Fast of Nineveh
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| Fast of the Ninevites ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝ̈ܐ | |
|---|---|
| Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found. Jonah preaches to the Ninevites | |
| Official name | Script error: No such module "Lang". |
| Observed by | Assyrian Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Church of the East Syro-Malabar Church Chaldean Catholic Church[1] Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch[2] Malabar Independent Syrian Church Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Mar Thoma Syrian Church Syriac Orthodox Church Coptic Orthodox Church[3] Ethiopian Orthodox Church Eritrean Orthodox Church |
| Type | Christian |
| Begins | Monday of the third week before Lent |
| Ends | Thursday of the third week before Lent (i.e. feast day) |
| 2026 date | 26–28 January |
| Duration | 3 days |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Great Lent |
In Syriac Christianity, the Fast of Nineveh (Template:Langx Script error: No such module "lang"., literally "Petition of the Ninevites") is a three-day fast starting the third Monday before Clean Monday from Sunday evening after sun set to Wednesday noon, during which participants usually abstain from all dairy foods and meat products. However, some observe the fast more rigorously and abstain from food and drink altogether from Sunday midnight to Wednesday after Holy Qurbana, which is celebrated before noon.
The three day fast of Nineveh commemorates the three days that Prophet Jonah spent inside the belly of the Great Fish and the subsequent repentance with fasting from food and water performed by the Ninevites at the warning message of the prophet Jonah (cf. Script error: No such module "Bibleverse".).[13]
Biblical basis
The Prophet Jonah appears in 2 Kings aka 4 Kings, and is thus thought to have been active around 786–746 BC.[14] The text of Jonah 3 holds that after the prophet warned the people of Nineveh for the second time, they repented by fasting from food and water, along with wearing ashes and sackcloth.[15] For this reason, the passage relates how God spared the Ninevites.[15]
According to John Boardman, a possible scenario which facilitated the Ninevites’ acceptance of Jonah's preaching is the reign of Ashur-dan III of the Neo-Assyrian Empire having an outbreak of plague in 765 BC, a revolt from 763-759 BC, and another plague epidemic right after. These documented events suggest Jonah's words were given credibility and adhered to, with everyone including animals and children fasting from food and water.[16]
History
Assyrian Church of the East
As the patriarch Joseph (552–556/567 AD) (Template:Langx) had been deposed, Ezekiel (Template:Langx) was selected to replace him in the Church of the East, much to the joy of the emperor Khusrow Anushirwan who loved him and held him in high esteem.[17] A mighty plague devastated Assyria and Southern Mesopotamia with the Sassanian authorities unable to curb its spread and the dead littered the streets, in particular the imperial capital Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Template:Langx) The metropolitans of the East Syriac ecclesiastical provinces of Adiabene (Template:Langx "Ḥdāyaḇ", encompassing the Assyrian cities of Arbela (Erbil), Nineveh, Assur, Hakkari and Adhorbayjan) and Beth Garmaï (Template:Langx "Bēṯ Garmai", encompassing Karka ( Kirkuk) and the surrounding region) called for services of prayer, fasting and penitence to be held in all the churches under their jurisdiction, as was believed to have been done by the Ninevites following the preaching of the prophet Jonah.
Following its success, the tradition has been strictly adhered to every year by the descendants of the Assyrian Church of the East, its offshoots[citation needed] the Chaldean Catholic Church and Ancient Church of the East, and Syriac Orthodox Church. Patriarchs of the Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church also called for extra fasts[when?] in an effort to alleviate the suffering and affliction of those persecuted by ISIS in the region of Nineveh and the rest of the Middle East.[citation needed]
Other Churches
Although the fast of the Ninevites was originally observed in the Assyrian Church of the East, Marutha of Tikrit is known to have imposed the Fast of Nineveh in the West Syriac Church, and served as Maphrian of the Syriac Orthodox Maphrianate of the East until his death on 2 May 649.[18]
In the days of Pope Abraham of Alexandria (who was ethnically Syrian), the Coptic Orthodox Church adopted the fast, from which it spread to the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, all of which still retain its observance.[19][20]
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Liturgical Year of the Chaldean Church".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Antiochan Syriac Maronite Church FAQ - Beith Souryoye Morounoye". beith-morounoye.org.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coptic Fasts & Feasts – Coptic Orthodox". Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Calendar 3015". soc-wus.netfirms.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."February Calendar of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch". Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch - Archdiocese of the Western United States. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."January Calendar of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch". Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch- Archdiocese of the Western United States. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coptic Fasts & Feasts 2020 A.D. / 1736–1737 A.M." Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Archived from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coptic Fasts & Feasts 2021 A.D. / 1737–1738 A.M." Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Archived from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Calendar". Assyrian Church News.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Liturgical Seasons – Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle U.S.A".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coptic Fasts & Feasts 2022 A.D. / 1738–1739 A.M." Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coptic Fasts & Feasts 2023 A.D. / 1739–1740 A.M." Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Archived from the original on 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Three Day Fast of Nineveh". Syrian Orthodox Church (retrieved from the Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 2011-02-13.
- ^ Script error: No such module "Bibleverse".
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bromiley, Geoffrey William (1979). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 1115–1116. ISBN 978-0-8028-3782-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Boardman, John (1982). The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. III Part I: The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0521224963. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ Chronicle of Seert, ii. 100–101
- ^ Barsoum, Ignatius Aphrem I (2003). Matti Moosa, ed. The Scattered Pearls: The History of Syriac Literature and Sciences Script error: No such module "webarchive"./1.jpg
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."صوم يونان طريق توبة وغفران جمع بين الطوائف المسيحية". www.albawabhnews.com. 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Jonahs Fast". St. Verena American Coptic Orthodox Church. Retrieved 2026-03-30.
