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His eternal fire. Pride, therefore, is in the devil, but humility is in Christ; for the Lord Himself says, that “whoever wishes to be great among us shall be the servant of all.” For God is of the humble.

6 Let us love fasting greatly; for fasting and prayer and almsgiving are a great protection; for they deliver man from death. For just as through eating and disobedience Adam was cast out of paradise, so again through fasting and obedience he who wishes enters into paradise. Adorn your body with this virtue, O virgin, and you will be pleasing to the heavenly Bridegroom; for those who are joined to the world and who beautify their own bodies with myrrh and incense and perfumes and with expensive garments and gold in order to please men cannot please God. But Christ requires none of these things from you, except only a pure heart and an undefiled body disciplined by fasting. And if some come and say to you, "Do not fast often, lest you become weaker;" you shall not believe them nor shall you obey them; for the enemy suborns them. Remember what is written, when the three youths and Daniel were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and other young men with them, and the king commanded them to eat from his table and to drink from his wine; but Daniel and the three youths did not wish to be defiled by the king's table, but they say to the eunuch who had received them: “give us of the seeds of the earth, and we will eat.” And the eunuch says to them: I fear for your food and your drink, lest your faces should appear downcast before the king, compared to all the young men who eat from the king's table, and he will condemn me; but they said to him, test your servants for about ten days, and give us; and he gave them legumes to eat and water to drink; and he brought them before the king, and their appearances were seen to be choice beyond the young men who ate at the king's table.

7 Do you see what fasting does? It both heals diseases and dries up bodily fluxes and casts out demons and drives away evil thoughts and makes the mind brighter and the heart pure and the body sanctified, and presents man at the throne of God; and, lest you think that these things are said simply, you have testimony spoken in the Gospels by the Savior; His disciples asked Him, saying: Lord, show us in what way unclean spirits are put to flight. And the Lord said: “This kind is not cast out, except by fasting and prayer.” Therefore, everyone who is troubled by an unclean spirit, if he understands and uses this remedy, I mean fasting, immediately the evil spirit, being distressed, departs, fearing the fast. For demons delight very much in debauchery and the repose of the body. Fasting is a great power, and great achievements come through it, since whence do men accomplish great powers, and signs are done through them, and healings for the sick are granted by God through them, if not entirely through ascetic practice and humility and a good way of life? For fasting is the life of angels, and he who practices it has an angelic rank. And do not think, beloved, that fasting is thus simple; for not he who fasts from foods alone has succeeded, but he who abstains from every evil thing, to this one fasting is reckoned; for if you fast and do not guard your mouth from speaking an evil word or quick-temper or a lie or perjury or if you speak against your neighbor; if these things come out of the mouth of one who is fasting, he has gained nothing, but also all his labor

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αὐτοῦ τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον. ἡ οὖν ὑπερηφανία ἐν τῷ διαβόλῳ ἐστίν, ἡ δὲ ταπεινο φροσύνη ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ κύριος λέγει, ὅτι «ὁ θέλων ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι μέγας ἔστω πάντων δοῦλος.» ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς τῶν ταπεινῶν ἐστιν.

