But let the word turn to history and show the antiquity of fasting, show that all the saints observed fasting as some kind of paternal inheritance, handed down from father to son and successively received, so that this acquisition, in the order of succession, has been preserved to us.

In paradise there was no wine, no slaughter of animals, no meat-eating. After the flood they recognized wine; after the flood it is said: "Eat all things as a potion of grass" (Gen. 9:3). When there is no hope for perfection, then pleasure is permitted. And the proof that wine has not yet been tasted is Noah, who does not know the use of wine. It had not yet entered the world and was not familiar to people. Noah, not seeing its effect on others, not having experienced it on himself, carelessly suffered harm from wine. For Noah planted grapes, and drank of the fruit, and drank (Gen. 9:20-21), not because he was addicted to wine, but because he did not know how much to eat it. Thus, the invention of wine-drinking is much later than Paradise, and such antiquity has the dignity of fasting!

But we also know that Moses also ascended the mountain during the fast. And he would not have dared to approach the smoking peak, would not have dared to ascend into darkness, if he had not armed himself with fasting. During the fast, he accepted the commandment, inscribed with the finger of God on the tablets. And at the top of the mountain fasting provided the law, and below the insatiability of the belly brought its frenzy to idolatry. For the gray-haired people eat and drink, and arise to play (Exodus 32:6). The forty-day stay with God of His servant fasting and praying turned out to be useless from a single rapture. For those tablets inscribed by the finger of God, which the fast accepted, were crushed by drunkenness; because, according to the judgment of the prophet, the drunken people were unworthy of God's legislation. And this people, who have been taught the knowledge of God by great miracles, will be plunged into Egyptian idolatry in an instant by the insatiability of the womb. Compare the one with the other: how fasting leads to God, and how luxury becomes a betrayer of salvation!

Stretching out in the same way, descend to the following. What denigrated Esau and made him a slave to his brother? Was it not the only food for which he gave the primacy? And did not Samuel give her mother a prayer combined with fasting? What made the great warrior Sampson insurmountable? Is it not fasting, with which he was conceived in his mother's womb? Fasting made him gluttonous, fasting milked him,[5] fasting made him a man; the fast which the angel prescribed for his mother: "If he proceedeth out of the vine, let him not eat, and let him not drink wine or strong drink" (Judg. 13:14).

Fasting gives birth to prophets, strengthens the strong; Fasting makes legislators wiser. Fasting is a good guardian of the soul, a reliable cohabitant of the body, a weapon of valiant people, a school for ascetics. He repels temptations, anoints those who strive in piety; he is a cohabitant of sobriety, a worker of chastity; in battles he performs valiant deeds, in time of peace he teaches silence; He sanctifies a Nazarite [6], performs [7] a priest, for without fasting it is impossible to dare to perform a sacred service, not only in the present sacramental and true service, but also in the service under the law.

Fasting made Elijah a spectator of a great vision; for having cleansed his soul by fasting for forty days, he was vouchsafed to see the Lord in the cave of Horeb, as much as a man can see Him. The fasting Elijah returned his son to the widow, through fasting proving to be stronger than death. Out of the mouth of the fasting man came a voice that went out to shut up heaven for the wicked people for three years and six months. In order to soften the unbridled hearts of the stiff-necked, Elijah decided to condemn himself with them to misery. Therefore he said, "As the Lord lives... if there be water on the earth, it will come from my mouth [8] (1 Kings 17:1). And with the coming famine, he imposed a fast on all the people, in order to correct them from the vice of luxury and dissolute life.

And what is Eliseev's life? How did the prophet enjoy the hospitality of the Shunammite woman? How did he treat the prophets himself? Did not the potion of divia [9] and a few torments (2 Kings 4:39, 41) satisfy the love of strangers, when those who touched the food were in danger from the addition of an apple diviago [10], if the prayer of the fasting person had not destroyed the poisonousness? In a word, you will find that fasting led all the saints to live according to God.

There is one substance called amianthus, which is not destroyed by fire; when placed in a flame, it is apparently charred, but taken out of the fire, as if washed in water, it becomes purer. Such were the bodies of the three youths in Babylon, which had received the attribute of amiant from fasting. In the great flame of the sand, as if cast of gold, they were inaccessible to damage from the fire. Truly, they appeared stronger than gold itself, because the fire did not melt them, but kept them inviolable, when nothing could stand against this flame, which was so kindled by naffa and pitch... and Khvrastius,[11] so that it spread over forty-nine cubits, and devouring all that was around, it destroyed many of the Chaldeans (Dan. 3:46-48). And it was this flame that was trampled down by the youths, who entered it, strengthened by fasting; In such a strong fire, they breathed in thin and irrigated air. The fire did not dare to touch the hair that had been returned by fasting.

