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The Fast of Nineveh

The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch tradition attaches great significance to the Fast of Ninevities and three days of Jonah the prophet, which is followed by the Sunday of the departed priests and the Sunday of faithful departed before we enter the Great Lent. The story of Jonah the prophet and Nineveh people is written in this site as it is in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament. (In fact, all we know about Jonah himself comes just from his book and a single reference to him in 2Kings 14:25.) Succinctly put, the Church sees within this book's simple story an icon of Christ symbolically represented.

The Example Of Jonah
We begin by reading God’s call to Jonah to go and preach to the inhabitants of Nineveh in. Jonah 1:1-3

The reason Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh was because he knew that God was merciful and compassionate, and since the people living in Nineveh (the Assyrians) were enemies of Israel, Jonah did not want to associate with them or see them saved. In other words, Jonah did not want to preach in Nineveh because not only were they not Jewish but they were also enemies of the Jewish faith.

However, God did not allow Jonah to run away from His call. Instead God caused a major storm to arise and threaten the safety of the ship. Realizing that he was the reason for the storm and not wanting the people on board to perish, Jonah insisted that he be thrown overboard. Once in the sea, God commanded a large fish to swallow Jonah. While in the belly of the fish Jonah cried out to God to save him. Hearing Jonah's cry, God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah up on dry land. After Jonah's ordeal in the fish, he obeyed God's command and preached to the people living in Nineveh. Even though Jonah obeyed God, he still did not do it motivated by love or mercy for the people in Nineveh. To see this let us read what happened between Jonah and God after Jonah finished preaching in the city of Nineveh.

Let us notice the following verses, Jonah 3:10-4:11

• 10 … Because the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah’s preaching, God did not bring upon them the destruction that He had threatened.

• 2 … This was the very reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He knew that God would do this. In other words, even with seeing God’s blessing being extended to the people of Nineveh, Jonah was still angry. He obviously went and preached in Nineveh out of pure obedience to God, that is as a sacrifice not out of love or concern for the people. Remember, to get him to go, God had a large fish swallow Jonah for three days and nights. In other words, Jonah got the message that he was to go to Nineveh, but he was not happy about it.

• 6 … In order to teach Jonah and us of how wrong an attitude this is, God first provided Jonah a vine to shade him from the scorching wind.

• 7-8 … Then God took the vine away so that the heat and wind would bear down upon Jonah’s head. As a result, Jonah became very angry because he no longer had the comfort from the shade of the vine.

• 9-11 … In other words, God was revealing to Jonah and us that he, Jonah, had more concern for something that provided him comfort or relief than he did for a multitude of people who were lost and about to perish. To see this, prayerfully read what our Lord said in verses 10 and 11.

How could such a "cute" story about an unwilling prophet who gets swallowed by a fish when he tries to escape doing God's will carry such a profound meaning? Unlike other prophetic books, the Book of Jonah does not contain "words of prophecy," as such, but rather it tells a tale of Jonah's personal encounter with the Lord. Using a story motif, Jonah's prophecy speaks to us not with words but with symbols as we saw. Reading these symbols spiritually, we behold the mystery of salvation in Christ exemplified in imagistic types. Indeed, it is no wonder that this book also portrays a unique instance in the Old Testament of God's love and concern not just for His own people, Israel, but for a nation of Gentiles who were actually Israel's enemies. Here again we find an archetype of Christ's mission of salvation extending beyond Israel to embrace the whole world, all the enemies of God.

The core of the message is that we shall not be judgmental in our approach. Let us concentrate on this aspect week to eliminate the tendency in us to judge others by our standards. Let God judge. Let us become conduits of his mercy and compassion, and remove from our personality whatever blocks and barricades we have erected knowingly or unknowingly which go block God's unending compassion" (Dr. D. Babu Paul) //www.socdigest.org

NINEVEH’S FAST
The Syriac Orthodox Church called this fast after Nineveh because the Ninevites were the first to practice such a fast praying for God’s mercy and forgiveness. This fast used to be six days, but now is only three days starting on the third Monday which precedes Lent. The three day fast of Nineveh commemorates the three days that Prophet Jonah spent inside the fish. The Fast of Nineveh is ritualistically similar to the Fast of the Great Lent.

