Bring to remembrance the saints who were from the beginning of the world, whom the world is not worthy of, who came in m'ilotech, in goatskins, destitute, sorrowful, embittered (Hebrews 11:38, 37). Imitate their way of life if you covet a part with them. What put Lazarus to rest in the bosom of Abraham? Isn't it fasting? And the life of Ioannov was a single fast. He had neither a bed, nor a table, nor cultivated land, nor a farmer's ox, nor bread, nor bread-baker, nor anything else necessary for life. Therefore the b'olia [13] of John the Baptist did not arise in those born of women (Matt. 11:11). And Paul, by the way, also raised up the fast, which he also mentions, boasting of his sorrows, to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:1-5).

But most important of all that has been said is that our Lord, having strengthened the flesh which He had taken for us by fasting, took upon Himself in it the attachments of the devil, both teaching us by fasting to anoint and accustom ourselves to ascetic labors in temptations, and giving the adversary convenience by His hunger to approach Him. In terms of the height of the Divinity, He would have been unapproachable to the adversary, if through hunger He had not descended to human weakness.

He, ascending to heaven, ate food in order to confirm the nature of the resurrected body; but you do not cease to fatten yourself and tax yourself with the flesh, and do not care in the least that you exhaust your mind, not nourishing it with salvific and life-giving teachings. Or do you not know that just as in battle the struggle of one overcomes the other, so he who goes over to the side of the flesh overcomes the spirit, and he who goes over to the side of the spirit enslaves the flesh? For they are in opposition to each other. Therefore, if you want to make your mind strong, bridle the flesh by fasting. This is the very thing that the Apostle said: to the extent that the outer man decays, to that extent the inner man is renewed; and again: "When I am weak, then I am" (2 Cor. 4:16; 12:10). Do you not despise perishable food? Do you not desire a meal in the Kingdom, which, without a doubt, is prepared by this fast? Or do you not know that by immoderation in gluttony you are preparing for yourself a well-fed tormentor — a worm? For who, with abundant food and unceasing luxury, has received any communion in spiritual gifts? Moses, in order to accept the second law, had need of a second fast. If the dumb had not fasted with the Ninevites, they would not have escaped the foretold ruin. Whose bones fell in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:17)? Were they not those who desired meat-eating? As long as they were content with manna and water from the stone, they defeated the Egyptians, traveled on the sea, and there was no pain in their tribes [15] (Psalm 104:37). And when they remembered the cauldrons of meat and returned to Egypt with their lust, then they did not see the land of promise. Are you not afraid of this example? Are you not afraid that gluttony may prevent you from reaching the desired blessings? And the wise Daniel would not have seen the visions if he had not enlightened his soul by fasting. From the fat food, like a thick cloud, smoky vapors come out, as it were, and block the way to the illuminations of the Holy Spirit that illuminate the mind. If the angels also have any food, then is it bread, as the prophet says: "Angelic bread is poison for man" (Psalm 77:25), and not meat, not wine, not anything to which the slaves of the womb are addicted. Fasting is a weapon for the army against demons, because this generation does not proceed except by prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21). And there are so many benefits from fasting!

And satiety is the beginning of all harm. For together with luxury, drunkenness, and all kinds of delicacies, all kinds of bestial intemperance immediately arise. For this reason, as soon as luxury plunges its sting into the soul, people become horses of misogynism [16] (Jeremiah 5:8). In those who are drunk, their nature is also transformed [17]: in the masculine nature they lust after the feminine, and in the feminine the masculine. But fasting also indicates the measure in marital affairs, restraining from immoderation even in what is permitted by the law: by agreement it sets aside time for this, so that they may continue in prayer (1 Cor. 7:5).

However, do not limit the benefits of fasting to abstaining from food, because true fasting is the removal from evil deeds. Loose every bond of unrighteousness (Isaiah 58:4). Forgive your neighbor's offense; Forgive his debts. Do not fast in judgment or in cooking" (Isaiah 58:6). You do not eat meat, but you eat your brother. You abstain from wine, but you do not restrain yourself from resentment. You wait until evening to eat food, but you spend the day in the courts.

