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People who are far from the Church, as well as little churched Christians, tirelessly ask themselves the question: Why is it necessary to fast?
Simple answers do not suit them. They need detailed explanations. And in order for us to give the correct answers, we ourselves must know the deep importance of observing fasting days.
Olga Rozhneva prepared an excellent selection of answers and instructions from the Optina Elders about the importance and necessity of fasting, the impact of fasting on health, how to fast correctly, and other aspects of fasting life are also touched upon in the article.
AT monasteries, there are no questions about fasting, but people living in the world are often at a loss: how to fast when colleagues or family members do not fast, when you need to work full time and get to work a lot of time, when sickness and infirmity, fatigue and stress?
The Optina elders considered fasting very important and gave many instructions about fasting and abstinence.
Why do we fast
The Monk Ambrose wrote about the necessity of fasting:
“We can see the need for fasting in the Gospels and, firstly, from the example of the Lord Himself, who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, although He was God and had no need for this. Secondly, to the question of His disciples why they could not cast out a demon from a man, the Lord answered: “Because of your unbelief,” and then he added: “This kind cannot come out except through prayer and fasting” (Mk. 9:29).
In addition, there is an indication in the Gospel that we must fast on Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday the Lord was handed over to be crucified, and on Friday he was crucified.”
The elder explained why we abstain from fast food during fasting:
“Food is not filthy. It does not defile, but fattens the human body. And the holy Apostle Paul says: “If our outer man smolders, then the inner one is renewed from day to day” (2 Cor. 4:16). He called the outer man the body, and the inner soul.
The Monk Barsanuphius reminded us that if we please the flesh, then its needs grow incredibly fast and suppress any spiritual movement of the soul:
“The proverb is true: “The more you eat, the more you want.” If we only quench our hunger and thirst and get busy or pray, food will not distract us from our work. This I have experienced myself.
If we please the flesh, then its needs grow incredibly fast, so that they suppress any spiritual movement of the soul.
Is fasting bad for health?
Elder Ambrose taught:
“Of course, it’s a different matter if someone breaks the fast due to illness and bodily weakness. And those who are healthy from fasting are healthier and kinder, and moreover, they are more durable, although they look skinny. With fasting and abstinence, the flesh does not rebel so much, and sleep does not overcome so much, and empty thoughts crawl into the head less, and spiritual books are more readily read and more understood.
The Monk Barsanuphius also explained to his children that fasting not only does not harm health, but, on the contrary, preserves it:
“But the commandments of the Lord are not burdensome. The Orthodox Church is not our stepmother, but a kind, loving mother. She orders us, for example, to observe a moderate fast, and it does not in the least harm health, but, on the contrary, preserves it.
And good doctors, even unbelievers, now argue that it is harmful to eat meat all the time: vegetable food is needed from time to time - that is, in other words, fasting is prescribed. Now, in Moscow and other big cities, vegetarian canteens are being set up to give the stomach a rest from meat. On the contrary, due to the constant use of meat food, all sorts of diseases occur.
Should the sick fast?
There are cases of such bodily infirmities when fasting is not harmful, but, on the contrary, is useful. Elder Barsanuphius gave an example from his pastoral practice, when a sick woman did not observe fasts, fearing deterioration in her health and even death. But when she began to fast on the advice of the elder, she not only did not die, but completely recovered:
“Two spouses from a merchant family came to me, leading a pious life. He is a healthy man, but his wife was constantly ill and never observed fasts. I tell her
“Start fasting, and everything will pass.
She answers:
“What if I die from fasting?” Such an experience is scary.
“Don’t die,” I answer, “but get better.”
Indeed, the Lord helped her. She began to observe the fasts established by the Church and is now completely healthy, as they say, “blood with milk.”
To a sick child who did not want to break the fast, Elder Ambrose answered:
“I received your letter. If your conscience does not agree to use fasting for you, although due to illness, then you should not despise or force your conscience. Humble food cannot heal you from illness, and therefore afterward you will be embarrassed that you acted contrary to the good promptings of your conscience. It is better to choose from lean food for yourself nutritious and digestible for your stomach.
It happens that some sick people eat fast food as a medicine during fasting, and then they repent of this, that due to illness they violated the rules of the Holy Church on fasting. But everyone needs to look and act according to his own conscience and consciousness, and in accordance with the mood of his spirit, so as not to upset himself even more with confusion and double-mindedness.
However, diseases and infirmities are different for different people, and with some you can limit yourself, while with others it is better not to violate the prescriptions of doctors. Not eating a particular food should not be an end in itself. Fasting is meant for healthy people, but for the sick, fasting is the disease itself. Pregnant women, sick people, and small children are usually exempt from fasting.
So, in connection with the upcoming fast, Elder Ambrose gave instructions to the mistress of the house, burdened with numerous chores with children and not having good health:
“Try to spend the upcoming fast judiciously, considering your bodily strength. You must remember that you are the mistress of the house, surrounded by children; besides, unhealthy is attached to you.
All this shows that you one should be more concerned about spiritual virtues; regarding the eating of food and other bodily exploits, you should have good reasoning with humility in front of everything…
The Holy Ladder quotes the words: “I didn’t fast, I didn’t fast, I didn’t lie down on the ground; but I humble myself, and the Lord save me.” Present your infirmity to the Lord with humility, and He is mighty to arrange everything for good.
The Reverend warned:
“Weakness and soreness of the body is tricky, and it’s tricky to cope with it. It was not without reason that Saint Isaac the Syrian, the first of the great fasters, wrote: “If we compel a weak body more than its strength, then confusion upon confusion comes.”
Therefore, in order not to be embarrassed in vain, it is better to condescend to bodily infirmities, as much as necessary.
Elder Anatoly (Zertsalov) wrote:
“You can eat fish, due to weakness. Just please don’t get angry and don’t hold thoughts for a long time.
What if you don't eat lean food?
Some people complain that they do not eat lean food. But actually it is not. A satiated womb demands more and more food, but it is not beneficial. Saint Joseph advised:
“You write that it’s scary to be left without milk. But the Lord is strong to give strength to a weak nature. It would be nice to eat perches and ruffs ... "
The elder himself ate very little food. Surprised at this, they once asked him if it was difficult for him to achieve such abstinence, or was it already given to him by nature? He answered with these words:
“If a person is not forced, then even if he ate all the food of Egypt and drank all the water of the Nile, his womb will still say: I am hungry!”
Saint Ambrose used to say, as always, briefly, but to the point:
"An intelligible mouth is a pig's trough."
How to combine fasting and social life (when invited to anniversaries, banquets, etc.)?
This also needs discussion. There are such banquets and holidays where our presence is completely optional, and you can safely refuse this festival without breaking the fast. There are feasts where you can quietly eat something lenten, without exalting your fasting over others.
In cases of breaking the fast “for the sake of the guests,” St. Joseph taught:
“If you break your abstinence for the sake of your guests, then you don’t need to be embarrassed, but reproach yourself for this and repent.”
Saint Barsanuphius instructed:
Fasting is twofold: external and internal. The first is abstinence from fast food, the second is abstinence from all our senses, especially vision, from everything impure and filthy. Both posts are inextricably linked to each other. Some people pay all their attention only to the external post, not understanding the internal one at all.
For example, such a person comes somewhere in society, conversations begin, in which, very often - condemnation of neighbors. He takes an active part in them and steals a lot from the honor of his neighbor. But now it's dinner time. The guest is offered modest food: a cutlet, a piece of a piglet, etc. He resolutely refuses.
“Well, eat,” the owners persuade, “after all, it’s not what enters the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth!”
“No, I am strict about this,” he declares, completely unaware that by judging his neighbor, he has already violated and even completely destroyed the fast.
