POINT OF FAITH NUMBER 9

THE SCRIPTURAL AND SPIRITUAL
MEANING OF THE
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FASTS

by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

We find the teaching of fasting set forth at every state in the hist-ory of the Church on earth, and the various reasons for fasting are also set forth. The very first example is per-haps the most vivid: the fast im-posed on Adam and Eve was clearly both a physical and a spiritual fast. The fruit which was forbidden to them was both materi-al, spiritual and sym-bolic. In-deed, it was a very great revela-tion. Our first ancestors were intemperate in disobed-ience to God's com-mand. And they gained a knowledge of good and evil by doing evil (Gen.Ch.3).*1 So too, all of us, when we refuse to fulfil the physical/spiritual fasts which God has commanded through His Holy Church, increase in our knowledge of the passions by having yielded to them.

How necessary is the Orthodox fast? If Adam and Eve could not remain in paradise without it, how shall we return to paradise without it?

Adam and Eve fell into captivity and slavery to the passions through incontin-ence, and the Israelites were prepared to return to slavery and utter destruc-tion in Egypt for the sake of the stomach. In Exodus, we read how the Hebrews grumbled against God because of their hunger and desired to return to slavery in Egypt for the sake of the "stew pots" of Egypt, from which they had received their daily slaves' rations (Ex.16:2-3).

This was not merely a matter of turning back into a physical captivity for the sake of a pitiful allotment of food. The Israelites were willing also to sacri-fice faith in God and the promise of salvation. They were willing to renounce the baptism in the Red Sea and reject the redemption of God for the sake of their stomachs and the cares of the flesh.

The story of the Egyptian captivity and the liberation through Moses is a prototype of all human history, just as Moses is a type of Christ. We too are led from the captivity of sin and the bondage of death through the waters of baptism, and into the wilderness and isola-tion from this world. We carry on, suffering, struggling, falling and rising again because we have the sure hope of the promise of God's Kingdom. And yet, we too are called by our stomachs, by our passions, back into that former bondage. Like Esau, many of us sell the inheri-tance of our rebirth for the sake of the stomach (Gn.25:29-34).

In these two mentioned instances, the necessity and value of the fasts are profoundly demonstrated, and we see the first two aspects of the fast: obedience to God, in return for which Adam and Eve would have remained in paradise, in a condition of freedom from bond-age to Satan, and liberation from bondage by the passions so that we may be free for spiri-tual ascent, and regain paradise *2.

*1 - See The Creation and Fall, Synaxis Press, 1980

*2 - The Creation and Fall, Synaxis Press, 1980.

The third great example of fasting is to be found in that spiritual ascent itself. For when Moses was in the presence of the Lord, he fasted for forty days. For more than a month, his food was communion with the Creator, his drink was the words of God (Ex.34:18; 34:28; Deut.9:9; 10:10). Our Saviour fasted in the Jericho wilderness for forty days in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil-One, but Moses fasted on Sinai in order to be in the presence of God. We, therefore, beloved, fast for forty days before Holy Pascha, so that we too might overcome the temptations of the Evil-One and stand in the presence of God. This is the third aspect of the fast: that we put aside all earthly cares, all concern of the flesh *3, to the best of our ability, that we "Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat..." but "...seek first the kingdom of God," (Lk.12:22, 29, 31); rather, "Cast all your burden upon the Lord, for He will sustain you" (Ps.54:25).

We stand in the presence of the Lord at every divine service (and, of course, we fast before every Liturgy) but never more so than at Pascha when we, like Moses, having beheld the Passover, stand on the summit of a spiritual Sinai and receive the promise of God.

The great prophet Elijah, too, when the angel call-ed him to go to the mount of God, fasted for forty days, not only to purify his soul, but also from awe and wonder of God, and because he took no thought for the flesh, but put all his hope on the Lord (3Ki.19:8). In this wise, we also prepare ourselves for the peak of the liturgical year with a forty day fast.

We fast also when we have fallen and been defeated by the enemy and wish to call upon God for special help. We do this to purify our souls and humble ourselves in order to receive God's grace. Thus, Joshua and his troops and all Israel fasted after their defeat at Ai, pros-trating themselves before the Ark (Josh.7:6).

