Holy fasting saved the Prophet Jonah in the whale from destruction [70] and the ancient Ninevites from the wrath of God [71].

By fasting, the Apostles of Christ pleased God and appeared on earth as lamps of abstinence and teachers of fasting for the pagans [72]. Fasting made the Apostle Paul the Heavenly Worker [73].

Thus wondrous in salvation is fasting combined with prayer [74]; whoever among the Christians, regardless of the time of his life on earth, does not accept the divinely inspired testament of fasting, will receive mercy and salvation from Christ the Savior.

The liturgical judgments on fasting set forth are precious for their extraordinary clarity, vitality, and depth of analysis of the penitential mood of the fasters. In the words of the stichera and the Great Lenten canons, the moments of the combination of God's grace with the volitional freedom of the fasting in their prayerful and humble appeal to God and mercy to their neighbors are surprisingly clearly shaded.

Also excellent are the images of the biblical zealots of fasting, emerging from the depths of centuries in their majestic heavenly beauty.

We will devote the next chapter of our book to the depiction of the significance of fasting in the matter of the grace-filled transfiguration of human nature according to the Triodion.

THE MORAL GRACE-FILLED MEANING OF FASTING

The liturgical writings of the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church consider fasting not in the ordinary narrow sense of abstinence only from food and passions, but also as an inclination towards all virtues. Fasting, according to the teaching of the hymn-singers of the Church, is the same as experiencing a complete, all-encompassing upheaval of one's personal mood and completely turning to the Lord. In other words, fasting is asceticism and a radical change in the entire structure of external and internal life, the overcoming of sin with all its consequences.

The phraseology of the stichera and canons of the Lenten Triodion is incomparable in its picturesqueness, simplicity, sincerity and wondrous grace-filled power. Speech here flows freely, in a wide stream, without any far-fetched ponderous artificiality, and strikes the listeners to the depths of their souls with grace-filled energy

Let us recount some excerpts from this speech concerning: a) the morally regenerating and b) the grace-filled significance of fasting.

And

"How beautiful and great is Lent! – exclaim the hymn-singers of the Church. "What grace from God! What a wondrous source of heavenly blessings for those who fast intensely! He is a time of podvig, the extinguisher of all passions, the reviver of a tender disposition, right thoughts, a pure life, the hour of the triumph of the spirit over the flesh, the improvement of people. The Lord Himself gave the time of fasting to the warm conversion of sinners from passions and tender service to God. Often in one day of fasting salvation is acquired for all ages" [75].

"In the kingdom of sin and the power of wickedness, bodily food is delighted, and carnal desires are not despised. From the time of the sacrament of the cross, fasting is revered by the Savior, abstinence shines and prayer is lifted up. From them is born heavenly virtue and the torment of demons over people is extinguished" [76].

"Fasting is a sacred institution for the soul, a way of acquiring salvation, a struggle for virtue, God's reward to everyone what he deserves according to his deeds. Crowns are woven for Christ's soldiers who labor in fasting. Impassibility is born from fasting. He is the grace-filled spring of souls, the guardian of purity, the call to repentance and the flower of repentance. What language will express lenten feats in the Spirit... and the wealth of goods that flow from it! Fasting is the queen of virtues. "It quenches the boiling of passions, reconciles those who have sinned with God, cleanses the body with non-eating, the soul with tears, and the spirit with abstinence, gives the ability to fulfill God's will and meet the Pure Lord in radiant purity" [77]. Here "the God-given, blessed time of fasting has shone, the beauty of Lenten has come, and it emits rays of repentance to all who demand God's mercy. The deepest darkness of laziness recedes from people. At this time of virtues, darkened by sins, they embark on the kindest path of purification, concentrate on Divine desires alone and are saturated with luminous purity, radiant all-night prayer and pure love for God and people" [78].