As I shared in the last issue of this article, one of the general, liturgical principles of our Church is that the celebration of the Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy, is incompatible with fasting. The Divine Liturgy is not penitential in nature. It is meant to be a joyful event, a true celebration of the Heavenly Banquet wherein God is present in the Person of Jesus Christ. The New Testament relates that Jesus said to the disciples of John the Baptizer when they came to Him and asked: Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?, Jesus said: The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Because of this notion, Sacred Tradition prohibits the serving of the Divine Liturgy during times of fasting. The joyful nature of the Divine Liturgy has been preserved in the East since it is, first of all, the sacrament of the coming and presence of Christ which, for the Church, is proof of His Resurrection. The Eucharist is the same coming and presence of Christ as He appeared to the disciples in the locked room after His Resurrection. So it is a joyous event.

The question then must be asked is: Why, then, is Holy Communion still distributed during the fast period? Does this contradict this general principle?

The answer that the Eastern Church gives is that it does not contradict this principle but, rather, relates to a second aspect of our understanding of the Eucharist, namely that it is given to us by God to help us sustain our spiritual life – it is food for our soul. God has chosen to give us Christ to help us actualize our inborn potential to truly become like Him – to grow in our likeness of God as seen in the human Person Jesus. To be redundant, it, the Eucharist, provides us with the nourishment that we need in order to continue in our efforts to change and progress in our becoming like Jesus.

When I have talked about Theosis, I have said that we need God’s help to actualize our potential to be like Jesus. The Eucharist is that help that God gives us. We cannot grow in our likeness of Jesus – in the actualization of our potential to be like God – if we don’t have God’s help. The Eucharist is God’s help.

So it is especially appropriate that we have access to the Eucharist during a time like the Great Fast.