Now, this is a very great matter, for the historical acts in the life of the Old Israel, we know to be revelations about the spiritual struggle of the Holy Church and of each Orthodox Christian in particular. When Joshua (ch.7) called out to God, "Why have you let us fall to the enemy?" God replied that it was because they had sinned. And what sort of sin? Disobed-ience for the sake of avarice. They had taken of the accursed possessions of Jericho and distributed them among themselves.

They had fallen, and God, accepting their prayers and fasting says: "You have sinned and transgressed the cove-nant...therefore you could not stand against the enemies. Arise, sanctify yourselves...there is an accursed thing in your midst...you cannot stand before the enemies until you remove the accursed thing from among you" (see Josh. Ch.7.)

Here then, we see that we also fast when we have fallen in sin, in order to seek out the cause of our fall and struggle against it. We fast and pray in order to receive God's grace to "remove the accursed thing from our midst." The "accursed thing" in the book of Joshua was symbolized by the forbidden, pagan spoils of Jericho, but in fact, it was the passion of avarice, which led the Hebrews into disobedience, and thus to defeat. This occurred again at Gibeah in the days of Phineas, when Israel obtained a victory over Benjamin by fasting and prayer (Jd.20:26). And again, they were granted a victory over the Philistines at Mizpah by fasting and prayer and "removing the accursed thing from their midst" __ this time, they had turned to the surrounding idolatry in order to conform to the contempor-ary world around them (1Sam.7:6).

So then, by means of prayer and fasting in Orthodox fashion, we obtain our victories over the enemy of mankind. For, fasting helps us to "remove the ac-cursed thing [passions] from our midst," and to humble ourselves before God, confessing that our victory is in Him. This is a fourth aspect of the fast: that it gives us an insight into ourselves so that we may recognize and, with God's help, remove the passions which make us prey to the Evil-One and separate us from God.

Esther fasted, and the faithful fasted and prayed with her when she was about to set forth on a perilous task (4:16). Jehosephat too, when Judah was faced with great peril by the invad-ers from Amman, proclaimed a fast, and he and the whole congregation prayed and fasted for strength and help from the Lord. We too fast and pray regularly because the path of our life is fraught with spiritual perils. We fast and pray also that we may hear and understand the words the Lord spoke to Jehosephat:

"Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude: for the battle is not yours, but God's" (2Chr.20:15).

*3 - cp. the Cherubic Hymn in the Divine Liturgy.

A sixth aspect of the fast lies in repentance. This is an over-riding factor which permeates every fast: fasting facilitates true repentance, because it is such a complete struggle against the passions we wish to repent of. For this reason, the Ninevites fasted in the days of Jonah, (Jonah 3:4-10) and when Joel called Israel to repentance to deliver them from disaster, God said, through him: "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assem-bly...gather all into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord...therefore now says the Lord, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting and weeping and [spiritual] mourning...sound the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast...sanctify the congregation...then will the Lord...ans-wer and say unto His people, behold I send you wheat, wine and oil...no longer will you be a reproach among the heathen" (Joel 1:14; 2:15-16). Most of the fasts of the Old Testa-ment were fasts kept for the sake of repent-ance. Repentance is necessary to prepare us to stand in God's presence, to obtain God's help in rising from our falls, to obtain God's help in facing spiritual perils and dangers, and for every spiritual ascent, as David says, "I humbled my soul with fasting" (Ps.35:13).

There were four definite lents in the Old Testament period of the earthly Church. The Lord made mention of them through Saint Zachary the Prophet (8:19), saying:

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, `the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth, and of the seventh and the fast of the tenth month shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful: therefore, love the truth and peace'."

In this our New Testament period of the history of the Church, the New Israel, we find exactly the same ideals of fasting: the apostles before taking a serious decision, as we see in the Acts: "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit spoke...." and "when they had fasted and prayed, they consecrated them...and sent them forth...." Again, "And when they had ordained presbyters in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they com-mended them to the Lord" (Acts 13:2-3;14:23).

Moreover, when Apostle Paul advises the Corinthians of those works in which one must "approve oneself as servants of God," he includes fasting (2Cor.6:5). The holy prophetess Anna, great in the sight of the Lord, served Him "with fasting and prayer," (Lk.2:36-37) and God sent His angel to call Cornelius to salvation as he was "fasting and praying" (Acts 10:30).

