The winter period for Orthodox Christians is always associated with joining forty-day Christmas fast that starts November 28(November 15, Old Style) and ends on the day of the great solemn holiday. This fast is established so that, having been cleansed by repentance, prayer and fasting and thus enlightened in soul and heart, we can worthily welcome the Son of God who has appeared in the world, " us for the sake of man and ours for the salvation of one who came down from heaven».
The history of the establishment of the Nativity Fast
From Nativity Fast stories it is known that it was established in the days of early Christianity and was accepted for observance already from the fourth century. However, the final fasting charter was formed only in the middle of the 12th century, in 1166, when by decision of Constantinople Patriarch Luke Chrysoverga, under the emperor Manuel, it became universally forty days old.
According to St. Simeon Solunsky, « The Fast of the Nativity of the Forty Day depicts the fast of Moses, who, after fasting for forty days and forty nights, received the inscription of the words of God on stone tablets. And we, fasting forty days, contemplate and accept living word from the Virgin, inscribed not on stones, but incarnate and born, and we partake of His Divine flesh».
By the name of the holy Apostle Philip, on the day of whose memory a spell often falls, Christmas post also referred to as " Filippov"Or, in common parlance," Filippovki". It would be appropriate to briefly mention here the life of the holy apostle.
The Holy Apostle Philip, a native of the city of Bethsaida (Galilee), was a deep expert Holy Scripture and, correctly understanding the meaning of the Old Testament prophecies, awaited the coming of the Messiah. At the call of the Savior (John 1:43), he followed Him. The Apostle Philip is mentioned several times in the Holy Gospel: he led the Apostle Nathanael to Christ (John 1:46); the Lord asked him how much money is needed to buy bread for 5 thousand people (John 6: 7); he brought the Greeks who wanted to see Christ (John 12, 21-22); finally, during the Last Supper, he asked Christ about God the Father (John 14: 8). After Pentecost, the apostle preached the Gospel in Galilee, accompanying the sermon wondrous wonders... Then he enlightened the Jews in Greece and converted many to Christ. From Hellas, St. the apostle went to Syria, Lydia, Mysia, Phrygia, everywhere preaching the Gospel and enduring all kinds of sorrows and hardships from his persecutors. He was accompanied by his sister Mariamia and St. ap. Bartholomew. In the city of Hierapolis (Phrygia) there were many pagan temples, including a temple dedicated to snakes, where a huge echidna lived. St. Philip killed the echidna with the power of prayer, and also healed those who suffered from snake bites. Among those healed was the wife of the ruler of the city, who converted to Christianity. Upon learning of this, the governor ordered to seize the apostles and crucify them headlong. An earthquake began and many pagans were covered with earth. St. Philip prayed for the salvation of the tormentors. Many believed in Christ and demanded an end to the execution. Ap. Bartholomew, taken down from the cross, was alive, he baptized all who believed and made them a bishop. St. ap. Philip gave up his spirit by dying on the cross.
The Charter of the Meal at the Nativity Fast
Myself Christmas post could be divided into three periods... The first three weeks, until December 19 - commemoration, the charter is relatively lax: on Saturday, Sunday, as well as on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is a permit for fish. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - food without oil (or with vegetable oil, depending on the day of the memory of the saint). For the next two weeks, fish is allowed to be eaten only on Saturdays and Sundays, and the last 5 days, on the Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ, the charter in its severity coincides with. For detailed food instructions for each day, see church calendar , since for the sake of the memory of deliberate saints, there may be some indulgences.
A special day on the eve of the great holiday - December 24, Christmas eve... According to the established pious tradition, many Christians observe this day especially strictly and do not sit down to a meal until the "first star" appears. So with reverence we remember the appearance of the wonderful Star of Bethlehem, who led the Eastern Magi to the manger of the born Divine Infant. Sochivo- this is lean dish, which is most often made from wheat or rice with honey and fruit. Hence the name of this day - Christmas Eve. "Sochivom" used to be called not only porridge and all kinds of lean food, but also juice; or, as they said, “milk” of different seeds: poppy, hemp, sunflower, mustard, nut, almond and others.
Divine service of the Nativity Lent
The liturgical church charter also has some distinctive guidelines, consistently leading and preparing us to meet the Nativity of the Savior. Starting from November 21st, when we celebrate until the day of giving up the Nativity of Christ, on Matins, when the great doxology is sung, we sing the Catavasia of Christmas ("Christ is born ...")... On the Sundays preceding the Holiday, there are two special statutory services. From December 11, inclusive, the service of the Week of the Holy Forefathers is sung, followed by the Week of the Holy Fathers, when we honor the ancient forefathers of Christ: “Forefather copulation, idle-lovers, come and praise in psalm. Adam the forefather. Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. According to the law, Moses, and Aaron and Jesus. Samuel and David. Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel are with them, and both hope. Together with Elijah, and Elesei, and all. Zechariah and the Baptist. And those who preached Christ, life and resurrection to our kind ”(stichera to the Feast). We serve here for a Menaion and three holy youths who, for the sake of fasting, chastity and other godly virtues, alone among a multitude of people were able to resist the unlawful royal command to worship a golden idol and were not afraid to enter the fire for their faith. As we know from the Scriptures, the Lord kept them in a burning red-hot oven, although the flame that escaped from it managed to burn even the wicked pagans standing nearby.
Special days begin on December 20th - Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ... Here (and until January 14 - The Epiphany Demonstration inclusive) Oktay is lowered (except for Sunday services), and on Sundays, if there is no memory of a deliberate saint, polyelos is lowered. At Matins on weekdays, two kathismas are read, and on the feast night, instead of the usual Theotokos canon, the Threesome is indicated in the Menaion in a row.
On December 24, the Tsar's Hours are served, in the image of the hours of Epiphany Christmas Eve and Great Heel. This is a special kind of service, when on all clocks, in addition to the psalms, we also read the paremias, the Apostle and the Gospel, and we also sing stichera dedicated to the events of the Feast. The "royal" clock is called, as they say, for the sake of the custom of the first Byzantine kings, who certainly attended such services.
Holy Fathers on Fasting
In the patristic teachings, a lot is said about the benefits and necessity of Christian fasting: "As a cloud hides the light of the sun, so gluttony obscures the knowledge of the mind and drives away the Holy Spirit"; “If you hunger for God, thirst and humble yourself, you will soon be glorified by God”; “He who is here for God hungers and thirsts, to him, on the day of reward, He will show true riches”; "The pillar and affirmation of all good is fasting with silence, and he who cares about it loses all good." ("Miterikon").
But when abstaining from brashen, it is also necessary to observe a “spiritual fast” in order to “fast” from envy, slander, condemnation, etc., as it is sung in the stichera of the Lenten Triodion. In one of the most famous and widely read Old Believer books, "Zlatoust", before the beginning of the Christmas fast, on the 22nd week after the memory of All Saints, a special word is also said about how we should exercise in fasting deed so that this fast is truly virtuous and godly:
“Today, beloved, let us worship the soul, who calls us to heal our invisible ulcers, and who do not disdain our spiritual passions. Behold, the time of hunger teaches us, giving our saved health to our souls and bodies. By fasting and prayers, and spiritual labors, he commands to be anointed as an ascetic.
Prayer and greed - victory for the devil. Prayer and fasting are the wealth of piety. Prayer and fasting of death, the second after the resurrection, delivers. Prayer and fasting of the good of a warrior for a disembodied warrior eats.
But whenever there is fasting and prayer with charity, then the worker of piety will find riches with God. Give alms to the poor, lends to God, and others for charity to the poor he gives the Kingdom of Heaven, and the delight of heaven.
For this, for the sake of a yudeom, as if he does not do greed with alms, the prophet says: I will elect not such a fast, the Lord says, but hedgehog every man humble his soul. Kaya bo is the use of alcohol for his flesh, but others are oppressed, and possessions are filled; What is the use of eating to abstain, but to copulate for fornication; What is the use of the mind of being, but not wearing clothes; What is the use of eating the flesh, but not feeding the greedy; What good is there to crush the ouds, but not to have mercy on widows, and not to save the orphans in troubles that are tormented.
Kaya is a benefit for a person to become a Christian, but to do the deeds of a bastard; not by title of bo, men will receive honor from God, but by deed.
For the sake of the sweaty brethren, flee the wrath and wrath of God, by true repentance, fasting and tears, not repaying evil for evil, no slander for slander, keeping the word of the Lord, even more rarely to us: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who do you grievances, and give each other from them you do not want to accept, may your reward be many in heaven, and the sons of the Most High will be named.
Brothers longing for this sonship, we will move more forward, do not return to our cold work and our God-Merz deed: but let us swim the lean abyss, we will reach the higher monasteries, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. "
("Chrysostom", "The Teaching of St. John Chrysostom on fasting").
