Saturday evening until communion on Sunday morning. If you structure your Saturday
evening such that all overt sources of temptation are removed (TV, movies, games,
parties, etc.) and are replaced with spiritually beneficial activities (participation in vigil;
the service of preparation, including canons and akathists; spiritual reading; prayer;
psalmody; spiritual conversation; etc.) then you will have gone a long ways toward
avoiding sin. This is all very simple to do - except for the fact that one must deny oneself
to accomplish all this. In the "wisdom" of the world, Saturday night is a night of parties
and entertainment and leisure and mindless activity. It is hard to rule out all these things
and concentrate only on the fact that you will be receiving in yourself He Who is an all
consuming purifying fire, He Who is the Creator of All, He Who is Uncontainable; you
are about to encounter God face to face. Read carefully the prayers and hymns that are
appointed to be said in preparation and choose those images (they are many) which create
in your soul the most beneficial effects. Use those images (verbal icons) as a framework
to which you conform your mind and thoughts. If this is your Saturday night activity,
then you will be able to keep yourself far from sin.
St Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church, 872 N 29th St, Boise ID
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