2

We have mentioned only a few examples, yet see how many and how great are the benefits of fasting and prayer shown forth in the divine Scripture. See how every gift of grace, every victory, every spiritual advance and every ascent toward God is preceded and accom-panied by fasting. Let the holy prophet Saint Isaiah set forth the matter in words inspired by the Holy Spirit.

"Wherefore have we fasted? Wherefore have we afflicted our souls...? Behold, in the day that you fast, you find satisfaction and recompense in all your labours...be-hold you fast...to make your voice heard on high...Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for one to afflict his soul?...Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread among the hungry, and to bring in the poor who are outcasts? To cover the naked when you see them? Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteous-ness shall go before you: and the glory of the Lord shall be your double portion" (Is.58:3-9).

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Fasting is one of the great moral weapons which we have in our struggle against the Evil-One. And yet, it is a weapon which many would like to abolish and deprive us of. In our era, we, and especially our youth, are enduring torments and temptations of the Evil-One which older generations never even dreamed could exist. There has rarely, if ever, been a time in our history when the Orthodox fast was more vital to our spiritual and emotional survival. Love demands that we strive with all diligence to instruct ourselves and our child-ren with an understanding of the fast: not a pure-ly legalistic knowledge of the rules of fasting (for the letter of the law killeth) but with a true, vital understanding of the real and spiritual value of fasting (for the spirit giveth life).

There is more than one aspect of the fast. St Gregory the Theologian profound-ly sets forth the one which I think is the most urgent in our day. In his sermon on Holy Baptism, he says:

"Christ fasted for some time before His temptations, we before Pascha. So far as the days of fasting are concerned it is the same....He armed Himself with them against tempta-tion."

Our holy and God-bearing father Ambrose of Milan instructs us likewise, say-ing:

"Wherefore also the Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to make us more strong against the tempta-tions of the Devil, fasted when about to contend with him, that we might know that we may in no other way overcome the entice-ments of evil."

Apostle Paul often likens the Christian struggler to an athlete __ and this is the essential meaning of the term "ascetic": one who trains and disciplines oneself (as in athletic training) to compete in the arena of spiritual warfare, for the crown of salvation.

We who are called upon to be spiritual athletes, to contend with Satan, begin our struggle as our Saviour Himself demonstrated to us: with fasting. The fast is the training ground upon which the spiritual athlete develops the discipline and self control which is necessary for us in order to enter into spiritual warfare.

The athlete who has trained to contest for sensual pleasures has developed his spiritual physique, his nervous system and mental disposition quite differently from one who has trained to contest for the crown of salvation. In the first instance, Satan has been the trainer, having train-ed us for carnality and sensu-ality. He triggers certain immoral desires or passions within our hearts by means of various suggestions, certain enticements, thoughts, direct seductions or mental deceits, and a carnal person quite often tempts himself. If a carnal person desires to change to the godly contest, it is somewhat like a runner who desires to become a wrestler. It is necessary for him to rework his muscle tone, to complete-ly retrain his nervous system, and so forth, for running ability serves only for the wrestler who, through cowardice, will desire to flee from his opponent. So also in the case of the struggle for moral perfection: the passions, the former training, must be totally weeded out.

The struggle begins with the bodily fast in which we abstain from food which helps feed the former passions. Using the discipline and self-control which we develop in actually keep-ing the prescribed fasts, we can then begin to turn our minds toward the internal, spiritual struggle.

Apostle Paul sets forth this spiritual aspect of the fast when he says:

"Assuming that you really have heard Him and been taught by Him, as all truth is in Jesus, strip yourselves of your former nature which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires which spring from delusions; and be constantly in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new nature created in God's image, in true right-eousness and holiness" (Eph.4:20-24).

To understand this, we must consider the soul as a fallow field in which we are called upon to create a garden of salvation. This field is overgrown with tares (the passions). The sower in the parable sowed life-giv-ing seeds, but some fell among the tares and, when they tried to grow up, they were choked off. Still, the sower plants these seeds all our lifetime, and when we see that the young sprouts are being choked off by the tares, we ought to understand that it is necessary to weed the garden of our soul so that the next season's planting can take root and bear fruit.

