8:1
Your fasts
should not be with the hypocrites, for they fast on Mondays and Thursdays. You
should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.
8:2 And do not pray like the hypocrites, but rather as the Lord commanded in the gospel: Our Father who art in heaven, holy be thy name. thy kingdom come. they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the power and the glory. Amen.
8:3 Pray this three times each day.
8:2 And do not pray like the hypocrites, but rather as the Lord commanded in the gospel: Our Father who art in heaven, holy be thy name. thy kingdom come. they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the power and the glory. Amen.
8:3 Pray this three times each day.
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We
will first talk about the hypocrites spoken of. The opening of this chapter
will strike any reader as harsh and petty, and maybe even a little
anti-Semitic; however, as we have learned thus far, things are not always as
they seem. It is important to place ourselves in the early centuries, and to
recall the tension felt between the Christian and the Jew. I am not suggesting
we cultivate an anti-Semitic spirit –as some historical scholars have suggested
the early Church did – but rather an understanding of these feelings towards
the Jews and why Christians felt this way. By the first century the Jewish
leaders – save a handful – had long abandoned the following of God’s Laws in
favor of their own Law and teachings. This led the Jewish leaders to put to
death the incarnate God, in fear of losing their power, and for fear that Rome
would see Him as a direct threat to the Empire. Before we move to the text, we
need to remember it is not unreasonable that the early Christians wanted to do
things differently than their Jewish predecessors – after all, the Christ had
just revealed Himself as the New Law, the New Moses, and the New Temple.
The Torah
The opening of the text
“Your fasts should not be with the hypocrites” is a fascinating statement – and
a very telling one at that. To the early Christians the act of fasting and
prayer is not just an activity, but rather something to privately and corporately
enter into. This meant that it was important to consider who you prayed with.
For a Christian and a Jew to fast and pray together meant that they were in
theological communion with one another; however, as we will see, the reasons
for the Jewish fast were fast becoming obsolete for the Christian. The Jew
fasted “every Monday and Thursday in commemoration of the destruction of the
Temple, of the burning of the Torah, and of the desecration of God's name.”[1]
For the Christian, Jesus is the new Temple[2],
the Torah[3],
and the Word of God.[4]
The fast of the Jew and the Christian is fundamentally different and keeps them
out of communion since the Jew does not regard Jesus in this manner, nor do
they hold Jesus as the Messiah. It is in this spirit that the opening text is
written, both to set themselves apart from the Jewish theology by not fasting
on Monday or Thursday as there is no need to commemorate the destruction of the
Temple,[5]
and by choosing to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays to commemorate the betrayal
of Jesus (Wednesday) and His death (Friday).[6]
The Jews are referred to as hypocrites in the text for this very reason. In
their commemoration of the destruction of the temple and the Torah, they failed
to see the new Temple standing right in front of them, and in fact destroyed
again the very thing they were mourning. This is the core difference between
the Jewish Monday and Thursday fasts, and the Christian Wednesday and Friday
fasts.
Icon of the Betrayal
Icon of the Crucifixion
The same goes for
prayer; in fact, the section is titled Concerning
Prayers because Prayer and fasting are never mutually exclusive. The Our Father has been the bedrock of
prayer for the Church since the very beginning; the Church turns to the Our Father
when teaching those to pray – just as Christ did when asked by the Apostles.
Simply put, it is no surprise to see the Our
Father reiterated in an early form of “church manual.” It is important to
note the addition of “For yours is the power and the glory. Amen” at the
conclusion of the prayer. It is often a point of interest for many Protestant
converts when hearing the Our Father
for the first time in a Liturgy; this text is not included in either of the
Gospels referencing the prayer[7] -
as many of our Sola Scriptura friends quickly point out. This is an addition
that the Church accepted upon Apostolic authority early on and has been a part
of the Liturgy (both East and West) ever since. This validates the text as a
“liturgical manual of sorts for the clergy. In fact, the addition shows us how
concerned the Apostles and the Apostolic Fathers were regarding the education
of the clergy on officiating, as quickly became the customary text for the
prayer for the Divine Liturgy.
The very last verse of
the chapter instructs the reader to pray the Our Father 3 times daily, reinforcing our comment earlier regarding
the Our Father being the bedrock example
for the Church on prayer. The Our Father
is an integral part of the morning, midday, and evening prayers in any Christian
prayer book. Secondly, the instruction to pray this 3 times daily teaches us
that a prayer regiment is vital to the spiritual life of a Christian. The flesh
will not even wish to pray 3 times a day, never mater the Our Father. The practice of praying the Our Father at least 3 times
a day will teach the Christian the beginnings of submitting the flesh to the
spirit; in keeping this rule, the flesh will eventually surrender its own will
to the will of the Spirit within us.
In closing, I would
like to encourage you to remember Wednesdays and Fridays in fasting and prayer
as the days of our Lord’s betrayal and death, and to pray the Our Father at least 3 times a day. It
may seem difficult at first, maybe even trivial if you do not practice Set Prayers
(as many Evangelicals do not), but I guarantee you that within 2-3 days you
will begin to recognize and reap the spiritual benefits.
I would also like this
opportunity to share a beloved book regarding the Great Fast, otherwise known
as Lent, written by Fr. Alexander Schmemann of blessed memory, Titled Great
Lent: Journey to Pascha.[8] He
masterfully walks the reader through the Journey of the Great Fast, and is
required reading for many Catechumen across the United States.
With Love,
Athanasios (Devin) Green
Athanasios (Devin) Green
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Great-Lent-Journey-Alexander-Schmemann/dp/0913836044
[2]
John 2:13-22
[3]
Matthew 5:17-20
[4]
John 1:1
[5]
John 2:19
[6]
“No one will find fault with us for observing the fourth day of the week
[Wednesday] and the Preparation [Friday], on which it is reasonable directed
for us to fast according to the tradition. We fast on the fourth day, indeed,
because on it the Jews took counsel for the betrayal of the Lord. And we fast
on the sixth day, because Christ Himself suffered for us on it.” St. Peter of Alexandria (c. 310), 6.278
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