Historically, This fast is one of the most rigorously observed fasts in the Syriac Orthodox Church, and is unique to this Church. Began to be practiced in our Church at least towards the fourth century A.D. This can be inferred from the writings and hymns composed by St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373). Mor Dionysius Bar Salibi (+1171) states that Mor Marutha of Tikrit (+649) was the one who enjoined it on the Church of the East first in the region of Nineveh. Mor Gregorios Bar Hebraeus states that the confirmation of this fast was due to the crises the Church went through in Hirat. The Syriac people there fasted three days and three nights, praying constantly according to the demand of their bishop, and they were rescued from their ordeal by God.

Afterward, the fast of Nineveh passed to other Oriental Churches such as Coptic and Armenian. The Copts did the same during the reign of the sixty-second Patriarch of Alexandria, Anba Abram Zaraa the Syrian. The Armenians adopted this practice of the Syrians, calling it Sourp Sarkis.

This fast is highly favored among faithful. In this fast, faithful traditionally refrain from food and drink for three consecutive days, from Monday till Wednesday! Some faithful abstain from food and drink throughout the three days, receiving Holy Communion on the third day and continuing to eat fasting food until Thursday morning. The rest of the faithful abstain from having food till noon or till late afternoon and afterwards eat fasting food. The church enjoins all faithful to at least refrain from meat, fish and dairy products during the period of this fast. Prayers which are sung to melodies of Lent usually accompany this fast.

Usually the faithful who kept this fast are urged to attend the Divine Liturgy on Wednesday, and receive the Holy Qurbono (the Communion). During this fast it is mandatory that we observe the feast carry out the celebration of the Holy Liturgy in the morning as usual. The prayers of Nineveh’s Fast are then said at noon. Abstinence from food ends directly after the Liturgy by eating fasting food.

St. Ephraim the Syrian says: "They are no more, the waters of that sea — which were tempestuous, and boiled against Jonah, — and plunged into the depths the Son of Matai. — Though he fled he was bound in the prison-house; — God cast him in and bound him — in dungeon within dungeon; — for he bound him in the sea. — and He bound him in the fish. — For him Grace stood surety, — and she opened the prison and brought forth the preacher."

St. Gregory of Nanzianzen says: "Jonah was fleeing from the face of God, or rather, thought that he was fleeing: but ‎he was overtaken by the sea, and the storm, and the lot, and the whale’s belly, and the ‎three days’ entombment, the type of a greater mystery. He fled from having to announce ‎the dread and awful message to the Ninevites, and from being subsequently, if the city ‎was saved by repentance, convicted of falsehood: not that he was displeased at the ‎salvation of the wicked, but he was ashamed of being made an instrument of falsehood, ‎and exceedingly zealous for the credit of prophecy, which was in danger of being ‎destroyed in his person, since most men are unable to penetrate the depth of the Divine ‎dispensation in such cases.‎"

St. John Chrysostom says: “For Jonah was a servant, but I am the Master; and he came forth from the great fish, but I rose from death. He proclaimed destruction, but I am come preaching the good tidings of the kingdom. The Ninevites indeed believed without a sign, but I have exhibited many signs. They heard nothing more than those words, but I have made it impossible to deny the truth. The Ninevites came to be ministered to, but I, the very Master and Lord of all, have come not threatening, not demanding an account, but bringing pardon.”

Augustin: Jonah’s building for himself a booth, and sitting down over against Nineveh, waiting to see what would befall the city, the prophet was here in his own person the symbol of another fact. He prefigured the carnal people of Israel. For he also was grieved at the salvation of the Ninevites, that is, at the redemption and deliverance of the Gentiles, from among whom Christ came to call, not righteous men, but sinners to repentance.

 Hymns from Sh'heemo
(Syriac Orthodox Book of Daily Prayer)

The Ninevites trembled at the voice of Jonah, the son of Matay, and took refuge in penitence by watching, fasting and prayer; and by tears and groans the sentence of judgment pronounced by Jonah concerning the destruction of Nineveh was annulled. Blessed be the Compassionate one who turned them from evil to good. (Thursday Evening Prayer)

God, who heard the prayer of the son of Matay in the sea and commanded the mighty fish to cast him up in three days, hear our prayer and be reconciled with us and respond in your mercy to our requests; and if we have angered you, there are those who will reconcile you with us, the just who died for your love (Wednesday Morning Prayer).