Patriarch’s Irinej’s Homily for the beginning of the Nativity Fast

On November 27, 2018, the eve of the beginning of the Nativity Fast (old calendar), Patriarch Irinej of Serbia delivered this short homily in Belgrade St. Michael’s Cathedral: « The commandment of the fast is one of the first divine commandments : do not eat from the tree of knowledge. The Lord Himself, at the beginning of His mission, fasted for forty days, thus giving us the example. When we speak