Post on the road
There are other situations where we cannot fully observe the fast, such as when traveling. When we travel, we live in special conditions beyond our control.
Although if the journey is short and there is an opportunity to eat lean food, then you should refrain from fast food.
On this occasion, we can recall the instructions of the elder Barsanuphius:
“A young girl, Sofya Konstantinovna, who came to visit the Niluses in Optina Pustyn, complained to the elder at confession that, living in a strange house, she was deprived of the opportunity to observe fasts. “Well, why are you now tempted by sausage on your way to Lenten Day?” the old man asked her. S.K. was horrified: how could the elder know this?
If the post seems unnecessary, redundant
Sometimes people deny the meaning of fasting, declare that they agree with all the commandments, but they don’t want to observe fasting, they can’t, they consider it unnecessary, superfluous. Elder Barsanuphius said on this occasion that these were the thoughts of the enemy: the enemy sets it up like that, because he hates fasting:
“We learn the power of fasting and its significance, if only from the fact that it is somehow especially hated by the enemy. They come to me for advice and for confession - I advise you to observe holy fasts. They agree with everything, but when it comes to fasting, I don’t want to, I can’t, and so on. The enemy is so exciting: he does not want to observe holy fasts ... "
About abstinence and three degrees of satiety
You also need to remember that fasting food can be satiated to such an extent that it will be gluttony. For people of different builds and having different physical activity, the amount of food will also be different. Saint Nikon reminded:
“One pound of bread is enough for the body of one person, four pounds of bread is needed for the body of another person: he will not be satisfied with less bread. Therefore, St. John Chrysostom says that a fasting person is not one who consumes a small amount of food, but one who consumes food less than what is required for his body. This is what abstinence is all about.”
About abstinence and three degrees of satiety, the Monk Ambrose wrote as follows:
“You write about food that it is difficult for you to get used to eating little, so that after dinner you are still hungry. The Holy Fathers established three degrees regarding food: abstinence - in order to be somewhat hungry after eating, contentment - in order to be neither full nor hungry, and satiety - to eat to the full, not without some burden.
Of these three degrees, everyone can choose any, according to his strength and according to his disposition, healthy and sick.
If I violated the post by inattention
It happens that a person eats fast food on a fast day due to inattention, absent-mindedness, forgetfulness. How to deal with such an oversight?
Saint Joseph gives an example of a man who ate a quick pie on a fast day, and at first he ate, forgetting about the fast day, and then remembering, he finished it anyway, arguing that he had already sinned:
“In your second letter, you described an incident that happened to you in St. Petersburg: on Wednesday you ate one half of a quick pie out of oblivion, and you ate the other half, having already come to your senses. The first sin is excusable, and the other is not excusable. It is as if someone ran to the abyss out of oblivion, but in the middle of the road he would come to his senses and still continue to run, despising the danger that threatens him.
If you broke the fast due to lack of willpower
Sometimes a person tries to keep a fast, but does not stand it, violates it due to lack of willpower and falls into despondency from this. Thus St. Joseph advised:
“When you cannot refrain, then at least we will humble ourselves and reproach ourselves and not condemn others.”
Also, Elder Joseph, in response to the contrition of the child, that he could not fast properly, answered:
“You write that you fasted badly - well, thank the Lord and for how He helped to refrain, but remember the word of St. John of the Ladder: “I did not fast, but humbled myself, and save me, Lord!”
About immoderate, imprudent fasting
St. Ambrose warned against imprudent fasting, when a person who has never fasted before imposes an immoderate fast on himself, possibly incited by the demon of vanity:
“Otherwise we had one example of an unreasonable fast here. One landowner, who spent his life in bliss, suddenly wanted to observe a severe fast: he ordered himself to crush hemp seed during the entire Great Lent and ate it with kvass, and from such a steep transition from bliss to fasting, he spoiled his stomach so much that the doctor was not available for a whole year. could fix it.
However, there is also a patristic word that we should not be killers of the body, but killers of the passions.
Fasting is not an end but a means
Refusal of fast food is the external side of the matter. And we must remember that we observe fasts not for the sake of abstaining from food, but in order to reach heights on our spiritual path.
The Monk Leo did not approve of those who, leaving prudent moderation, went into excessive bodily exploits, hoping to be saved as if by them alone:
“I do not refute abstinence, it always has its own strength, but its essence and strength are not in it, so as not to eat food, but let it expel from the heart all remembrance of malice and the like. This is true fasting, which the Lord requires of us most of all.”
Elder Barsanuphius also reminded:
“Of course, fasting, if not accompanied by prayer and spiritual work, has almost no value. Fasting is not a goal, but a means, an aid that makes it easier for us to pray and improve spiritually.”
The Monk Anatoly (Zertsalov) wrote:
“Not eating bread or drinking water or anything else is not yet fasting. For even the demons do not eat or drink anything at all, and yet they are evil…”
And Elder Nikon aptly and briefly remarked:
““True fasting is the alienation of evil deeds” (so it is said in one verse of Lenten)”
The Temptations of Fasting
During fasting, irritability and anger often wake up in us. Fasting should release our spiritual strength for good deeds.
Spiritual Reading >>Discussion: there is 1 comment
It seems to Dorotheus (he again!): “fasting is useful to anyone already in that, with its bonds, it tames the self-destruction of the soul and body, which necessarily occurs in the absence of restraints.” (VI century).
Reply
“Why do we fast and you don’t see? We humble our souls, but you do not know? (Isaiah 58:3)
Over the past few years, it has become “popular” in our country to fast during the periods declared by the Orthodox Church, preceding the most important Orthodox holidays. Speaking of popularity, I primarily mean the opinion of those who are not members of the Orthodox Church, but simply under the influence of the Christian worldview, are looking for some kind of spiritual experience.
There are people who fast in order to earn, if possible, a blessing from God for their abstinence from food. “Perhaps,” they think, “God, looking at my limitation of myself in pleasure, will forgive my sin or answer my prayer.”
The most important thing in our approach to God is to remember that we do not determine how we need to relate to God and what to do so that God will hear us and come to our aid. God Himself establishes a path for the human soul whereby we can come to know God and receive blessings from Him. So, not everything we really want to do for God will help us get God's approval or praise or mercy or an answer to prayer. I will return to this at the end of this article.
Take, for example, fasting as a spiritual experience.
Where can you find the answer to the questions: why does a person need to fast, how should he do it, and what benefits can a person derive from fasting?
Of course, first of all, you need to turn to the original source, to the Bible, to find out what Jesus Christ said about fasting - after all, it is His words for all who call themselves His followers, Christians, that are the absolute truth.
Jesus Himself spoke quite little about fasting, compared to how much He taught about the Kingdom of Heaven, about faith, or about love. But even the little He said about fasting will help us understand with what attitude in the heart should one start fasting and no less important, with what motives in the heart you should not fast at all.
Jesus said, “When you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, for they put on dark faces to appear to people who are fasting. I tell you truly, they already receive their reward.
But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may appear to those who are fasting, not before people, but before your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you openly” 1 .
As you can see from this passage, Jesus does not call anyone to fast. He takes it for granted that his students will fast. That is why He tells them about the practice of fasting. Jesus teaches that one should not fast to impress others, to feign spirituality - because any deed done for the sake of people's praise has no value and will not be approved in the eyes of God. Means the main reason for fasting should be an inner desire to do it before God and do it with a joyful heart, from the heart.
Jesus didn't say anything about why we need to fast, but in other passages in the Old and New Testaments we see women and men, entire groups of people, even the whole nation of Israel, fasting in one situation or another.
