christ the Lord to Jerusalem, to His Golgotha, to His cross – to be crucified with Christ, to crucify our passions and our evil desires and intentions and thoughts and grudges and malice and everything that humiliates a person and degrades him spiritually” – His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikije spoke –
His Eminence Bishop stated that bodily and spiritual passions are a growth that threatens both the soul and the body and that it is no coincidence that this fast is so long, because it is not easy to remove passions from our nature, “because a slightly longer struggle is needed to wash all of that away and for the divine nature of our soul to shine”.
The Metropolitan emphasized that we will benefit greatly if we make an effort to fast honorably and virtuously, as the Church teaches us, because in this way we will free ourselves from everything unnatural and abnormal and set out on the true path of God.
“This feat is intended to be mastered in 40 days, and this fast is called Lent. However, fasting does not last only 40 days, but a full 7 weeks. That last Sunday of Lent, Great Sunday, is simply separated from these 40 days and represents the end, i.e. the golden crown of the Holy Fast, which we can place on our heads only if we have made an effort during these 40 days to prepare ourselves well, to enter the week of the great works of God – the works of salvation of the human race, where the Lord Jesus Christ is the executor – to unite with Him, to worship His honorable cross and His death, to see His sufferings, to write them on our souls and hearts so that, having crucified ourselves with Christ, having worshipped His life-giving tomb, we may welcome His bright resurrection and truly experience victory over death, so that we may attain that freedom and become partakers of His eternal glory; "so that we may unite with Christ in His suffering and in His death, and especially so that we may rise with Him from all our graves, sins, and falls, so that, having conquered our passions at least partially, as far as it is possible for us humans, we may experience the bliss that the Lord Jesus Christ gives through the joy and light of His resurrection and life" - concluded His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikije, saying that the foundation of fasting is repentance and forgiveness and that this repair of the entire universe should begin with us, by first of all realizing that we are sinners towards each other and seeking forgiveness, thus showing that we are ready to renounce everything that is wrong and build peace with our conscience, with our neighbors, and with God, and that this is "an unshakable foundation on which we can build the edifice of our salvation."
Lana Ostojić