THE NEWCALENDARISTS WITH NO ST. PETERS FAST!

By the Ever-Memorab e Ar!hb"#ho$ Aver%y o& 'or(a)v" e

ACCORDING to an ancient precept of our Holy Church, which derives from the Apostolic times themselves, on the Monday after the unday of All aints, which follows that of !entecost, a fast "e#ins, which "ears the name the Apostles$ %ast, or t !eter$s %ast, "ecause it serves as a preparation for the #reat feast cele"rated in honour of the !re& eminent Apostles !eter and !aul, 'ept on ()th *une+ ,hen it starts depends on the day that Holy !ascha is cele"rated, and its duration varies from year to year- when !ascha is early it lasts si. wee's- when it is as late as can "e only a wee' and a day+ /his year [He was evidently speaking in 1956, when Pascha fell on St George's day transl!", with its comparatively late !ascha, the 0ocal Orthodo. Churches which shortly after the %irst ,orld ,ar adopted the new style calendar, are completely deprived of this fast, "ecause on the new calendar the day of the commemoration of the Holy Chiefs of the Apostles !eter and !aul falls on the %riday be&ore the unday of All aints, and so, in this way, this fast is completed o"literated+ /he same thin# always occurs when !ascha falls on (1th April or later- then for the new calendarists the t !eter fast disappears+ Is such a thin# tolera"le2 In no way3 /he Church$s esta"lishment of a fast in honour of the Holy Apostles, who themselves "y fastin# and prayer prepared themselves for the preachin# of the Gospel to the whole world, is mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions themselves4 5After !entecost, 'eep one wee' more festival, and after that fast, for it is reasona"le to re6oice for the #ift of God, and to fast after that rela.ation for the flesh5 78oo' 9, chapter :) or (1;+ 8e#innin# in the fourth century, we find a whole raft of patristic references which emphasise the #reat importance which this fast en6oyed amon# the Christians of that time+ aints Athanasius the Great, Am"rose of Milan, 0eo the Great and /heodoretus of Cyrrhus ma'e mention of it+ t 0eo the Great spea's of the meanin# and si#nificance of the Apostles$ %ast in a particularly thorou#h and intelli#ent way4 5After the prolon#ed festival of !entecost [i!e! the fifty days fro# Pascha to Pentecost S$nday and the week after transl!", the fast is especially necessary, so that "y stru##lin# therein we may cleanse our mind and "e deemed worthy to receive the #ifts of the Holy pirit5 7Homily <=;+ 5/he present festival, "eloved,5 he says in another homily, 5which the Holy pirit hallowed "y His descent, is routinely followed "y a fast for all the people, which has "een "eneficially instituted for the healin# of soul and "ody, and which we are re>uired to o"serve with due reverence+ %or we must "e in no dou"t that, after the Apostles were filled with power from on hi#h accordin# to the promise and the pirit of /ruth a"ode in their hearts, this teachin# of spiritual restraint was, alon# with other mysteries of the heavenly doctrine, #ranted unto them, so that the heart purified "y fastin#, should "e deemed worthy to receive the #ifts of Grace+ /he Almi#hty, "y His aid, was present with the disciples of Christ and the leaders of the emer#in# Church, esta"lished "y God the %ather, the on and the Holy pirit, "ut it was still impossi"le for them to contend a#ainst the persecutors$ forces and the furious threats of the dishonoura"le ones with their e.hausted "odies and pampered flesh, "ecause that which pleases the outer man harms the inner man, and on the contrary the reasonin# soul is the more purified the more the flesh is 'ept in su"6ection+ o, for the enli#htenment of all the children of the Church, "oth "y their e.ample and "y their precepts, they defined holy fastin# as the very "e#innin# of the stru##le for Christ, that havin# to fi#ht a#ainst spiritual wic'edness, we mi#ht each have the armour of a"stinence with which we mi#ht slay sinful desires++++ %or this reason an $nchanging and salutary practice was esta"lished, that after the holy and 6oyous days which we cele"rate in honour of the 0ord, risen from the dead and then ascended into the Heavens, and after the reception of the #ifts of the Holy pirit, there comes an appointed fast! /his practice #$st %e kept assid$o$sly so