The Fast of Jonah

On Monday, February 14, 2011, the Coptic Orthodox Church begins the Fast of Jonah, a three-day fast that commemorates the fast of Jonah the Prophet while he was in the belly of the great fish. In the Christian tradition, these three days are type (a symbol or parallel) of the three days our Lord Jesus Christ spent in the tomb.

St. John Chrysostom contrasts our Lord Jesus Christ with the figure of Jonah the Prophet in his Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew 43:2:

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. They were barbarians, but these – the faithful – have conversed with unnumbered prophets. And of Jonah nothing had been prophesied in advance, but of me everything was foretold, and all the facts have agreed with their words. And Jonah indeed, when he was to go forth, instead ran away that he might not be ridiculed. But I, knowing that I am both to be crucified and mocked, have come nonetheless. While Jonah did not endure so much as to be reproached for those who were saved, I underwent even death, and that the most shameful death, and after this I sent others again. And Jonah was a strange sort of person and an alien to the Ninevites, and unknown; but I a kinsman after the flesh and of the same forefathers.

During these three days, the Church calls Her faithful to reflect on their sins and turn away from them as the people of Nineveh did after Jonah was sent to them. We should also reflect on the boundless mercy of God in relenting from the destruction He promised to the Ninevites. This, in turn, is a reminder of God’s boundless mercy in His Divine Plan of salvation for mankind, especially as manifested in His glorious Resurrection.

Quote: [Jonah] flung himself into the deep of sorrow; hence, he is tossed by the waves…and is cast into the sea and swallowed, but not destroyed, by the [great fish]. But there he ‎calls upon God, and, marvelous as it is, on the third day he, like Christ, is delivered.

Quote Author: St. Gregory Nazianzen

Season Date: February 14-16, 2011

The Fast of Jonah and the Remembrance of Our Martyrs.mp3

7.8 MB