Jonah and Nineveh Lent

About The Fast of Nineveh

by George Andraws, Coptic Orthodox Church

The fast of Jonah is a fast that is practiced by the Syriac Orthodox Church from ancient days. Based on that, our church chose it at the time of Pope Abraam, the 62nd Pope of Alexandria. This fast was organized by the fathers of the church as a sign of their love and unity in the orthodox faith. The church accepted it without change. It is well known that Pope Abraam is the person responsible for moving the Mokatam mountain.

This fast is practiced by the church for the following reasons:

To resemble the people of Nineveh, who have been warned by God that their city would be destroyed in forty days. He gave this warning through His prophet Jonah, and they fasted with real eagerness, crying to God that He would have mercy on them and forgive them, so God forgave them. And that is why we fast for three days, in preparation for the blessings and mercy of God.

In order to remember the mercy of God and His compassion towards sinners.

The church fasts for three days in order to remember the prophet Jonah and his being in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. We also fast this fast because we see an example of a similar one in the New Testament, when the multitudes, which followed Jesus, fasted for three days before He fed them (Matthew 15:32).

This fast comes after Epiphany (or Theophany) and before the Great Lent. This is why the church treats it with the same order as the Great Lent.

MAY THE BLESSINGS OF THIS FAST BE WITH ALL OF US. AMEN.

See Also:

Nineveh Fast
by HH Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch and All The East
Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church

The Lent of Jonah
by Bar Eto briro Dr. D Babu Paul

The History of the Three Days Lent in Syriac Orthodox Church
by Rev. Fr. Dr. Biji Chirathilattu

Prophet Jonah
by Very Rev. Joseph C. Joseph Corepiscopa

The Story of Jonah

Sermons, Bible Commentaries and Bible Analyses for Nineveh Lent

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