About the post. Word 2

Now is the time of propitiation, let us not omit the favorable opportunity; time of repentance for sins - let us hasten to take advantage of this grace. Let us abstain from food, and, above all, from sins: liberation from evil is the first of the blessings. What is opposite to virtue is vice, such as: envy, theft, murder, enmity, and in general everything that is called evil is actually evil. He who remains in evil receives vice as retribution, and thus, even before Gehenna, suffers the punishment of the consequences of vice. An incision made by a doctor is not evil in itself, but it is a punishment for the vice that caused it. The first evil is to remain in vice. The wicked is a stranger to God and, even if he is not cast into Gehenna, he has already been removed from good in any case. The one who does not observe chastity is defiled by wishes, the envious person is consumed by his passion, the thief is tormented by shame and fear, the murderer trembles for his own life. To be evil is the first evil. Even if the doctor has not yet resorted to the knife, the patient is already suffering, even if God has not yet sent punishment - He is long-suffering, after all - the sinner already feels his illness: “everyone,” it is said, “who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). So, even before committing the sin, the sinner is enslaved to it and at the same time bears the punishment for sin. Fasting is a wonderful rein for everyone who appreciates the benefits of fasting. Pay attention not only to the work associated with fasting, but also to its fruits. After all, if we do not take into account the purpose (of this or that action), then the sower, for example, would not sow, so as not to appear to be wasting the seeds; Guided by hope, he sows what he has in order to reap what he does not have. Fasting exhausts the body with thirst, but the soul rejoices in the hope of good things. What is higher in us – the soul or the body? (Of course, the soul), and even though its thirst has been quenched, it still feeds with greater benefit on the beauty of the virtues. We must adhere to fasting, which not only does not harm the body, but also heals it and maintains its health. Those who fast benefit from fasting also in the physical sense - like wrestlers who, through exercise, free themselves from excess flesh - and at the same time make up for what the soul lacks. The soul always takes care of the body, but feeds it for itself and takes care of it for its own benefit: the soul controls the body and directs it towards its goals. And of course, if she has care for the body, then she must take care of herself even more. By virtue of the order established by God himself, the soul owns the body. Those who give preference to the body over the soul pervert this natural order. It is not the soul that serves the body, but, according to the originally established rule, the body has always been subordinate to the soul. If this is not convincing for you, then at least the holidays that the soul has established for the benefit of the body, let it assure you that it desires good for the body. Meanwhile, whenever the body gains dominance over the soul, it itself is preserved, and the soul perishes. Let us not think that the benefits of fasting are insignificant. If Adam had abstained from (the fruits of) one tree and observed fasting only in relation to him alone, then death would have been killed, or better said, there would have been no need to kill what did not exist. Do you see, if Adam had used the medicine that is fasting, then our race would not have been mortal? What gracious means were required to destroy the consequences of the intemperance of our first father! Having realized how disastrous the opposite was, that is, the intemperance committed by Adam in relation to only one tree, then evaluate what a great good it is to fast and to avoid what is generally permissible. After all, Adam, touching what was forbidden, destroyed his race; fasting, which eliminates what is permissible, corrects his fall from grace. If Esau had fasted, he would not have sold his birthright. But, finding himself a slave to food, he traded his natural advantage for lentil stew. I remind those who know the Scriptures of this. What did Moses bring to the Jews from the mountain? Law and forty days fast. But before the law was brought, the people gave themselves over to wickedness. The first commandment of the law says: “The Lord God is one” (Deut. 6:4), and those who were supposed to receive this commandment say: these are your gods. Great affliction: the image of a calf was preferred to a living God! What remedy was used against this disaster? Moses fasts again, having committed no sin, and the Author of the Old Law makes peace with those who have sinned. The preaching of the New Testament began with fasting and received its beginning from fasting. The Savior, having been baptized for our sake and retired into the desert, first of all fasted and thus laid the foundation for signs - not because he himself needed fasting, but in order to teach us how to use fasting. So, if the Old Testament opens with fasting and fasting lays the foundation for the new, then let us not dare to consider fasting evil. Some are upset when they see the difficulty of the law of fasting, and turn a blind eye to the benefits that flow from it. Don’t you know that even the lions in the den were taught to fast and did not touch Daniel? If the lions already turned out to be obedient to the command and did not reveal their natural bloodthirstiness, they were as if they were acquaintances, and did not