About fasting, about its meaning, about goals and methods, measure and understanding, so much has already been said by the holy fathers of our Orthodox Church, and by our good mentors, pastors-caretakers, that there is practically nothing to add. Therefore, I dare to say not about fasting itself, but about the favorable time during which it falls, and how we do not lose ourselves in this time ...
Is the unity of everyone with everyone bad?
It is not the first year that people who have been making considerable efforts to forget the covenants and heritage of our faithful mentors, in order to please the world, try not to change themselves for the Church, but to change the Church for themselves, there are urgent recommendations to switch to a new calendar. How wonderful it would be, they say in unison, if we would celebrate our Lord's Christmas before the New Year! Then all the Orthodox could share the joy of this bright holiday with the whole country, and with Catholics, and in general with the whole world!
How wonderful it would be if we celebrated Christmas before the New Year!
And the truth is - is such a unity of all with all bad?
But it happens that bad things happen, because you should always first consider what and for what this unity is happening.
And I propose to consider this issue just on the example of these two holidays: the Nativity of Christ and the New Year.
Orthodox Christians have a holiday almost every day! They even laugh at us sometimes, they say - look at these people, they greet each other almost every day like this: "Happy Holidays!" And the truth is - there is almost not a day that the Holy Church does not honor the memory of one of the martyrs, or the righteous, or the saints, or the apostles. ... Not to mention Sundays, about the holidays of the Great.
But among all these holidays I would especially single out two: the Bright Resurrection of Christ and. The first is generally called the Feast of Holidays, and the second is one of the Great Twelve. Let's talk about the second ...
We find it hard to imagine the extent of the Lord's humility
Nativity. What happened? Why does this event overshadow almost everything in the Universe?
Yes, the fact is that if this event, this great secret - the Incarnation - had not happened, there would have been no salvation for people, that is, for us.
Here is what the Rev. Justin Popovich writes:
“Truly God, as a man, was born on earth! Why? - That we receive life through Him (1 John 4: 9)... For without the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, human life is wholly and completely self-destructive nonsense, death, truly the most obvious and most terrible nonsense on earth. To comprehend death means to comprehend life in all its depths, heights, infinities. And this is done only by the All-Man-loving Lord, Who through immeasurable love becomes a man and forever remains a God-man in human world... Human life only as God-life, life in God, acquires its eternal meaning. And outside of God, life is the most ridiculous nonsense, full of resentment and bitterness. "
It is difficult for us to imagine and understand the degree of the Lord's humility. How we reason:
- Well, a baby was born, well, yes, in a barn, in fact, with cattle. But are there few among people of those who were born in such poverty, and possibly in greater?
The Lord Almighty humbled himself to the point that he took on our flesh
Eh you, woe-man! Yes, then a man is born of a man - and then he murmurs! And here is the Lord Almighty! He humbled himself to the point that he took on our flesh, not for his own sake - for us, for the sake of the creature he himself created, disobeying Him and often cursing Him, betraying Him, forgetting Him, our Creator! And how did He come to become human? Not a king, not a high priest, not a great ruler ... a small, defenseless baby! Just imagine - a lump that fits on your palms, where you put it - it lies there, as you swaddle it, it will take it - and this is the One Who created everything with His Word!
Virgo today gives birth to the Most Substantial,
and the earth brings the nativity scene to the Unapproachable;
Angels with shepherds praise
the magicians travel with the star,
for the sake of us born Otrocha is young,
eternal god
(Kontakion, voice 3rd).
This is the day awaiting us, this is the Holiday at the end of the fasting career! This is the kind of celebration we are preparing for - the meeting of the Lord of the Universe, who has taken our flesh upon Himself, so that we can deify ourselves!
It would be better if the holiday was postponed so as not to fast on the New Year
What do our Orthodox brothers and sisters also tell us?
- It would be better to postpone the Feast early, so as not to fast on the New Year ...
And, it would seem, what bad would happen?
And I will say - something bad would have happened, and in such reasoning itself there is an unkind root.
Christmas tree celebrations are no less appreciated than the Feast of the Nativity of Christ
Such sorrows about the need to observe fasting on the New Year indicate that the celebrations on the occasion of the New Year tree are valued, if not higher, then certainly not less than the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. Indeed - if the New Year had not felt important in comparison with the Christmas holiday, then there would have been no frustrations and lamentations. It would have passed unnoticed, like some day of fans of exhaust gases or cardboard boxes ... But no, their New Year's celebrations are high! And so high that it causes discontent and annoyance with the fact that they fall on fast days.
And what is sadness for? Is this day especially worth in a series of other days? No, if only the person himself does not make him special, then he will not stand out among the days of others. A person will show mercy to someone - and will create this day good for himself, indulge in festivities and idle jubilation - and will create evil.
“Have you not heard Paul's words: you look at days, and months, and times, and summers. I am afraid of you, food is in vain that labored in you (Gal. 4, 10-11)? Extremely insane one at a time happy day expect the same for the whole year; and not only from insanity, but also from the devil's influence, comes the thought that in the affairs of your life you must rely not on your own zeal and activity, but on the daytime turns of time. The year will be happy for you in everything, not when you get drunk on the first day, but if on the first and every day you do what is pleasing to God.
So, if you want to benefit from the beginning of the new months, then do this: at the end of the year, thank the Lord that He kept you up to this limit of years; break with your heart, count the time of your life, and say to yourself: the days are running and passing; the years are coming to an end; we have already traveled a lot of our way; and what good have we done? Shall we leave here without everything, without any virtue? The court is at the door, the rest of life tends to old age. "
It is not for nothing that the evil one persuades a person, especially an Orthodox one, to conduct new year's eve in idleness, abundant eating and libation of wine. On New Year's Eve, the Holy Church commemorates the martyr Boniface, to whom we all pray for deliverance from addiction to alcohol, from drunkenness. Can you imagine a greater absurdity on the verge of insanity than the Orthodox in drinking, at a plentiful meal, on the feast of this saint? Wouldn't it be more natural for him to meet this day at church services (especially since the day and many subsequent ones are free from work)?
The whole post with us is that we refuse the modest
Rejoicing about the onset of fasting, I want to speculate a little more about the peculiarities of the calendar ...
We should not be sad about the fact that the New Year's holiday falls on the days of fasting, but rejoice! In this I see the special mercy of God towards us unworthy of such mercy.
Is it possible that some of us are capable now, I will not say - of great, but at least some kind of deeds? We hardly consider ourselves, we do not study, we do not cultivate a will that lies in the mud of our passions, entangled in them and cannot even lift the top of our head from under these nets. Our entire post, at best, consists in the fact that for the most part we refuse the modest, yes, maybe someone will take on the feat of adding canon, or akathist, or kathisma to the daily rule. Actually, this is not a post at all. But we believe that we are fasting and that we are working.
We will not eat meatless (maybe), but deceive ourselves with lean mayonnaise and soy meat and other "bogus", instead of simply excluding our usual taste sensations from the diet (as from the same mayonnaise, meat, etc.) - and even this will not be a real post yet.
But the merciful Lord sees right through us. And, like a child-loving Father, he loves us and in every possible way wants us to be saved. And he arranges it for us where we do not even know - if only they would not grumble, if only they would listen to Him and follow His Holy Will! And the fact that the New Year's holiday is ahead of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ is also arranged by His good Providence!
We are unable to bear the feats and labors ourselves, albeit small ones, but the Lord gives us this opportunity. He arranged these days in such a way that we, if not out of our joy, then perhaps out of shame in front of our brothers and sisters, will have to refrain from New Year's frenzy and fun!
We are not ready for confession, but, by the grace of God, perhaps only for the sake of shame in front of the views of other Orthodox Christians, our best, we will compel ourselves, at least to a small extent, to disunite the world and reject part of what it offers on this day, namely - indulge in unrestrained fun, a plentiful meal, drinking wine and night orgies.
Perhaps, if not a desire for willfulness and zeal for the Lord, then shame in front of the priest (I am talking about the remembrance of the coming Confession on Christmas Eve) will force the Orthodox on this day not to submit himself to the world, but to preserve for the perception of spiritual joy from the mother of all holidays - the Feast of the Nativity of Christ!
Let's fast with a pleasant fast!
Two thousand years ago, humanity was waiting for the Savior with hope. However, the majority represented Him as an earthly king and therefore did not notice the day of His Nativity. Bethlehem slept peacefully, and only a handful of shepherds heard the angelic message. These people believed that the Savior could not be born in the royal palace, but in a cave where the sheep were sheltered from the weather.
These people saw the One for whom the whole world was waiting, because they were pure in heart. And as a reward for everything, the secret of the Incarnation of Love was revealed to them. How often do people hope that life will improve due to external reasons. They do not suspect that the darkness of everyday life can only illuminate the love in their souls. But in order to obtain it, you need to cleanse your heart.