For example, in the Old Testament, when the entire Israelite nation was threatened with extermination at the hands of the Persian king, Queen Esther asked all the people not to drink and not eat for three days with her, after these three days she had to come with a petition to the king of Persia about her people . God answered their prayer and the people were saved 2 .
The Israeli king David fasted for 7 days, humbly repenting of his sin before God and waiting for God to have mercy on his son and whether He would cancel his punishment to David. God said that He forgave David, but did not cancel the punishment - the son died, but David calmed down and accepted this as the final will of God 3 . Another Israeli king, Jehoshaphat, announced a fast throughout the country on the eve of the battle, since there was practically no hope of salvation from enemies. And since the people humbled themselves before God and acknowledged their dependence on His power, God gave them victory in this battle 4 .
Sometimes people fasted as a sign of mourning and mourned the loss of a loved one or a national leader 5 .
So, we see that people in the Old Testament fasted when they had to do something important, when they needed special strength and wisdom from God. They also fasted and humbled their souls before God, approaching him, purifying their hearts. Only a pure and humble heart, submissive to God, can fast in such a way as to please God, and only such a heart will produce good deeds that are pleasing to God. It was this fast that God declared correct through the Israelite prophet Isaiah:
This is the fast I have chosen: loose the shackles of iniquity, loosen the bands of the yoke, and let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke; share your bread with the hungry, and bring the wandering poor into your house; when you see a naked man, clothe him, and do not hide yourself from your kindred.
We have already discussed how, when and why to fast. And now the answer from the same prophet Isaiah to the question “what will I get from God as a result of fasting pleasing to God?”:
Then your light will open like the dawn, and your healing will soon increase, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will accompany you.
Then you will call, and the Lord will hear; you will cry out, and He will say: “Here I am!” When you remove the yoke from your midst, you will stop lifting your finger and
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness [will be] like noon;
and the Lord will always be your guide, and in time of drought he will satisfy your soul and fatten your bones, and you will be like a garden full of water and like a fountain whose waters never dry up.
And the ancient deserts will be built up by your [descendants]: you will restore the foundations of many generations, and they will call you the restorer of ruins, the renewer of paths for the population.
This shows that fasting builds the soul of a person, God himself begins to lead this person through life, this person, like a light in darkness, receives the ability from God to point out the truth to people, God takes care of him, both about the spiritual and physical needs of this person . It can be said that by his post a person influences the future of his descendants, the future of his people.
For us, however, the main issue about fasting, oddly enough, is not the reason for fasting, but food restriction during fasting. Again, in the practice of Israel's fasts, the Bible indicates only complete abstinence from food or both food and water, sometimes from sexual relations 6 .
Therefore, if one adheres to the biblical example of fasting, the question of what to eat and what not to eat falls away on its own.
So, to sum up all of the above:
Biblical fasting is abstinence from all food, sometimes drink (sometimes from sexual relations) for a certain period. This is a time of humility and crushing of one's pride before God. You need to fast out of love for God and only in front of him, without outward show and hypocritical spirituality.
If a person fasts with a righteous (correct) heart and attitude towards God, God promises a spiritual blessing for that person. And now the most important question: with the right heart do you start fasting or not? Will God hear your prayer and will your fast please him? If this issue is important to you, and you want to make sure that God really hears you in fasting or just in prayer, you need to learn how to be heard and accepted by God. Click here for the answer to this question.
When you are convinced that God accepts your fasting and prayer, let the sayings of those serve as inspiration for your fasting. Who in the early church were its teachers and spiritual shepherds:
Fasting is medicine, but medicine, even though it has been useful a thousand times, is often useless for someone who does not know how to use it (John Chrysostom)
True fasting - removal from evil, abstinence from the tongue, suppression of anger in oneself, excommunication of lusts, slander, lies (Basil the Great)
Fasting, along with prayer and almsgiving, is one of the most important actions that express before God the humility, hope and love of a person for God.
Fasting for the body is food for the soul.
Fasting should always be accompanied by prayer.
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(1) Matthew 6:16-18 (2) Esther 4:16 (3) 2 Samuel 12:16-23 (4) 2 Chronicles 20:3-29 (5) 2 Samuel 1:12,13 (6) 1 Corinthians 7:5
It is difficult to find such a religion, such a people, where there would be no fasting, there was not at all. By fasting, we will mean the simplest - abstinence from food for religious reasons.
Deacon Pavel Serzhantov
People are fasting, one might say, all over the globe. It is clear that the forms of fasting in individual religious traditions are very different, but the essence is the same. This essence we call asceticism. In Greek, "austerity" means "exercises", in the sense of spiritual exercises.
Yes, fasting is one of the most important spiritual exercises for Christians. Fasting strengthens Christians spiritually. It would seem that a restriction in food should, on the contrary, take away strength from a person. Nevertheless, fasting properly performed strengthens the Christian with the grace-filled power of God. Correct fasting means moderate, without unwanted fanaticism.
Ascetic controversy
At one scientific seminar, we had a small dispute in religious studies. The topic of asceticism in Judaism was discussed. The focus of the seminar was the Qumran community, an event two thousand years ago. With all the necessary reservations about the unorthodoxy of Qumran, about the emphatically ascetic nature of communal life.
The seminar was attended by an Islamic scholar, a serious scholar. He suggested the question: “Is there asceticism in Judaism? For example, respected representatives of the Sufi tradition categorically state that there is no austerity in Islam.” An interesting twist on the topic. I also took part in the discussion of the topic. It is clear to me that asceticism exists not only in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, but also in Judaism and Islam.
Clearly, because fasting is practiced in all the listed religions. And fasting is one of the main ascetic practices. Orthodox Christians observe Peter's fast, Jews fast on the Ninth of Av, Muslims fast on Ramadan. As you can see, the post is specially timed to coincide with a special religious solar-lunar calendar. Fasting can be quite a "hungry" preparation for a great feast-feast. Or tangible at the “physiological” level, the memory of such events of the past that lead the soul into awe.
It is clear that religious scholars should not mix different religions, should not mechanically transfer the concepts of one religion to another. Christian fasting has many features, both primary and secondary.
In a Christian fast, the theme of repentance, for example, is more important than the theme of ritual purity or religious discipline. Fasting helps Christians to repent. It is in repentance that a Christian acquires spiritual purity and obedience to God (religious "discipline"). There is no way to talk about repentance now, because repentance in Christianity is a special spiritual practice, developed to the subtleties. And our topic is not “repentance”, but “fasting”, and yet – the second one was added – “asceticism”.
When Sufis claim that there is no austerity in Islam, they want to emphasize the difference between Islam and Christianity. And the Sufis apparently mean the monastic asceticism of Christianity (abstention from marital relations). In Islam, indeed, there is no monasticism. Accordingly, there is absolutely no monastic asceticism. But there are forms of non-monastic asceticism, there are many of them. They are in Christianity, they are also in Islam, their own for each religion. Isn't it an ascetic practice - lifelong abstinence from wine and any alcoholic beverages? The answer suggests itself. It is easy to find ascetic abstinence from food and drink in a wide variety of religious traditions.
The meaning of fasting on the surface
Why do people fast? Ask and you will get a hundred answers to one question! Some of them will be deep. There will be those that are simpler - lying on the surface. If the fast lasts for many days and leads to a holiday, then the spell is put inextricably linked with the breaking of the fast, as the beginning with the end. The meaning of the conspiracy must be sought in the breaking of the fast. The Day of the Primate Apostles is the "goal" of Peter's Lent, he is all directed towards it. A church holiday will be even more joyful if it is preceded by fasting, if fasting preparations are made for the holiday.
