About those who observe abstinence during fasting, and about the lifestyle of various prophets.

Wrestlers, developing their strength day by day, improve in their art and ensure victory over their opponents; walkers, achieving lightness and mobility through daily exercise, refine themselves to amazing agility. And our fathers advise us to apply this exact method in teaching, so that by frequent repetition of the word we achieve a strong assimilation of what we teach. So, here, beloved: in the footsteps of Joseph, leaving Egyptian sin and stripping ourselves of hatred, let us strive towards chastity. Indeed, if Joseph remained without clothing on his body, did he not put on the most glorious cloak of chastity? The purity of chastity, having strengthened our forefathers, made them unshakable pillars of the universe, on the one hand raising prayers to heaven, on the other hand, healing the souls of people on earth. Blessed Moses, strengthening himself with chastity, became a pillar of salvation for the Jews in Egypt and destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and made the luminous sons of the Jews blessed. But this one, like a pillar, opposed only Pharaoh and his wise men, but Joshua, having chastity as his inseparable companion, also commanded the heavenly bodies: after all, he stopped the flow of the sun, kept the moon in place and extended the length of the day. When did this happen? When, finishing the battle of Gibeon, he exclaimed: “Stop, sun, over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon!” (“let the sun become straight to Gibeon, and the moon straight to the wilds of Elon”) (Joshua 10:12). He divided the river, saved the people and led the Israelites into the holy land: he destroyed the walls with the sound of trumpets and destroyed the cities of the wicked, saved Rahab, punished the foreigners, and glorified his people. The bravest Sampson, observing chastity, strangled a lion and flowed water from a donkey's jaw and quenched his thirst with it. Elijah the Tishbite, devoted to chastity, saved the life of the poor widow, because with his blessing her oil did not run out and the handful of flour multiplied every day. The same Elijah, thanks to his chastity, had in his power the treasuries of water and fire in the clouds: he burned the wicked with fire from heaven, and for the universe, which suffered from lack of rain, he concluded heavenly sources. His disciple Elisha, having inherited the chastity of his teacher, in the barren womb of a Somanite woman, through prayer, raised a son, and since he needed to become famous for miracles no less than his teacher, he raised the dead, and even his bones after death resurrect the dead. The wisest Daniel, girding himself with chastity like a two-edged sword, strangled the predatory wolves and kept the lamb of Hilkiah unharmed, so that neither the beautiful fleece of her chastity was damaged by an unclean kiss, nor her breast was defiled by the destructive sword of sin. Blessed Habakkuk, delighted with the Holy Spirit, took his reapers' lunch to the reaper of chastity - Daniel. Couldn’t God have nourished this one, like Elijah, through the ravens? Of course, he could, but in order not to leave the one sitting with the animals without consolation, he sends to him a prophet similar to him, who could ease his grief. Just think, beloved, what it was like for Daniel in the lion’s den, who had no bench, no bread, no table, no lamp, no bed, but stood cross-shaped among two lions, showing the image of the coming Christ. And the most holy three youths, inseparable from chastity, being thrown into a fiery furnace, defeated the flames raging in it. Oh, virginity, painlessly vegetated by the hope of the world - Christ! Oh, the wisdom of God, which did not deprive Mary of the glory of her virginity, and Christ, the praise of the world, shining through her like light! O sacred child of the celibate bride, the source of incorruption, the breath of immortality, the luminary of the Church, the affirmation of truth, the beautiful pearl of merchants and the good crown of the timid, sold at a high price and bought by the poor, paid for by three obols - faith, hope and love, and dwelling in the hearts of the humble, the mustard seed and the Lord of the angels, the uncultivated Vine of the all-glorious Mary and the incomprehensible The Word of all-fruitful Wisdom, who resolved the bitterness of death on earth and adorned the sky with the splendor of the bridal chamber, who took upon Himself our mortal body and gave us the unfading breath of a flower with Himself! Here are the fruits of Your wisdom, here is the delight of Your fasting, here is the adornment of Your chastity, here is the confirmation of Your Church! This is how You usually feed Your people, Jesus, not as absent, but as present, because even if you are with the Father, you do not leave us, and if you dwell with us, you are not separated from the Father. With water You washed our bodies and with a breath You cleansed our filth; with the salt of piety You have prepared the souls of Your sheep and drawn us into the fold of Your angels; You have strengthened our feet with a seal and are raising us from earth to heaven along the ladder of faith, appointing angels to support us; You replaced the tree of paradise with the tree of the cross and substituted a rib instead of a rib; You stretched out your hands into the air and gave Yourself up to the Father as an atonement for us and created deep silence to replace the storm. That is why, night and day, silently and loudly, we send up glory to You, having in You the hope of life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: