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Blow ye the trumpet in Zion… Sanctify ye a fast,
call a solemn assembly … and cry unto the LORD
(Joel 2:1, 1:14)
This invitation is so clear that it could be understood immediately. And yet, the prophet, despite the brevity of his prophecy and the variety of topics of which he was to speak, addresses this to the Jewish people twice (Joel 2:15). If even the prophetic word about fasting, a word strong and alive with Divine inspiration, needed to be repeated to achieve its purpose, then is it any surprise that our word, rich only in zeal for the eternal good of your souls, should sometimes sound forth about the same subject several times? Even if we have sometimes extended our zeal to a certain excess, then in this case, we beseech your love, to bear with [us] (2 Cor. 11:1). For, let us say in the words of the Apostle, we preach to you not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates (2 Cor. 13:7). Thus, following the prophetic word, let us turn again to the 
“If any fast is a joy, then the Great Fast is a great joy”The Fast is always the possibility to become better, to conquer ourselves, to conquer our bad habits, organize ourselves for spiritual life. If the time of the fast did not come, we would just go on spinning like hamster in its wheel in our earthly affairs and rarely remember any kind of repentance.
“>holy Fast. Last time, we saw its beneficial effect on our bodily composition; now let’s look at how it heals our hearts and souls.
One of the best endorsements for a treatment is when everyone uses it, as this is a sign that everyone, or at least quite a few, have experienced its beneficial power. Look now, where do they not fast? The Jews fast, the Mohammedans fast, the pagans fast, in India they fast, in China they fast, even among savage peoples they fast. What could have disposed such a variety of peoples to embrace a remedy so repugnant to our sensuality if not a firm conviction of its general usefulness? And where does this conviction of the benefits of fasting come from if not from experiencing it in reality? Other remedies might be supported by speculation, natural inclinations, or profit, but who or what would stand for fasting? Only experience. And this experience, it must be said, in relation to fasting is so great that it extends beyond the bounds of mankind. For what on earth doesn’t fast? Animals? They also fast, going at times without food, and some observing this as though it were a special command at certain times. Plants? They have a fast—they don’t always get nutrition from the soil equally, sometimes receiving very little for months on end. The earth itself takes on a fasting appearance at certain times, and sometimes, for example during droughts and winter, is subjected as it were to a fast especially imposed upon it.
Why is there such a universal Our First Great LentWhat advice can we give to a person who is getting ready to fast properly for the first time in his life and to pass through the time of Great Lent with austerity? What does he need to be cautious about and to what should he pay particular attention?
“>fast in nature? To restore exhausted strength. It would seem that nourishment would strengthen and restore the strength of all living things, and yet nourishment alone isn’t enough for this; fasting is needed as the restoration of the power of nourishment itself.
After this, it’s no longer difficult to judge whether fallen man can go without this all-healing remedy, that is, fasting. On the contrary, we might say that fasting is a natural means of restoration for man. For where did our first fall begin and in what did it consist? In that we, in the person of our first ancestor, didn’t observe the fast. “If fasting had been maintained in Paradise” says one Church teacher, “man would have remained in Paradise.” And we can say that if fasting had been maintained outside of Paradise, we would have drawn near to Eden again long ago. For where does the fall of every one us begin even now? With the violation of the commandment on fasting. Have you failed to observe the fast in sight and hearing? Then purity of heart is lost. Have you failed to observe the fast in thought and contemplation? Then the door to free-thinking and unbelief has been opened. Did you break the fast in desires? Then you have become a slave to covetousness and greed. Have you neglected the fast of tongue and lips? Then out comes a blasphemer and idle talker. And what happens in the end when fasting and abstinence are completely taken off the table? In such cases, even those who were seemingly destined to stand above mankind are often likened to senseless beasts. And what then, brethren, after this wondrous observation, if the Holy Church, presently taking us into its hands for spiritual healing, tries first of all to use fasting to close and dry up the main fount of evil that consumes us?