Remember family holidays, I will remember too. As a child, I watch my mother cook all sorts of goodies. Appetizing dishes are lined up in the kitchen before being sent to a table set with cutlery. The guests are still on the road, mind-blowing smells tickle my nose: 
Mom, let me try...
- Wait, the guests will arrive soon. Let's all sit down at the table. You will try plenty, for this I cook.
Although small, I understand that it is useless to ask, I will have to wait until the “tasty hour” comes. All relatives and friends will gather, congratulate each other, smile sunnyly, eat deliciously and praise successful dishes, raise toast for the hosts. Here is a typical picture for you from family life, not from church life. However, something similar can also be seen in church life.
Let's remember the biblical forefathers. When Isaac wanted to bless his son, how did he prepare for the blessing? “He called his eldest son Esau and said to him: My son! He said to him: Here I am. [Isaac] said, Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death; Now take your tools, your quiver and your bow, go into the field, and catch me game, and prepare for me food that I love, and bring me food, so that my soul will bless you before I die ”(Gen. 27: 1–4).
What happened next? Isaac was waiting for his favorite dish from his beloved son. I was ready to endure for a long time, because hunting trophies do not get on schedule. Saint Isaac waited for his favorite dish, ate it to the joy of his heart, and blessed his son, who pleased him, who turned out to be… “easier” than Esau and Esau cherished the blessing of his father more. This is no longer a typical picture from family life, but part of a sacred story in which a righteous God saves sinful people.
We fast to please God and receive from Him festive joy and a blessing that strengthens us.
This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting.
(Matthew 9:29)
When you fasted... Did you fast for me?
.(Zech. 7, 5)
Instructions for a Christian about fasting can vary greatly depending on the state of health of the Christian's body. It may be in full health in a young person, not quite healthy in an elderly person, or in a serious illness. Hence, the instructions of the church on observing fasts (on Wednesdays and Fridays) or during periods of many days of fasting (Christmas, Great, Petrov and Assumption) can vary greatly depending on the age and physical state of a person’s health. All instructions fully apply only to a physically healthy person. For physical illnesses or for the elderly, the instructions should be taken carefully and judiciously.
How often among those who consider themselves Christians one can come across disdain for fasting, misunderstanding of its meaning and essence.
Fasting is considered by them as a matter obligatory only for monks, dangerous or harmful to health, as a relic from the old rituals - a dead letter of the charter, which it is time to put an end to, or, in any case, as something unpleasant and burdensome.
It should be noted to all who think in such a way that they do not understand either the purpose of fasting or the purpose of the Christian life. Perhaps it is in vain that they call themselves Christians, since they live in their hearts together with the godless world, which has its own body and self-indulgence as a cult.
A Christian, first of all, should think not about the body, but about his soul and worry about its health. And if he really began to think about her, then he would rejoice at fasting, in which the whole situation is aimed at healing the soul, as in a sanatorium - at healing the body.
The time of fasting is a time of particular importance for spiritual life, it is “an acceptable time, this is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
If the soul of a Christian yearns for purity, seeks spiritual health, then it should try to make the best use of this useful time for the soul.
That is why among the true lovers of God, mutual congratulations are accepted on the onset of fasting.
But what is a post in essence? And is there not self-deception among those who consider it necessary to fulfill it only by the letter, but do not love him and are weary of him in their hearts? And is it possible to call fasting only the observance of some rules about not eating fast food on fast days?
Will fasting be fasting if, apart from a certain change in the composition of food, we think neither of repentance, nor of abstinence, nor of the purification of the heart through fervent prayer?
It must be assumed that this will not be a fast, although all the rules and customs of fasting will be observed. Rev. Barsanuphius the Great says: “Bodily fasting means nothing without the spiritual fasting of the inner man, which consists of protecting oneself from passions.
This fast of the inner man is pleasing to God and will reward you for your lack of bodily fasting” (if you cannot observe the latter, as you would like).
The same is said of St. John Chrysostom: “Whoever limits fasting to one abstinence from food, he greatly dishonors him. It is not only the mouth that must fast, but let the eye, and the ear, and the hands, and the feet, and our whole body also fast.”
As writes about. Alexander Elchaninov: “There is a fundamental misunderstanding of fasting in hostels. Fasting is not more important in itself, as not eating this or that, or as depriving oneself of something in the form of punishment - fasting is only a proven way to achieve the desired results - through exhaustion of the body to reach the refinement of spiritual mystical abilities darkened by the flesh, and the easier it is to draw closer to God…
Fasting is not hunger. A diabetic, a fakir, a yogi, a prisoner, and just a beggar are starving. Nowhere in the services of Great Lent is it said about fasting only in our usual sense, i.e. as about non-eating meat and so on. Everywhere there is one call: "We fast, brethren, bodily, we fast also spiritually." Consequently, fasting only then has a religious meaning when it is combined with spiritual exercises. Fasting equals refinement. A normal, biologically prosperous person is inaccessible to the influences of higher forces. Fasting shakes this physical well-being of a person, and then he becomes more accessible to the influences of another world, his spiritual filling goes on.
As mentioned earlier, the human soul is seriously ill. The Church sets aside certain days and periods of time in the year when a person's attention should be especially focused on healing from mental illness. These are fasting and fasting days.
According to ep. Herman: “Fasting is pure abstinence in order to restore the lost balance between body and spirit, in order to restore to our spirit its supremacy over the body and its passions.”
Fasting, of course, also has other goals (they will be discussed below), but the main one is the expulsion from one’s soul of the evil spirit, the ancient serpent. “This kind is driven out only by prayer and fasting,” the Lord said to His disciples.
The Lord Himself gave us an example of fasting by fasting for 40 days in the wilderness, from where He “returned in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).
As St. Isaac the Syrian: “Fasting is a weapon prepared by God… If the Lawgiver Himself fasted, then how could one of those obliged to keep the law not fast?..
Before Lent, the human race did not know victory, and the devil never experienced defeat ... Our Lord was the leader and the firstborn of this victory ...
And as soon as the devil sees this weapon on one of the people, this adversary and tormentor immediately comes into fear, thinking and remembering his defeat in the wilderness by the Savior, and his strength is crushed ... Whoever abides in fasting, his mind is unshakable ”(Word thirty).
It is quite obvious that the feat of repentance and prayer in fasting should be accompanied by thoughts about one's sinfulness and, of course, refraining from all kinds of entertainment - going to theaters, movies and guests, light reading, cheerful music, watching TV for entertainment, etc. If all this still attracts the heart of a Christian, then let him make an effort to tear his heart away from it, even during the days of fasting.
Here we must remember that on Fridays, St. Seraphim not only fasted, but also remained on this day in strict silence. As writes about. Alexander Elchaninov: “Lent is a period of spiritual effort. If we cannot give our whole life to God, then let us dedicate at least periods of fasting undividedly to Him - let us intensify prayer, multiply mercy, tame passions, and reconcile with enemies.
Here the words of the wise Solomon apply: “To everything there is a time and a time for every thing under heaven. … a time to cry and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance... a time to be silent and a time to speak, etc. (Eccl. 3:1-7).
For physically healthy people, abstinence in food is considered the basis of fasting. Here we can distinguish 5 degrees of physical fasting:
1) Refusal of meat.
2) Refusal from dairy.
3) Refusal of fish.
4) Refusal of oil.
5) Depriving yourself of food in general for some time.
Naturally, only healthy people can go to the last stages of fasting. For the sick and the elderly, the first degree of fasting is more in line with the rules.
The strength and effectiveness of fasting can be judged by the strength of deprivation and sacrifice. And it is natural that not only the formal replacement of a fasting table with a Lenten table constitutes a true fast: you can cook delicious dishes from Lenten food and thus to some extent satisfy both your voluptuousness and your greed for it.