attack like strangers, then shouldn’t we also try to use the fast? There is also a story in Scripture that when Jeroboam, the king of Judah, fell into wickedness, having established the worship of calves, following the example of his ancestors, a prophet appeared and said nothing to the king or the people, knowing that both the sovereign and his subjects were far from obedient, but, leaving people who would not have obeyed anyway, he speaks to the altar, that is, to the altar, to show that stones hear better than these people: Josiah will be born, he says, and on this altar he will burn the bones of the priests (1 Kings 13:2). The accused could not bear the dishonor and became angry. He gave a sign with his hand to the soldiers to seize the benefactor-prophet, but he stretched out his hand, but could no longer bend it: sin had dried up his hand. The one who extended his hand shouts to stop the prophet, and at the same time the prophet heals his hand. And the king said to him: come into my house with me, eat the bread, drink water - and then go on your way. The prophet answers: I was commanded by God in those places where wickedness reigns, not to eat either bread or water. And then he leaves. But pay attention to how the matter ended. Another prophet, having heard that the prophet came and said such and such, goes after him, catches up, asks the prophet to come to him to refresh himself with food, and convinces him. But he convinced him by the fact that it was as if the Lord had ordered him to do this. He came in and ate. During the meal, the Holy Spirit came upon the prophet who invited him, and he began to prophesy not on his own, but at the inspiration of the Spirit. Since you, he said to the one whom he treated and fed, did not obey the Lord your God and ate where you were commanded not to eat, then as soon as you leave here, a lion will eat you. Do you see what sad consequences resulted from failure to comply with the commandment regarding fasting for the prophet? The prophet leaves, but his prophetic dignity no longer accompanies him due to disobedience. A lion meets him - not with the goal of eating him, but to show that he himself is obedient to the command, attacks the disobedient one, and touches his body only enough to kill him - and kills to punish the disobedient one. Having killed the disobedient, the lion gives preference to fasting over the opportunity to enjoy. Thus, the following happened: the dead prophet lay, next to him stood his donkey, which survived not because, of course, it was more difficult to kill a donkey than a man, but because the foolish lion strictly observed the command given to him and did not kill or even touch the innocent donkey, but killed only the disobedient one, who, due to disobedience, ceased to be a prophet. A triple amazing thing could be observed at this: the prophet lay - a victim of disobedience, next to him - a lion, the personification of obedience, and next to him - a donkey, who did not experience any natural fear of the lion, neither left nor was attacked by the lion. All this is to show that the lion did not do his deed out of bloodthirstiness, but because the one who was commanded not to eat did not keep the fast. Another example: Elijah was taken up, as it were, into heaven. But what was this event preceded by, if not a forty-day fast? If Moses fasts, and Elijah fasts, and the Lord is their crown in the same work, then how wonderful it is to imitate such examples! In addition, we must not forget that our fasting has breaks in its course: we do not fast for forty days in a row, but with some breaks, we count the days, but do not fully maintain the fast. Compared to the great examples indicated, what is required of us is not great, and if we still shirk from this, we will find ourselves completely alien to those who labor in fasting. None of us fasts for forty days: during this time we give ourselves rest, like travelers who rest for the night and set off on their further journey in the morning. But if those whose great names we named above fasted for forty days, and we, even with rest, cannot complete the same journey as them, then we should not even dare to remember what we do not know how to imitate. Fasting is the fullest possible imitation of the angels, renunciation from the present, staying in prayer, enjoying the soul, curbing the body and taming the passions. Those who fast know how fasting tames desires, and those who have experienced it in practice will confirm that it softens the temper, suppresses anger, restrains the impulses of the heart, invigorates the mind, brings peace to the soul, lightens the body, eliminates intemperance, prevents addiction to wine and headaches: with it (a person) both looks good and has a cheerful look. During fasting, the movements are graceful, the tongue is decent and is not loosened by wine, the clarity of mind is not clouded by passions. Fasting even in joy knows its limits and maintains silence. The outer man is not bound by anything here; therefore, we do not remember what we experience under the influence of wine, but what we are freed from thanks to fasting is in our sight. Fasting knows both itself and what is disgusting to it, but drunkenness, not knowing itself, has no idea about the benefits of fasting. Why, tell me, were the sons of Aaron, the priests, struck with death? Is it not because, while serving God, they got drunk on wine? What did the law command the Nazirites? Is it not abstinence from wine and everything connected with it? Daniel's friends ate vegetables as they moved away from Nebuchadnezzar's royal table. Daniel himself, the man of