Metropolitan Ioan of Banat has urged clergy and believers to offer prayers for the sick and the medical staff during the Dormition Fast. He recalled that fasting consists of “estrangement from sin, self-control of the tongue, the checking of anger.”
“Established by our Holy Church, since the fifth century, in honor of the Mother of God, this Fast prepares us spiritually for the celebration of the two great feasts of August: the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6) and the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15),” the Metropolitan of Banat said in a message on August 1.
“We also urge all our clergy and believers to fulfill together with the word of St. Basil the Great, who says that true fasting consists in estrangement from vices, self-control of the tongue. It’s checking of anger, separation from things like lust, evil-speaking, lies, and false oaths. Self-denial from these things is a true fast, so fasting from these negative things is good.”
He urged clergy and believers not to forget those “on the bed of suffering, in hospitals and in their homes, as well as the medical staff who care for them with love, devotion, and self-sacrifice, mentioning them as well in our prayers to the Heavenly Father and to the Holy Mother of the Lord.”
For every evening during the fasting season, Metropolitan Ioan recommended the reading of the Akathist to the Theotokos in honor of her Dormition or the supplicatory canons to the Mother of God.
Source: basilica.ro