This gardening of the soul is called "interior work." It begins with the bodily fast, which we understand, and continues with the mutual spiritual fast, which is called "guarding the mind." Abstinence and moderation in eating make possible a spiritual acuity which facilitates the "guarding of the mind."

Guarding of the mind is a spiritual practice which absolutely requires regular fasting. Sin, allowing the passions to be aroused to the level of manifestation, most often enters the heart through the mind as a result of external sugges-tions. One must strive to be ever alert to catch temptations as soon as they enter the mind so that they do not linger long enough to be committed in thought or deed (cp. Mt.5:27-28). To explain this more clearly: everyone knows, in a general sense, what is bad and what is good. If a person is alert, he can quickly recognize destructive thoughts entering the mind (though not, perhaps, infallibly in every case). Concerning how to take action to repel these thoughts, one ought to consult one's spiritual father. The primary thing is intent. It is easily possible to entertain the most foul thoughts, while at the same moment repeating prayers. One must have a sincere intent to guard the mind from destructive thoughts and influences, remembering above all that nothing can be done without Christ.

The mind is something like a door to the temple of the Holy Spirit (for, the body, the Scripture says, is the temple of the Holy Spirit 1Cor.6:19). The guard of the door is responsible for discerning whether "deliveries" to the temple are for its adornment or for its defilement: in this, the mind resembles a customs official who carefully searches what is entering the country, rejecting what is harmful and admitting what is beneficial. Thus, what enters the mind ought to be searched. Yet, the guard ought not to hope on his own strength, but rather, as a watch-dog which barks to awaken his master when an intruder enters, so one ought always to call on the Master, Jesus Christ, to repulse the intruding temptation.

Everyone is able to practise this sort of guarding of the mind to one extent or another. Yet it is evident that the ability must be constantly built up and strengthened. In the end, the less that comes to the "door", the easier is the "door" to guard. The more one withdraws from what is profane and distracting and enters into an environment of edifying things, the easier is the guarding of the mind. This withdrawal from the spiritually destructive and advancing into the spiritually profitable is the basis of the spiritual aspect of fasting.

If the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then what is there that can enter into it which is more edifying than that for which it is intended? It is most beneficial, then, to enter into the temple and, as a servant and worshipp-er, to clean out, to sweep, to dust and to purify the temple with repentance, fasting, confession, soul--searching, heeding the spiritual father, and communi-cating the Holy Mysteries: and to strive most diligently in these tasks so that there will be a fulfilment of the temple, since the Holy Spirit does not co-habit with defilement, with the filth of pride, with the darkness of sinful thoughts. Either the one will increase and the other decrease, or the other will advance and the one withdraw. A "happy medium" will not be found, and no person is more foolishly deceived than the one who thinks that he has acquired the Holy Spirit not having first laboured long and obediently at the cleansing and puri-fication of the temple. Moreover, in this matter, one does not stand still: one is either on the way up or on the way down.

What enters the mind is either harmful or edifying. So the guarding of the mind depends upon intent and concept and is a much greater task than just "sifting through parcels that arrive at the door." It begins with the free and open confession of every temptation to the father confessor. Together with this is the cutting off of external enticements __ fasting from harmful spiritual food, and replacing it with spiritually edifying food: reading the Divine Scrip-ture, sacred books and the Lives of the Saints, constant prayer and participa-ting in the divine services, for the bodily fast is the plough with which we break the ground and these other things are the hoes, rakes and seeders of those who wish to cultivate a garden of salvation in the soul. Prayer is the disk and harrow, the stamina and strength, for every success will be seen to be a direct gift from God. Obedience is the crop insurance and the tending of the young sprouts once they begin to grow. Obedience is the protective cultivation against the re-invasion of the tares.

Frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries is the ultimate weapon which burns up the tares so that the field of the soul can receive the seed and bear fruit. Nothing is attained without diligent struggle and whatever is attained is a gift of God's grace in response to our volition and obedience.

4

One final and dramatic aspect of the Great Fast must be contemplated.