The days of fasting pull a person out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life, demanding from him clean life for God. This is another, non-worldly time. V Old Testament it was required to bring a tenth of their income to the Temple. Fasting is a New Testament sacrifice of Christians to God.
Leo the Great teaches: "The very keeping of abstinence is sealed by four times, so that during the year we will know that we constantly need purification and that during the scattering of life, we should always try by fasting and charity to destroy sin, which is multiplied by the frailty of the flesh and not the purity of desires."
According to Leo the Great, the Nativity Fast is a sacrifice to God for the fruits gathered. "As the Lord has blessed us with the fruits of the earth," writes the saint, "so during this fast we should be generous to the poor."
According to Saint Simeon of Thessaloniki, “The fast of the Nativity of the Forty-day depicts the fast of Moses, who, after fasting for forty days and forty nights, received the inscription of the words of God on stone tablets. And we, fasting for forty days, contemplate and accept the living Word from the Virgin, written not on stones, but incarnate and born, and we partake of His Divine flesh. "
The Nativity Fast is established so that by the day of the Nativity of Christ we purify ourselves by repentance, prayer and fasting, so that with a pure heart, soul and body we can reverently meet the Son of God who has appeared in the world, and so that, in addition to the usual gifts and sacrifices, we can bring him a pure heart and desire. follow his teachings.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk argues: “As we see, there is a bodily fast, there is a fast and a spiritual one. Bodily fasting is when the womb is fasting from food and drink. Soul fast - when the soul refrains from evil thoughts, deeds and words.
A fair fast is one who refrains from fornication, adultery and all uncleanness.
A fair fast is one who refrains from anger, rage, anger and revenge.
A fair fast is the one who has imposed his abstinence on the tongue and keeps it from idle talk, foul language, insanity, slander, condemnation, flattery, lies and all slander.
A hefty fasting man is one who keeps his hands from theft, theft,
run, and your heart - from the desire for other people's things. In a word, a good fasting person is one who removes evil from all.
You see, Christian, fasting of the soul. A bodily fast is useful for us, as it serves to mortify our passions. But fasting of the soul is indispensable, because bodily fasting is nothing without it.
Many people fast with their bodies, but do not fast with their souls. Many fast from food and drink, but do not fast from evil thoughts, deeds and words - and what is the benefit to them?
Many fast for a day, two or more, but they do not want to fast out of anger, resentment and revenge.
Many abstain from wine, meat, fish, but with their tongues they bite people like themselves - and what is the use to them? Some often do not touch food with their hands, but extend them to bribery, theft and robbery of someone else's property - and what is the benefit to them?
True and direct fasting is abstinence from all evil. If you want, Christian, that fasting was useful to you, then, fasting bodily, fast and mentally, and fast always. As you impose fasting on your womb, so impose on your evil thoughts and whims.
May your mind fast from vain thoughts.
May memory fast from rancor.
May your will fast from evil desire.
May your eyes fast because of a bad vision: avert your eyes so as not to see vanity(See Ps CXVIII, 37).
Let your ears fast from bad songs and slanderous whispers.
May your tongue fast from slander, condemnation, blasphemy, lies, flattery, foul language, and every idle and rotten word.
May your hands fast because of the beating and theft of other people's goods.
Let your feet fast because of walking on an evil deed. Shy away from evil and do good(Ps. XXXIII, 15, 1; Peter III, 11).
This is the Christian fast that God requires of us. Repent, and, refraining from every evil word, deed and thought, learn every virtue, and you will always fast before God.
If you fast in quarrels and strife, and strike with the hand of the humble, why fast in front of Me, as now, so that your voice may be heard? I have chosen not such a fast and the day on which a man will humble his soul, when he bends his neck like a sickle and lays rags and ashes under him. You will not call such a fast a pleasant fast, I have chosen not such a fast, says the Lord. - But resolve any union of unrighteousness, destroy all debts written down by force, release the broken ones to freedom, tear apart all unrighteous scriptures, split your bread with the hungry, and bring the poor who do not have shelter into the house; when you see a naked man, clothe him, and do not hide from your soul mate.
Then your light will open like 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, and He will say: Here I am! When you remove the yoke from your midst, stop lifting your finger and speaking offensive words, and give your soul to the hungry and nourishthe soul of the sufferer: then your light will rise in darkness, and your darkness will be like noon(Is. LVIII, 4-10) ".
Saint John Chrysostom:
Look now at the beneficial effects of fasting. The great Moses, having spent forty days in fasting, was rewarded to receive the tablets of the law; When, coming down from the mountain, he saw the lawlessness of the people, he threw these tablets, received with such an effort, and broke, considering it incongruous to communicate the commandments of the Lord to the people drunk and worshiping lawlessness. Therefore, this wonderful prophet had to fast for another forty days, in order to be worthy to receive again from above and bring the tablets to the people, broken for their iniquity (see Exodus 24-34). And the great Elijah fasted for the same number of days, and now he escaped the dominion of death, ascended in a fiery chariot, as it were, to heaven, and until now had not yet experienced death (see 1 Kings 19: 8). And the man of desires [Daniel], after having spent many days in fasting, received a wonderful vision; he also tamed the fury of the lions and turned it into the meekness of sheep, not changing their nature, but changing their disposition, while their brutality remained the same (see Dan. 10: 3). And the Ninevites by fasting rejected the definition of the Lord, forcing them to fast with people and dumb animals, and thus, having lagged behind all evil deeds, disposed the Lord of the universe to philanthropy (see Jonah 3, 7-8). But why should I still turn to slaves (after all, we can count many others who were glorified by fasting both in the Old and New Testaments), when it is possible to point to our universal Master? For our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, after already forty days of fasting, entered into a struggle with the devil and himself set an example for all of us to arm ourselves with fasting, and, having strengthened by it, entered into a struggle with the devil (see Matthew 4: 2). But here, perhaps, someone - a person with a sharp and lively mind - will ask: why does the Vladyka fast for as many days as the slaves, and not more than them? This was done not without reason and not without purpose, but wisely and according to His ineffable love of mankind, so that they would not think that He appeared on earth in a ghostly manner and did not take flesh upon Himself or did not have human nature, for this He fasted the same number of days, and not more, and thus obstructs the shameless lips of dispute hunters ...
Therefore, I ask ... that, knowing the benefits of fasting, you do not lose it out of carelessness, and when it comes, you do not grieve, but rejoice and rejoice: because, as Blessed Paul says, if our outward man smolders, then the inner one from day to day updated (2 Cor. 4:16). Indeed, fasting is food for the soul, and as bodily food fattens the body, so fasting strengthens the soul, gives it an easy flight, makes it able to ascend to heights and think about things higher, and puts above pleasures and pleasures real life... Just as light ships sail the seas more quickly, and those burdened with a large load sink, so fasting, making our mind lighter, helps him quickly swim across the sea of real life, strive for the sky and for heavenly objects and not respect the present, but consider insignificant a shadow and sleepy dreams ...
Great benefits come from two virtues: prayer and fasting. For he who prays as he should, and, moreover, fasts, does not demand much, and who does not demand much, he will not be covetous, and who is not covetous, he loves to give alms. The one who fasts becomes light and takes wing, and prays with a cheerful spirit, quenches evil desires, appeases God and humbles his arrogant spirit. That is why the apostles almost always fasted. He who prays with fasting has two wings, the lightest of the wind itself. For such one does not sleep, does not speak much, does not yawn and does not faint in prayer, as is the case with many, but he is faster than fire and higher than the earth, therefore such is especially an enemy and a fighter against demons, since there is no stronger person who sincerely prays ... If a wife could bow down to a cruel ruler who was neither afraid of God, nor was he ashamed of people, then even more so can he bow down to God who constantly stands before Him, tames the womb and rejects joys. If your body is weak in order to fast incessantly, then it is not weak for prayer and for neglecting the pleasures of the womb. If you cannot fast, then by at least, you can not live luxuriously, but this is not unimportant and not far from fasting and can tame the fury of the devil. For nothing is so kind to a demon as luxury and drunkenness - the sources and mother of all evil.
The Lord, common to all of us, is like a child-loving father, desiring to cleanse us from the sins we have committed at any time, and has granted us healing in holy fast. So, no one grieves, no one be sad, but rejoice, rejoice and glorify the Guardian of our souls, who has opened this beautiful path for us, and accept its coming with great joy! Let the Greeks be ashamed, let the Jews be ashamed, seeing with what joyful readiness we welcome his coming, and let them know by deed what the difference between us and them is. Let them call drunkenness, all kinds of unbridledness and shamelessness, which they usually produce as holidays and celebrations. The Church of God, in spite of them, may call fasting, contempt (pleasures) of the heart, and then all kinds of virtues a holiday. And this is a true holiday, where the salvation of souls, where there is peace and harmony, from which all worldly splendor is expelled, where there is no screaming, no noise, no running of cooks, no slaughter of animals, but instead of all this, perfect calmness, silence, love, joy prevail. , peace, meekness and countless benefits.
