What is it about this fast for the Holy Theotokos that draws the Coptic Orthodox faithful with such fervor? This article provides an overview to the Fast for our Lady the Virgin. May her intercessions be with us all, Amen.
The Church celebrates the fast of our Lady the Virgin beginning with the first of Mesra (the 7th of August). It is a fast for which people care very much, and they practice it with forceful ascetism. Some add days to it, in regard to the great love that people have for the Holy Virgin.
The fast of The Virgin is an occasion for spiritual renaissance in the majority of churches. They prepare a spiritual program for daily sermons, and some churches have daily liturgies as well, even the churches which are not in the of The Virgin.
There is a great feast for our Lady the Virgin, which is celebrated in her ancient church in Mostorod. Feasts of other saints are also celebrated in these days: the feast of Saint George, at the monastery in Mit Damsis, is celebrated in the second half of August, and also the feast of saint Abba Macarius the Great, and the feast of Saint George in his monastery at Ruzeykat.
Around the same fast of The Virgin, we celebrate the feasts of reknowned saints: Saint Baïssa (2 Misra, 6 August), Saint Julita (6 Misra, 12 August), and Saint Marina (15 Misra, 21 August). During the fast of The Virgin, we also celebrate the feast of the glorious Transfiguration (13 Misra, 19 August). In the same month (7 Misra, 13 August), we celebrate the Feast of the Announcement by the angel Gabriel to Joachim regarding the birth of the Virgin Mary.
The feast of the Virgin is not the only occasion on which the Church celebrates the feasts of the Virgin, but more is celebrated in the month of Kiahk, which is full of hymns, doxologies, and psalms for the Saint Virgin Mary. Copts in Egypt take part in the fast of The Virgin in a manner that exceeds deion.
There are many who fast it ascetically, eating only water and salt, or without oil. Many add a third week to it, as a kind of vow. There are also those who vow to fast this fast without eating or drinking until nighttime, until the appearance of the stars in heaven.
What then is the secret behind this care?
First: The love of Copts for the Virgin who had visited and blessed their country, and left her traces in numerous places where churches have been built.
Second: The multiple miracles that happened in Egypt through the intercession of our Lady the Virgin, made many people optimistic to build churches dedicated to her . The apparition of the Virgin in her church at Zeitoun, and the many miracles that accompanied this apparition, have certainly increased the affection of the Copts for the Virgin, and for the fast which bears her .
* Taken from the larger work, "The Holy Virgin St. Mary", also available at coepa.org
