The man who during his whole life loves the conversation of this
yoke-mate fasting is a friend of chastity. Just as the satisfaction of
the belly is the source of all evils, and as the slackness of sleep
kindles the lust of fornication, so fasting, vigil, and wakefulness in
God’s service by withstanding the sweetness of sleep through crucifying
the body throughout the day and night, are God’s holy pathway and the
foundation of every virtue. Fasting is the champion of every virtue, the
beginning of the struggle, the crown of the abstinent, the beauty of
virginity and sanctity, the resplendence of chastity, the commencement
of the path of Christianity, the mother of prayer, the well-spring of
sobriety and prudence, the teacher of stillness, and the precursor of
all good works. Just as the enjoyment of light is coupled with healthy
eyes, so desire for prayer accompanies fasting that is practiced with
discernment.
When a man begins to fast, he straightway yearns in his mind to enter
into converse with God. For the body that fasts cannot endure to sleep
upon its pallet all the night through. Fasting naturally incites
wakefulness unto God, not only during the day, but also at night. For
the empty body of a faster is not greatly wearied by the battle against
sleep. And even if his senses are weakened, his mind is wakeful unto God
in prayer. It is better for a man to desist from his liturgy because of
weakness due to fasting, than because of sloth due to eating. When the
seal of fasting is set upon a man’s lips, his thought reflects with
compunction, his heart pours forth prayer, gloom lies upon his
countenance, shameful thoughts are far removed from him, cheer cannot be
detected in his eyes, and he is an enemy of lusts and vain
conversations. No one has ever seen a discerning faster enslaved by evil
desires. Fasting with discernment is a spacious mansion for every good
thing; but he who neglects fasting makes every good totter. For fasting
was the commandment that was given to our nature in the beginning to
protect it with respect to the tasting of food, and in this point the
progenitor of our substance fell. There, however, where the first defeat
was suffered, the ascetic strugglers make their beginning in the fear
of God as they start to keep His laws.
And the Saviour also, when He manifested Himself to the world in the
Jordan, began at this point. For after His baptism the Spirit led Him
into the wilderness and He fasted for forty days and forty nights.
Likewise all who set out to follow in His footsteps make the beginning
of their struggle upon this foundation. For this is a weapon forged by
God, and who shall escape blame if he neglects it? And if the Lawgiver
Himself fasts, who among those who keep the law has no need of fasting?
This is why the human race knew no victory before fasting, and the devil
had never experienced defeat from our nature; but this weapon has made
him powerless from the outset. Our Lord was the firstborn Leader of
victory, so as to set the first crown of victory upon the head of our
nature. When the devil, that foe and tyrant, sees a man bearing this
weapon, he is straightway frightened and he recollects and considers
that defeat which he suffered in the wilderness at the hands of the
Saviour; at once his strength is shattered and the very sight of this
weapon, given us by our Commander-in-chief, burns him. What weapon is
more powerful and gives more boldness to the heart in the time of battle
against the spirits of wickedness, than hunger endured for Christ’s
sake? For the more the body toils and endures hardship when the phalanx
of the demons encompasses a man, the more his heart is given succour by
the power of confidence. He who has armed himself with the weapon of
fasting is afire with zeal at all times. Elias the zealot also pursued
the work of fasting when he was zealous for God’s law. Furthermore,
fasting reminds the faster of the commandments of the Spirit and it is
an intermediary between the old Law and the grace given us by Christ. He
who is negligent with respect to fasting is slothful, heedless, and
feeble in the other ascetical struggles as well and he manifests an
inception and an evil token of slackness in his soul, thus giving his
antagonist an opportunity for defeating him. It is evident that he who
enters naked and unarmed into the struggle will retreat from it without
gaining the victory; for his limbs were not shielded with the warmth of
fasting’s hunger. Such is the nature of fasting, that whoever perseveres
in it will possess an unshakeable mind, one ready to encounter and
repel all the troublesome passions.
It is said concerning many of the martyrs, that when they foreknew,
either by revelation or by information received from one of their
friends, the day on which they were to receive the crown of martyrdom,
they did not taste anything the preceding night, but from evening till
morning they stood keeping vigil in prayer, glorifying God in psalms,
hymns, and spiritual odes, and they looked forward to that hour with joy
and exultation, waiting to meet the sword in their fast as ones
prepared for the nuptials. Therefore let us also be vigilant, we who are
called to an unseen martyrdom so as to receive the crowns of
sanctification, so that we may never give our enemies a sign of denial
with any member or part of our body.
St Isaac the Syrian, First Collection, from Homily 37.
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