And Daniel, the man of desire, who had not eaten bread or drunk water for three weeks, taught the lions to fast, having come down to them in the pit. For the lions could not sink their teeth into him, as if he were made of stone, or of brass, or of any other solid substance. As iron is tempered by immersion, so fasting, having tempered the body of Daniel, made it impregnable to lions; and they did not open their mouths against the saint. Fasting extinguished the fiery force, blocked the mouths of lions.

Fasting sends prayer to heaven, becoming like wings for it, when the mountain is ascending. Fasting is the growth of houses, the mother of health, the educator of youth, the adornment of the elderly, a good companion to travelers, a reliable cohabitant to spouses. The husband does not suspect adultery of marital fidelity, seeing that his wife has become accustomed to fasting. The wife is not consumed with jealousy, noticing that her husband has loved fasting. Who exhausted his house during the fast? Consider what is in him now; consider what will happen after; nothing will be lost in the house from fasting. No animal complains of death; there is no blood anywhere; nowhere does the implacable womb pronounce judgment on animals; the cooks' knife is inactive; The table is content with what does not require preparations.

The Sabbath was given to the Jews: let thy servant and thy ass rest, it is said, (cf. Deuteronomy 5:14). Let fasting be a comfort from unceasing labor to the servants who serve you throughout the whole year. Give rest to your cook, give freedom to the gatherer on the table, stop the cupbearer's hand; let him who makes various biscuits rest someday; Let the house also rest from a thousand anxieties, from smoke and stench, from running up and down, serving the belly as an implacable master. Of course, even tax collectors sometimes allow those who are in their hands to enjoy their freedom for a short time. Let him give some part to his lips, let him conclude a five-day truce with them, and this belly, which always demands and stops at nothing, receives today and forgets tomorrow; when it is full, he inquires about abstinence, and when it becomes emaciated, he does not remember those rules.

Fasting does not know what a loan is taken: the meal of a fasting person does not smell of growth [12]. A son who is fasting even in orphanhood is not strangled by his father's debts, like coiled snakes.

But on the other hand, fasting is also an occasion for rejoicing. Just as thirst gives sweetness to drink, and the preceding hunger makes the meal delicious, so fasting makes it pleasant to eat food. When it occupies the middle between pleasures, interrupting their continuity, then it will cause the eating of food, as if it were separated from you, to you to desire it. Therefore, if you want to make your table attractive, allow the fasting to alternate. And you, by the very fact that you love pleasure too much, imperceptibly weaken it for yourself and destroy sweetness by voluptuousness. No matter how much is desired, the continuity of pleasure makes it contemptible; and what you have in your own rarity, enjoyment is all the more desirable. In the same way, He Who created us arranged us so that the pleasantness of His gifts would not diminish, because one thing is replaced by another in life. Do you not notice that the sun is brighter after the night, and wakefulness is more pleasant after sleep, and health is more desirable after the contrary? That is why the meal after Lent is more pleasant both for the rich who have a good table, and for ordinary people who are satisfied with hastily prepared food.

Fear the example of the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). He was consigned to the fire by a luxurious life; for accused not of injustice, but of sensuality, he was tormented in the flames of the sand. Therefore, in order to extinguish this fire, we need water. And fasting is not only useful for the future; it is precious to the flesh as well. The strongest health is subject to change and upheaval; because nature is exhausted and cannot bear the burden of health. See to it that you, now abhorring water, do not ask for a drop of it later, as the rich man asked. No one got drunk from the water; no one had a headache because he was burdened with water; no one, accustomed to drinking water, had need of someone else's feet; no one's legs were paralyzed, no one's hands ceased to function because they were saturated with water. For disorder in digestion, which necessarily accompanies sensualists, produces cruel diseases in the body. The fasting person also has a venerable complexion; it does not turn into shameless crimson, but is adorned with chaste pallor; his eyes are meek, his gait is sedate, his face is meaningful, not disfigured by immoderate laughter; He has moderation in speech, purity in his heart.