"Fasting is wonderful, because it
tramples our sins like a dirty weed, while it cultivates and raises truth like a
flower."
---St. John
Chrysostomos
"Boast not of tomorrow, for you know not what any day may bring
forth" (Proverbs 27:1).
Brethren, let us not boast of that which is not in our power. The Lord has
placed the times and the years under His power and He disposes of them. Only
God Himself alone knows whether tomorrow's day will number us among the living
or the dead. Some have died on the eve of their marriage; again, others have
descended into the grave on the eve of their coronation with a royal diadem.
Therefore, let no one say that tomorrow will be for me the happiest day of my
life; tomorrow, I enter into marriage! Or, tomorrow I will be crowned with a
royal diadem! Or, tomorrow I am going to a great feast! Or, tomorrow a great
gain is coming to me! O, let no one speak of the happiness of tomorrow's day.
Behold, yet this night your soul may depart your body and tomorrow you will find
yourself surrounded by black demons in the tollhouses [митарство]! And yet,
even this night, a man can be separated from his relatives and friends, from
wealth and honor, from the sun and the stars and find himself in a totally
unknown company, in an unseen place and at an unexpected judgment.