It must be remembered that it is indecent for a person who repents and mourns over his sins to eat sweetly and plentifully during fasting, even though (formally) Lenten dishes. We can say that there will be no fasting if a person gets up from the table with delicious lenten dishes and a feeling of burden on the stomach.
Here there will be few sacrifices and hardships, and without them there will be no true fasting.
“Why do we fast, but You do not see?” Isaiah the prophet cries out, denouncing the Jews who hypocritically observed rituals, but whose hearts were far from God and His commandments (Isaiah 58:3).
In some cases, sick Christians replace for themselves (themselves or on the advice of confessors) abstinence from food with "spiritual" fasting. The latter is often understood as more strict attention to oneself: keeping oneself from irritability, condemnation, and quarrels. All this, of course, is good, but in ordinary times, can a Christian afford to sin, or be irritated, or condemn? It is quite obvious that a Christian should always be "sober" and be careful, protecting himself from sin and everything that can offend the Holy Spirit. If he is unable to restrain himself, then this will probably take place equally both on ordinary days and in fasting. Hence, replacing a fast in food with a similar “spiritual” fast is most often self-deception.
Therefore, in those cases when, due to illness or a great lack of food, a Christian cannot observe the usual norms of fasting, then let him do everything he can in this regard, for example: refuse all entertainment, from sweets and dainty dishes, will fast at least on Wednesday and Friday, he will try to have the most delicious food served only on holidays. If a Christian, due to senile infirmity or ill health, cannot refuse fast food, then he should at least somewhat limit it on fasting days, for example, do not eat meat - in a word, to one degree or another, still join the fast.
Some refuse fasting for fear of weakening their health, showing morbid suspiciousness and lack of faith, and always strive to nourish themselves abundantly with fast food in order to achieve good health and to maintain the "fatness" of the body. And how often they suffer from all sorts of diseases of the stomach, intestines, kidneys, teeth ...
In addition to showing one's feelings of repentance and hatred of sin, fasting has other aspects. Fasting times are not random days.
Wednesday is the tradition of the Savior - the highest of the moments of the fall and shame of the human soul, going in the person of Judas to betray the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver.
Friday is the patience of bullying, painful suffering and the death of the Redeemer of mankind on the cross. Remembering them, how can a Christian not limit himself by abstinence?
Great Lent is the path of the God-man to the Calvary sacrifice.
The human soul has no right, does not dare, if only she is a Christian, to pass indifferently past these majestic days - significant milestones in time.
How dare she later - at the Last Judgment to stand at the right hand of the Lord, if she is indifferent to His sorrow, blood and suffering in those days when the Universal Church - Earthly and Heavenly - remembers them.
What should be the post? No general measure can be given here. It will depend on the state of health, age and living conditions. But here one must certainly hurt one's flesh-pleasing and voluptuousness for the living.
At present, a time of weakening and falling of faith, it seems unattainable to us those rules on fasting, which in the old days were strictly observed by pious Russian families.
Here, for example, is what Great Lent consists of according to the church charter, the obligation of which extended equally to both the monk and the laity.
According to this charter, Great Lent is supposed to be: complete non-eating for the whole day of Monday and Tuesday of the first week and Friday of Holy Week.
Only for the weaker is it possible to eat food on Tuesday evening of the first week. On all other days of Great Lent, except Saturdays and Sundays, only dry food is allowed and only once a day - bread, vegetables, peas - without oil and water.
Boiled food with vegetable oil is supposed only on Saturdays and Sundays. Wine is allowed only on the days of church remembrance and during long services (for example, on Thursday in the fifth week). Fish - only on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Palm Sunday.
Although such a measure seems to us excessively harsh, it is, however, achievable for a healthy organism.
In the life of an old Russian Orthodox family, one can see the strict observance of fasting days and fasts. Even princes and kings fasted in a way that many of the monks do not fast now, perhaps.
So, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich dined during Great Lent only three times a week - on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and on other days he ate only a piece of black bread with salt, salted mushroom or cucumber, washed down with kvass.
Some Egyptian monks in ancient times practiced a complete forty-day abstinence from food during Great Lent, following the example of Moses and the Lord Himself in this respect.
Forty-day fasts were held twice by one of the brothers of Optina Hermitage, Schemamonk Vassian, who lived there in the middle of the 19th century. This schemnik, by the way, just like St. Seraphim, to a large extent, ate grass "snotweed". He lived to be 90 years old.
For 37 days, nun Lyubov of the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery did not eat or drink (except for one communion). It should be noted that during this fast she did not feel any weakening of her strength and, as they said about her, "her voice thundered in the choir as if even stronger than before."
She made this fast before Christmas; it ended at the end of the Nativity Liturgy, when she suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to eat. Unable to control herself any longer, she immediately went to the kitchen to eat.
It should be noted, however, that the norm for Great Lent described above and recommended by the Church is no longer considered by everyone to be so strictly binding on everyone. The Church recommends, as a certain minimum, only the transition from fasting to fasting food in accordance with her instructions for each of the fasts and fast days.
Compliance with this norm for quite healthy people is considered mandatory. However, it leaves more to the zeal and zeal of every Christian: “I want mercy, not sacrifice,” says the Lord (Matt. 9:13). At the same time, we must remember that fasting is necessary not for the Lord, but for ourselves to save our souls. “When you were fasting… were you fasting for me?” the Lord says through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah (7:5).
There is another side to the post. It's over, his time. The Church solemnly celebrates the feast that ends the fast.
Can one worthily meet and experience this holiday with his heart, who, to some extent, did not partake of this post? No, he will feel like that bold one in the Lord's parable who dared to come to the feast "not in wedding clothes", i.e. not in spiritual clothes, cleansed by repentance and fasting.
Even if a person, out of habit, goes to a festive divine service and sits down at a festive table, he will feel only anxiety of conscience and coldness in his heart. And his inner ear will hear the terrible words of the Lord addressed to him: “Friend, how did you enter here not in wedding clothes?” And his soul will be “thrown into outer darkness,” i. will remain in the grip of despondency and sadness, in an atmosphere of spiritual hunger - "weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Have pity on yourselves, those who neglect, shun, and flee from fasting.
Fasting is the cultivation of the ability of the human spirit to fight against its enslavers - Satan and the debauched and spoiled body. The latter must be obedient to the spirit, but in reality it is most often the master of the soul.
As the shepherd Father John S. writes (St. Right. John of Kronstadt. - ed.): “Whoever rejects fasting, he takes away weapons from himself and from others against his many-passionate flesh and against the devil, strong against us especially through our intemperance, from which all sin springs.
True fasting is struggle; this is in the full sense of the word “the narrow and strait way”, the salvation of which the Lord spoke.
The Lord commands us to hide our fast from those around us (Matt. 6:18). But a Christian may not be able to hide his fast from his neighbors. Then it may happen that relatives and friends will arm themselves against the fasting person: “have pity on yourself, don’t torture yourself, don’t kill yourself,” etc.
Soft at first, the persuasions of relatives can then turn into irritation and reproaches. The spirit of darkness will rise up against the fasting person through loved ones, argue against fasting and send temptations, as it once tried to do with the Lord fasting in the wilderness.
Let the Christian foresee all this. Let him also not expect that, having started fasting, he will immediately receive any grace-filled consolations, warmth in his heart, tears of repentance and concentration in prayer.
This does not come immediately, it must also be earned by struggle, feat and sacrifice: “Serve me, and then eat and drink yourself,” says the parable to the servant (Lk. 17:8). Those who have walked the path of severe fasting even testify to the weakening of prayer sometimes at the beginning of fasting and the dulling of interest in spiritual reading.
