Introduction to Fasting
After prayer, fasting is the second ascetic
practice you should begin as part of an Orthodox way of life. Of
course, if you do not have sufficient faith to participate in the
regular worship services, to participate regularly in the sacraments, or time
for daily prayer, fasting will not be of much help to you. Fasting
is a practice that was shown to us by Jesus as well as the prophets
of the Old Testament. Jesus fasted for 40 days at the start of His public ministry. We are told “he
ate nothing.” The Prophet David fasted, “I
ate no delicacies, no meat or wine, no did I anoint myself.“ (Daniel 10:3) Ester instructed
Mordicai, “ Go, gather all the jews... and
hold a fast on my behalf and neither eat nor drink for three days,
night and day. I and my maids will also fast as you do.” (Ester 4:16) Paul engaged in a three
day absolute fast following the encounter with the living Christ
(Acts 9:9). Moses and Elijah fasted for forty days. (Deut 9:9, 1Kings
19:8)
Jesus also asked us to fast. He said that
we can overcome the devil only through “prayer
and fasting”. (Matt
17:21) In Matt 6:16 Jesus says “When you fast.…” He
did not say "If you fast." He assumes that you will fast and gives
instruction on how to do it properly. The
days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and
then they will fast. (Matt 9:15)
To be effective fasting must center on God.
As we fast we discover the things that control us. David writes, “I humbled my soul with fasting (Ps 69:10).” Fasting reminds us that
it is not food that sustains us, but God. It also helps us develop
the discipline that is necessary for our spiritual growth.
Our spiritual condition is fallen and the demands of the body reign over the soul for most of us. The challenge is to liberate the soul and give it strength to be in charge of our actions, to become freed from the programmatic responses of our brain which is a bodily function. When we feel hunger, this is a body demand. We almost automatically succumb to its demand without thinking. When we fast we put our soul in charge and choose to overcome the pangs of hunger for the glory of God. This action is an act of the soul. This is how fasting helps develop the strength of our soul. Since hunger is such a basic human need and something we must do often, and one that we frequently overindulge in, fasting is one of the first disciplines taught to build the strength of our soul. After conquering this bodily demand then it is easier to conquer the other lusts. For this reason our Church Fathers teach the primary importance of fasting as apart of our spiritual discipline. But we do so recognizing that fasting is not a virtue. It is means to strengthen the power of our soul so we can act more closely to the will of God. It is a pathway to a virtuous life and our union with God.
The Church in her wisdom and for the benefit of our spiritual growth has provided for
us fasting periods. These are times through out the year where we
can focus on our spiritual life and double our efforts in prayer
and worship.
On the outward level fasting involves physical
abstinence from food and drink, and without such exterior abstinence
a full and true fast cannot be kept; yet the rules about eating and
drinking must never be treated as an end in themselves, for ascetic
fasting always has an inward and unseen purpose. Man is a unity of
body and soul, 'a living creature fashioned from natures visible
and invisible.' Our ascetic fasting should therefore involve both
these natures at once. The tendency to over-emphasize external rules
about food in a legalistic way, and the opposite tendency to scorn
these rules as outdated and unnecessary, should be rejected. In both
cases the proper balance between the outward and the inward has been
impaired.
Fasting is not a mere matter of diet. It is
moral as well as physical. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, it
means “abstinence not only from food but from
sins”. “The fast”,
he insists, “should be kept not by the mouth
alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the
members of the body”: the eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip,
the hands from acts of injustice. It is useless to fast from food,
protests St. Basil, and yet to indulge in cruel criticism and slander: “You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother”.
Scripture references: Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 9:14-15, Luke 18:9-14
1 Samuel 7:5-6, Ezra 8:21-23, Nehemiah 9:1-3, Joel 2:15-16, Jonah 3:5-10, Acts 27:33-37 |