I wish that you, having purified your soul and having said goodbye to fun and all intemperance, accept with open arms the mother of all blessings and the teacher of chastity and all virtue, that is, fasting - so that you also enjoy great pleasure, and he (fasting) delivered to you the proper and appropriate medicine for you. And doctors, when they intend to give medicine to those who want to cleanse their rotten and spoiled juices, order to abstain from ordinary food so that it does not interfere with the medicine's effect and exert its strength, all the more we, preparing to take this spiritual medicine, that is, the benefit that occurs from fasting, we must clear our minds by abstinence and relieve our souls so that it, mired in intemperance, does not make fasting useless and fruitless for us.
As intemperance in food is the cause and source of countless evils for the human race, so fasting and contempt (pleasures) of the womb have always been the cause of untold blessings for us. Having created man in the beginning and knowing that this medicine is very necessary for him for his spiritual salvation, God immediately and at the very beginning gave the primordial command the following commandment: from every tree in the garden you will eat; and from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, do not eat from it (Gen. 2, 16-17). The words: "Eat this, but do not eat this," concluded a kind of fasting. But man, instead of keeping the commandment, transgressed it. Succumbing to gluttony, he turned out to be disobedient and was sentenced to death.
A fasting person most of all needs to curb anger, accustom himself to meekness and condescension, have a contrite heart, exorcise impure desires by presenting that unrelenting fire and impartial judgment, be above monetary calculations, show great generosity in charity, expel from the soul any anger against his neighbor ...
You see what true fasting consists of. We will perform such and such a fast, not believing it, like many, only to be without food until evening. This is not the main thing, but that with abstinence from brushes we combine also abstinence from harmful (for the soul) and show great concern for the accomplishment of spiritual deeds. The fasting person should be calm, quiet, meek, humble, despising the glory of real life. As he despised his soul, so should he despise vain glory, and look only at the One who tests hearts and wombs, with great zeal to perform prayers and confessions before God, and, as much as possible, help himself with alms.
Besides abstaining from food, there are many ways that can open the doors of boldness for us before God. He who eats food and cannot fast, let him give the most abundant alms, let him make fervent prayers, let him show intense zeal for listening to the word of God - here bodily weakness does not hinder us at all, - let him be reconciled with enemies, let him drive out all memory malice from his soul ... If he fulfills this, then he will perform a true fast, such as the Lord requires of us. After all, abstinence from food itself He commands so that we, curbing the desires of the flesh, make it obedient in fulfilling the commandments. And if we decide not to accept help from fasting because of bodily weakness and indulge in greater carelessness, then, without knowing it, we will inflict the greatest harm on ourselves. If even during fasting we find ourselves lacking in the aforementioned good deeds, then all the more we will show negligence when we do not use the medicine of fasting ... Fasting humbles the body and curbs indiscriminate desires, but enlightens the soul, inspires, makes easy and soaring grief ... he thanks God for having enough strength to bear the lean labor, and the eater also thanks God, because this will not in the least harm him in saving his soul if he wants to.
The man-loving God has revealed to us innumerable ways in which we, if only we want, can achieve the highest boldness (before God).
The Monk Barsanuphius the Great:
Physical fasting means nothing without spiritual fasting inner man, which consists of protecting yourself from passions. This fast of the inner man is pleasing to God and will reward you for the lack of bodily fasting.
Saint righteous john Kronstadt:
How great is the power of fasting and prayer! No wonder: during fasting, the soul becomes dominant over the lusts of the body, generally subjugates it to itself, and the devil very often acts through the flesh; The fasting person conquers, therefore, both the flesh and the devil - which means that then he is close to God in his moral state and can most easily do the powers of God. If this is also joined by prayer, which brings down to us the blessing and help of heaven, then a person can really command not only material nature, but also fallen spirits. How did the Lord Himself overcome the devil? By fasting and prayer.
In fasting, especially for a priest, one must leave the sweets that irritate the flesh and not please it, but grieve it: sleep for a short time, teach the people the Word of God, unfeigned repentance, fruitful, awaken hatred of every sin, explain how unnatural it is to us and disgusting with God, how he (sin), contrary to nature, has become akin to her and acts in her powerfully, insatiably and destructively.
What does fasting and repentance lead to? For what labor? It leads to the cleansing of sins, peace of mind, to union with God, to sonship, to boldness before the Lord. There is a reason to fast and confess from the bottom of your heart. The reward will be invaluable for conscientious work.
They say: it is not an important matter to eat fast in fasting, not in food fasting; it is not important to wear expensive, beautiful outfits, to go to the theater, to evenings, to masquerades, to start up magnificent expensive dishes, furniture, an expensive carriage, dashing horses, to collect and save money, and so on; but because of what our hearts turn away from God, the Source of life, because of what we lose eternal life? Is it not because of gluttony, is it not because of precious clothes, like the rich man of the Gospel, is it not because of theaters and masquerades? What makes us hard-hearted towards the poor and even towards our relatives? Is it not because of our addiction to sweets, in general to the belly, to clothes, to expensive dishes, furniture, carriage, to money and so on? Is it possible to work for God and mammon, be a friend of the world and a friend of God, work for Christ and Belial? Impossible. What caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise, fall into sin and death? Is it not because of the single poison * (* Not because of the single poison - Is it not the only one because of the food.)? Take a good look at why we do not rejoice about the salvation of our souls, which cost the Son of God so dearly, because of which we apply sins to sins, we constantly fall into opposition to God, into a vain life, is it not because of an addiction to earthly things, and especially to earthly delights? What makes our heart coarse? Because of what we become flesh and not spirit, perverting our moral nature, is it not because of addiction to food, drink and other earthly goods? How, then, can we say that it is not important to eat anything fast in fasting? The very thing that we say so is pride, superstition, disobedience, disobedience to God and distance from Him.
Eating extensively, you become a carnal person, having no spirit, or soulless flesh, and by fasting, you attract the Holy Spirit to yourself and become spiritual. Take cotton paper not moistened with water. It is light and, in small quantities, floats in the air, but moisten it with water, it becomes heavy and immediately falls to the floor. So it is with the soul. Oh, how one must protect the soul by fasting!
Fasting is a good teacher: 1) it soon makes it clear to every fasting person that every person needs very little food and drink and that in general we are greedy and eat, drink much more appropriate, that is, what our nature requires; 2) fasting is good for or reveals all the weaknesses of our soul, all its weaknesses, shortcomings, sins and passions, just like a cloudy, stagnant water that begins to purify itself shows what kind of reptiles are found in it or what quality rubbish; 3) he shows us all the need with all our hearts to resort to God and from Him to seek mercy, help, salvation; 4) fasting shows all the cunning, deceit, all the malice of ethereal spirits, which we previously, without knowing, worked, the deceit of which, when we are now illumined by the light of God's grace, clearly appear and which now viciously persecute us for leaving their paths.
He who rejects fasts forgets what caused the fall of the first people (from intemperance) and what weapon against sin and the tempter the Savior showed us when he was tempted in the wilderness (fasting forty days and nights), he does not know or does not want to know that a person falls away from God precisely through intemperance, as was the case with the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and with the contemporaries of Noah, for from intemperance occurs every sin in people; whoever rejects fasts, he takes away from himself and from others the weapon against his multi-passionate flesh and against the devil, who are strong against us, especially through our intemperance, he is not a warrior of Christ, for he throws down his weapon and voluntarily surrenders himself to captivity to his voluptuous and sin-loving flesh; he is finally blind and does not see the relationship between the causes and consequences of deeds.
If you greedily eat and drink a lot, you will be flesh, and if you fast and pray, you will be spirit. "Do not get drunk with wine ... but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). Fast and pray - and you will accomplish great things. A well-fed one is incapable of great work. Have the simplicity of faith - and you will accomplish great things: for "all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9, 23). Have diligence and diligence - and you will accomplish great things.
If there is joy in heaven about one sinner who repents (Luke 15, 10), then what a joyful time for good angels Our Great Lent of God, and in particular the days of repentance and communion: Friday and Saturday? And how much the priests contribute to this joy, carefully, fatherly confessing their spiritual children! But, on the other hand, there is no sadder time for demons than the time of fasting, which is why they become ferocious during fasting and with special ferocity attack the priests who contribute to sincere repentance for the sins of the people of God, and with special force they chill in the church. and at home for godly Christians who are zealous for prayer, fasting and repentance. Which of the pious priests and laity does not know the demonic rage directed at them during the very performance of the Sacrament of Penance? - The slightest mistake on the part of the priest-confessor, the slightest unrighteous movement of the heart, and they, with all their demonic ferocity, enter the priest's heart and torment him for a long, long time, if he does not soon drive them out, uninvited guests, with the most fervent prayer of repentance and living faith.
The fast of Moses is for the intemperance of the Israelites. The suffering of the saints is for our effeminacy; their fasts and deprivations - for our intemperance and luxury; their prayers are fervent - for us, who are lazy to prayer. The fast of our Lord Jesus Christ is for our intemperance. The stretching out of His hands on the Cross is for our stretching out of our hands to the forbidden tree and to everything forbidden by the commandments of God. The sanity of our prayers for others is to justify those for whom we are praying; the sanity of our exploits and virtues for others, for example, prayer and alms for the dead and for the living. So, prayers with tears of the mother of Augustine for her son saved Augustine.
Fasting is necessary for a Christian in order to clarify the mind and excite and develop feelings and move the will to good action. We overshadow and suppress these three human abilities most of all by gluttony, drunkenness and everyday worries (Luke 21, 34), and through this we fall away from the source of life - God and fall into corruption and vanity, perverting and defiling the image of God in ourselves. Gluttony and voluptuousness pin us to the ground and cut off, so to speak, the wings of the soul. And look what a high flight all the fasting and abstaining had! They soared like eagles in the sky; they, the earthly ones, lived in mind and heart in heaven and there they heard unspeakable verbs and there they learned divine wisdom. And how a person humiliates himself with gluttony, overeating and drunkenness! He perverts his nature, created in the image of God, and becomes like dumb cattle and even becomes worse than him. Oh, woe to us from our addictions, from our lawless habits! They prevent us from loving God and our neighbors and fulfilling the commandments of God; they root in us a criminal selfishness of the flesh, the end of which is eternal destruction. So the drunkard, for the pleasure of the flesh and stupefying himself, does not spare a lot of money, and the beggars spare a penny; a tobacco smoker throws tens and hundreds of rubles into the wind, and spares kopecks to the beggars, which could save his soul; those who love to dress luxuriously or hunters for fashionable furniture and dishes spend a lot of money on clothes and furniture with dishes, and pass by the beggars with coldness and contempt; those who love to eat well do not regret tens and hundreds of rubles for dinners, while the poor spare a pittance. It is therefore necessary for a Christian to fast, because with the incarnation of the Son of God, human nature is spiritualized, deified, and we hasten to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14, 17); food for the belly, and the belly for food: but God will destroy both (1 Cor. 6, 13). Eating and drinking, that is, having an addiction to sensual pleasures, is characteristic only of paganism, which, not knowing spiritual, heavenly pleasures, delivers all life to the pleasure of the womb, to eating and drinking too much. That is why the Lord often denounces this destructive passion in the Gospel. And is it reasonable for a person to live incessantly in the fumes of the stomach, in the gastric fumes that rise inside from the incessant cooking and fermentation of food? Is a person just a walking kitchen or a self-propelled chimney, which in all fairness can be likened to all who are engaged in incessant smoking?
We, Christians, as new people, are commanded to fast, so we should not worry a lot about nourishing the womb, excess in food and drink, and delicacies, because all this hinders the attainment of the Heavenly Kingdom. It is our duty to prepare for heavenly life and take care of spiritual food, and spiritual food is fasting, prayer, reading the Word of God, especially the Communion of the Holy Mysteries. When we do not care about fasting and prayer, then we are filled with all sorts of sins and passions, but when we eat spiritual food, then we are cleansed of them and adorn ourselves with humility, meekness, patience, mutual love, purity of soul and body.
“When you fast, do not be discouraged like hypocrites, for they neither take upon themselves gloomy faces, so that they may appear to people fasting” (Matthew 6, 16).
At present, there are very few people who, out of hypocrisy, would want to appear to others during fasting as great fasts in order to earn glory from people. Most likely there will now be people who do not want to be or appear to be fasting; because fasting is considered useless and superfluous for themselves, and to seem to other fasting people is a stupid and ridiculous thing.
Is fasting necessary, that is, abstaining not only from certain foods that are not used in fasting, but also abstaining from eating them in large quantities? Is fasting necessary as abstinence from the pleasures of gross sensuality? Is fasting necessary as refraining from erratic thoughts and heart movements and disapproving actions? And do you want, beloved, to inherit blessed eternity, or the Kingdom of Heaven, which also undoubtedly exists, as undoubtedly that we now live on earth, because the incarnate God-Word Himself, His prophets, apostles and all the saints assure us of this His? How not to want! There, according to the faithful and immutable Word of God, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit live forever and ever (Rom. 14:17), there is God, there are blessed spirits, there are righteous people, and on earth - for not much more than seventy years only you almost see sins, confusion and calamities - everywhere. If you want, then you must certainly fast: since flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15, 50), because the Kingdom of God is not food and drink (Rom. 14, 17).
Is fasting necessary as refraining from erratic thoughts and heart movements and disapproving actions? If you agree that God is your Lawgiver and a righteous Judge, Who knows how to punish those who violate His laws, if your conscience tells you that your soul has violated order more than once in a wrong order moral life, went out of obedience to the laws of the Creator, then you must agree that you need to restore the order of your moral life, bring your thoughts into the correct order from the chaotic ferment to and fro, make your heart break away from unworthy objects to which it is, due to your inattention and oversight, clung so hard that he forgot about the first object of his love - God; behave in such a way that your actions would not be ashamed to expose both before the judgment of your conscience and the judgment of people and God. You know that an unrighteous thought is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 15, 26), that God asks for your heart, which you have given to the will of the passions, that every evil one (Ps. 5: 5) and unclean will not be placed with Him. If you want to be with God, if you want to be eternally prosperous, then you must agree that you need to fast with your soul, collect your mind, correct your thoughts, cleanse your thoughts, instead of the rags of unrighteous deeds decorate yourself with the precious garment of good deeds. The bodily fast is established to make it easier for the soul to fast.
For this, among other things, the fasts were established by the Holy Church, so that Christians would have weapons in them against the devil and his innumerable wiles.
Prayer and fasting cleanse, enlighten and strengthen the soul; on the contrary, without prayer and fasting, our soul is an easy prey for the devil, because it is not protected or protected from him. Fasting and prayer are spiritual weapons against the devil, which is why the Lord says that the generation of demons proceeds only through prayer and fasting. Holy Church, knowing the power of this spiritual weapons, calls us on each week twice to fast - on Wednesday and Friday, by the way, in remembrance of the sufferings and death of our Savior, and throughout the year - repeatedly during all many days of fasting, and Lent combines with special touching prayers of repentance. Fasting and prayer have the spiritual benefit that, by strengthening our souls, they strengthen faith, hope and love in us and unite with God.
The time of the Forty-Year is a time of struggle, exploits against invisible enemies, against all sins and passions that possess us. This is how it should be in the sense of the Church. The forty-day period was established in imitation of our Savior, who gave us an image and an example in everything, and during fasting He was tempted by the devil and overcame him by the Word of God.
Whoever truly fasts must inevitably endure the sorrow of the flesh, the stubborn struggle of the spirit with it, and, to top it all off, the intrigues of the devil, acting on our soul through various thoughts that cause great sorrow, especially to those who are not yet firm and imperfect in Christian life.
We now have Great Lent, which lasts forty days. What is this Lent? He is a precious gift to us of our Savior, Who Himself fasted forty days and nights, did not eat or drink, a gift truly precious for all who seek salvation, as a mortifier of emotional passions. By His word and example, the Lord legitimized him to His followers. And with what love, with what divine, grace-filled powers the Lord serves all those who truly fast! He enlightens them, purifies, renews, strengthens them in the struggle with passions and with invisible enemies, with the rulers and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age; teaches all virtue and elevates to perfection, to incorruption and supreme bliss. All truly fasting people have experienced and are experiencing this. Fasting with prayer is a sure weapon against the devil and the multi-passionate flesh. Let no one be clever that there is no need for fasting.
He (fasting) pacifies our sinful, whimsical flesh, frees the soul from under its weight, imparting wings to it, as it were, for free soaring to heaven, gives place to the action of God's grace. Anyone who fasts freely and correctly knows how light and light the soul is during fasting; then good thoughts go into the head easily, and the heart is purer, more tender, more compassionate - we feel the striving for good deeds; lamentation over sins appears, the soul begins to feel the perniciousness of its position and begins to lament over sins. And when we do not fast, when thoughts are in disorder, feelings are not restrained and the will allows itself everything, then you rarely see a saving change in a person, then he is dead in his soul: all her forces act in the wrong direction; the main goal of action - the goal of life - is lost sight of; there are many private goals, almost as many as each person has passions or whims. A strange work is going on in the soul, the consequence of which is apparently some kind of creation: you see the materials for construction, the beginning, middle and end of the case, but in fact the end of everything comes out - nothing. The soul goes against itself, against its own salvation with all its strength: both by the mind, and by will, and by feeling. He who fasts in a Christian way, reasonably, freely, according to the false promise of the Lord, he is rewarded with reward for his heroic deed from the Heavenly Father. Your Father, the Savior said about a true fasting man, who sees in secret, will reward you openly (Matt. 6: 4). And this reward, no doubt, is always generous, truly paternal, serving to our most essential benefit.
