Recently canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church, Saint Liviu Galaction of Cluj offers a profound understanding of Christian fasting, seen not merely as abstaining from certain foods but as a true spiritual struggle.
The selected quotes reflect the essential dimensions of fasting and have been chosen symbolically, corresponding to the seven weeks of Great Lent.
Restrain Evil Thoughts
“Fasting is, for the soul, a restraint of evil, sinful thoughts that the mind devises; a restraint from putting these thoughts into practice.”
Inner Struggle
Fasting is “a fierce battle against the evil within us, a struggle to cleanse the soul from the sin that defiles it.”
Authentic Fasting
“Our fasting, in the Christian sense, takes place primarily on the level of spiritual life, as a struggle for purification, for liberation from the dominion of evil.”
Fasting Strengthens the Soul
“Fasting strengthens our spiritual powers like a fortifying exercise; on the other hand, it does not allow the power of evil to settle unhindered in spiritual life, making us slaves of Satan.”
Disciplining the Body
“The purification of the body is achieved through self-restraint. Imposing a certain dietary regimen on the body, certain restrictions on its usual manifestations, means subjecting it to the will, governing it according to the commandments of conscience. Thus disciplined, it is no longer at risk of insubordination, it no longer serves as an open channel through which external evil flows into the soul, nor does it become itself a source of evil through its sinful passions and pleasures.”
Fasting Brings Peace
“True fasting makes a person gentle, creates an atmosphere of peace around them, and puts them in the service of good, which alone brings happiness to the world.”
Fasting Can Bring Unity
“Fasting has a more evident purpose today than it did yesterday, for each of us. It is more necessary. A true fast, practiced universally throughout the Christian world, would awaken good consciences and diminish hatred among people.”
The quotes have been selected from his article entitled “Great Lent,” published in Viața Ilustrată magazine in 1942.
Hieromartyr Liviu Galaction of Cluj will be commemorated this Saturday in the Metropolis of Cluj for the first time.
Photo: Renașterea Radio
