Major Archbishop Shevchuk: 'Let us dedicate Nativity Fast' to 'victory over darkness of war'

(OSV News) -- As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears the three-year mark, an annual Advent fast observed by Eastern Catholics has taken on renewed urgency.

"'Let us dedicate the Nativity Fast to prayer and fasting for our people's victory over the darkness of war,"' said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in a Nov. 17 message marking the 1,000th day of Russia's war on Ukraine.

The Nativity Fast, also known as the Fast of St. Philip or the Philippian Fast ("'Pylypivka"'), is observed by Eastern Catholics and Christians worldwide.

Instituted at the Council of Constantinople in 1166, the fast begins prior to Advent on Nov. 15, the day after the feast day of St. Philip, and ends on Christmas Eve.

During the fast, the faithful typically abstain from meat on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, while observing a lesser form of abstinence on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The fast is often intensified in the days immediately preceding Christmas.

Although less strict than the Eastern church's Great Pascha fast of Lent, the St. Philip Fast is intended to prepare the faithful for the joy of Christ's birth.

In its guidelines for the 2024 fast, the UGCC noted that "'during the fasting days, it's also important to refrain from organizing and participating (in) noisy celebrations, weddings, dances and other similar gatherings."'

The UGCC also said that exempted from fasting are children under 14 and adults over 60, the seriously ill, pregnant women, new and breastfeeding mothers, travelers whose journey exceeds eight hours, those engaged in strenuous work, those dependent upon meals provided by others, and the poor who rely on alms.

Modern adaptations made to the Nativity Fast do "'not remove the call to the spirit of sacrifice, repentance and fasting,"' said the UGCC. "'Fasting involves the entire person: the body, through abstinence from food and drink, and the soul, through restraint from passions."'

The guidelines cited a quote from St. John Chrysostom's "'Homilies on the Statutes,"' in which the saint urged the faithful to fast not only from food, but from sin and the near occasion thereof: "'You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words … what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew up and devour our brothers?"'

Such spiritual preparation for Christ's birth has been intensified against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine, which continues attacks launched in 2014, and which has been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights.

In his Nov. 17 message, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said that "'it is fair to say that these thousand days were days of daily destruction, deaths, and casualties among the military and civilians.

Yet while "'every single day, the enemy sought to kill, destroy, and annihilate,"' there has "'often been a great hope for the Ukrainian people,"' a hope that is "'not an empty sentiment,"' he said. "'We witness Christ, God who became man, epitomizing the suffering of the Ukrainian people. It is He, our God and Savior, who is once again condemned to death, once again wounded, tortured and killed daily in the body of the Ukrainian people."'

In preparing to meet Christ anew this Advent, said Major Archbishop Shevchuk, "'Let us pray for our army, for all who weep, grieve, suffer, and are in desperate need of the long-awaited Savior, who will bring heavenly peace."'