desires, fasted for three weeks of days: he received this very name because he became above desires. He fasted not just for one day - in the Jewish way, like a beggar, but for three whole weeks, prefiguring the church fast. “I,” he says, “have not eaten tasty bread,” but they abstain from passions for a while; “meat and wine have not entered my mouth” (Dan. 10:3): such is the church fast. Here is an example of Christian life during the times of the Old Testament. Of course, for weak people these are only images, but for the prophets they are traces of the truth itself. Fasting turns away the wrath of God. God said: “Nineveh will be destroyed” (Jon. 3:4), but Nineveh did not experience this threat - thanks to fasting. Jonah himself fled, fearing that the post would come to the aid of the Ninevites. The whale devoured Jonah, but devoured him while fasting. Having devoured, he did not devour his prey, but preserved and kept it as a pledge for the Lord, and he delivered the one who did not want to go of his own free will to where he was ordered. And so the prophet - alone, naked, straight from the belly of a whale, after the shock he experienced, hardly resembled a man - announced Nineveh, the great city, with his sermon; one prophet came there, and time showed what he did. Moreover, having proclaimed that the city would perish, he should have pushed them away from the faith in advance. But they listened to one prophet and resorted to a medicine that averts death - fasting. Jonah was not jealous that Nineveh should be destroyed, but that this comparison would serve to expose Israel - that the pagans readily obeyed even one prophet, while Israel remained deaf to their whole host. So, fasting was established to avert the Divine sentence. And the fast was not simple, but it consisted of avoiding both food and sins. Yes, if a person fasted because of sins and at the same time continued to abide in sins, what would he achieve? It’s the same as if, having washed yourself from the dirt, you start wallowing in it again. We must, first of all, stop the sin itself. What, really, is the benefit of repenting of sin, then returning to it again along the same path? Has not the soul come to terms with the blows that befell it? Don't we offer prayers because we have sinned? If we repent of our previous sins, then why do we accumulate new ones? So, the Ninevites gave up food and abstained from their sins. God heard them: fasting has the power to bend the Lord to the mercy. Jonah was indignant that the prophet had to fulfill the will of God, and yet God, having canceled His sentence, was not slow in granting salvation. Of course, God cannot lie, but He is true in everything who said: “Sometimes I will say about a nation and a kingdom that I will uproot, crush and destroy it; But if this people, against whom I have spoken this, turn from their evil deeds, I will put aside the evil that I thought to do to them” (Jer. 18:7-8). Having canceled His threat, God did not thereby turn out to be a liar. After all, of course, He did not send a prophet in order to destroy Nineveh - then why was it necessary to predict what was necessarily going to happen? - but precisely because he did not want the city to perish, He threatened to destroy it so that, by repenting, they would avoid destruction. It was not that Adam ate from the tree, and then God punished him, but God warned him that if he ate, he would die - so that he would not eat. But he did not listen to what he said, he ate and tasted. Is it wrong to blame where a choice was possible? But did not (God) know if someone would say that he would taste? Probably the one who says this is a heretic and goes against Scripture. He should object this way: if the Savior knew that Judas would betray Him, then why did He choose him? Perhaps we can defend ourselves against the heretic by comparing the history of Judas and Adam. Are both events explained in the same way or in different ways? So, we must find out for ourselves why (the Lord) chose Judas as he was, and why, knowing that Adam would sin, he brought him into paradise. It is in fasting that one must deal with sublime questions, when the soul remains cheerful. The Savior knew, beyond any doubt, that Judas was preparing betrayal. Well, so what? - you say. Revealing His extreme love for mankind, (the Lord seems to be saying that) as much as depends on Me, you are both an apostle and counted among My disciples; if, despite this, you turn out to be unworthy, then through this both My extraordinary love for mankind and your extreme malice are immediately revealed. And the Savior trusted him with the management of money, not because he did not know about his thieving tendencies, but because he wanted to extinguish his passion by granting him power. So, He knew in advance and foresaw, and not only foresaw, but also repeatedly predicted: “one of you will betray Me” (Matthew 26:21; Mark 14:18; John 13:21). Why are you unhappy in this case? Because an evil man, through his malice, accomplished the good work of common salvation, without any coercion on the part of the Chosen One? After all, if Jesus forced him to do anything, then of course it was to apostleship, and not to betrayal; but He did not even force him to become an apostle. What happens under duress is not taken into account; chaste by necessity is not yet chaste, because he became so by necessity. You cannot attach virtue to a person if he does not have a disposition towards it. Now, further, why did God leave Adam in paradise? The Creator was good; He created man free, just as He gave him a commandment to a free man. He knew that he would