By its very appearance, fasting dispels a whole throng of disorders and temptations. Compare these days with the previous week: Where before there were riotous gatherings, there is silence and order; there is no dishonoring of human nature to be seen; no shouts are heard rending the chaste ear; everyone proceeds with dignity to his task; if he meets someone, he doesn’t engage in empty talk; even if he argues, he does so peacefully; even if he gets angry, he does so in moderation. If anyone who had seen the city before were to look at it now without knowing that the holy Fast has come, he’d think some kind of miracle had occurred. And wherein lies this miracle? In fasting. The fount of evil has been shut up, and the channels have dried up of themselves. Undoubtedly, such a beneficial change in the city implies a change for the better in homes as well. Everything there should be quieter and more decorous. The husband suffers less from his contentious and stubborn wife; the wife suffers less from her proud and insensitive husband; children are less given to noisy games; servants aren’t so tied down by their services, they don’t sigh as much from the whims of their masters; pets now enjoy more respite; even inanimate things commonly used in housekeeping now seem to rest. All this was done by the mere appearance of the Fast.
But this is still only the initial effect of the treatment. With further proper use of fasting, together with other spiritual medicines, it penetrates to the very depths of our sinful leprosy, and restores a man’s spiritual health not for a few days, or a week, but for his entire life. To see how this happens, let us descend in thought to the most important fount of evil that consumes us.
If we want to be good and follow the whole law of God, why then do we remain slaves to our lusts and passions? Because the order of things has been transformed in us: Our body should serve as an instrument of the soul and be completely subordinate to reason. But with us, the soul serves as an instrument of the body and is enslaved to its inclinations. What’s more, the flesh, dominating the spirit, constantly using it for its own sensual, impure purposes, so weakens and debases the spirit that it’s unable to even serve as a good instrument for the body. It itself makes demands, becomes fleshly, and even gets completely lost and disappears. Looking at such people, we automatically find ourselves asking whether there’s a soul in such a man. When the Lord Himself looked at such people before the flood, He found that they were all flesh: My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh (Gen. 6:3).
After this, it’s clear, brethren, that the remedy that should be recognized as the most effective for our correction is that by which the spirit is more fully freed from the bondage of the flesh. And what is first and most likely to contribute to this liberation if not the holy Fast? The sensual man is more devoted to food and drink. As the Apostle says, his stomach is his god; and this very idol is overthrown by the very first act of fasting, which therefore is, whenever it appears, already a sign of the spirit’s dominion over the flesh, a messenger of its liberation from slavery. The longer and stricter we observe the Fast, the more our freedom of spirit increases: He who is able to deprive himself of food entirely whenever he desires is clearly even more able to deprive himself of luxurious food; it’s even easier for him to do without spectacles that are harmful to the purity of the heart, without noisy and deadly games, without reading tempting and empty books, without flaunting fancy clothes and so on. And such ability to control oneself and set limitations already means a great deal in itself, for this is precisely what many lack. And due to this deficiency many, despite the goodness of their hearts and abundance of virtuous feelings, spend their entire lives enslaved to the flesh and the world, to blind whims and passions.
By giving such freedom to the spirit and such dominion over the body, the holy Fast strengthens all this—on the one hand by removing from the body many qualities that are harmful to the spirit, and on the other by giving the spirit strength and power to maintain its holy dignity. Compare your body before and after fasting, even for a short time, and you’ll see that its weight has changed significantly. As a result of fasting, our body becomes light and agile: He who could barely bow his head to express submission before his Creator now freely prostrates before Him in a spirit of repentance. Lightness is followed by the pacification of all bodily senses. The violent stirrings of the flesh, which often afflict even the best of men who are unfamiliar with fasting, disappear on their own, like the boiling in a vessel under which the fire has been extinguished; violent movements in times of displeasure and distress lose their strength, if not cease altogether, like arrows shot from a bow whose string has been loosened. The body, lightened and pacified in this way, instead of bringing the spirit to coarseness and carnality as it did before, itself becomes refined and as if spiritualized, willingly follows all movements of the spirit, easily endures feats of love and self-denial, and begins, in David’s expression, to rejoice “in the living God and rise early to pray towards [His] holy Temple.” Therefore, when death itself comes to separate the soul from the body, finding them in a proper relationship to each other, seeing that the spirit isn’t entangled on all sides by the bonds of the flesh, it separates them quickly and quietly, without the need for any violent shocks or sufferings. Corruption itself doesn’t dare spread its usual cloud of stench over a body sanctified by fasting—its composition dissolves in purity, like spring snow in the morning sun.
By this, brethren, you can already judge how good it should be for the soul under the shadow of the holy Fast. Having taken dominion over the flesh, no longer bound by its demands and whims, it begins a new life and activity akin to itself. Its cares are no longer directed to the satisfaction of sensual needs alone—the time hitherto spent on pleasures is spent either in contemplation of God or in feats of love and humility. After fasting, every faculty of the soul appears in a different, better form. The mirror of the conscience, unobscured by the breath of the flesh, becomes cleaner and reflects the law of God and our iniquities much more clearly, making it possible to see the smallest of spots, the slightest deviations from the royal path of our duty; the will receives the power to steer the whole ship of the soul, and concentrated on the work of salvation, directs it straight towards the eternal harbor; the imagination, uncluttered by images of carnal needs and pleasures, pictures sacred objects—the Cross and sufferings of the Savior, the Dread Judgment, the blessedness of the righteous and the torments of sinners; the memory more faithfully returns its pledge, not concealing former sins, neglected lessons of providence, missed opportunities for self-improvement, or unfulfilled vows behind a veil of forgetfulness; reason judges spiritual subjects more easily and coherently, resolves the perplexities of conscience more quickly, more loudly asserts the need for reconciliation with God and preparation for eternity; warmth appears in the heart, penetrating the source of holy feelings, from which purifying tears of repentance involuntarily flow; the taste is purified, developing an aversion not only to the crude, but also the refined pleasures of the flesh, and an inclination to spiritual comforts and joys. In a word, the whole soul, with all its thoughts, desires, intentions, and senses, takes a higher direction, becomes refined, concentrated, enlivened, spiritualized—the whole man changes for the better. Therefore, when the time comes to use other spiritual remedies—Confession and Holy Communion—they find the man already prepared. Divine grace, in the field cleared by fasting, quietly completes its sowing and reaping for eternal life.
Brethren, portraying the beneficial effects of fasting in this way, I limit myself, as you can see, to its most obvious, ordinary, and, so to speak, inevitable actions; I limit myself to presenting it in a form acceptable for us all. What wonders wouldn’t be revealed if, climbing the ladder of the experiences of holy men, we decided to ascend to the very top and from there observe what the holy Fast has produced and, consequently, what it can produce! You would see how Moses, after forty days of fasting, was made able to receive the Law on Mt. Sinai, amidst thunder, lightning, and storms; how Elias, after the same fast, was accounted worthy to see the glory of God on Mt. Horeb, and then himself ascend in the flesh to Heaven on a chariot of fire; how the Forerunner was brought up in fasting into a man greater than all those born among women (Mt. 11:11); how the Savior Himself didn’t set about the feat of the salvation of the entire world before preparing Himself with a forty-day fast in the desert; how the Apostles abode in fasting, awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit, and committing themselves to fasting again before every important work; how the luminaries of the Church Sts. Basil, Gregory, and Chrysostom found in fasting an inexhaustible oil to burn on the lampstand of the Church; how even the leaders of the people turned to fasting for spiritual help: the Equals-to-the-Apostles Sts. Constantine, Justinian, and Vladimir; how fasting forms a whole host of angels in the flesh, whose holy and incorrupt bodies make up the precious treasure of our city. But it’s enough for us to mention all these wonders of holy fasting—this is the portion of God’s chosen ones. It’s enough for us if fasting serves to heal our own souls from the wounds of sin. And it serves this purpose if we love it heartily; if, having come to love it, we use this medicine prudently. Prudently, I say, for we must not conceal that the remedy of the holy Fast, like any other, can be misused. And if misused, it can, like any treatment, be of no benefit and even cause harm.
After this, brethren, if your spiritual health is dear to you, you must ask how you should fast to receive all the spiritual benefits of fasting. This question is so important that its resolution mustn’t be superficial, and therefore we’ll deal with it next time. Until then, we beseech you to reflect on what you’ve heard and begin to verify as much as you can by your own experience, which will undoubtedly reveal much more to you than was possible to tell you here, due to shortness of time.
Amen.
Source: Orthodox Christianity