Or they consider it a sin to eat, even because of bodily weakness, on a fast day, something short-lived and without a twinge of conscience despise or condemn a neighbor, for example, acquaintances, offend or deceive, weigh, measure, indulge in fleshly impurity.
O hypocrisy, hypocrisy! About misunderstanding of the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Christian faith! Is it not inner purity, meekness and humility that the Lord our God requires of us first of all? Do not the inner vials and dishes need to be cleaned so that the outer is clean? Is external fasting given to help inner virtue? Why do we pervert the divine order?
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
But what is fasting in essence? And is there not self-deception among those who consider it necessary to fulfill fasting only by letter, but do not love it and are burdened by it in their hearts?
And is it possible to call fasting only the observance of some rules about not eating food in fast days? Will fasting be fast if, apart from some change in the composition of food, we will not think about repentance, or abstinence, or purification of the heart through intense prayer?
Fasting is not a diet. The Apostle notes that “food does not bring us closer to God” (1 Cor. 8, 8). “There is no perfection in the visible abstinence of the flesh; the unfaithful can also have it out of necessity or hypocrisy,” says reverend john Cassian the Roman. Abstinence in food is only the basis for further construction, it "preserves our mind in due purity and sobriety, our heart in due subtlety and spirituality."
Saint Theophan the Recluse:
Fasting on Wednesday and Friday is enough. There is no need to add anything else to this. Lean more on ordering thoughts and feelings. It is enough to keep the body in abstinence.
Fasting children, if health does not allow, is not necessary. But it’s a pity that, being accustomed from a boyhood, then they will not get on the post.
I also congratulate you on the beginning of the soul-saving fast. This time is a great blessing. God, through the Holy Church, beneficially established it for us, the weak, unable and unable to do good fasting all the time of our life, although we realize that all of it, not excluding for a moment, should belong to the Lord and be converted to His glory. This is by the very creation of us, and even more by the redemption, in which we are bought at a priceless price, why we should not belong to ourselves, but to the one who bought us, who, by virtue of this, became our Lord, legally demanding that we surrender ourselves to Him and others. masters did not call upon themselves, which, by our oversight, are innumerable.
Behold, the Preparatory weeks for fasting began and at the very beginning - the Meeting, which very significant indicates that those who wish to meet the Lord can achieve this only by fasting labor, publican humility, sincere repentance at the direction of the prodigal, memory of Last Judgment, crying about the fall in Adam and about our own sins and cries: "Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me!"
Allow me to stand at the beginning of this path, look at it all into the distance ... and then put, according to your strength, to go through it, as the Lord desires.
I congratulate you on St. Fourties. Help you, Lord, to spend it in good health and for the salvation of the soul. You can bow at home to serve all the services ... and go to mass on Saturday and Sunday.
You can also pray at home without going to church. In fasting it is good to force yourself. And on other weeks you can pray at home, just go to the Presanctified. And at home, then read the followings, as expected, and sometimes you can get off with bows alone.
On the eve of fasting! ... We heard: open the doors of repentance! ... The all-merciful Lord again stands at His open doors with open arms. Let us fall into His arms and weep before the Lord, who created us and in every way arranges our salvation by His providential actions for us.
Regarding food during treatment: you can take it according to the prescription of doctors, not to please the flesh, but as an aid to a speedy cure, meaning that you are more strict about this matter, about food, that is. food, it is to take it in smaller quantities. But although this is possible, however, those who abstain and keep a lean table during fasting, although weak, do better: as I advise you ... They refused the operation, and it turned out better; it will be better if you refuse here too, for the fear of God. All food is wholesome, as long as it is not spoiled, but fresh and healthy ... As the elders of God lived for more than a hundred years, eating only bread and water ...
Abstinence from passions is the best medicine, and it gives longevity.
Not from food alone ... or health, but from God's blessing, which always overshadows the one who betrays himself into the will of God when he takes up burdens on the path of fulfilling the commandments of God.
You congratulated me on the new year, and I congratulate you on your post. The words are different, but the thing is one: for who will accomplish everything that is done in St. fasting as it should, he will truly enter the new year of life. This is what I wish you. You are, of course, new for a long time; but our news is such that it often requires updating. Through the path of life among the rags, koi and under our feet, and on the sides, and in front, and behind, and above, and below, and from the inside, and from the outside, they embrace us and squeeze, and it is very difficult or impossible that which of them does not stick and did not stay on us and in us, as it is impossible to walk along the big road do not get dusty. Here is the merciful Lord and arranged for us a fast, which is, on the one hand, a look, or inspection, where there are some dust-rags, on the other, a bathhouse for washing everything that is old, ordinary-looking, dirty, so that, having gone through both, we are new. , clean and pleasing to God and to people, like a tree in spring, again covered with leaves and flowers. All this from the bottom of my heart I wish you.
Where did they find such a fasting charter? Where it is said about spiritual fasting, it is not mentioned that there is nothing to bother about bodily fasting, it is possible to do without it, and it is only reminded so as not to limit ourselves to bodily fasting alone. Great Lent and Dormition are significant, but from this one cannot conclude that other fasts can be turned into non-fasts. One must be completely serviceable in the church charter, without reservations.
Fasting is not to eat your fill, but to leave yourself a little hungry, so that neither thought nor heart will be burdened.
Having troubled yourself with fasting, you give yourself comfort. This is the order of the day. Only carnal consolation is less, and more spiritual. And the flesh should be spiritualized with thanksgiving, measured measure and spiritual comprehension. You seem to be doing so. In the general course of your life, you see yourself surrounded by the mercies of God more than others - and thank the Lord. Good! This thanksgiving is the strengthening of the possession of these graces. Go from joyful to expectation of sorrowful - and also get ready to give thanks: for from the Lord everything is for our good - eternal.
The kind of food in the restoration of strength is a side affair ... The main thing is the food is fresh (not spoiled), the air is clean ... and most of all is peace of mind. Restlessness of spirit and passions spoil the blood - and significantly harm health. Fasting and fasting life in general - best remedy to the preservation of health and its prosperity.
With a post! Help you, Lord, to lead him in a soul-saving way. Don't lean too much. The strength is lacking in obedience to fulfill and to fulfill the rule. Everything in moderation. Pay more attention to the inner and analyze everything that happens there more strictly in the light of the word of God with paternal instructions. Small crookedness there threatens disaster.
Nowhere is it written without a special need to take on too long a post. Fasting is an external affair. It must be undertaken on demand. inner life... What is the need for you to have such excessive fasting? And so you eat a little. The measure that has already been established could be kept in the post. And then you always have a great post. And then spend whole days without food ?! It could be that, in the week when they were preparing to commune the Holy Mysteries. The whole post is so tormented for what? And they would have put in a little bit of food every day. Your thought would always consider you a poisoner and a drinker, but now, it is true, it dignifies you - and you have to fight. Sometimes delight in one's exploit will break through, and for this punishment from God follows, which is usually revealed by the belittling of warmth and concentration. In view of this evil, I cannot call your fasting good. Bring it in measure. At Pentecost this day, keep the table by or by the statute. And for the rest of the time, ease the fast. You don't need one at all. I am very sorry for you; But I speak this way of fasting not out of pity, but out of the conviction that you are not particularly benefiting from it, and self-infliction is near - a great and enormous trouble!
Self-conscious and stubborn cross-section in everything! You don’t want to listen to anything. Well, live how you want. This trashy postishka of yours will not lead to good. There are some rudiments of self-discovery, but you don’t see that. Look what you write: "I am not what I used to be now." This is called conceit. Say further: "And even if you don't mind going to Voronezh and Zadonsk, I won't listen." This is called self-will. Finally about the prayer that "you had better pray this way and that way." This means following your tastes. Of these three: good taste, self-will, and self-conceit, the destructive spirit of delusion is built up. He's in the beginning; but if you are not careful, and everyone will act in the same rank, it will grow and destroy you. And all the postishka is to blame! It sticks out at you - not at all in place.
