The Gracious Means of Cultivating and Strengthening Spiritual Life

These are the ascetic practices by which the soul, body, and our external conduct are formed according to the spirit of the new life, after the spirit is quickened by God’s grace in conversion, rising to the point of resolution and vow and sealed by the Holy Mysteries. But just as in the beginning conversion to God is unreliable if not sealed by grace through the Mysteries, so throughout all the time that follows, our zeal is unstable, our efforts are weak, our will is feeble, and our life is thin, if we do not renew ourselves through the Divine Mysteries of confession and holy communion. The Christian life, testified to by zeal, is a gracious life; consequently, to preserve, nourish, and kindle it, the most powerful means must be to draw upon and receive Divine grace. There are particular elements that nourish our animal life; there are also elements that nourish spiritual life. These are the Mysteries.

Specifically for nourishing and elevating our spiritual life, the Lord has given the Mystery of Body and Blood. “I am the living bread”, the Lord said, “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink”, therefore, “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn. 6:51, 55, 58). Spiritual life is the consequence of communion with the Lord; apart from Him and without Him we have no true life. But He says: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him… I live because of the Father, and he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me” (Jn. 6:56–57): that is, communion with the Lord is effected through the partaking of Body and Blood. True spiritual life is strong, full of works, and abundantly fruitful. But “without Me”, the Lord says, “you can do nothing”. Whoever “is in Me will bear much fruit” (see: Jn. 15:5). “In Me” does “he who eats Me abide”. From all this it follows that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in you… Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn. 6:53, 51).

Here is the gracious source of preserving and strengthening our spiritual life! Therefore, from the very beginning of Christianity, those truly zealous for piety held frequent communion to be the first good. Among the Apostles it was everywhere: Christians remained constantly in prayer and the breaking of bread, that is, they communed. Basil the Great in his letter to Caesar says that it is saving to commune in the Body and Blood every day, and in his life he writes: “We commune four times a week.” And this is the common opinion of all the saints, that there is no salvation without communion and no progress in life without frequent communion.

But the Lord – the source of life who quickens those who commune with Him – is also a consuming fire. One who communes worthily tastes life, while one who communes unworthily tastes death. Although this death does not follow visibly, it is always accomplished invisibly in the spirit and heart of the person. One who communes unworthily departs – like a burning coal snatched from fire, or like iron slag. Either the seed of death is planted in the body itself, or it happens at once, as was the case in the Corinthian Church, as the Apostle notes (see: 1 Cor. 11:29–30). Therefore, when communing, one must approach with fear and trembling and with sufficient preparation.

This preparation consists in cleansing one’s conscience from dead works. “Let each examine himself”, teaches the Apostle, “and then let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:28). Confession, with hatred of sin and a vow to avoid it in every way, makes the human spirit a vessel capable of containing the incomprehensible God according to His grace. Resolution and vow are the place in which the Lord communes with us in communion, for only this alone is pure in us; all else in us is impure. Therefore, no one comes worthily of his own, but only the Lord, through His grace, counts worthy on account of confession with contrition and a vow.

All of this could be summarized as: confess worthily – and you will be a worthy communicant. But confession itself is a Mystery, requiring worthy preparation, and besides, in order to reach its perfection it requires particular actions, feelings, and dispositions that cannot be performed and shown all at once, but require time and, in a certain way, exclusive focus on them. Therefore, it has always been performed according to a known order, with preliminary deeds and exercises that prepare for it, which help either toward better recognition of sins, or toward arousing and showing contrition for them, or toward strengthening the firmness of the vow. All of them together constitute fasting preparation.

From this it follows that for strengthening and elevating the gracious life through the Mysteries one must establish periods of fasting preparation with all its accompaniments – confess and, having prepared in this way, commune worthily in the Holy Mysteries. That is, one must establish periods of fasting preparation, or rather, take on fasting preparation, for it has already been established for us by the Holy Church. The four great fasts were instituted for the purpose that those zealous for piety should fast, confess, and commune during them. Therefore, it should be laid down as a rule – for one seeking perfection to fast four times a year, during all the great fasts. So it is written in the “Confession of Faith.” However, this does not constrain the zeal of those who wish to fast more frequently and even continuously; nor is it imposed, like a yoke, on those unable to fulfill it due to their circumstances. Only this: make every effort that is within your power to fast four times a year. For laypeople, four times is a modest, middle measure and, as proven by experience, very saving. One who does this does not stand out from others, so will not become proud as if exceeding them. One can, moreover, fast during the Great Fast and the Christmas Fast both at the beginning and end. That makes six periods of fasting preparation in all.

One must distinguish fasting preparation from fasting, or proper observance of the fasts according to the Church’s regulations. It is a part of fasting, but differs from it in greater strictness regarding food and sleep, and in that it is always joined with other pious occupations, such as: ceasing from worldly cares and deeds as much as possible, reading, for those who can, of holy books, unfailing attendance at church for the appointed services, and so forth. Altogether, this time is devoted exclusively to pious occupations, which are all directed toward making fitting repentance and confession and then communing.

Thus, it is evident that in the entire structure of fasting preparation, there is a cleansing of the whole life, a restoration of its entire order, a clarifying of its aims, a reuniting with the Lord, a renewal of the spirit and our entire being. It is like washing soiled clothes or bathing after a journey. The Christian is on a journey and, for all his care, does not escape dust – thoughts full of passion and stains of falls. However small the uncleanness, it is like a speck in the eye or sand in a watch – the eye does not see, the watch does not run. Therefore, it is necessary to cleanse oneself from time to time. How wisely it is therefore arranged in our Church, and how saving to obey this institution with humility!

This is the meaning of fasting preparation! It is a means of nourishing, kindling, and preserving life in us, but chiefly it is a careful review of life, of falls, of their causes, and a setting up of means to avoid them. When sins are recognized, cast out from the heart with hatred and enmity, washed away by confession with a vow, then the vessel is ready. In communion, the Lord comes and unites Himself with the spirit of the worthy one, who must feel: “Surely I am not alone, but with You.”