Fasting is a cure, and the latter is often not easy. And only at the end of his course can one expect recovery, and from fasting one can expect the fruits of the Holy Spirit - peace, joy and love.
In essence, fasting is a feat and is associated with faith and boldness. Fasting is pleasing and pleasing to the Lord as an impulse of the soul, reaching for purity, striving to throw off the chains of sin and free the spirit from slavery to the body.
The Church also considers it one of the most effective means by which one can shift the wrath of God to mercy or bend the will of the Lord to the fulfillment of a prayer request.
Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles, it is described how the Christians of Antioch, before going to the sermon of Sts. app. Paul and Barnabas “performed fasting and prayer” (Acts 13:3).
Therefore, fasting is practiced in the church as a means of preparing oneself for any undertaking. Having a need for something, individual Christians, monks, monasteries or churches imposed a fast on themselves with intense prayer.
Fasting has, in addition, one more positive side, which the Angel drew attention to in the vision of Hermas (see the book “Shepherd Hermas”).
By substituting simpler and cheaper food for it, or by reducing its quantity, a Christian can cut costs on himself. And this will give him the opportunity to spend more money on works of mercy.
The angel gave the following instruction to Hermas: “On the day on which you fast, do not eat anything but bread and water, and having calculated the expenses that you would have made on this day for food, following the example of the past days, set aside the rest of this day and give it to the widow. , orphan or poor; in this way you will humble your soul, and he who has received from you will be satisfied and will pray to God for you.”
The angel also pointed out to Hermas that fasting is not an end in itself, but only an auxiliary means to purifying the heart. And the fast of one who strives for this goal and does not fulfill the commandments of God cannot be pleasing to God and is fruitless.
In essence, the attitude towards fasting is a touchstone for the soul of a Christian in his attitude to the Church of Christ, and through the latter to Christ.
As writes about. Alexander Elchaninov: “... In fasting, a person manifests himself: some show the highest abilities of the spirit, while others become only irritable and angry - fasting reveals the true essence of a person.”
The soul that lives by living faith in Christ cannot neglect fasting. Otherwise, she will unite herself with those who are indifferent to Christ and religion, with those who, according to Fr. Valentin Sventsitsky:
“Everyone eats - and on Maundy Thursday, when the Last Supper is celebrated and the Son of Man is betrayed; and on Good Friday, when we hear the cry of the Mother of God at the tomb of the Crucified Son on the day of His burial.
For such there is neither Christ, nor the Mother of God, nor the Last Supper, nor Golgotha. What kind of post can they have?
Addressing Christians, Fr. Valentine writes: “Keep and observe fasting, as a great church shrine. Every time you refrain from fasting that is forbidden during the days of fasting, you are with the whole Church. You do in complete unanimity and unanimity what the whole Church and all the holy saints of God have done from the very first days of the existence of the Church. And this will give you strength and firmness in your spiritual life.”
The meaning and purpose of fasting in the life of a Christian can be summarized in the following words of St. Isaac the Syrian:
Fasting is the protection of every virtue, the beginning of struggle, the crown of the temperate, the beauty of virginity, the source of chastity and prudence, the teacher of silence, the forerunner of all good deeds...
From fasting and abstinence, a fruit is born in the soul - the knowledge of the mysteries of God.
Mindfulness in fasting
I want mercy, not sacrifice.
(Matthew 9:13)
Show ... in virtue prudence.
(2 Pet. 1:5)
Everything good in us has some trait,
crossing which imperceptibly turns into evil.
(Prot. Valentin Sventsitsky)
All of the above about fasting applies, however, we repeat, only to healthy people. As with any virtue, prudence is also needed for fasting.
As Rev. Cassian the Roman: “Extremes, as the holy fathers say, are equally harmful on both sides - both the excess of fasting and the satiety of the womb, We know some who, not having been defeated by gluttony, were overthrown by immeasurable fasting, and fell into the same passion of gluttony, due to weakness resulting from excessive fasting.
Moreover, immoderate abstinence is more harmful than satiety, because from the latter, due to repentance, one can proceed to right action, but not from the former.
The general rule of moderation in abstinence is that everyone, in accordance with his strength, body condition and age, ate as much food as needed to maintain the health of the body, and not as much as the desire for satiety requires.
A monk should conduct the work of fasting so reasonably, as if he had to stay in the body for a hundred years; and so curb spiritual movements - forget insults, cut off sorrow, put sorrows in nothing - as one who can die every day.
It should be remembered how Paul warned those who unwisely (arbitrarily and arbitrarily) fasted - "this has only the appearance of wisdom in self-willed service, humility of mind and exhaustion of the body, in a certain neglect of the nourishment of the flesh" (Col. 2, 23).
At the same time, fasting is not a ritual, but a secret of the human soul, which the Lord commands to hide from others.
The Lord says: “When you fast, do not be despondent like the hypocrites, for they take on gloomy faces in order to appear to people who are fasting. I tell you truly, they already receive their reward.
But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you will appear fasting not before people, but before your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matt. 6, 16-18).
And therefore, a Christian must hide both his repentance - prayer and inner tears, as well as his fasting and his abstinence in food.
Here one must be afraid of any revelation of one's difference from others and be able to hide from them one's feat and one's hardships.
Here are a few examples of this from the lives of saints and ascetics.
Rev. Macarius the Great never drank wine. However, when he visited other monks, he did not refuse wine, hiding his abstinence.
But his disciples tried to warn the hosts, telling them: “If he drinks wine at your place, then know that when he returns home, he will even deprive himself of water.”
The Optina elder Leonid once had to spend several days with the diocesan bishop. The table of the latter was plentiful with fish and various delicious dishes, sharply different from the modest skete meal of the Optina Hermitage.
The elder did not refuse delicious dishes, but when he returned to Optina, he deprived himself of food for several days, as if making up for the abstinence lost on a visit.
In all those cases when a fasting person must take food together with other, weaker brothers, he must not, according to the instructions of the holy fathers, reproach them with his abstinence.
So Saint Abba Isaiah writes: “If you want to be sure to abstain more than others, then retire to a separate cell and do not grieve your weak brother.”
It is not only for the sake of preserving oneself from vanity that one must strive not to expose one's post.
If for some reason the post will embarrass others, cause their reproaches, or, perhaps, ridicule, accusations of hypocrisy, etc. - and in these cases, one should try to keep the secret of fasting, keeping it in spirit, but deviating from it formally. Here the commandment of the Lord has an application: "Do not cast your pearls before swine" (Mt. 7, 6).
Fasting will be unreasonable even when it puts up barriers to the hospitality of those who treat you; By this we will reproach those around us for neglecting fasting.
The following story is told about Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow: once he came to his spiritual children just in time for dinner. As a duty of hospitality, he should have been invited to dinner. Meat was served at the table, and the day was fasting.
The Metropolitan did not show any sign of it and, without embarrassing the hosts, he ate a modest meal. So indulgence to the weakness of the spiritual of his neighbors and love, he put higher than the observance of fasting.
In general, church institutions cannot be treated formally, and, following the exact implementation of the rules, no exceptions can be made from the latter. We must also remember the words of the Lord that “the Sabbath is for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
As Metropolitan Innokenty of Moscow writes: “There were examples that even monks, such as St. John of the Ladder, used all kinds of food and even meat at all times.
But how much? So much so that I can only live, and this did not prevent him from worthily partaking of the Holy Mysteries and, finally, did not prevent him from becoming a saint ...
Of course, it is not prudent to unnecessarily break the fast by eating fast food. He who can observe the fast by parsing food, observe it; but, most importantly, keep and do not break the fast of the soul, and then your fast will be pleasing to God.