As we are about to set forth on the spiritual voyage of Great Lent, we prepare ourselves with readings about Antichrist from the Synaxarion for Meatfare and Cheese-fare Sundays. Finally, we celebrate the day of the commemora-tion of the Second Glorious Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Christ our Saviour fasted for forty days before He encountered those "tempta-tions" which are a revelation about Antichrist. For, the things which Christ rejected __ demonstrative, theatrical spiritual power, political power, and the provision of food, all rooted in Satan's suggestion __ Antichrist will accept and fulfil. From this fact, and from the Synaxarion readings and the Feast of the Second Coming, we understand that fasting, and in particular, the Great Lent, help to prepare us and every generation for the advent of Antichrist. We know that in the day of Anti-christ, when there will be a great famine, and food will only be available to those who accept Antichrist, his world government and world religion and his special mark, we will either fast or follow Antichrist.

Thus, as we do not know in which generation Antichrist will come, we must keep the fasts with all dili-gence, and lovingly pass on the rules of fasting in all strictness to our children, that they too may struggle in preparation and train-ing against the day of Antichrist, so that whichever generation encounters his reign will be prepared for it, and will know how to fast for the salvation of the soul in that last and most terrible moment of mankind's existence on this earth.

From this we can understand that a legalistic and ritualistic view of fasting, which breeds carelessness and neglect, is deadly. We must understand the reasons and need for fasting, and teach them with love and compassion. We cannot judge people who do not actually keep the fasts, but we have no right to teach people not to fast or to have a low regard for fasting. The strictness of a person's fast is modified by health problems, and a person reduces his food intake according to his strength. But we can also understand that those who want to "soften" the fast "so more people will come to church," to lessen it, to make unwarranted exceptions to it and otherwise undermine it, to bless non-lenten food during fast periods and concoct legalistic "exceptions" for such activities as summer camps, etc, do so not out of love or concern for the souls of the faithful, but out of unbelief, hatred and total lack of concern for the salva-tion of the souls of our children. This is why St Seraphim of Sarov denies the name "Christian" to everyone who does not keep the fasts.

The things of this world, the passions, ideals, desires and goals of this world, all work together to enslave mankind both individually and collectively. And enslaved we truly have become. Satan uses avarice __ greed __ as a motivator to lead some human beings to help enslave other human beings to his "principali-ty of this world." This is done by creating a great spiritual void in the life of mankind, and then telling man that this void can be filled by material posses-sions, shallow, often emotionally destructive entertainments, and various types of foods. This is the liturgy served daily on television, the litany chanted on the radio, the ikon portrayed on the billboards. We worship in church perhaps once a week, we worship before the television daily. Daily, the age of sexual maturity in our children is lowered while their emotional capacity to cope with it is deformed and, by highly refined means, the whole scope of our various passions are increased, and products are devised to fulfil them. Daily, we and our children become more and more enslaved.

How can we interrupt this process? How can we break this chain? Our Saviour in His mercy and love has given us the fasts. This, beloved of Christ, is what the Orthodox Fast is mainly about in our time. It is nothing less than a declaration of independence from the world, from the principality of Satan. More than this, to fulfil the Orthodox Fast is to begin to actually live the theology of the Holy Church, it is to begin the ascent toward knowledge of God.

The Orthodox fast is not mere, legalistic abstention from certain foods, and it is more than a knowledgeable abstention from foods which are well known to help increase certain passions. We fast not merely from the foods with which the body is fed, but also from harmful food with which the mind and emotions are fed. On the day we begin to fast, we turn, as it were, to the world and declare: I reject the goals, aspirations, judgments and bondage of this life of the passions. I set the eyes of my soul heavenward; I set my desire upon God and the Heavenly Kingdom, I set my aspirations upon that which is greater, more desir-able and ineffably more glorious than the highest and the finest that this world has to offer.

5

It must be remembered that keeping the fasts is not a matter of "being good," and failing to fast a matter of "sinn-ing." The matter is far greater and deeper than this. We do not enter the Heavenly Kingdom, the "Bridal Chamber," by being clad in "good works" or having become sinless or having more good points than bad. We enter the Heavenly Kingdom in no other way than by having ac-quired the Holy Spirit and become clad in divine grace. Fasting is a special keystone in our struggle to acquire the Holy Spirit and to become robed in the "wedding garment" of divine grace. To understand the fasts and to keep them is, there-fore, fundamental to our salvation itself. To fail to keep the fasts in a true Orthodox fashion is to undermine our salvation and turn ourselves away from the Heavenly Kingdom. To teach others to be lightminded about the fasts or even to ignore them, is simply wickedness and a service to the Evil-One.