Who is against fasting? Fasting is one of the first deeds of a monk and a Christian. But one cannot but rebel against an immoderate fast. This one is pernicious. Only empty rumor excites outside and vanity inside. Your elders grumble faithfully: here we have an ascetic, she eats one prosphora, does not light a fire. And you are even stronger and stronger. They talk about trifles, but you have a worm of vanity and a high opinion of themselves: “I’m not that right now”. Your tongue sometimes speaks humble speeches, but it lies in your heart that you have already ascended high and, tea, surpassed everyone. It always happens. Begin to strike at external deeds, immediately you will fall into spiritual pride. And the enemy needs it. Well, mother, add, add. And mother with all her might! He thinks that he is pleasing to God, but in fact he amuses the enemy and inflates and expands with a boil of vanity. I am writing to you all these unsweetened things for the sake of the danger in which you are.
Look around and, while there is time, fix the matter.
It seems to you that I want to fatten you up. Not at all. I want to send you to a moderate post that would keep you humble. Otherwise you don’t know where you will fly. About this with whom you want to talk, everyone will say the same. It won't take long to twist your inner to the unreasonable outer, but to put it right again - you won't suddenly get it right. This bad feeling will begin to deepen in you that you are not what you were before; warmth, tenderness and contrition will diminish. When the heart grows cold, then what? Be wary of this. The path of humble, moderate doing is the surest.
I repeat again: who is against fasting? But fasting is fast, and at least give up the other. This is yours. And so I consider him not for his own sake, but for the sake of the fact that he introduces you into self-conceit, which was how all your last letter was fulfilled. So one cannot but rebel against him as the cause of such a dangerous mood of the spirit. Fasting itself is blessed. Eating less and sleeping less is a good thing. Still, in moderation is necessary. And besides, the soul must be protected with deep humility. Writing as he wrote, he had one thing in mind - to arouse in you apprehension and a keen eye for the suggestions of the enemy, with which he knows how to approach so skillfully that you will not even notice. He will begin with a subtle thought and will bring him to great deeds according to his kind. Look, for the Lord's sake, shame on yourself. May the Lord help you to become deeper in your feelings of self-deprecation and humility!
Congratulations on holy fast. Bless you, Lord, to lead him soul-saving. Look, don't break your health. If you don't feed the horse, you won't get lucky. Of course, you must wish that what you started would never change and turn into the law of life. Physical feats are useful to us because the body can get used to everything. Until he gets used to it, he screams, and when he gets used to it, he will shut up. This is the limit of work on the body. The body is an obedient slave, but it must be trained. Well school, only in moderation. The work on the soul has no end.
With regard to fasting, act with complete freedom, applying everything to main goal... When to weigh down, when to lighten, you can, depending on the need. Fasting is not an end, but a means. It is better not to bind oneself in this respect with an unchanging decree, as it were, by bonds: when it is like this, when otherwise, only without privileges and self-pity, but also without cruelty, leading to exhaustion.
You are all messing with your penniless fasting. Well, do as you intend: just do not consider it important. It is important to pay attention to the movements of the heart and purify them by repentance at every moment. Do this more. With this, the Lord to mature and be in the memory of mortal - all important matters!
Do not regret that you had to add something from the food. One should not even become attached to the holy rules, but keep oneself in relation to them with complete freedom, disposing of them rationally. It doesn't matter if you add something else, just not for the sake of the flesh, but out of need.
But here is the fast: we fast, brethren, by a pleasant fast. Woe, when fasting is not pleasing to us or to God. If we have become weak! .. And all because we are righteous ... The sinner will not feel sorry for himself, and when he feels sinfulness - then hold on, sinful flesh!
There are so many rumors about fasting, how they rise up against it and say: "Why is fasting so strict, when the Lord Himself says that what does not enter into a person profanes, but proceeds from the heart, and the apostle teaches:" He who does not eat the eater, let him not condemn. " * (* ... who does not eat, do not condemn the one who eats.) (Rom. 14: 3), and St. Chrysostom on St. Does Passover call for joy to all, both those who fasted and those who did not? "
Poor post! How much he endures reproaches, slander, persecution! But now everything, by the grace of God, is worth it. How could it be otherwise? The support is strong! The Lord fasted, the apostles fasted, and, moreover, not a little, but, as the Apostle Paul says about himself, “you are many in fasting,” and all the saints of God kept a strict fast, so that if we were given to survey the monastery of paradise, we did not find there is no one who would be shy of fasting. And so it should be. Paradise is lost by breaking the fast - raising a strict fast should be among the means to return lost paradise.
Our mother, the Holy Church is compassionate, is it a stepmother to us? Would she begin to impose such a heavy and unnecessary burden on us? But it does! It is true, it cannot be otherwise. Let us submit ... Yes, and everyone who wants to be saved will submit ... Look around. In the slightest degree, whoever cares for their souls begins to fast now, and the stronger his care is, the stricter he is fasting. Why would it be? - Because during fasting things are more successful and it is easier to cope with the soul. Whoever dissuades from fasting, surely, salvation is not dear to him. Where the womb writes the laws, there God is the womb. To whom God is the womb is the enemy of the Cross of Christ. Whoever is the enemy of the Cross is the enemy of Christ, our Savior and God. Here's how you proceed: when someone begins to rise up against some ascetic ordinance of God, start asking him, what does he accept besides this rejected one? For example, who rejects fasting, ask: “Well, do you need to go to church? Do you need to keep a prayer rule at home? do I need to confess? " and so on ... and you will probably find that he will give up everything. And it will be clear to you that he doesn’t know about fasting, but about any kind of tightness in general ... He wants to live widely ... Well, let him live! Just be sure to read to him the definition of the Court of God on the broad path! It is the duty of everyone who knows this definition! After all, when you ask everything, it turns out that such a sage is completely different as if of faith. And tell him that; tell me that you, brother, have a different God, different laws, different hopes! the apostles, shepherds and teachers of the universe are all fasting and law-makers of fasting! We cannot do otherwise. And you yourself go your own way. Don't you think to convince such people? .. Where are we going! Their forehead is copper and the neck is iron! What will you do with them? Do not think that they have any good reasons. No. They only have strong tenacity. Here are the misinterpretations that you heard, it is true that they are considered lofty ideas... And look what is there? They say: that which does not enter the mouth will defile ... Who argues against this? Do those who fast abstain from food because they are afraid to be defiled by it? Have mercy on God! Nobody thinks so. And these are the cunning worldly weaving lies in order to somehow cover themselves with plausibility. Those who break the fast will defile themselves, only not with food, but by breaking the commandment of God, by disobedience and perseverance. And those who fast and do not keep their hearts pure are not considered clean. We need both: bodily fasting and spiritual fasting. So the teachings say, so it is sung in the Church. Who does not fulfill this - fast is not to blame! Why then give up the post on this pretext? I would ask those who do not want to fast if they keep their hearts pure? It's incredible! If during fasting and other exploits it is hardly possible to control our dear heart, then without fasting there is nothing to say. Remember how one elder met a young monk coming out of the tavern and said to him: “Eh, brother! it's not a good thing to come here! " He answered him: “Go! if only the heart was pure ... "Then the elder said with amazement:" How many years have I been living in the wilderness and fasting and praying, and I rarely go out anywhere, but I have not yet acquired a pure heart; and you, young, walking through the taverns, managed to acquire a pure heart. Wonderful! " The same must be said to everyone who refuses to fast! And what it says further there: “He who is not poisonous does not condemn the eater,” does not lead to anything. After all, this is an instruction! As we put ourselves on the fasting list, thank you for the advice or reminder. But through this the non-fasting person is not released from the obligation to fast and from the responsibility for non-fasting. He who condemns the non-fasting person sins, but the non-fasting person does not become righteous through this. And let's not condemn. Let everyone as he knows. And for the rule or the law of fasting, one must stand and not let the freelancers insidiously weave a lie. Finally, Chrysostom's condescension to those who have not fasted means only the kindness of his heart and the desire that in the Light Christ Sunday everyone was happy and there was not a single sad face. Such is the desire of the holy father, but whether it comes true in practice - God knows! Tell the patient: be healthy, be healthy ... Will he be good at this? The same is there. Everyone is invited to rejoice, but is everyone truly rejoicing? What to do with conscience? Noise and din is not joy. Joy is in the heart, which does not always rejoice in external amusements. "
Help you, Lord, to fast for salvation, talk and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ worthily. And take care of yourself, and put things in order, and enjoy the peace of God - the grace of our Lord our Savior, when you are sincerely worthy to receive Him into yourself.
