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to the Church; but rather to obey those entrusted with the presidency and stewardship of the word. For to abound in the good, and to advance, and to ascend to greater and higher things, and to add to all the praise of the Lord, is for those who are well-disposed. But to those who legislate eight weeks, I would suggest that not even what is good is good, unless it is done well. For virginity is good, but if you marry, you have not sinned; It is good to fast every day; but let not him who eats not judge him who eats. In such matters, it is not fitting to legislate, nor to compel, nor to lead the flock entrusted to one's care by force, but rather by persuasion, and gentleness, and with speech seasoned with salt; by these we suggest these things. But if we must publish what seems good to us, we say this, that since the mystagogue of the truth, our holy Father Basil, said there were seven weeks in all of the holy fasts in his homily *Against Drunkards*, and Gregory, surnamed the Theologian, presented these fasts as a type and imitation of the forty-day fast of the Lord in his homily *On Baptism*, it is necessary to reconcile both with each other, so that the dogmas of the divine men may not be found to be inconsistent. For this is what causes dissent, not discerning the force of what is said; for we have not been commanded by law to fast a tithe of the year, as some have supposed; for there is a canon clearly formulated, legislating a fast of forty days; but the tithes of the year are not forty. How then, those of us who fast five days of the week, shall we complete the number of 95.69 forty, unless we fast the five-day periods of the eight weeks? To this, therefore, we say that having read the ordinances of the holy apostles, we found it commanded: It is necessary to fast the holy Forty Days, beginning from Monday, and ending on Friday, after which we begin the week of the Passion. If, therefore, the Forty Days are completed over eight weeks, and after these we begin the week of the Passion, it is necessary to fast nine weeks in all. However, Athanasius, great in divine knowledge and virtue, in his festal letters more clearly declared the weeks of the Forty Days to be six; after which he commands the week of the Passion to begin. From all these things we have arrived at such a notion, that a fast is not only a complete abstinence from food from morning until evening, but also the abstention from certain foods; for we are said to fast from wine and meat. Since, therefore, a canon of the holy apostles has been formulated, not to fast on Saturday and Sunday, and to fast the holy Forty Days, perhaps for the five days of the week it has commanded a complete abstinence from food; but for the two days of Saturday and Sunday, an abstention from certain foods. For it must be known that just as when two labors lie before one, the stronger overcomes and is preferred; for example, eighth-day circumcision has been legislated, and the observance of the Sabbath. Therefore, one born on a Saturday will be circumcised on the Saturday, and the law of circumcision annuls the law of the Sabbath; so also here, the Holy Spirit, having legislated through the ministers of the word the fast until evening for the five days of the week, has appointed for Saturday and Sunday the abstention from certain foods, because of the predominance of the resurrection, which we know as the Lord's day, and the offering on behalf of all the departed saints, which we are commanded to perform every Saturday, because of the Saturday before Pascha, on which Christ bound the strong man and plundered his goods, which is the only Saturday it is necessary for those awaiting the joy of the resurrection to fast. εʹ. So, therefore, we also know the custom of the Church from unwritten tradition, one pre-fasting week, in which only abstention from meat and the fast until evening was performed, by no means a third, or a sixth, or a ninth, or of the