eat from the tree, but he did not prevent him, did not force him, did not force his free will: Adam himself sinned. For the sake of the tree, the place where this jewel was was also expensive. (Adam) was not created evil, but evil was offended by his disobedience by the One who gave him the commandment. But if eating the fruit has destroyed the commandment, then fasting is called upon along with the commandment - and it saves. Challenge yourself, man! What is there to read here? Ask yourself, what were you like before fasting and what kind of person did you become while fasting? Of what we do, some bear fruit subsequently, while in others the fruit is combined with the deed itself. Whoever goes out to sea to fish does not immediately find prey as soon as he is in the sea; and the one who fasts immediately has the fruit of fasting. Don't you appreciate silence? Haven't you freed yourself from the fumes of wine? Didn't you get rid of the storm and bad weather? Don't you want to notice that the flesh is restrained, does not confuse you with its impulses and does not make you blush? Don’t you know that now your mind also acts in favor of chastity? Don't you rejoice when you hear that so-and-so has fasted? Those who fast should not consider fasting to be evil; he who thinks that fasting is evil, although he fasts, himself remains in evil. The angels who do not need to enjoy food, like us, are not among the evil ones. Eating food is not any honor for us, but a matter of simple necessity. No matter how much evil we commit (in normal times), it is suppressed by fasting. Fasting, I mean, is not a simple abstinence from food, but the one that Isaiah had in mind: fast in order to be heard. And if you say to God in the words of the Jews: “We are fasting, but You don’t see? we humble our souls, but You do not know,” then beware lest you hear: “In the day of your fast you will do your will” (Is. 58:3). Fasting consists of doing the will of the Lord. The point of fasting is not that we should not eat profitably, but that what is prepared for you should be eaten by the poor instead of you. This is doubly good for you: you yourself fast, and the other does not starve. Let us not be burdened by the difficulty of fasting: after all, fasting is not like crucifixion. What is fasting really for? He is instead of a cross: we received more, we give less. (The Lord) was crucified for you, suffers thirst and drinks vinegar with gall. This drinking is unpleasant, this fast is great. But you no longer taste gall and stand firm - you are no longer hanging on the cross? Do not be ungrateful to Jesus, do not cry because you are fasting; cry because you don’t always fast. What did you lose because of fasting? Is it wine? Not guilt, of course, but inflammation in the body, headaches, heavy breathing. But think about what you get in return: peace, silence, calm. The very complexion of those who observe fasting is beautiful, but under the influence of wine the face flares up with fire. He who does not suffer with Jesus does not know Jesus; whoever avoids fasting forgets about the cross. Let us not accept fasting with prejudice, so that what you assume is evil does not turn into evil for you, and so that you do not turn out to be an evil servant before God. No one indulges in sadness on holidays, except perhaps those who do not understand the meaning of holidays. During the holidays, you especially need to be cheerful. Do you want to do the opposite: are you sad when you become equal with the angels? Don't you know what this is all about? When nature demands marriage, then you do not marry contrary to nature. Give honor to marriage, but if you honor Lent, spend the days of Lent like an angel. I do not disparage marriage, but I prefer fasting. What we eat before fasting does not stay with us. Why should we care so much about something that doesn’t even exist. After all, all the pleasure brought by eating food is exhausted by the time of swallowing; when what is swallowed passes the place in the throat where the sense of taste is concentrated, it is as if it never existed. But fasting does not burden a person, does not fill his belly and is not ejected through the belly into excrement; it ensures immortality, brings us closer to the angels, because in itself it is nothing more than a feasible (on our part) imitation of the angels. So what? Are you dissatisfied with the fact that you are leading a sober life (while fasting)? Why aren't you offended by other people's well-being? That your mind is clear? That your flesh is not defiled? What is your soul blooming? Why do you listen to the Scriptures with joy? Why aren't you talking when you shouldn't? What, in a word, is it as if you are no longer a person, but almost an angel? This is the feast of the Lord, who gathered us for a spiritual marriage and came in to see those reclining to see if there was anyone among them wearing non-wedding clothes. For marriage, you need to put on clean and unspotted clothes, holy clothes - in accordance with the holiness and purity of the marriage, clothes that are shiny in appearance and luxurious in quality. Let the wedding celebration not be darkened, let the apostolic instruction enlighten everyone, so that everyone can remain in fasting with one accord. Prayer is also closely connected with fasting: fasting puts a person in a favorable disposition, and prayer is always on time: you have not sinned, therefore fast, but you have sinned, and therefore fast; fast also, so as not to sin, and so that you may abide in what you have acquired. That's how many types of fasting there are! Someone has sinned and fasts as