The greatest of virtues is prayer; the foundation of prayer is fasting.
Fasting is the constant moderation in eating, along with wise discernment.
Proud man! You imagine so much, you think so highly of your own mind, but
it is in constant and complete dependence on your stomach.
The law of fasting, which is externally a law for the stomach, is in essence a
law for the mind.
If the mind, the crown of man, wishes to enter and preserve its proper
dominion, it must first submit itself to the law of fasting. Only then will it be
constantly awake and illumined; only then can the mind rule over the desires
of the heart and body. Only through constant temperance can it learn the
commandments of the Gospel and follow them. The foundation of virtues is
fasting.
The newly created man, when he was given Eden, was also given one single
commandment, the commandment to fast. Of course, only one was given
because it was enough to preserve the first man in his sinlessness.
The commandment did not speak about the quantity of food, but only forbade
a quality, a type of food. May those who believe that fasting refers only to the
quantity, not quality, be silent! If they were to fully immerse themselves in the
study of fasting, they would see the importance of the quality of the food they
eat.
The commandment to fast, pronounced by God to man in Eden, was so
important that it was accompanied with a warning that man would be
punished if he broke the commandment. The punishment was eternal death.
And even today, sinful death continues to strike down those who break the
holy commandment to fast. Those who do not preserve moderation and the
necessary discernment in food can preserve neither virginity nor chastity.
They cannot rein in anger; they fall prey to laziness, depression, and sadness;
and they become the slaves of vanity, the home of pride, all of which lead the
person into a carnal state that is most obviously revealed in his luxurious and
overflowing table.
The commandment to fast is renewed, or even confirmed, by the Gospels.
“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with
carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you
unexpectedly,” said the Lord. ¹ Overeating and drunkenness not only make
the body weak but also the mind and heart. In other words, they lead the
person both in his soul and body into a carnal state.
Fasting, on the contrary, leads a Christian into a spiritual state. He who is
cleansed by fasting is contrite in his spirit; chaste, humble, silent, and refined
in the emotions of the heart and thoughts; light in his body; capable of
spiritual labors and contemplation; and capable of accepting the grace of
God.
The carnal man is completely submerged in sinful pleasures. He is sensual in
his body, in his heart, and in his mind. He is incapable not only of spiritual joy
and accepting God’s grace, but he cannot even repent. He is incapable of any
spiritual work; he is nailed to the earth, he has drowned in a sea of
possessions that have no life. While still alive, he is dead in his soul.
“Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.” ² Such is the word of God to
those who disregard the holy commandment to fast. What will satisfy you in
eternity, when here on earth you have learned only to be sated by perishable
food and worldly enjoyments, none of which exist in heaven? What will you
eat in eternity, when you have never even tasted a single heavenly food? How
can you eat and enjoy heavenly food when you have never appreciated it,
even despised it on earth?
The daily bread of a Christian is Christ Himself. Insatiable satiety from this
bread is salvific satisfaction and joy, to which every Christian is called.
We are called to insatiably fill ourselves with the word of God, to insatiably
fill ourselves with the commandments of Christ, to insatiably fill ourselves
with the food of the Lord: “Thou hast prepared a table before me against
them that trouble me; Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and Thy cup that
inebriateth me, how strong it is!” ³
“Where shall we begin,” says St Macarius the Great, ⁴ “we who have never
studied our own hearts? Standing without, let us knock on the door through
prayer and fasting,” as the Lord Himself commanded us: “Knock, and it will
be opened to you.” ⁵
This labor, which is offered to us by one of the greatest teachers of the
monastic life, was the labor of the holy apostles. Through it, they were
granted to hear the words of the Spirit. “As they ministered to the Lord and
fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the
work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid
hands on them, they sent them away.” ⁶ From this labor, in which they
combined prayer and fasting, they heard the command of the Spirit to include
the Gentiles in their missionary endeavors.
What a marvelous union is achieved by fasting and prayer! Prayer is without
effect if not established on fasting, and fasting is fruitless if prayer is not
created from it. ⁷
Fasting releases a person from passions of the flesh while prayer battles
against spiritual passions, and having defeated them enters the very fabric of
the person, cleanses him from within, and leads God into this cleansed,
rational temple.
Whoever begins to sow the land without first clearing it destroys the seeds
before they can even sprout, and instead of wheat he reaps thorns. If we sow
the seeds of prayer in a similar manner, we will reap nothing, but we will
harvest sins instead of truth. Prayer will be destroyed and dissipated by
various vain and sinful thoughts and imaginings; our feelings will be defiled
by sensuality. Our flesh has come from the earth, and if we do not clear it as
we would a field, we will never be able to grow the fruit of truth. ⁸
However, if someone works the land with great effort and labor, but leaves it
unsown, then it will be completely covered in weeds. Thus, when the body is
mortified by fasting but the soul is not cultivated by prayer, reading, and
humble-mindedness, then fasting becomes the source of many spiritual
passions—vanity, arrogance, contempt.
What is the passion of overeating and drunkenness? It is the natural desire
for food and drink that has lost its proper orientation, which demands a
great deal more in quantity and variety than is necessary for the support of
life and physical strength. Ironically, this excess acts in the opposite way on
physical strength, becoming harmful, weakening, and even destroying the
body and its strength.
Desire for food is sated by simple food, and from overeating and excessively
enjoying food by abstinence. At first, one must reject satiety and gluttony—
through this, the desire for food is reoriented according to its natural
purpose. When this hunger becomes properly directed, then a person
becomes satisfied with simple food.