that those #ifts which are now "estowed "y God upon the Church mi#ht remain ours5 7Homily <?;+ 5%astin# is en6oined,5 t 0eo e.plains, 5so that we "e 'ept from carelessness, into which it e.tremely easy to fall when for a lon# period we are #iven allowance with re#ard to the foods we use, "ecause then the field of our flesh is not "ein# constantly tilled+ It then easily "rin#s forth tares and thistles, and it will yield such fruit, as would not "e #athered into the #ranary, "ut would "e committed to the flames5 7Homily ?;+ And this is what the 8lessed imeon of /hessalonica has to say a"out the Apostolic precept4 5/he fast of the Apostles was esta"lished in their honour so that throu#h them we mi#ht "e deemed worthy of many #ood thin#s, and they are manifest to us as practicers and teachers of fastin#, even unto death itself perseverin# in restraint+ /o this even the 0atins "ear witness a#ainst their will, honourin# the Apostles on the days of their memorials with fastin#- "ut we, in adherin# to the Apostolic Constitutions compiled "y Clement, after the Descent of the Holy pirit 'eep one wee' as a feast and then, followin# after them, "y fastin# we honour the Apostles who en6oinin# fastin# upon us5 7Answers to @arious Auestions;+ All that has "een said a"ove, as we see, the new calendarists disdain, disre#ardin# even the anathema which was pronounced "y the twelfth century !atriarch of Antioch, /heodore 8alsamon, who in one of his epistles to the Antiochian floc' writes4 5%rom this day and thereafter until the feast of !eter and !aul, all the faithf$l, that is the lay people and the monastics, are re&$ired to fast, and let those who do not 'eep the fast "e e'co##$nicated from the assem"ly of the Orthodo. Christians+5
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%or all #enuinely "elievin# Christians, for whom 5Christianity5 is not 6ust an empty name devoid of inner content, "ut is an active followin# of the teachin# of the Gospel, one which demands a stru##le, it is indispensa"le that they "ear in mind that the introduction of the new calendar into the Orthodo. Church was only one of a whole raft of reforms dreamed up "y Meletius I@, the !atriarch of Constantinople, of sorry memory+ Alon# with the new calendar amon# these reforms, the modernists, who "reathe the same spirit as our 0ivin# Churchmen and Renovationists,B have in mind and cherish hopes to introduce a married episcopate, second marria#e for cler#ymen, the a"olition of monasticism, the a"olition of the fasts, the shortenin# of the Divine services, permittin# the cler#y to wear secular clothes and have the appearance of lay people,BB and so on+ Is it not manifest to each and every Christian who so"erly re#ards these issues that all these reforms, includin# the new calendar which has in fact done away with one of the fasts, are only necessary so that within Christianity the commandments of Christ the aviour Himself mi#ht "e "rou#ht to nou#ht, for He said that the way is strai#ht and narrow, and He certified that the "road and wide way leads to destruction 7Matt+ <4:C;2 ,ho then is revealed as the inspirer of these reforms2

Tra)# ate( &rom the Hom" "e# a)( S$ee!he# *+,-+-+,./0 o& the Ever-Memorab e Ar!hb"#ho$ Aver%y.
B /he 0ivin# Church movement in !ost&Revolutionary Russia was "ac'ed "y the atheistic re#ime, "ecause it helped cause division and confusion in the Church+ %or a time it #ained some ascendancy "ut was defeated "y the piety of the people and the steadfastness of the confessin# hierarchs+ BB /his refers to cler#ymen trimmin# their "eards and hair to loo' li'e laymen, and presuma"ly, at least on occasion, hide their callin#+
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5GOD showed the holy Apostle !eter that he should not consider anyone as common or unclean 7Acts :14(D;+ ince his heart was sanctified, everyone has "een sanctified+ %or the person whose heart lies in the passions, however, no one has "een sanctified, "ut rather that person considers everyone as in accordance with the passions of his own heart+ Even if someone were to say that such and such is a #ood person, he would immediately "ecome an#ry in his heart+ /herefore, #uard yourselves a#ainst "lamin# anyone either "y word of mouth or in your heart+5 ABBA ESAIAS OF SCETIS, FIFTH CENTURY