Воздержание

Temperance is considered the foundation of all virtues, as read about this in the second prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Envelop me in the womb of generosity, and abstinence as the foundation of all virtues” (1). At the feast of the Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ our Savior, holy abstinence sits next to chaste purity and maintains purity, for purity weakens without abstinence, but strengthened by abstinence, it is strong. So, next to cleanliness at the feast of Christ sits abstinence, and while sitting, observes fasting. If it eats and if it drinks, then it eats and drinks for the glory of God, and not to please the belly. Although it eats, it nevertheless gets up from the meal somewhat hungry, and although it drinks, it still leaves a little thirst in itself. It does not eat to the point of satiety, does not drink to the point of intoxication, and is only slightly comparable to someone who is fasting. As for breaking the church fast, it considers this a grave mortal sin, which God will not allow! It knows the disposition of the Bridegroom, Who fasted in the desert for forty days and forty nights. Although the envious said differently about Him: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine” (Matthew 11:19), yet He Himself abstained from everything and taught His disciples: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life” (Luke 21:34). Bacchus, the god of gluttony, with his disciple Martin Luther says this: it is necessary in the regiments not to look at the post and eat meat during the post, so that the soldiers are strong in war, strong in battle and would not weaken in battle from fasting and abstinence. Without answering this right away, I will remind you of the story of Gideon. The Israelites in ancient times were greatly oppressed by the Midianites, and because of many disasters they cried out to God. God had mercy on them and gave them a leader - a strong man named Gideon, who, gathering the strength of Israel, went against Midian. The Lord God tells him not to bring with him a large force for battle, but to choose only the best and bravest warriors. Approaching the countless strength of Midian at night with three hundred chosen men, Gideon, at the command of God, crawled into the Midian camp with only one youth and, walking quietly in it, listened. And then he hears how one warrior, awakening from sleep, tells his dream to his friend: “It was as if the dough of barley bread rolled from Gideon’s regiment and rolled into our Midian camp to the Midian tent, beat it, overturned it, and the tent fell.” To this his friend replied: “This is not dough, but the spear of Gideon: the Lord will deliver Midian and our entire army into his hands.” Hearing this, Gideon bowed to the Lord, returned to his own, prepared for battle and, attacking the Midian regiment, beat it and completely dispersed it. Here I ask: why did it roll up to the Midian tent in order to overturn it, not the meat that is eaten in the shelves, but bread dough, and, moreover, not wheat bread, but barley bread? That barley dough, according to the explanation of the interpreters, was a sign of the fast of Gideon, who, preparing for battle, diligently fasted and prayed, and in fasting strengthened his body not with meat, not with sweet foods, but with barley bread, and God helped him. Shame on you, Bacchus and Luther, who say that the soldiers in the regiments will become weak because they abstain from meat. Emperor Theodosius the Great, fighting with Eugene, the Roman torturer, fasted a lot with prayer, preparing himself for the fight - but did he weaken in the fight without eating meat? Heraclius did the same when fighting the Persians. So, you lie, glutton and drunkard Bacchus, and you are a stranger to the feast of Christ. But you, holy temperance, sit well here at the marriage of your Bridegroom (1). And for fathers there is great glory when children are reverent, and for rulers there is considerable honor when slaves are filled with fear, and dishonor and anarchy are very disgusting to everyone, because the natural path of people is the image of God, finding a beautiful life and receiving benefits, and the path brought from outside is the evil path that was the cause of death. As a result of this, through our ungodly lusts and failure to consider with our minds God’s works and demonic machinations against us, we indulge in vanity and temptations, we fall and die. For when we darken our spiritual eye with the darkness of sinful heaviness, then we fall into extreme despondency. Therefore, while the darkness of passions has not yet completely covered the eyes of the heart, while the spiritual strength in conscience prompts to repentance, let each of us, whether a master, or a father, or a prudent person, or rising from the depths of sin, from indecent vanities and from submission to evil, or by power, or by good advice, or by a legal proposal - let each of us, people of God, try and strive to cleanse every unclean darkness with prayer, fasting and abstinence, as the apostle teaches: “ascetics abstain from everything” (1 Cor. 9:25) (2). Let fasting and abstinence be your preference if you want to have a right mind and easily overcome all passions. Do not be enslaved by carnal sensuality, lest you receive reward for yourself and so as not to exhaust your life in the darkness of wordlessness and rebellion (3). Beware of immoderation and scarcity in everything, and keep just and reasonable measures in everything. Always have self-control in everything if you want to easily find peace of mind, but on any other path you will never find peace and quiet. Even if the food were extremely sweet, but full of deadly poison, then you yourself know that you would not eat it. If you did not want to taste death, you would not want to touch such dishes (3). You might be interested in: