On Fasting

Stint your stomach and you will certainly lock your mouth, because the tongue is strengthened by an abundance of food.  Struggle with all your might against the stomach and restrain it with all sobriety.  If you labor a little, the Lord will also soon work with you.

St. John Climacus

Living the Nativity Fast

The following is a compilation of information and resources I have come across over the years concerning the Nativity Fast.  The Nativity Fast, or Advent as it is often called, is one of the two great fasts of the year. The difference between it and great Lent, is of course, that during the Nativity fast we are anticipating a birth, so the atmosphere of this fast is one of happy anticipation. It can also be a difficult fast for the Orthodox, as the rest of the world is caught up in Christmas parties and celebrations full of the food and drink from which we fast. The following ideas are a collection of ways to commemorate the days of the fast without pre-celebrating the feast.
 Make the 15^th an event – Advent is different from Lent, where the  beginning is hard to miss, often the 15^th comes and goes with little notice taken.  Make the 15th a special day by starting family traditions to begin the fast.

Ideas: set your Christmas tree up the night before after the kids have gone to bed. Then spend the rest of the week slowly decorating it. Begin one of the many activities outlined below to mark the days of Advent - a Jesse tree, Advent calendar, prayer chain, or Advent wreath

Reserve special items that only come out during the fast - (in our house, all Nativity related books, toys, music and movies are stored away until Nov 15^th, then pulled out to enjoy during the season and packed up again on Jan 7^th )

Daily reminders

Below is a list of activities that can be done daily to help mark the fast – select from among these the ones that appeal to you and your family without becoming overwhelming.

Establish a family time and altar  If you do not already have one, this is a great time to start the habit of evening family prayers together – prayers, readings, lighting candles etc – these become the focal point of the fast.   When you receive Christmas cards – place those on your altar and pray for those people that evening.  If you have a table or piece of furniture available or even just a shelf, drape with a red cloth and place icons, candles

Advent wreath – can just be votive holders with candles and some greenery laid around it – some people use colored candles to mark the Sundays, others just use beeswax candles.  One idea is to decorate the candles with an icon for each Sunday of the fast (these commemorations fluctuate from year to year)  Another beautiful option is the wreath made by Ann Voskamp's son Caleb, our family has truly enjoyed celebrating the seasons of the year with this beautifully crafted piece.

Jesse Tree – a series of ornaments or symbols that begin with creation and track the story of our salvation through the Old Testament, ending with the birth of Christ.  There are many versions of this, and it may take time to create your own, but it can be a wonderful way to see the importance of the Incarnation in the scope of history.  There is also a lovely coloring page version of the Jesse Tree as an alternative (or to go along with) ornaments.

Advent Calendar – hung in a prominent place where the children can see it on a daily basis – there are paper ones that can be purchased, or you can make your own.  It can be very simple – of felt with items pinned on or elaborate with sewn pockets

Christmas Storybooks – in our house all of the books related to Christmas are wrapped up in inexpensive paper and placed under the tree on the 15^th of November.  Each evening, the children select a book to open and we read it together.  A basket is placed by the tree to contain the opened books, which are then revisited throughout the season.  We don’t attempt to have 40 books, 20 or so have been more than enough to keep us busy, and the children get very excited each year when they open old favorites they haven’t seen since last Christmas!  It’s like getting a whole new library of books each year.

Prayer chain – this can be used for one of several activities. Cut strips and staple into a chain.  Can track alms giving during Advent, use it as a prayer list of people to pray for each day (add someone new each day) or use it to count your blessings, writing something you are thankful for each day of the fast.  Hang your chain somewhere visible in the house and watch it grow through the fast.

Almgiving – in the spirit of St. Nicholas, try to find some way to involve your children in activities of giving – visit one of the shut ins in the church, let them send notes and Christmas cards to the shut ins of the region,

Christmas tree – Traditionally – Christmas eve (not very practical for most.  My family decorates the tree on the 15^th as our way of marking the start of the season (artificial of course) – if you use a live tree, St. Nicholas day (Dec 6) or St. Herman’s feast day (Dec. 13^th) are great days to mark with decorating the tree.

Nativity Sets

Wooden set children can handle and play with

Playmobil makes a wonderful set that makes for hours of play

Family set - one idea is to not place out all figures – make a star path with 40 stars from the manger across a table or shelf.  Mary moves one star closer each day – as she passes each star, it can be moved up onto a blue backdrop behind the nativity set until you have a full sky.  Alternative to using stars is to make a stone path (shown above).

The week before Christmas, place a new figure each day, let your kids come home from the Christmas liturgy to find the baby Jesus in the manger.

3. Mark the milestones of the fast –

Participate in the liturgies and activities offered by the church.

One way to mark these days, print off paper icons (from the internet) and put them into picture frame Christmas ornaments, hang each saint on the tree on his or her feast day

         
          Presentation of Theotokos – Nov 21^st

          St. Katherine – Nov 25^th

          St. Andrew – Nov 30^th

          St. Nicholas – Dec 6^th

          St. Barbara – Dec 4^th

          St. Herman – Dec 13^th

          St. Lucia – Dec 13^th

          St. Stephen – Dec 27^th

Icon coloring books – our favorites -  Potamitis Publishing

Read the lives of the saints (can be a bedtime activity or a part of the family altar time) we should spend at least as much time sharing these stories with our kids as we do sharing fairy tales and other books

4.    Celebrate Christmas!

Special meal after liturgy – helps to emphasize breaking of fast with young ones – special foods saved for this night

Place Jesus in the manger, ready to be found when the children come

home from liturgy

One of the wonderful things about being Orthodox is avoiding the post holiday blues – do you remember the feeling you had as a child on the 26^th of December, or even as an adult?  Everything is over, the presents are opened and there seems to be nothing left to look forward to but a long dreary winter.

12 days of Christmas – stockings with 12 small gifts to be opened each day of Christmas

January 1 – St. Basil’s Day – make vasilopita!

Theophany table – change cloth drape to gold, remove wreath, set out 11 votives and Christ candle

Theophany – special bottles for them to bring for the service to be filled with Holy Water , I bought a cheap bottle painting kit from Target/Hobby Lobby

Blessing of the Waters at the River

House Blessing – a good motivation to get the house cleaned and ready to start the year!

Nativity Links
Jesse Tree ornaments

Jesse Tree readings

Advent calendar instructions

Premade Orthodox Advent Calendar

Jesus is Born advent calendar illustrations

playmobil nativity set

Cycles of Grace Nativity binder

My Nativity Menu

advent alphabet

Short Reflection before Advent

- People's lives are sheer misery because they do not simplify things.  Most of the conveniences we have cause difficulties.  Those who live in the world often suffocate from abundance.  They have filled their lives with gadgets and devices but this only makes it more difficult to enjoy.  If we don't simplify things, one convenience will result into numerous difficulties and we will end up miserable.
When we were little, we used to cut off the spool at the end and put a wedge in it, turning it into a nice and enjoyable game for ourselves.
- Geronda, what helps the most when one is trying to grasp the joy of austerity?
- It helps if you can grasp the deeper meaning of life But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.  Simplicity begins from there, so does every proper approach to life.

Elder Paisios - With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man

I'm hooked

115 lbs of apples

Fuji, Cameo, and the delightful Ida Red, to which I owe the amazing pink hue of the juice.....

and apple jelly... can you believe that color? I am in awe.  And the best part, added to my pantry, next to the 20 pints of applesauce and 15 of apple butter, I can say that the home canned jars now far outnumber the store bought  :) 

Note:  the best resource for canning information I have found - Pick Your Own - no nonsense recipes for everything from applesauce to tomato sauce and everything in between

On Halloween

I received an email this week about someone looking for this post from a few years ago, so since I can't seem to find the time to write anything new at the moment, I am reposting it.

