| Fast of the Ninevites ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝ̈ܐ | |
|---|---|
 Jonah preaches to the Ninevites | |
| Official name | ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝܐ |
| Observed by | Assyrian Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Church of the East Syro-Malabar Church Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch[1] Malabar Independent Syrian Church Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Mar Thoma Syrian Church Syriac Orthodox Church Coptic Orthodox Church[2] Ethiopian Orthodox Church Eritrean Orthodox Church |
| Type | Christian |
| Begins | Monday of the third week beforeLent |
| Ends | Thursday of the third week beforeLent (i.e. feast day) |
| 2024 date | 22-24 January (Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Christian Churches, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Chaldean Catholic Church)[3][4] ,Syriac Orthodox Church |
| 2025 date | 10-12 February |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Great Lent |
InSyriac Christianity, theFast of Nineveh (Classical Syriac:ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝ̈ܐBā'ūṯā ḏ-Ninwāyē, literally "Petition of the Ninevites") is a three-day fast starting the third Monday beforeClean Monday from Sunday Midnight 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 afterHoly Qurbana, which is celebrated before noon.
The three day fast of Nineveh commemorates the three days that ProphetJonah spent inside the belly of the Great Fish and the subsequent repentance with fasting from food and water performed by theNinevites at the warning message of the prophetJonah (cf.Jonah 3).[14]
Theprophet Jonah appears in2 Kings aka 4 Kings and is therefore thought to have been active around 786–746 BC.[15] The biblical text ofJonah 3 holds that after the prophet Jonah warned those inhabitingNineveh for the second time, its inhabitants repented, fasting from food and water, along with wearing ashes andsackcloth.[16] For this reason, God spared theNinevites according to the text.[16]
According to John Boardman, a possible scenario which facilitated the acceptance of Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites is that the reign ofAshur-dan III saw a plague break out in 765 BC, revolt from 763-759 BC and another plague at the end of the revolt. These documented events suggest that Jonah's words were given credibility and adhered to, with everyone fasting from food and water, including animals and children.[17]
As thepatriarchJoseph (552–556/567 AD) (Classical Syriac:ܝܘܣܦ) had been deposed,Ezekiel (Classical Syriac:ܚܙܩܝܐܝܠ) was selected to replace him in the Church of the East, much to the joy of the emperorKhusrow Anushirwan who loved him and held him in high esteem.[18] A mighty plague devastatedMesopotamia with theSassanian authorities unable to curb its spread and the dead littered the streets, in particular the imperial capitalSeleucia-Ctesiphon (Classical Syriac:ܣܠܝܩ ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ) The metropolitans of theEast Syriacecclesiastical provinces ofAdiabene (Classical Syriac:ܚܕܝܐܒ "Ḥdāyaḇ", encompassingArbil,Nineveh,Hakkari andAdhorbayjan) andBeth Garmaï (Classical Syriac:ܒܝܬ ܓܪ̈ܡܝ "Bēṯ Garmai", encompassingKirkuk 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 theChurch of the East (Assyrian Church of the East,Chaldean Catholic Church, and the others).Patriarchs of the Church of the East andChaldean Catholic Church also called for extra fasts[when?] in an effort to alleviate thesuffering and affliction of those persecuted by ISIS in the region of Nineveh and the rest of the Middle East.[citation needed]
Although the fast of the Ninevites was originally observed in theChurch of the East,Marutha of Tikrit is known to have imposed the Fast of Nineveh in theWest Syriac Church, and served asMaphrian of theSyriac Orthodox Maphrianate of the East until his death on 2 May 649.[19]
In the days ofPope Abraham of Alexandria (who was ethnically Syrian), theCoptic Orthodox Church adopted the fast, from which it spread to theEthiopian andEritrean Orthodox Churches, all of which still retain its observance.
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