{"id":560029,"date":"2026-02-19T14:50:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=560029"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:50:38","slug":"metropolitan-nicolae-great-lent-balance-fasting-daily-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/metropolitan-nicolae-great-lent-balance-fasting-daily-responsibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolitan Nicolae urges balance between fasting and daily responsibilities ahead of Great Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"

His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas has called on the faithful, as Great Lent approaches, to maintain \u201ca balance between the effort of fasting and the fulfilment of daily responsibilities.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his pastoral message<\/a> marking the beginning of Great Lent, the Metropolitan stressed that this fasting season is not merely a dietary observance, but a call to spiritual return and to the rediscovery of communion with God.<\/p>\n

Recovering Lost Communion<\/h2>\n

Metropolitan Nicolae recalled that fasting has roots in the very dawn of human history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fathers say that in Paradise man received the command to fast and not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest he die. The command sought to protect man from distancing himself from God, which brings death,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quoting St Basil the Great, His Eminence highlighted the connection between fasting and the restoration of lost communion with God: \u201cBecause we did not fast, we were driven out of Paradise. Let us fast so that we may enter Paradise again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFasting does not mean starving through abstinence from food, but being nourished with another kind of food \u2014 spiritual food \u2014 which is the Word of God,\u201d the Metropolitan of the Americas added.<\/p>\n

Understanding the Word of God<\/h2>\n

According to Metropolitan Nicolae, through ascetic labour, man rediscovers the profound bond between soul and body and communion with others.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring Lent, we begin to understand a certain communion that existed between man and God before the fall of Adam. The closer we draw to God, the closer we draw to our brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe trial will bring spiritual joy to the one who fasts and discovers the meaning of the Saviour\u2019s words about being nourished by the Word of God,\u201d His Eminence encouraged.<\/p>\n

Photo: Facebook \/ Putna Monastery<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas has called on the faithful, as Great Lent approaches, to maintain \u201ca balance between the effort of fasting and the fulfilment of daily responsibilities.\u201d In his pastoral message marking the beginning of Great Lent, the Metropolitan stressed that this fasting season is not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":522643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18771],"tags":[36876,36875,5644,36654,36874,4145,11829,22022],"class_list":["post-560029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality-en","tag-balance","tag-daily-responsibilities","tag-fasting","tag-great-lent-2026","tag-great-lent-message","tag-metropolitan-nicolae","tag-romanian-orthodox-metropolis-of-the-americas","tag-spiritual-renewal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}