 

I did not touch this topic last year, as it is such a controversial subject among believers. There are those who feel strongly both ways. I would ask that whatever your opinion, you at least take the time to consider the following: how do we make the decision to participate or to not participate? The same way we make all decisions as Orthodox Christians, by looking at what the Bible, the Church Fathers and the Canons say.

"...Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

 Phillipians 4:8

So, if that is what we are to hold up and think about, the lovely, the gracious, the worthy of praise, how does Halloween measure up? There is nothing lovely about glorifying death. In fact, that is the exact opposite of what the Church is about. We celebrate life. We are weeks from entering into a time of honoring the incarnation of our Savior. We should be turning our hearts and minds to the fact that God humbled himself by becoming fully man in order to destroy death. Think about that just a minute. The One True God, all powerful, all knowing, all honorable. Put on flesh. Lived on this earth. Suffered temptation from Satan. Endured mockery, pain, death. Entered Hell. CRUSHED DEATH. FOR US. Why would we want to celebrate that which he endured so much to destroy?

So, no, it is not just all in good fun. It is not just a harmless night for our children to dress up and get free candy. IT IS A NIGHT THAT HOLDS UP ALL WE REJECT. IT IS A NIGHT FOR SATAN. So, my question is "why?" Why would we WANT to participate? Because it is fun? Because it is uncomfortable to keep our kids home from school that day? Because someone might make fun of us or our children? Because we don't want our kids to "miss out"?

Each morning as we read the lives of men and women who gave their lives rather than eat food sacrificed to idols, children who died rather than bow to anyone other than God, how can we ask those questions? I think of the mothers who encouraged their children to martyrdom.  They weren't worried their kids would be made fun of - they were worried their children might not attain eternal communion with God. They didn't try to protect their children from embarrassment, they exhorted them to stand strong against the world, a world that hated them and their God. This world still hates us, and it hates our God. So, give your children the strength to stand against evil, teach them to be martyrs!

“Abstain from all appearance of evil” 1 Thessalonians 5:22

If you are interested in reading what others have to say on this topic - here is a selection of links to articles that say far better than I what our duty is as Orthodox Christians in this world. If you have never given this issue thought, or if you are unsure about what is right, I challenge you to take the time to read at least one of these articles.

The Truth about Halloween

Archbishop Kyrill on Halloween

Halloween: Harmless Fun?

Fr. John Moses on Halloween

 

Finally, on the practicality of the issue. I really do encourage you to consider keeping your kids out of school on Friday when all of the parties will be happening. Avoid too much shopping with your children over the next few weeks. I try to limit the places we go during this time, since even a trip to the local drugstore is full of nightmarish images that can affect a young one in ways we often don't realize until much later. My daughter had years of nightmares from a grocery trip to Sam's where she turned a corner to be faced with a life-sized plastic witch. The night of October 31 has always been stressful for me, with young kids how do you avoid the ringing bell? Our former parish used to have an Akathist to the patron saint of our church. What better place to be on this night, than in church, praying for the world. If your parish does not offer a service that evening, gather with a few friends (preferably in a home that is not in a suburban neighborhood if possible :) and say the prayers yourself.

Orthodox Figures for the Nativity

A friend from last year's St. Emmelia Conference just sent this to me and I wanted to share because it is just so beautiful.  It was custom made for Orthodox families, the Theotokos even has three stars!   So, if you are looking to add some amazing Nativity figures to your seasonal table, go check out this etsy seller.

"True hospitality is sharing your life . . . with those outside the family circle. False hospitality is trying to re-vamp your life with camouflage and pretense so that it will fool a guest into thinking your life more elegant and more picturesque than it really is."

         --Irene Parrott, Friday to Monday (1941)

ht to Pleasantview Schoolhouse for this quote, a good reminder of this, and here's to hoping to share some true hospitality soon!