Fasting this Lent for the people of Ukraine

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent for Christians in the West. Many of us will give up sweets or video games or online shopping. Some intrepid souls will even give up coffee. I tried that last year, but my priest reminded me that my wife didn’t choose “dealing with a crabby husband” as her penance, so I found another penance.

It’s a little different for our brothers in the East. Their season of fasting begins on Meatfare Sunday and ends on Pascha (Easter). They’ll give up meat… then dairy… then fish…then wine… then oil. They’ll go from eating three meals to two, and then from two to one — and their one meal is basically just a peanut butter sandwich and carrot sticks. The most devout won’t eat at all from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday.

This is the season known as Great Lent — probably to distinguish it from our Okay Lent, where we try to go a whole month without getting drunk and blowing a paycheck at Taco Bell. (I almost made it in 2018.)

In Ukraine, Orthodox Christians and Byzantine Catholics are well over 75 percent of the population. How many of them will keep Great Lent? We can’t say for sure, but many will.

Only a fasting people could be that badass. As St. Paul urges us, deny ourselves “lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.” It’s clear to the whole world that Ukrainians aren’t caving to Satan or Putin or anyone else. More than that, in almost every photo you see of them, they’re smiling.

Look at Yarina and Sviatoslav, the young couple who moved their wedding day forward so they could spend their honeymoon fighting the Russians. Do you see those crowns on the table? In the Christian East, the bride and groom both get one. They symbolize the “crown of life” Christ gives to His martyrs (Revelation 2:10). The husband and wife die to themselves, each for the other’s sake, becoming one flesh. Badass.

Meanwhile, I’m sure most Americans — including most Christians — will spend the next forty days doomscrolling on Facebook. But maybe instead we should actually do something useful. Why not spend this Lent fasting and praying for peace in Ukraine?

I know, I know. For most Americans, “thoughts and prayers” has become a punchline. But the thing is, Christians really believe that God hears and answers us. “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers,” St. Peter wrote, “but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”

Protestants can join in. They fast, too. They just believe fasting should be an individual’s choice, not something mandated by a church. But why not choose to fast now? Join with your fellow Christians in praying for our brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe.

In fact, virtually every religion believes in fasting of some sort: Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, even vegetarians. And who knows? If we learn how to fast, we may become happy warriors like Yarina and Sviatoslav.

So turn off your phone, put down the fork, and start praying. You won’t like it at first, but push through. “The very notion of being religious implies self-denial,” wrote Cardinal Newman, “because by nature we do not love religion.”

He’s right. Fasting — like love, like war — is hard. But if we fight the good fight, finish the course and keep the faith, we’ll win the crown.