St John Chrysostom on true fasting
This is a long quotation, but very profitable to read. It
explains the purpose of fasting, the proper attitude towards it, its effects on
our spiritual state, and how fasting not done in the right spirit is actually
injurious to us.
Fasting is a help to
us; we should approach fasts with expectation of spiritual
improvement.
7. Let us not then despair of our safety, but let us pray;
let us make invocation; let us supplicate; let us go on embassy to the King
that is above with many tears! We have this fast too as an ally, and as an
assistant in this good intercession.
Therefore, as when the winter is over and the summer is
appearing, the sailor draws his vessel to the deep; and the soldier burnishes
his arms, and makes ready his steed for the battle; and the husbandman sharpens
his sickle; and the traveler boldly undertakes a long journey, and the wrestler
strips and bares himself for the contest.
So too, when the fast makes its appearance, like a kind
of spiritual summer, let us as soldiers burnish our weapons; and as
husbandmen let us sharpen our sickle; and as sailors let us order our thoughts
against the waves of extravagant desires; and as travelers let us set out on
the journey towards heaven; and as wrestlers let us strip for the contest. For
the believer is at once a husbandman, and a sailor, and a soldier, a wrestler,
and a traveler.
Hence St. Paul saith, “We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers. Put on therefore the
whole amour of God.” Eph. vi. 12.
Hast thou observed the wrestler? Hast thou observed the
soldier? If thou art a wrestler, it is necessary for thee to engage in the
conflict naked. If a soldier, it behooves thee to stand in the battle line
armed at all points. How then are both these things possible, to be naked, and
yet not naked; to be clothed, and yet not clothed! How? I will tell thee.
Divest thyself of worldly business, and thou hast become a wrestler. Put on the
spiritual amour, and thou hast become a soldier. Strip thyself of worldly
cares, for the season is one of wrestling. Clothe thyself with the spiritual
amour, for we have a heavy warfare to wage with demons. Therefore also it is
needful we should be naked, so as to offer nothing that the devil may take hold
of, while he is wrestling with us; and to be fully armed at all points, so as
on no side to receive a deadly blow.
Cultivate thy soul.
Cut away the thorns.
Sow the word of godliness.
Propagate and nurse with much
care the fair plants of divine wisdom, and thou hast become a husbandman.
And Paul will say to thee, “The husbandman that
laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.” 2
Tim. ii. 6. He too himself
practiced this art. Therefore writing to the Corinthians, he said, “I
have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” 1
Cor. iii. 6.
Spiritual and
physical effects of Fasting.
Sharpen thy sickle, which thou hast blunted through
gluttony—sharpen it by fasting. Lay hold of the pathway which leads
towards heaven; rugged and narrow as it is, lay hold of it, and journey on.
And how mayest thou be able to do these things? By
subduing thy body, and bringing it into subjection. For when the way grows
narrow, the corpulence that comes of gluttony is a great hindrance.
Keep down the waves of inordinate
desires.
Repel the tempest of evil
thoughts.
Preserve the boat; display much
skill, and thou hast become a pilot.
But we shall have the fast for a
groundwork and instructor in all these things.
Real Fasting: from
meat and sins.
8. I speak not, indeed, of such a fast as most persons
keep, but of real fasting ; not merely an abstinence from meats; but from sins
too. For the nature of a fast is such, that it does not suffice to deliver
those who practice it, unless it be done according to a suitable law.
“For the wrestler,” it is said, “is not crowned unless he
strive lawfully.” 2
Tim. ii. 5.
Why do we fast after
the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee?
To the end then, that when we have gone through the labor
of fasting, we forfeit not the crown of fasting, we should understand how, and
after what manner, it is necessary to conduct this business; since that
Pharisee also fasted, Luke
xviii. 12. but afterwards went down
empty, and destitute of the fruit of fasting. The Publican fasted not; and
yet he was accepted in preference to him who had fasted; in order that thou
mayest learn that fasting is unprofitable, except all other duties follow
with it.
The Ninevites fasted, and won the favor of God. Jonah
iii. 10. The Jews, fasted too, and
profited nothing, nay, they departed with blame. Isa.
lviii. 3, 7; 1 Cor. ix. 26.
Since then the danger in fasting is so great to those who
do not know how they ought to fast, we should learn the laws of this exercise,
in order that we may not “run uncertainly,” nor “beat the
air,” nor while we are fighting contend with a shadow.
Fasting is a medicine; but a medicine, though it be
never so profitable, becomes frequently useless owing to the unskilfulness of
him who employs it. For it is necessary to know, moreover, the time when it
should be applied, and the requisite quantity of it; and the temperament of
body that admits it; and the nature of the country, and the season of the year;
and the corresponding diet; as well as various other particulars; any of which,
if one overlooks, he will mar all the rest that have been named. Now if, when
the body needs healing, such exactness is required on our part, much more ought
we, when our care is about the soul, and we seek to heal the distempers of the
mind, to look, and to search into every particular with the utmost
accuracy.
…
Admonition - Dost
thou fast? Give me proof of it by thy works!.
11. I have said these things, not that we may disparage
fasting, but that we may honor fasting; for the honor of fasting consists not
in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who
limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially
disparages it.
Dost thou fast? Give me proof of it by thy
works!
Is it said by what kind of works?
If thou seest a poor man,
take pity on him!
If thou seest in enemy, be
reconciled to him!
If thou seest a friend
gaining honor, envy him not!
If thou seest a handsome
woman, pass her by!
For let not the mouth only
fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the
members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by
being pure from rapine and avarice.
Let the feet fast, by
ceasing from running to the unlawful spectacles.
Let the eyes fast, being
taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy
themselves with strange beauties.
Fasting for all the
senses explained
For looking is the food of the eyes, but if this be
such as is unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety
of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be
among things the most absurd to abstain from lawful food because of the fast,
but with the eyes to touch even what is forbidden. Dost thou not eat flesh?
Feed not upon lasciviousness by means of the eyes.
Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear
consists in refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. “Thou shalt
not receive a false report,” it says.
12. Let the mouth too fast from disgraceful
speeches and railing. For what doth it profit if we abstain from birds and
fishes; and yet bite and devour our brethren? The evil speaker eateth the flesh
of his brother, and biteth the body of his neighbor.
Because of this Paul utters the fearful saying, “If
ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of
another.” Gal.
v. 15. Thou hast not fixed thy
teeth in the flesh, but thou hast fixed the slander in the soul, and inflicted
the wound of evil suspicion; thou hast harmed, in a thousand ways, thyself and
him, and many others, for in slandering a neighbor thou hast made him who
listens to the slander worse…