Grade 10 - Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Sunday School Curriculum Grade 10
So, fasting is a good opportunity for us to grow in love with Christ and to be established in
Him.
How to Fast
With thanksgiving and Joy
Fasting is not a period of deprivation ... but it is an opportunity to live with Christ, free from
the needs and desires of the flesh. It is the basis of Christ‘s call for us to come to Him, to sit
with Him and to enjoy His fellowship and He will feed us as He fed the people before. He
wants us not to worry about food, body and materialistic things. He wants us to live with Him
as if we were in Heaven. It is the moments and days that we assign for living as if we were in
the everlasting life where we can enjoy and taste the beauty of the angelic life without care.
For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit. This is a generous call of Christ so we live it with thanksgiving because in fact we
do not deserve that life. We live it with full joy because through fasting we surpass the limits
of the flesh and the senses and we become like angels, so we rejoice.
Thanksgiving, joy and love, fill the heart with insight and enlightenment.... and give the word
of God a chance to work in the deep depth of our life till commandment unites with the self
and becomes confined to the fear of God.
With Reverence
This is the feeling of that who is not worthy... Lord, I do not deserve to fast with you or to
receive the blessing of the life of the heavenly creatures because I am a sinner... I am weak...
So when we fast, we do that out of mere obedience to the Commandments of God and the
Church system not because we are holy people who practice the Christian virtues. We fast
because we need the blessing of fasting not because we deserve these blessings, which God
gives those who fast. Fasting with reverence trains us to be humble and modest, not to be
haughty.
With Devoutness
Christian monasticism means to get rid of all things that are not useful. So we eat what the
body needs and refrain from satisfying the body with unnecessary things. We avoid visits and
meetings that are not fruitful or necessary. We devote our life to prayer, work and reading the
Holy Bible.
When we fast we do not watch movies, we do not listen to worldly songs.
The aim of our life is concentrated on serious fruitful work... and we avoid what is not serious
or fruitful. This simple devoutness or simple monastic life trains us to lead the life of chastity,
to control the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eye and the love for possessing things.
With True Repentance
We repent the time we spent away from the fellowship of Christ - that beloved and satiating
fellowship. Through repentance, we change our way of living. We direct our hearts to Christ,
his love and our cordial connection with Him. Daily repentance based on examining the self
and firm treatment of her wrong deeds, and taking clear decisive decisions against the
deviation of the self. Repentance must be accompanied by confession before the priest and
crucifying the desires in the light of Christ.
Through the Holy Mass we can receive the Holy Communion with awareness and
understanding, as this is the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord. Fasting accompanied by
selected readings of the Holy Bible and the spiritual books help us understand God‘s
THE GREAT FAST 105