Saturday, November 21, 1998

Fasting for Christmas

By JUDY TARJANYI

Toledo Blade

The chaos that characterizes the American celebration of Christmas has a way of working its way into the soul, culminating in a sense of emptiness and exhaustion by Dec. 25.

Even those who have determined to preserve the spiritual meaning of the day find it hard to resist the season's defining element: extreme activity.

Out of the depths of the Christian church's history, however, comes an ancient antidote to this most modern of problems. It is the Nativity fast prescribed by the Eastern Orthodox churches since the 9th century.

In addition to abstinence from meat and dairy products, the 40-day fast calls for intensified prayer and almsgiving, or acts of charity, for the days leading up to Christmas. Before the fast culminates in the feast of Christmas Day, it heightens in intensity on Christmas Eve, when those observing it keep a vigil during which they abstain from all food and drink, including water, until they receive the Eucharist in the evening.

The result of the 40-day fast, say those who have taken on the discipline, is a sense of focus amid the clamor of material preparations for the big day.

"It provides a tangible means of refocusing in that literally every time you go to a meal you have to think about it," said Jon Corombos, 28, of Hillsdale, Mich., a college seminar director who has observed the fast for the last seven years.

The Nativity fast in some ways is more difficult than that undertaken for Great Lent before Easter, said the Rev. Paul Albert, pastor of St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church in Sylvania, Ohio.

"It is hard to fast when you are moving toward the Christmas season with its office parties. It's not a Lenten time."

Mr. Corombos agreed.

"The challenging part is when everybody's throwing parties. If one were to observe it absolutely by the letter, you literally couldn't eat a Christmas cookie ... The culture is in a time of celebration when the church is in a time of preparation."

Not everyone in the church observes the fast in its full form, Father Paul said. "The strict fast is a model or goal to be achieved over the years. We encourage people to fast according to their abilities."

Some, for instance, fast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, relaxing the restrictions on other days, such as Sunday, when fish is permitted. Younger children may be advised to "fast" from their Nintendo games, or from other forms of entertainment. Those unable to fast from food for health reasons may work on "fasting" from a trait such as pride or from excessive activity.

Father Paul said he tries to present the fasting guidelines not as legalistic restrictions but as ways to encourage people to give a sacrificial gift to God.

He said although the guidelines sound severe, the Mediterranean diet is so tasty that someone actually could gain weight during the fast. He said the evidence can be found in the St. Elias cookbook, which includes a chapter of Lenten recipes that feature several lentil-and-rice combinations and such dishes as stuffed meatless eggplant and Lenten grape leaves.

Father Paul said he considers abstaining from food the easy part of the Nativity fast. "The prayer part is the hardest," he said. "Prayer requires deeper sacrifice and time. It is a far greater sacrifice for the children of this age than giving up food. Time is the currency of our generation."

Mr. Corombos said if his schedule allows he will combine fasting and prayer by skipping lunch and saying the prayers of the sixth hour, one of the services of the church's daily office of prayer.

Father Paul said the self-denying trilogy of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving form a powerful force to counteract the pressure and secularism of what passes for the Christmas season in today's culture.

"To deal with the force at work in the world, to draw us away from that, we have to apply an equal or stronger force." That force, he said, is not only a counter, but one that can redirect people's energies so as they are caught up in the holiday hubbub, their behavior pattern reminds them of the real reason for the season.

Mr. Corombos said he has experienced the dissonance between his spiritual preparation for Christmas and the holiday season. "One feels differently focused than some of the events that are going on in the wider world."

But he said he also feels different when Christmas arrives.

"By the time you get through that Thanksgiving-to-Christmas rush, a lot of people are glad it's over. It's just a relief that it's behind them, and when it's done right, for us (Christmas) really represents a genuine feast, the arrival of that for which we have prepared."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)