But whoever does not have the opportunity to sort out food, use everything that God gives, but without excess; but on the other hand, be sure to strictly fast with your soul, mind and thoughts, and then your fast will be just as pleasing to God as the fast of the most strict hermit.
The purpose of fasting is to lighten and subdue the body, curb desires and disarm passions.
Therefore, the church, asking you about food, does not so much ask about - what kind of food do you eat? How much about what you use it for?
The Lord Himself approved the act of King David when, out of necessity, he had to break the rule and eat “the bread of the show, which neither he nor those who were with him should have eaten” (Matt. 12:4).
Therefore, taking into account the need, it is possible to make indulgences and exceptions during fasting even with a sick and weak body and advanced age.
St. app. Paul thus writes to his disciple Timothy: “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine, for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim. 5:23).
Rev. Barsanuphius the Great and John say: “What is fasting, if not the punishment of the body in order to subdue the healthy body and make it weak for passions, according to the word of the apostle: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12, 10).
And the disease is more than this punishment and is imputed instead of fasting - it is valued even more than it. Whoever endures it with patience, thanking God, through patience receives the fruit of his salvation.
Instead of weakening the strength of the body by fasting, it is already weakened by illness.
Thank God that you have been freed from the labor of fasting. If you eat ten times a day, do not grieve: you will not be condemned for that, because you do this not in favor of yourself.
On the correctness of the norm of fasting, Rev. Barsanuphius and John also give the following instruction: “Concerning fasting, I will say: touch your heart, is it not stolen by vanity, and if it is not stolen, touch a second time, if this fasting does not make you weak in the performance of deeds, for this weakness should not be, and if this does not harm you, your fast is correct.
As the hermit Nicephorus said in the book by V. Sventsitsky “Citizens of Heaven”: “The Lord does not require hunger, but feat. A feat is what a person can do to the greatest extent possible, and the rest is done by grace. Our strength is now weak, and the Lord does not require great feats from us.
I tried fasting a lot, and I see that I can't. I'm exhausted - I don't have the strength to pray as I should. Once I was so weak from fasting, I can’t read the rule to get up.”
Here is an example of a wrong post.
Ep. Herman writes: “Exhaustion is a sign of wrong fasting; it is just as harmful as satiety. And the great elders ate soup with butter during the first week of Great Lent. Sick flesh has nothing to crucify, but must be supported.
So, any weakening of health and ability to work during fasting already speaks of its incorrectness and excess of its norm.
“I like it better to be exhausted more from work than from fasting,” one pastor said to his spiritual children.
It is best when those who are fasting are guided by the instructions of experienced spiritual leaders. We should remember the following incident from the life of St. Pachomy the Great. In one of his monasteries, a monk was lying in the hospital, exhausted by illness. He asked the servants to give him meat. They refused him this request, based on the rules of the monastery charter. The patient asked to be taken to St. Pachomy. The monk was struck by the extreme exhaustion of the monk, wept, looking at the sick man, and began to reproach the hospital brethren for their hardness of heart. He ordered that the patient's request be immediately fulfilled in order to strengthen his weakened body and encourage his despondent soul.
The wise ascetic of piety, Abbess Arsenia, wrote this to the elderly and sick brother of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov during the days of Great Lent: “I’m afraid that you are burdening yourself with heavy fasting food and I ask you to forget that fasting is now, and eat quick food, nutritious and light. The difference of days has been given to us by the church as a bridle of healthy flesh, but you have been given the sickness and infirmity of old age.”
However, those who break the fast due to illness or other infirmity should still remember that there may be a certain amount of lack of faith and intemperance here.
Therefore, when the spiritual children of the elder Fr. Alexei Zossimovsky had to break the fast on the doctor’s orders, the elder ordered in these cases to curse himself and pray like this: “Lord, forgive me that, according to the doctor’s prescription, due to my weakness, I broke the holy fast,” and not to think that this is as if so and need.
Speaking of fasting as poverty and a change in the composition of food, it should be noted that this feat is imputed to nothing by the Lord if a Christian does not at the same time observe the Lord's commandments about love, mercy, selfless service to others, in a word, everything that is asked from him on the day of the Last Judgment (Matt. 25:31-46).
This is already stated with exhaustive clarity in the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Jews cry out to God: “Why do we fast, but You do not see? We humble our souls, but You do not know? The Lord, through the mouth of the prophet, answers them: “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do your will and require hard work from others. Here you fast for quarrels and strife, and in order to strike others with a bold hand: you do not fast at this time so that your voice will be heard on high. Is this the fast that I have chosen, the day on which a man torments his soul, when he bends his head like a reed and spreads sackcloth and ashes under him? Can you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord? This is the fast I have chosen: loose the shackles of iniquity, loosen the bands of the yoke, set the oppressed free, and break every yoke; divide thy bread with the hungry, and bring the wandering poor into your house; when you see a naked man, clothe him and do not hide yourself from your half-blood. Then your light will open like the dawn, and your healing will soon increase, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will accompany you. Then you will call, and the Lord will hear; you will cry out and He will say, “Here I am” (Isaiah 58:3-9).
This wonderful passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah denounces many, both ordinary Christians and shepherds of the flock of Christ. He convicts those who think to be saved only by observing the letter of fasting and forgetting about the commandments of mercy, love for one's neighbor and serving them. He convicts those shepherds who "bind burdens that are heavy and unbearable and lay them on the shoulders of people" (Mt. 23:4). These are the shepherds who require their spiritual children to strictly adhere to the “rule” of fasting, regardless of their advanced age or their sickness. After all, the Lord said: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13).
Priest John Pavlov
70. Why you need to fast
Everyone knows that fasting is an integral part of the Christian life. Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesday and Friday of every week - these are the so-called one-day fasts, and, in addition, there are four more multi-day fasts - before the great holidays of Easter, Christmas, the Assumption and the holy apostles Peter and Paul. In total, more than half of all days of the year are fast days.
Why does the Church attach such importance to fasting and pay so much attention to it? After all, it would seem, what is the significance of eaten or uneaten sausage or sour cream for our relationship with God? This question is usually asked either by people who are far from the Church, or by Protestants and Catholics, whose fasts are actually abolished at the present time. What is the answer to this? We must answer this: our relationship with God, or, in other words, spiritual life, very much depends on whether we observe the Lenten statutes of the Church or are accustomed to never deny ourselves anything. To confirm this truth, let us briefly recall the reasons why a Christian needs to fast.
So, firstly, fasting is our participation in the life, labors and sufferings of Christ. We call ourselves Christians, that is, followers of Jesus Christ. If we are His followers, we must imitate Him, learn from Him, follow Him. Christ, the Son of God, endured the Cross, was crucified for us, and we, in our measure, must respond to this endless sacrifice of His love, we must labor and suffer together with Him, take part in His feat, in His Cross. However, we know that a person is weak, that he is often too attached to everything earthly and therefore, of his own free will, is unable to limit himself in anything, to endure even small ascetic labors. Therefore, our wise mother, the Church, established fasts - so that a person, observing them, could work at least a little with Christ, take part in the feat of His life. St. Ambrose of Milan says: “... wanting to be a Christian, do the same as Christ did. He, having no sin, fasted for forty days, but you, a sinner, do not want to fast… you are satiated, while Christ was hungry for you…” So, through fasting, we participate in the sufferings and labors of Christ, lifted up by Him for the salvation of people.
