As part of the process of electing a new Pope, the Coptic Church calls on all its members to observe the following fasts:
A three-day fast on October 1-3.
A three-day fast on November 19-20,
A three-day fast on November 26-28
On 2 December, one of three final nominees will be chosen by a blindfolded child, in accordance with Coptic papal tradition following mass at St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's Abbasiya district.
As part of the process of electing a new Pope, the Coptic Church calls on all its members to observe the following fasts:
A three-day fast on October 1-3.
A three-day fast on November 19-20,
A three-day fast on November 26-28
On 2 December, one of three final nominees will be chosen by a blindfolded child, in accordance with Coptic papal tradition following mass at St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's Abbasiya district.
"And prayer needs fasting for its full growth: this is the second lesson. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible. In nothing is man more closely connected with the world of sense than in his need of food, and his enjoyment of it. It was the fruit, good for food, with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise. It was with bread to be made of stones that Jesus, when an hungered, was tempted in the wilderness, and in fasting that He triumphed. The body has been redeemed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit; it is in body as well as spirit, it is very specially, Scripture says, in eating and drinking, we are to glorify God. It is to be feared that there are many Christians to whom this eating to the glory of God has not yet become a spiritual reality. And the first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer, is, that it is only in a life of moderation and temperance and self-denial that there will be the heart or the strength to pray much." M.Murray
"And prayer needs fasting for its full growth: this is the second lesson. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible. In nothing is man more closely connected with the world of sense than in his need of food, and his enjoyment of it. It was the fruit, good for food, with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise. It was with bread to be made of stones that Jesus, when an hungered, was tempted in the wilderness, and in fasting that He triumphed. The body has been redeemed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit; it is in body as well as spirit, it is very specially, Scripture says, in eating and drinking, we are to glorify God. It is to be feared that there are many Christians to whom this eating to the glory of God has not yet become a spiritual reality. And the first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer, is, that it is only in a life of moderation and temperance and self-denial that there will be the heart or the strength to pray much." M.Murray