The Shepherd, February 2005
FASTING AS PRACTISED IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
The following article was written by the then Archimandrite Anthony (Grabbe) and appeared in the March-April, 1963, issue of "Orthodox Life"
WHAT MAN is not aware that our body, this wonderful object of beauty created in God's image, in which man’s soul dwells for a time, does not always serve as a good shelter and trustworthy home for its occupant. Often, incited by some passion, it inflames this soul with the fire of lust, drawing it into “unworthy deeds of evil,” enslaves it, and binds it with cords of passion, and unless the body meets sufficient resistance, it will lead the soul to a state of such downfall, that by its deeds it will seem to outdo the demons themselves.
The only possible method of struggle with this deceitful friend, colleague and, at the same time, violent enemy - the flesh - is, as the Church prescribes, fasting and prayer (Matt. 17:21; Mark 9:29). The first weakens and curbs the force of the sinful impulses nestling in our flesh, making them subject to the will of the spirit and thus helping the soul to escape from the slavery of sin, and the second, by strengthening the soul in its battle with the passions and desires of the flesh, diverts its attention from the surrounding temptations by raising its eyes towards Heaven, where sorrow and pain and groaning have fled away (Es. 35:10), and assists the coming of the Holy Spirit into the temple of the heart. Thus is accomplished and in this is comprised the saving power of fasting and prayer.
The moral necessity of fasting is so deeply ingrained in the nature of man, that we meet with this phenomenon in the history and practice of all peoples, nations and religions, as a general and customary fact.
Everyone, indeed, can be convinced from his own personal experience that when a soul is in a state of self-probing, repentance, and tormented conscience, then, thanks to the soul’s very close organic ties with the body, this state is naturally and readily accompanied by lack of appetite and of taste for food. In general, every condition of special tension of the soul (including, of course, the effort of prayer) disposes a man to refrain from taking much food.
From another point of view, it can be said that moderation in food, because of the indissoluble connection of the soul with the physiological condition of the body, presents a favourable ground for arousing in man the physiological phenomena referred to. For this reason, in the Sacred Scriptures and in the writings of the ascetic Church Fathers, we meet with directions on fasting and its mention in connection with repentance and prayer (Baruch 1:5; Jonas 3:5-7; Daniel 9;3; Matt. 9:5 & 17:21; Mark 2:20 & 9:29; Acts 13:1-3 & 14:23; 1 Cor. 7:5).
As was said above, the idea of fasting was known and applied in life by all peoples and in most religions. If we will but think back to the time when man was created, then we will see that to the first man, fasting and temperance were known. John Chrysostom, corroborating such a judgment, said: God, in creating man, prescribed fasting as a means of salvation, as a kind mother and the best teacher. For: the Lord God gave a charge to Adam, saying: ‘of every tree which is in the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it ye shall not eat (Gen. 2:16), and this was a kind of fasting. St Basil the Great expresses similar ideas in his first discourse on fasting.
Nevertheless, having received the commandment from God concerning fasting, the first man did not know the necessary resistance to the temptation of the evil one and, acting on his suggestion, transgressed the commandment by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:7). Consequently, punished by God, he was subjected to death, cares, afflictions and sorrows in this new life, having fallen from his former blessed state of grace when he was living in communion with God. Such was his new inheritance, in lieu of the Paradise, which we too would have inherited as his descendants.
Desiring to lead us out of this slavery to sin and death, the Lord God, through his prophets, again gave us His commandments concerning fasting (Lev. 16:20-31; Nehemiah 9:1-3; 1 King.7:6; Joel 2:15; etc. Samuel in A.V.) for the fulfilment of which and through the redemption of His only-begotten Son He promised us a return to our Father’s house and eternal happiness (Deut. 6:25 and 30:10-11, & 14:16; John 12:50; Rev. 22:14).
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