Woe to you, who drink not of wine (Isaiah 28:1). Irritation is the ecstasy of the soul; it takes her out of the mind as much as wine. And sorrow is also ecstasy; it drowns the mind. Fear is a new rapture, when there is something from which it should not be. For it is said: "Out of fear of the enemy, cleanse my soul" (Psalm 63:1). And in general, any passion that drives the mind out of itself can rightly be called rapture. Imagine an angry man: how intoxicated he is with passion; He is not his own master, he does not recognize himself, he does not recognize those present, as in a night battle he touches everyone, attacks everyone, says what comes to mind: he is uncontrollable, scolds, beats, threatens, swears, shouts, breaks.

Flee from this intoxication, and do not cling to the intoxication of wine. Do not precede drinking water with much drinking. It is not drunkenness that should secretly guide you to fasting. It is not through drunkenness that one enters into fasting, nor through covetousness into justice, nor through intemperance into chastity, and in short, not through vice, into virtue. Another door to the post. Drunkenness leads to intemperance, and sobriety leads to fasting. The wrestler exercises the body beforehand; The fasting person preliminarily abstains. Do not let drunkenness precede these five days, so that you may reward yourself for them beforehand, or outwit the Lawgiver. For you work in vain; you crush the body, but you do not prevent hunger. This pantry is unreliable; You pour it into a leaky barrel. Wine flows out, going its own way, but sin remains. A servant flees from the master who strikes; and you do not leave the wine that hits you daily in the head. The best measure in the use of wine is bodily need. And if you go beyond the limits, you will walk tomorrow with a sore head, suffering from yawning and dizziness, emitting the smell of rotten wine; it will seem to you that everything is going around, that everything is fluctuating. Rapture produces sleep, which is the brother of death, and awakening, which is like a dream.

Do you know Whom you are preparing to receive to you? Him Who promised us: "I and the Father will come, and we will make our abode with him" (John 14:23). Why then do you first resort to drunkenness and close the entrance to the Lord? Why do you allow the enemy to occupy your strongholds in advance? Drunkenness does not give place to the Lord; drunkenness drives away the Holy Spirit. Smoke drives away bees, and immoderate drinking drives away spiritual gifts.

Lent is the beauty of the city, the improvement of the marketplace, the peace of houses, the salvation of property. Do you want to see his honesty? Compare this evening with tomorrow and you will see a city that has passed from noise and excitement to deep silence. But I wish that this evening would be like tomorrow in piety, and that tomorrow would not be inferior in brightness to today.

May the Lord, Who has brought us into this circle of time, help us as fighters, showing firmness and strength of patience in these preliminary struggles, to reach the day that prepares crowns: now (the day) of remembrance of salvific suffering, and in the future age (the day) of recompense for what we have done at the righteous judgment of Christ Himself, because to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Conversation 2. On Fasting 2

It is said: "Comfort, priestesses, people, speak in the ears of Jerusalem" (cf. Isaiah 40:1-2). Such is the property of the word, that it is sufficient both to strengthen the striving of the diligent and to arouse the hunt in the negligent and lazy. For this reason, the commanders, having put the army in formation, before entering the battle, speak exhortatory speeches, and the exhortation has such force that in many it often produces even contempt for death. And those who are skilled in bodily exercises and teach them to young people, when they lead wrestlers out into the field for feats, much convince them of the need to work for crowns, and many, heeding their convictions, do not spare their bodies in the competition for victory. For this reason, I, too, who build up Christ's soldiers for battle against invisible enemies and ascetics of piety, prepare by abstinence for the crowns of righteousness, need a word of admonition.

What shall I say, brethren? Whoever exercises in the art of war, who is engaged in bodily exercises, it is characteristic of him to strengthen his flesh with an abundance of food, in order to take up labor with great strength; but whoever has no battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual wickedness (Ephesians 6:12), it is necessary for him to prepare for the podvig by abstinence and fasting. For oil anoints the wrestler, and fasting strengthens the ascetic of piety. Therefore, as much as you take away from the flesh, you will give to the soul so that it may shine with spiritual health; for it is not by bodily strength, but by the constancy of the soul and patience in sorrows that victory is gained over invisible enemies.