Fasting and Miracles

Today is the first Saturday of the Great Fast and the Church commemorates a miracle that took place centuries ago. It is called the miracle of the Kollya of Saint Theodore and was a result of faithful Christians being threatened by an unbeliever.

Knowing the Christians were fasting for the Great Fast, Julian the Apostate planned to violate the marketplace with blood offered to idols thinking they would rather starve than eat food offered to idols. Saint Theodore the Great Martyr (celebrated February 17th) warned the Patriarch Eudoxios in a dream to make kollyva (boiled wheat) so the faithful could eat without defiling themselves with food offered to idols. Because of this miracle, the Church commemorates with kollyva. You can read more about the miracle here.

This is where customs combine. Traditionally, Saturdays are days on which the Church commemorates the dead. This is because Christ was in the tomb on Saturday. Since the Church is commemorating the miracle of Saint Theodore with kollyva, and Saturdays are days for the dead by tradition, today many of our churches will celebrate memorial services for their entire community. Some even refer to today as “The Third Saturday of Souls” but this is, technically speaking, not a Saturday of Souls. The only Saturday of Souls are the celebrated on the Saturday of Meatfare (this year February 26th) and the Saturday before Pentecost (this year June 11th).

As we complete our first week of the Great Fast, I invite you to be courageous and don’t give up. The world doesn’t want us to fast. The world doesn’t want us to pray. The world will never cease trying to defile us with a life offered to sin. Maybe the miracle of the kollyva can help us keep our focus.