John Chrysostom, On the Beginning of Lent

In principium jejuniorum

On the beginning of the fasts, and concerning fasting.

62.745 Today, beloved, the spiritual spring of the fast has dawned upon us, and the meadows of self-control have been opened to the merchants of piety; the sailors of the Church call us to the heavenly trade, and prepare for us the voyage of righteousness, unfurling for us the prophetic parchments, and they handle the rudders of the law; they hoist the mast of the precious cross, and tighten the anchor of faith; the Holy Spirit reveals this vessel, and the Maker of all things tends to it. Come therefore, let us also today, beloved, joyfully welcome the holiness of the fast standing before the doors, and with greetings of the soul let us cry out to it: Come, O mother of good things and of virtues, fill us with heavenly fragrance, open to us the paradise of the evangelical life, let us enjoy the spiritual fruits of self-control, purify us with the diadem of sober-mindedness, grant to us an untroubled life, heal the wounds of the souls from luxury, extinguish the smoldering embers from drunkenness, the unhealthy thoughts feverish from despondency; shut up the theaters of the devil, take away the madness, shackle the beast-rearing workshop of inhumanity, rebuke the winds of the evil spirits, transform those who fast into the life of the incorporeal, show the venerable grey hair of the elder, draw with the plow of self-control, brighten men who spend their days in profligacy, adorn women traversing the stadium of modesty, transform the youth to the angelic life; let those who are weary with sins breathe again from their vain labors, let them cast off the filth of the whole year in the Forty Days of the fast; for you fill not only the earth, but already even paradise itself.

For now the super-cosmic powers rejoice, the orders of angels spiritually celebrate; Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers rejoice in the salvation of men; only the devil, who fell from the heavens, says with a gloomy face: Where now is my boasting against those who were thrown off course by gluttony? where is my soul-destroying machination against men through food? where now is for me the gluttonous taste of the tree, through which, having deceived Adam with Eve, I stripped them bare? Now the devices of my wickedness are gone, since fasting has appeared. Whence has this thing called fasting appeared to me? who now has sent this against me? No longer is Adam, deceived with Eve, stripped of God, no longer is he persuaded by soul-destroying counsel, no longer is he gluttonous, no longer is he held in the snare of gluttony. Again through fasting, Adam is in paradise, again he boasts, again he glories in the divine image, again he is brought back to the archetypal beauty; and what is more terrible than this, that having lost paradise through transgression, he has leaped up to the heavens on the chariot of the fast. I was cast down from there, and the outcast is again carried by the heavenly powers. I have become a laughingstock, being defeated by men, being cast down by fasters, being driven out by human nature. But let the evil one, being cast down, lament these failures of his; but let us, having seized a well-aimed arrow from the apostolic quiver for the present moment, wound the pleasures of his greed, crying out with Paul the things of Paul: We brought nothing into the world; it is clear that we can take nothing out. But if only

In principium jejuniorum

Εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν νηστειῶν, καὶ περὶ νηστείας.

62.745 Τὸ πνευματικὸν ἡμῖν σήμερον, ἀγαπητοὶ, τῆς νηστείας ἔλαμψεν ἔαρ, καὶ οἱ τῆς ἐγκρατείας λειμῶνες τοῖς ἐμπόροις τῆς εὐσεβείας ἠνεῴχθησαν· οἱ δὲ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ναῦται πρὸς τὴν οὐράνιον ἡμᾶς ἐμπορίαν καλοῦσι, καὶ τὸν πλοῦν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡμῖν εὐτρεπίζουσι, τὰς προφητικὰς ἡμῖν ἀναπετάζοντες διφθέρας, καὶ τοὺς οἴακας τοῦ νόμου μεταχειρίζονται· τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ τὸν ἱστὸν ἐξαρτῶσι, καὶ τὴν ἄγκυραν τῆς πίστεως περισφίγγουσι· τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὴν ὁλκάδα ταύτην μηνύει, καὶ ὁ τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴς αὐτὴν περιέπει. ∆εῦτε τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς σήμερον, ἀγαπητοὶ, τῆς νηστείας τὴν ἁγνείαν πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἑστῶσαν χαίροντες ὑποδεξώμεθα, καὶ τοῖς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀσπασμοῖς βοήσωμεν πρὸς αὐτήν· ∆εῦρο, ὦ μῆτερ τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν, τῆς ἐπουρανίου πλήρωσον ἡμᾶς εὐωδίας, ἄνοιξον ἡμῖν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διαγωγῆς τὸν παράδεισον, ἀπολαύσωμεν τῶν πνευματικῶν καρπῶν τῆς ἐγκρατείας, ἅγνισον ἡμᾶς τῷ διαδήματι τῆς σωφροσύνης, βίον ἀθόλωτον ἡμῖν ἐπιχορήγησον, τὰ ἐκ τῆς τρυφῆς τῶν ψυχῶν θεράπευσον τραύματα, τὰ ἐκ τῆς οἰνοφλυγίας κατάσβεσον ὑπεκκαύματα, τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἀθυμίας πυρέττοντας νοσηροὺς λογισμούς· ἀπόκλεισον τὰ θέατρα τοῦ διαβόλου, ἄνελε τὴν λύσσαν, τὸ τῆς ἀπανθρωπίας θηροτρόφον συμπόδισον ἐργαστήριον, ἐπιτίμησον ἀνέμοις τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων, μεταῤῥύθμισον εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀσωμάτων διαγωγὴν τοὺς νηστεύοντας, δεῖξον αἰδέσιμον πολιὰν πρεσβύτου, τῷ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἕλκυσον ἀρότρῳ, φαίδρυνον ἄνδρας ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ διημερεύοντας, κόσμησον γύναια τὸ τῆς σεμνότητος στάδιον διερχόμενα, τὴν νεότητα πρὸς τὸν ἀγγελικὸν μεταῤῥύθμισον βίον· ἀναπνεύσωσι τῶν ματαίων πόνων οἱ κεκμηκότες ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ἔτους τῇ Τεσσαρακοστῇ τῶν ἡμερῶν τῆς νηστείας ἀποῤῥίψωνται ῥύπον· σὺ γὰρ πληροῖς οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν ἤδη τὸν παράδεισον.