Saint Leo the Great:
“After the long feast of Pentecost, fasting is especially necessary in order to purify our thoughts and make us worthy of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The real festival, which the Holy Spirit sanctified by His descent, is usually followed by a nationwide fast, beneficially established for the healing of soul and body, and therefore requiring us to accompany it with due grace. For we have no doubt that after the apostles were filled with the power promised from above and the Spirit of truth entered their hearts, among other secrets of heavenly teaching, at the suggestion of the Comforter, the teaching on spiritual abstinence was also taught, so that hearts, being cleansed by fasting, become more capable of acceptance of the blessed gifts ... one cannot fight the forthcoming efforts of the persecutors and the furious threats of the wicked in a pampered body and fleshy flesh, because what delights our external person, destroys the inner, and on the contrary, the rational soul is purified the more, the more the flesh is mortified. "
Rev. Isaac the Sirin:
The spirit does not submit [to the cross] unless the body first submits to it.
Rev. Ephraim Sirin:
The kingdom of God is now close to everyone who serves God in righteousness; because the days of pure fasting have come for the one who is truly fasting.
So, beloved, let us maintain this fast with zeal and with a pure heart; because it is sweet and pleasant for those who spend these days holy. We will use this holy fast to fight the devil; because without fasting and prayer, no one can defeat the evil one. Let us use this fast, beloved, to ask and pray for mercy from the All-Merciful and Merciful, Who does not reject the one who asks. This fast, beloved, opens the door of heaven, because it lifts us up from the earth and lifts us to the heights.
… With the help of this holy fast, a person ascends to heaven and soars to heaven, if only he fasts in perfect purity. By this holy fast, man glorifies God, and to everyone who zealously observes the fast, He opens the door of mercy. "
The Holy Fathers spoke a lot about fasting, for this feat was familiar to each of them. Today we have a great opportunity, after reading the quotes of the holy fathers about fasting, to be encouraged and also try to give up something to which we are attached.
Let's not forget what we said Venerable Anthony Great: "There is no virtue above reasoning." This means that when entering a fast, one should take into account the state of one's health, age, and many other factors. If a layman has any serious illness, then it is worth consulting with the priest personally in order to find that measure of fasting that he will be able to do and will not harm the body.
The essence of fasting is to learn to control your nature, to learn to curb your desires, to be able to subdue your insides, and not to be led by him ...
Holy Fathers about fasting:
Blessed Augustine on fasting:
The more days of fasting, the better treatment; the longer the course of abstinence, the more abundant the acquisition of salvation.
Venerable John Kolov on fasting:
When the king is about to take an enemy city, he first of all stops the supply of food to it. Then the citizens, being oppressed by hunger, submit to the king. The same happens with carnal desires: if a person spends his life in fasting and hunger, then disorderly desires will faint.
Saint John Chrysostom on fasting:
Are you fasting? Keep your tongue from evil and your mouth from flattery and deceit. Are you fasting? Avoid slander, slander, lies, enmity, blasphemy and all excess. Will you fast? Flee covetousness, robbery, quarrels and soul-destroying envy. If you fast for God, run away from every deed that God hates, and He will accept your repentance as Merciful and Humanitarian.
Besides abstaining from food, there are many ways that can open the doors of boldness for us before God. He who eats food and cannot fast, let him give the most abundant alms, let him make fervent prayers, let him show intense zeal for listening to the word of God - here bodily weakness does not hinder us at all, - let him be reconciled with enemies, let him drive out all memory malice from his soul ... If he fulfills this, then he will perform a true fast, such as the Lord requires of us. After all, abstinence from food itself He commands so that we, curbing the desires of the flesh, make it obedient in fulfilling the commandments.
Are you fasting? Feed the hungry, water the thirsty, visit the sick, don't forget the prisoners. Comfort the mourners and mourners; be merciful, meek, kind, quiet, long-suffering, unforgiving, reverent, true, pious, so that God will accept your fast and give the fruits of repentance in abundance.
Fasting is an ancient gift; fasting is the treasure of the fathers. It is modern to humanity. Fasting is legalized in paradise. This first commandment was accepted by Adam: “ from the tree, hedgehog understand the good and the crafty, do not bear"(Gen. 2,17). And this: won't take- there is a legalization of fasting and abstinence. "
If Eve had fasted, and had not eaten from the tree, then we would not have need of fasting now. Do not limit the benefits of fasting to one abstinence in food, because true fasting is elimination from evil deeds ... Forgive your neighbor an insult, forgive his debts. You do not eat meat, but you offend your brother ... True fasting is the removal of evil, abstinence of the tongue, suppression of anger in oneself, excommunication of lusts, slander, lies and perjury.
Beware of measuring fasting by simply abstaining from food. Those who abstain from food, and behave inappropriately, become like the devil, who, although he does not eat anything, does not stop sinning.
Venerable John Cassian the Roman on fasting:
Strict fasts are made in vain when they are followed by excessive consumption of food, which soon reaches the vice of gluttony.
A suicide should include someone who does not change the strict rules of abstinence and when it is necessary to reinforce the weakened forces by eating.
Saint Theophan the Recluse on fasting:
Fasting is not eating your fill, but leaving yourself a little hungry, so that your thoughts and your heart are not burdened.
Look around and see: what are all people doing, why are they bothering so much, for whom do they work? Each and every one is working on the stomach and all the troubles about satisfying its requirements: give me something to eat, give me something to drink. What great blessing is promised in the future by one promise of the abolition of this tyrant of ours! Stand now at this point and decide: where will the tireless thirst for activity that belongs to this century, in another century, when there will be no need to bother about the stomach or about everyday life in general? This must be resolved now in order to prepare for what awaits us in the infinite future.
Holy Abbess Arseny (Srebryakova) about fasting:
Many scholars of our century say that fasting and all church ordinances are empty rituals, an appearance that leads to nothing. And I, the more I live, the more I am convinced that all the statutes established by the holy fathers by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit are the greatest blessings given to us by the Lord, that they are all extraordinarily salvific by the grace that is present in them. Scientists say: "All this is nonsense, only the truths of the gospel are important." - I will say that it is impossible to directly comprehend, to stand on the gospel truths, bypassing and neglecting the statutes of the Church. They, only they lead us to the highest truths of the teaching of Christ.
Now we are talking about fasting, that is, abstaining from eating too much and from excesses, in general, in order to make our body lighter and thinner, more capable of spiritual sensations. And the Lord Jesus Christ sanctified this institution of the Church by fasting for forty days, and fasting became salvation for us, although due to our weakness we carry it out in a completely different way. But we must believe that our nature has been cleansed and made capable of spiritual sensations through the forty-day fast of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must believe that fasting saves us not for our exploits, but by the grace inherent in it, as an institution of the church. One church bell gives us salvation, reminding us with its funeral tone of the mortality of everything earthly. Abstinence from food teaches us to abstain from the thoughts and feelings of passionate people.
Abstinence is the first step in all virtues ... The Lord Jesus Christ says: Love your enemies that is, those who curse you and reproach you. - How can this be done? He speaks back to you, can't you suddenly love him now? First, refrain so as not to answer you with abuse too. Next, refrain from thinking bad thoughts about this person and so on. So the first step to love is abstinence. It also leads to God's help. And the help of God will then become necessary for you when you become to abstain from anything. Then you will see that your own strength is too little, that you need God's help and you will begin to ask for it with your whole being. This is how true prayer is acquired. Then, during fasting, our usual fasting, confession of sins and communion of the Holy Mysteries, except for those gifts of grace that are given to us while doing all this, remind and move us to that greatest repentance to which we must come with life. They remind of the confession that a person should bring directly to the Lord, in the deepest knowledge of his fall and the greatest sinfulness of his nature, which should be followed by an eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are the blessings. Which come from fasting. Let us not be afraid of him and the fact that we will conduct him wrong, but let us rejoice that he is so salutary!
Rev. Abba Dorotheos on fasting:
But we must not only observe the measure in food, but also refrain from any other sin, so that, as we fast with our belly, we fast with our tongue. We should also fast with our eyes, that is, not look at vain things, not give freedom to our eyes, not look at anyone shamelessly and without fear. Likewise, the hands and feet are to keep from all evil deeds. Fasting in this way, as St. Basil the Great, by a favorable fast, moving away from every sin committed by all our senses, we will reach the holy day of Resurrection, having become, as we said, new, pure and worthy of the communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow on fasting:
The Apostle Paul said: if one of the infidels calls you and you want to go, then eat everything that is offered to you without any research, for a calm conscience (1 Cor. 10:27) - for the sake of the person who warmly welcomed you.
Non-judgmental people are jealous of the fasting and labors of saints with the wrong mind and intent, and they think they are passing virtue. The devil, who guards them as his prey, plunges into them the seed of a joyful opinion of himself, from which the inner Pharisee is born and brought up and betrays such perfect pride.
Rev. Isaac the Syrian on fasting:
The spirit does not submit to the cross unless the body first submits to it.
Venerable John Climacus on fasting:
It is better to eat, and to thank the Lord, than not to eat, and to condemn those who eat and thank the Lord.
Related articles:
- How to fast fast? >>
- On the fasters (From the stories of St. Basil of Kineshemsky) >>