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Ἐκκλησίαν· πειθαρχεῖν δὲ μᾶλλον τοῖς τὴν προεδρίαν καὶ οἰκονομίαν τοῦ λόγου πεπιστευμένοις. Τὸ γὰρ περισσεύειν ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ, καὶ προκόπτειν, καὶ ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὰ μείζονά τε καὶ ὑψηλότερα, καὶ προστιθέναι ἐπὶ πᾶσαν αἴνεσιν τοῦ Κυρίου, τῶν εὖ ἐχόντων ἐστί. Τοῖς δὲ τὰς ὀκτὼ ἑβδομάδας νομοθετοῦσιν ὑπετιθέμην, ὡς οὐδὲ τὸ καλὸν καλὸν, εἰ μὴ καλῶς γένηται. Καλὸν μὲν γὰρ παρθενία ἀλλ' ἐὰν γήμῃς, οὐχ ἥμαρτες· Καλὸν τὸ νηστεύειν πᾶσαν ἡμέραν· ἀλλ' ὁ μὴ ἐσθίων τὸν ἐσθίοντα μὴ κρινέτω. Ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις οὐ νομοθετεῖν, οὐ βιάζεσθαι, οὐκ ἀναγκαστῶς ἄγειν τὸ ἐγχειρισθὲν προσήκει ποίμνιον, πειθοῖ δὲ μᾶλλον, καὶ ἠπιότητι, καὶ λόγῳ ἅλατι ἠρτυμένῳ, ταύτα καὶ τούτοις ὑποτιθέμεθα. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ἡμῖν δοκοῦν δημοσιεύειν χρεὼν, τοῦτό φαμεν, ὅτι τοῦ μύστου τῆς ἀληθείας ἁγίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Βασιλείου ἑπτὰ τὰς πάσας τῶν ἁγίων νηστειῶν ἑβδομάδας φήσαντος ἐν τῷ Κατὰ μεθυόντων λόγῳ, καὶ τοῦ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπωνύμου Γρηγορίου τῇ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν νηστείᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου, τύπον καὶ μίμημα τὰς νηστείας ταύτας δωρησαμένου ἐν τῷ Περὶ βαπτίσματος λόγῳ, ἀνάγκη ἀμφότερα συμβιβάζειν ἀλλήλοις, ἵνα μὴ ἀσύμφωνα τὰ τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν φωραθείη δόγματα. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ τὴν στάσιν κινοῦν, τὸ μὴ διακρίνειν τῶν λεγομένων τὴν δύναμιν· οὐ γὰρ, ὥς τινες ὑπενόησαν, δεκάτας τῶν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ νηστεύειν νενομοθετήμεθα· κανὼν γάρ ἐστι διατετυπωμένος ἀριδήλως Τεσσαρακοστὴν νηστεύειν νομοθετῶν· αἱ δὲ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ δεκάδες, οὐ τεσσαράκοντα. Πῶς οὖν οἱ πέντε τῆς ἑβδομάδος νηστεύοντες, τὸν ἀριθμὸν περανοῦμεν τῶν 95.69 τεσσαράκοντα, εἰ μὴ τῶν ὀκτὼ ἑβδομάδων τὰς πεντάδας νηστεύσαιμεν; Πρὸς ταῦτα τοίνυν φαμὲν, ὡς ἀνεγνωκότες τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων διαταγὰς, ἐντεταγμένον εὕρομεν· Χρὴ νηστεύειν τὴν ἁγίαν Τεσσαρακοστὴν, ἀρχομένους ἀπὸ δευτέρας, καὶ λήγοντας εἰς Παρασκευὴν, μεθ' ἣν τῆς ἑβδομάδος τοῦ πάθους ἀρχόμεθα. Εἰ τοίνυν δι' ὀκτὰ ἑβδομάδων ἡ Τεσσαρακοστὴ τελειοῦται, μετὰ δὲ ταύτας τῆς τοῦ πάθους ἀρχόμεθα, ἐννέα τὰς πάσας ἑβδομάδας νηστεύειν χρεών. Ὁ μέντοι πολὺς τὴν θείαν γνῶσιν καὶ ἀρετὴν Ἀθανάσιος, ἐν τοῖς ἑορταστικοῖς αὐτοῦ λόγοις ἓξ τὰς τῆς Τεσσαρακοστῆς ἑβδομάδας ἐκφανέστερον ἀπεφήνατο· μεθ' ἃς τῆς τοῦ πάθους ἑβδομάδος προστάττει ἀπάρχεσθαι Ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων εἰς τοιαύτην κατηντήσαμεν ἔννοιαν, ὅτι νηστεία ἐστὶν οὐ μόνον ἡ παντελὴς ἕωθεν μέχρις ἑσπέρας ἀσιτία, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τινῶν βρωμάτων ἀποχή· νηστεύειν γὰρ οἴνου καὶ κρεῶν λεγόμεθα. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν κανὼν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων διατετύπωται, μὴ νηστεύειν Σαββάτῳ καὶ Κυριακῇ, καὶ νηστεύειν τὴν ἁγίαν Τεσσαρακοστὴν, τυχὸν τὰς μὲν πέντε τῆς ἑβδομάδος τὴν παντελῆ ἀσιτίαν νηστεύειν· τὰς δὲ δύο τοῦ Σαββάτου καὶ τῆς Κυριακῆς ἡμέρας τὴν τινῶν βρωμάτων ἀποχὴν προστέταχεν. Ἰστέον γὰρ ὅτι ὡς δύο πόνων προκειμένων ἰσχυρότερος ἐκνικᾷ καὶ προκρίνεται· οἷον νενομοθέτηται περιτομὴ ὀκταήμερος, καὶ ἡ τοῦ Σαββάτου τήρησις. Τὸ τοίνυν Σαββάτῳ γεγεννημένον, τῷ Σαββάτῳ περιτμηθήσεται, καὶ λύει τὸν τοῦ Σαββάτου νόμον ἡ τῆς περιτομῆς νομοθεσία· οὕτω κἀνταῦθα ταῖς πέντε τῆς ἑβδομάδος τὴν μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας νηστείαν νομοθετῆσαν διὰ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τοῦ λόγου τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, Σαββάτῳ καὶ τῇ Κυριακῇ τὴν τινῶν βρωμάτων ἀποχὴν διωρίσατο, διὰ τὸ ἐπικρατὲς τῆς ἀναστάσεως, ἣν τὴν Κυριακὴν ἡμέραν οἴδαμεν, καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν προκεκοιμημένων ἁγίων προσφορὰν, ἣν κατὰ πᾶν Σάββατον ἐπιτελεῖν προστετάγμεθα, διὰ τὸ πρὸ τοῦ Πάσχα Σάββατον, ἐν ᾧ τὸν ἰσχυρὸν Χριστὸς ἔδησε, καὶ τὰ τούτου σκεύη διήρπασεν, ὃ μόνον Σάββατον νηστεύειν χρεὼν τοὺς τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως χαρὰν ἀναμένοντας. εʹ. Οὕτως τοίνυν καὶ τὴν συνήθειαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐξ ἀγράφου παραδόσεως ἐπιστάμεθα, μίαν προνήστιμον ἑβδομάδα, ἐν ᾗ μόνων τῶν κρεῶν ἀποχὴ καὶ ἡ μέχρις ἑσπέρας νηστεία ἐπετελεῖτο, μηδαμῶς τρίτης, ἢ ἕκτης, ἢ ἐννάτης, ἢ τῆς τῶν