Νῦν γὰρ αἱ ὑπερκόσμιοι δυνάμεις ἀγάλλονται, τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τάγματα πνευματικῶς πανηγυρίζει· Θρόνοι, Κυριότητες, Ἀρχαὶ καὶ Ἐξουσίαι τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐφραίνονται σωτηρίᾳ· μόνος ὁ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐκπεσὼν διάβολος ἐπιστυγνάζων λέγει· Ποῦ μοι νῦν ἡ κατὰ τῶν ἐξ ἀδδηφαγίας ἐκτραχηλισθέντων μεγαλαυχία; ποῦ μοι τὸ διὰ τῆς βρώσεως κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχοφθόρον μηχάνημα; ποῦ μοι νῦν ἡ λιχνὴ τοῦ ξύλου γεῦσις, δι' ἧς τὸν Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τῆς Εὔας ἀπατήσας ἐγύμνωσα; Οἴχεται νῦν μοι τὰ τῆς πονηρίας μηχανήματα τῆς νηστείας φανείσης. Πόθεν ἡ λεγομένη μοι νηστεία κατεφάνη; τίς ταύτην νῦν κατ' ἐμοῦ ἐστράτευσεν; Οὐκέτι Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τῆς Εὔας ἀπατηθεὶς Θεοῦ γυμνοῦται, οὐκέτι συμβουλῇ πείθεται ψυχοφθόρῳ, οὐκέτι λαιμαργεῖ, οὐκέτι τῷ τῆς γαστριμαργίας συνέχεται βρόχῳ. Πάλιν διὰ νηστείας Ἀδὰμ εἰς παράδεισον, πάλιν μεγαλαυχεῖ, πάλιν τῇ θείᾳ εἰκόνι ἐναβρύνεται, πάλιν πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐπανάγεται κάλλος· καὶ τὸ δὴ τούτου δεινότερον, ὅτι παράδεισον διὰ παραβάσεως ἀπολέσας, τῷ τῆς νηστείας ἅρματι εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνεπήδησεν. Ἐγὼ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἐῤῥίφην, καὶ ὁ ἀπεῤῥιμμένος πάλιν ταῖς οὐρανίαις ἐποχεῖται δυνάμεσι. Γέλως γέγονα ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἡττώμενος, ὑπὸ νηστευτῶν καταβαλλόμενος, ὑπὸ φύσεως ἀνθρωπίνης ἐλαυνόμενος. Ἀλλὰ τούτας μὲν ὁ πονηρὸς τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἀποτυχίας θρηνωδείτω βαλλόμενος· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς φαρέτρας εὔστοχον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἁρπάσαντες βέλος, αὐτῷ τῆς πλεονεξίας τὰς ἡδονὰς κατατρώσωμεν, μετὰ Παύλου τὰ τοῦ Παύλου βοῶντες· Οὐδὲν εἰσηνέγκαμεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον· δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐξενεγκεῖν τι δυνάμεθα. Ἀλλ' εἴθε