Secondly, fasting greatly helps Christians in the battle against the enemies of our salvation, to which we are called. The Apostle Paul says that we are waging war against the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirits of wickedness in high places. In the fight against them, we must resist and win. And the strongest weapon in such a struggle is fasting. Christ Himself points to this weapon: the race of demons, He says, is driven out only by prayer and fasting. That is, without fasting, this kind is not expelled. The devil received power over man through the intemperance of Adam, who ate the forbidden fruit. Perhaps that is why getting rid of his power is possible in the opposite way - through abstinence, or otherwise fasting. It can be seen from the Gospel that it was after a forty-day fast in the desert that Christ inflicted the first defeat on the enemy. St. Isaac of Syria speaks of this: “It was only through fasting that human nature gained its first victory over the devil: before fasting, the human race did not know victory, and the devil never experienced his defeat from our nature; but from this weapon he was exhausted at the very beginning. Our Lord was the leader and the firstborn of this victory, in order to place the first victorious crown on the head of our nature. And as soon as the devil sees this weapon on one of the people, this enemy and tormentor immediately comes into fear, immediately thinks and remembers his defeat by the Savior in the wilderness, and his strength is crushed, and the view of the weapon given to us by our Chief Leader burns his".
Further, it should be said about fasting that it helps us a lot in spiritual life: in prayer, contemplation, and communion with God. The fact is that a person consists of a soul and a body, and they, being closely related, influence each other, so that the state of the soul depends on the state of the body. If the human body is satiated, then it also binds the soul to flesh and matter, makes it heavy and wingless, unable to rise above the dust of the earth. A bird cannot rise to the sky if its wings are clipped. Also, an airplane, if it is too overloaded, will not be able to take off. So a person, if he is satiated and does not deny himself anything, cannot come closer to God. “A well-fed womb,” says St. John of Kronstadt, “loses faith, the fear of God, and becomes insensible for prayer, for thanksgiving and glorification of God.”
The next reason to fast is that through fasting we render obedience to our mother Church. If we do not fast, then we show by this that the Church is not our mother, that we do not want to listen to her, and that we ourselves know better than her how to live. If we fast, then we confirm by this that the Church is our mother and we are her children, because we listen to her. After all, we render obedience to various human institutions, obey, for example, state laws or listen when a doctor prescribes this or that diet for us in our illnesses. Whoever has a stomach ache should not eat spicy and fried foods, and whoever has diabetes should not eat sweets. If in this we render obedience to people, shall we not listen to the Church? After all, a diet is prescribed by a doctor for the health of the body, which is short-lived and mortal, and the institutions of the Church, including fasting, are aimed at healing the immortal soul - in order to prepare it for blissful eternity, for a life that has no end.
Further, it should be said that fasting is a powerful weapon in the fight against those flesh and blood, about which it is said in the Apostle Paul that they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. By "flesh" in the words of the apostle one must understand the passions and sins of the body, and by "blood" - the passions and sins of the soul. That is, flesh and blood are two components of leprosy, corrupted and sold under the sin of human nature, which became our inalienable property after the fall of Adam. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov speaks about it this way: “Adam was created with a living soul, the Spirit of God was present with his soul and set it in motion; why this movement was a spiritual movement, in God. When Adam sinned, the Spirit of God departed from him; Adam's soul immediately died, but flesh and blood revived. By means of them, the devil began to act on the soul, to keep it in darkness, death, captivity ... "
From the fallen flesh and blood grow, as from a seed, all our sins and passions, all our bad thoughts, words and deeds. If we live by this, live by flesh and blood, then we are not able to enter the Kingdom of God and remain in it. Elsewhere in his writings, St. Ignatius says that flesh and blood do not follow the narrow path of salvation also because they are proud. Being proud, they reject humility and repentance, but always want to prosper, magnify, enjoy. “Do you understand,” he writes in a letter to one monk, “that flesh and blood are proud? - Look at the decorated flesh, at the abundant blood - how pompous and arrogant they are! “It is not without reason that poverty and fasting are commanded to us!”
Further, fasting is our sacrifice to God, sacrificing ourselves. If we have lost weight and turned pale during fasting, then this means that we have sacrificed a piece of ourselves, a part of our own body to God. And according to the words of the Holy Fathers, it is the sacrifices, labors and sorrows endured for His sake that please God most of all.
It should also be said that when we fast, we are imitators of the saints and the righteous, who all fasted without exception, and often very strictly. Therefore, observing the Lenten statutes of the Church, we become one with the saints - their followers and brothers in arms. In addition, through fasting, we become one with the entire universal Church, spread throughout our planet. Here, for example, Great Lent comes, and Orthodox Christians living on all five continents begin the Lenten feat in the same way: in Solovki and in Ethiopia, in Australia and Japan, in America, Indonesia and even Antarctica. And this testifies to their unity, their brotherhood, their catholic unity, their fidelity to the path along which the saints of Christ's Church walked.
So we see that there are many reasons for fasting. But fasting, like any Christian virtue, must be performed with reason. Without reasoning, the performed virtue instead of benefit will bring us harm. Fasting should be as strict as possible, but strictly in moderation. “Measure paints every thing,” says St. Isaac of Syria, “without measure, it turns to harm and is revered as beautiful.” You need to determine for yourself the correct measure of fasting. This measure is different for everyone. One measure for schemamonks and hermits, another for monks living in a monastery, and a third for laity. And again, for the laity, this measure can be very different: it depends on the age, state of health, physical constitution and lifestyle of each Christian.
Strict fasting certainly requires that there be peace in the soul of the fasting person. If a person lives in the rhythm of a big city, if he often worries, experiences anxiety and anxiety, then fasting should be moderate, because in this case a strict fast will not benefit the soul. In addition, it can harm physical health. Fasting does not harm health if a person has peace, prayer and Grace in his soul. Visitors asked Elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer about this: “Geronda, how has your stomach not been spoiled by so many fasts?” And the elder answered: “The stomach does not deteriorate from fasting. However, if a person is upset, then he needs to eat. Because when a person is upset, his stomach constantly produces gastric juice, which should be produced only for the digestion of food. The juice corrodes the walls of the stomach, and it begins to hurt. A person should eat in accordance with the state in which he is.
When the health of the body is damaged, it often happens that the soul of a person is also harmed. Saint Nektarios of Aegina wrote to one nun: “Illness hinders spiritual growth for those who have not reached perfection. You need health for spiritual work. He who is imperfect and who goes out to battle will be smitten, know this, if he is not healthy, for he will lack that moral strength that strengthens the perfect. For the imperfect, health is a chariot that carries the fighter to the victorious end of the battle. That is why I advise you to be reasonable, know the measure in everything and avoid excesses. Strictness goes hand in hand with the measure of virtue... Being in good health, you will be able to grow spiritually, otherwise your efforts will be in vain. You must measure the severity of the fasts with your health, so as not to be forced to leave the seclusion in the cities in search of healing from bodily ailments.
For this reason, the Church allows various indulgences in fasting. After all, our Church is not a soulless tyrant, but a loving and wise mother. She does not say: “Die, but fast” - and does not mechanically measure everyone with one measure. For example, for those suffering from any disease, indulgences in fasting are allowed - up to its complete cancellation, because illness in a sense replaces fasting. Indulgences are also allowed for pregnant, lactating, traveling. Fasting with all severity does not apply to children. In general, when determining the measure of fasting for someone, one must always remember that fasting is not an end, but only a means. Yes, it is a strong and necessary means, but still it is only a means. The goal is to draw closer to God, connect and communicate with Him. “Fasting,” says the blessed Diadoch, “has a price, but not before God. He is only a tool. The skill of an artist is valued not by the perfection of his tools, but by the perfection of his works. Therefore, in cases where fasting becomes an end in itself, it does not bring a person closer to God, but, on the contrary, removes them. And this should always be remembered.
