site.btaBulgarian Patriarch Daniil Addresses Bulgarians at Start of Nativity Fast

Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil addressed Bulgarians at the beginning of Nativity Fast on Friday, the Bulgarian Patriarchate said. Nativity Fast in Eastern Orthodoxy is observed from November 15 to December 24, inclusively.

"Through the ascetic effort of fasting and the profound content of liturgical texts and hymns dedicated to the forthcoming great feast, the holy Church shows us that in our daily life, filled with many everyday topics and problems, we must leave free space for prayer to God, for thinking and acting according to God," he said.

"Let us enter into the ascetic effort of fasting humbly and in good cheer, keeping before our eyes its ultimate goal – to purify our hearts from impious and vain thoughts and deeds, and to unite with God in the of the Church. In this let us be helped by sincere penance and confession, by attentive prayer, by abstinence from evil deeds, by almsgiving to the needy, by accepting with thanksgiving the Holy Bloodless Sacrifice,” Patriarch Daniil added.