On the contrary, the desire for food that is satisfied with overeating and
gluttony becomes blunted. In order to reawaken it, we invent various
delicious foods and drinks. At first, our hunger seems to be satisfied, but it
gets more and more picky, and finally it becomes a sickening passion that
constantly seeks satiety and satisfaction yet always remains unsatisfied.
If we have decided to dedicate ourselves to the service of God, let us put
fasting as the foundation of our labors. The essential quality of any
foundation must be unbreakable firmness; otherwise, a building will never
remain standing, even if it is built properly. And we must not under any
circumstances allow ourselves to break a fast through satiety, especially
through drinking too much.
The Holy Fathers generally consider the best fast to be eating once a day, but
not to complete satiety. Such a fast does not weaken the body because of long
abstinence yet does not burden it with excessive food, and still makes it
capable of soul-saving activity. Such a fast is not particularly difficult, and so
the one fasting has no reason to think highly of himself, something he would
be inclined to do if his fasting was out of the ordinary.
Whoever does physical work or is so weak bodily that he cannot be satisfied
with only one meal a day can eat twice daily. The fast is for the person, not
the person for the fast.
But in any case, whether you eat often or rarely, eating until you are full is
strictly forbidden. This only makes a person incapable of spiritual labors and
opens the door to other carnal passions.
But immoderate fasting—that is, prolonged, excessive abstinence from food
—is not recommended by the Holy Fathers. A person also becomes incapable
of spiritual labor when his body is weakened through excessive abstinence,
and often his fasting is soon followed by gluttony or he falls into the passions
of vanity and pride.
The quality of food is extremely important. The forbidden fruit in Eden was
pleasing to the eye and taste, but it acted poisonously on the soul by giving
the premature knowledge of good and evil, thereby destroying the purity in
which our forefathers were created.
And today, food continues to act strongly on our soul, which is especially
evident when one drinks wine. Thus, all alcoholic drinks, especially those
made from wheat, are forbidden to the ascetic laborer since they rob his
mind of temperance and make him incapable of the invisible war with the
thoughts. The defeated mind, especially the victim of sensual thoughts, is
deprived of spiritual grace. That which has been carefully acquired through
many long labors is lost over the course of a few hours, even a few minutes.
A monk should not drink wine, said St Pimen the Great in the Saying of the
Desert Fathers. Every pious Christian who desires to preserve his virginity
and chastity should also follow this rule. The Holy Fathers followed it, and
even if they did drink wine, it was very rare and in great moderation.
Spicy food should be removed from the table of the ascetic since it awakens
carnal passions. Such foods include pepper, ginger, and other sweets.
The most natural food is the one that was allotted to man immediately after
his creation—food from the plant kingdom. God said to our forefather: And
God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the
face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be
for food.” ⁹ Only after the flood was meat allowed for food. ¹⁰
A vegetarian diet is best for the ascetic. It warms the blood the least, fattens
the body the least, and its constituent parts affect the brain the least. Finally,
it is the healthiest kind of food. For these reasons, one who follows it most
easily preserves his purity and watchfulness of mind and its ability to rule
over the body of the person. The passions have less hold over
the body and the person is more able to dedicate himself to ascetic labors.
Fish dishes, especially those prepared from large sea fish, have a completely
different quality. They have a palpable effect on the mind, they fatten the
body, they inflame the blood, and they fill the stomach to satiety, especially
when eaten often and in large quantities.
These effects are greatly magnified when eating meat. Meat fattens the body
excessively, giving it an especial laziness, and inflames the blood. It has a
deadening effect on the brain. For this reason, monks must never eat meat. It
belongs to people who live in the world, who are constantly burdened by
heavy physical work. But even for them, constant eating of meat is harmful.
So! I can hear the so-called know-it-alls saying: meat is allowed by God, and
you dare forbid it?! To this I answer with the words of the Apostle: “All things
are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me,
but not all things edify.” ¹¹ We refuse to eat meat not because we consider it
to be unclean, but because it has a deadening effect on our entire body and
mind, which hinders our spiritual development.
The Holy Church in its wisdom has established that Christians living in the
world can partake of meat, but not constantly. Periods of meat eating are
separated by times of abstinence from meat, times during which the Christian
cleanses himself from the meat in his system. Such a beneficial effect of
fasting is evident to anyone who keeps the fast.
It is absolutely forbidden for monks to eat meat; they are only allowed to eat
dairy and eggs during the nonfasting periods. On certain days and time
periods they are also allowed to eat fish. But the majority of the time they are
allowed only plant foods.
Such a diet is almost exclusively used by the most zealous ascetics, especially
those who already feel the grace of the Spirit of God, ¹² for reasons of its
beneficial effect on the body and its low cost. They limit themselves to
drinking water, not only avoiding alcoholic drinks but also rich ones such as
kvass ¹³ and all other wheat-based drinks. ¹⁴
The rules of fasting are established by the Church with the purpose of helping
its children, as a guide for the entire Christian society. In addition to this, it is
recommended that every Christian seek the advice of an experienced and
discerning spiritual father, and not decide by himself to fast beyond his
abilities. Again, I repeat that the fast is for the person, not the person for the
fast. The food that is given for the support of the person must not become the
source of his destruction.
“If you curb your stomach,” said St Basil the Great, “you will enter heaven. If
you will not, you will be the victim of death.” ¹⁵ By heaven, he means a gracefilled
prayerful state; by death, he means a passionate state. A grace-filled
state while still on earth is a promise of eternal blessedness in the heavenly
Eden. Falling into sin’s grasp and the soul’s death is a promise of eternal
suffering in the depths of hell. Amen.
