Another Fasting Feast Day

September 14th is the day we remember the Elevation of the Holy Cross.  It's the second major feast day of the new church calendar year.  It's a good way to reflect upon what Christianity really is: To follow Christ means to "pick up your cross." 

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.   For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  -Luke 9:23-25 

 

 

To honor the importance of the day and what the cross is, the Church has designated this feast day as a fasting day.  And not just a meat free day, but a strict fast day.

This dichotomy of a fasting feast is appropriate for today as the cross was the tool for torture and killing of Christ, but it also reveals the power of the resurrection. We all have something that we are struggling with.  Many times we run from the struggle due to fear or weakness.  But there are times when we accept our cross, we also experience the joy of the resurrection. 

If you need a new fasting recipe, follow the Lenten Recipe page above for my top posts, or search "Lenten" over to the right. 

 

The Feast Day's Apolytikion Hymn

 

Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance,

granting our rulers to prevail over adversaries,

and protecting Your commonwealth by Your Cross.