6 Ἀγαπήσωμεν σφόδρα τὴν νηστείαν· μέγα γὰρ φυλακτή ριόν ἐστιν ἡ νηστεία καὶ ἡ προσευχὴ καὶ ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη· ἐκ θανάτου γὰρ ῥύονται τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ὥσπερ γὰρ διὰ βρώματος καὶ παρακοῆς ἐξεβλήθη ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου, οὕτως πά λιν διὰ νηστείας καὶ ὑπακοῆς ὁ θέλων εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὸν παρά δεισον. ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἀρετῇ κόσμησόν σου τὸ σῶμα, ὦ παρθένε, καὶ ἀρέσεις τῷ ἐπουρανίῳ νυμφίῳ· αἱ γὰρ τῷ κόσμῳ συναπτόμεναι καὶ μύροις καὶ θυμιάμασι καὶ εὐωδίαις καὶ ἐν ἱματίοις πολυτελέσι καὶ χρυσῷ καλλωπίζουσαι τὰ σώματα ἑαυτῶν πρὸς τὸ ἀρέσαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις Θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται. ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς οὐδὲν τούτων χρῄζει παρὰ σοῦ, εἰ μὴ μόνον καρδίαν κα θαρὰν καὶ σῶμα ἀμόλυντον ὑπωπιαζόμενον ὑπὸ νηστείας. ἐὰν δὲ ἔρχωνταί τινες καὶ λέγωσί σοι, ὅτι μὴ νήστευε πυκνά, εἰ δὲ μή γε, ἀσθενεστέρα γενήσῃ· οὐ πιστεύσεις αὐτοῖς οὐδ' οὐ μὴ ὑπακούσεις αὐτοῖς· ὁ γὰρ ἐχθρὸς αὐτοὺς ὑποβάλλει. μνήσθητι τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὁπότε οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες καὶ ∆ανιὴλ ᾐχμαλωτεύθησαν ὑπὸ Ναβουχοδονόσορ βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος καὶ ἄλλα παιδάρια μετ' αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔταξεν αὐτοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐσθίειν ἀπὸ τῆς τρα πέζης αὐτοῦ καὶ πίνειν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴνου αὐτοῦ· ∆ανιὴλ δὲ καὶ οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες οὐκ ἤθελον αὐτοὶ ἀλισγηθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τοῦ βασιλέως, ἀλλὰ λέγουσι τῷ εὐνούχῳ τῷ παραλαβόντι αὐτούς· «δὸς ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν σπερμάτων τῆς γῆς, καὶ φαγόμεθα.» Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ εὐνοῦχος· φοβοῦμαι ἐγὼ τὴν βρῶ σιν ὑμῶν καὶ τὴν πόσιν, μήποτε ὀφθῶσι τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν σκυθρωπὰ ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως παρὰ πάντα τὰ παιδάρια τὰ ἐσθίοντα ἐκ τῆς τραπέζης τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ καταδικάσει με· εἶπον δὲ αὐτῷ πείρασον τοὺς δούλους σου ἡμέρας ὡσεὶ δέκα, καὶ δὸς ἡμῖν· καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὄσπρια φαγεῖν καὶ ὕδωρ πιεῖν· καὶ εἰσήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ὤφθησαν αἱ ἰδέαι αὐτῶν ἐκλεκταὶ παρὰ τὰ παιδάρια τὰ ἐσθίοντα τὴν τράπεζαν τοῦ βασιλέως.

7 Ὁρᾷς τί ποιεῖ ἡ νηστεία· καὶ νόσους θεραπεύει καὶ ῥεύ ματα σωματικὰ ξηραίνει καὶ δαίμονας ἐκβάλλει καὶ λογισμοὺς πονηροὺς ἀποδιώκει καὶ τὸν νοῦν λαμπρότερον ποιεῖ καὶ καρ δίαν καθαρὰν καὶ σῶμα ἡγιασμένον καὶ τῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ παρίστησι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· καὶ, ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς, ὅτι ταῦτα ἁπλῶς λέγονται, ἔχεις μαρτυρίαν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις παρὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρημένην· ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· κύριε, δεῖξον ἡμῖν, ποίῳ τρόπῳ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα πνεύματα φυγα δεύονται. εἶπεν δὲ ὁ κύριος· «τοῦτο τὸ γένος οὐκ ἐκβάλλεται, εἰ μὴ ἐν νηστείαις καὶ προσευχαῖς.» πᾶς οὖν ὁ ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου ὀχλούμενος, ἐὰν νοήσῃ καὶ χρήσηται τῷ φαρμάκῳ τούτῳ, λέγω δὴ τῇ νηστείᾳ, εὐθὺς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πονηρὸν στενοχωρούμενον ἀναχωρεῖ, φοβούμενον τὴν νηστείαν. πάνυ γὰρ τέρπονται οἱ δαίμονες τῇ κραιπάλῃ καὶ τῇ ἀναπαύσει τοῦ σώματος. μεγάλη δύναμις νηστεία, καὶ μεγάλα κατορθώματα γίνεται δι' αὐτῆς, ἐπεὶ πόθεν καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐπιτελοῦσι, καὶ σημεῖα δι' αὐτῶν γίνεται, καὶ ἰάματα τοῖς κάμνουσι δι' αὐτῶν δωρεῖται ὁ Θεὸς, εἰ μὴ πάντως δι' ἀσκή σεως καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πολιτείας ἀγαθῆς; νηστεία γὰρ ἀγγέλων βίος ἐστί, καὶ ὁ χρώμενος αὐτῇ ἀγγελικὴν τάξιν ἔχει. καὶ μὴ νομίσῃς, ἀγαπητέ, ὅτι οὕτως ἁπλῶς ἐστιν ἡ νηστεία· οὐ γὰρ ὁ νηστεύων ἀπὸ βρωμάτων μόνον ἐκεῖνος κατώρθωσεν, ἀλλ' ὁ ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος, τούτῳ λογίζεται ἡ νηστεία· ἐὰν γὰρ νηστεύσῃς καὶ μὴ τηρήσῃς τὸ στόμα σου λαλῆσαι λόγον πονηρὸν ἢ ὀξυχολίαν ἢ κεῦδος ἢ ἐπι ορκίαν ἢ καταλαλήσῃς κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον σου· ἐὰν ταῦτα ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ νηστεύοντος, οὐδὲν ὠφέλησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅλον τὸν κόπον αὐτοῦ