a punishment for himself in order to avoid punishment (from God). Let us also fast, beloved, so that our own passions do not rise up against us. You know examples of fasting following sin, i.e. fasting as a consequence of sin, fasting in the sense of punishment for sin. But fasting preceded sin, not in order to destroy the sin that had been committed, but to prevent its commission. Fasting has another application when someone desires to receive the law: and he who requires the law fasts, as Moses fasted, who received the law. Another fasts again so as not to lose what he has achieved. And the post of the church is both joy and economy (about the salvation of her sons). She actually comes to know Jesus, crucifying herself with the Crucified One, compassionate with the Lord, in order to be glorified with Him. Not in order (she fasts) to mourn the Lord - after all, the Son (of the living God) lives! - but to confess joy about the work of salvation. If we are upset that the Jews crucified Him, then we are not upset for Him, but we are mourning the insolence of His crucifiers. He rose from the dead, rose to the glory that He had hitherto had with the Father, and remains with the Father just as He abode. The triumph of Jesus gives no reason for sorrow. But we must fast, taking care of ourselves and striving to be partakers of His suffering: this is our goal, brothers! Who was worthy to be a partaker of the sufferings of Christ? Great is this mystery. Let us be constant in our striving for good, let us not succumb to evil. Jesus, the Son of the Immortal, was crucified. He gave His body to be crucified not for His own sake, but for your sake. You have eaten from the tree, and He fasts on the tree; you took what you should not have taken, but He gave His body for what you took. You then served a cruel passion, and He tastes - instead of any pleasure - vinegar. Do not be alienated from His kingdom. You know that He was crucified, you know that He died for you: confess that He is alive. In the name of the living, make a confession, in the name of the one who has endured torment, endure torment, in the name of the dead, die. If you seek such death, you will not perish: death for the sake of fasting is short-lived. Don't you have any significant feats? Please Him with little things: hurry to His holiday with joy, accept fasting with joy. Spiritual fasting is a pleasure. But am I calling in vain? How the faces of those rushing to their dinner have changed during this time! This is unusual for true and constant lovers of fasting. It does not seem that you are dissatisfied with the fact that you are being kept away from the Lord's table. In addition to your desire, your appearance gives you away. As if a ray of light revealed the hidden consciousness that we are being held by force - and now we are no longer standing. How far can we play with the truth? How far can we bring our vanity into the work of the Lord? Or have you not heard what the psalmist says when answering your own question: “Are you truly speaking the truth,...do you judge fairly” (Ps. 57:2)? If you sincerely love fasting, accept it with joy; if he is unpleasant to you, so much the worse for you; if it bothers you, you have nothing to rejoice at; if you think that fasting is unnecessary for you, then it will not bring you any benefit. Jesus was crucified for your sake, and did not grumble, but, on the contrary, hastened to suffer; and you don’t want to endure even a short fast for your own salvation? Oh man! I don't have the strength to cry out as much as I should. Jesus is crucified: look and strike yourself in the chest, shed tears from your eyes. He was crucified for your sake: crucify with Him, share His glory, not in order to die, but in order to avoid death. Today is the day of preparation, the day on which the cross was erected for your salvation; be crucified and you together with your Savior, die with Him. After all, this is for God - for God, who became man for your sake. Do we not honor His dignity? Doesn't His suffering put us to shame? Think about this comparison, man: what was He, and what did He suffer? The judge is condemned, life is given over to death, the nourisher of all suffers hunger, the one who gives drink to all is thirsty, the King of glory is dishonored, the Lord is brought before the hegemon, and God is condemned by men. He who spoke the truth about himself that “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22) - He, the Judge of all, is condemned - and by whom is he condemned? This seems to be enough for you, man, to remember to fast. Of course, we must first of all know what position we are in, and then judge our deeds. When we love fasting and fulfill it with love, rejoicing as a holiday, then as a suitable treat for fasting, giving honor to the Lord’s table, we will offer the servants of the Lord the secrets of fasting, His eternal glory, His salvation, revealed to the world in recent times: who was He and what did He become? where did he come from and what people did he honor with his visit - and why? So - to our and His joy - we will always maintain this fast, serving the Lord of fasting, expressing gratitude to Him in everything, always glorifying, always loving Him who loved us and worshiping Him who bore our sins, dying for the sake of Him who died for us and expecting glorification along with the one who suffered reproach. Let us give glory to the All-Holy Father, who vouchsafed us this fast and did not spare His Son for the sake of our salvation—through Him who came, inseparably with the life-giving Spirit, 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”