John Chrysostom, On Fasting

a lion, showing obedience; but the donkey stood by, neither fearing the nature of the lion, nor withdrawing, nor suffering anything from the lion, so that it might be shown that the lion did not attack as it did because of the thought of its stomach, but because the one who was commanded not to eat did not observe the fast. Again, Elijah was taken up as if to heaven. What then was the sign of his assumption, if not the fast of forty days? If Moses fasts, and Elijah fasts after him, and the Lord seals it, the imitation is good. And yet we do not recount the rests in between; for we do not fast for forty days, but leaving intervals in between, we complete the number, but we do not separate the fast. Great are the things before us, small are the things from us; and if we fail even in the small things, we have clearly become strangers to those who fasted. None of us fasts for forty days; for during forty intervals we rest, just like travelers who lodge for the night and begin again. But if they fasted even for the forty days, while we do not travel the same road as they even with rest, let us not dare to mention those whom we cannot imitate. Fasting is an imitation of angels as far as possible, contempt for present things, leisure for prayer, a delight for the soul, a bridle for the body and a gentleness of desire. And those who fast know that it calms pleasures, and those who have been tempted are not ignorant of it; it softens passion, bites back anger, and stills the waves of nature, it awakens reason, and makes the soul bright, it lightens the flesh, it drives away the shameful nocturnal intemperances, it frees from drunkenness, it saves from headaches; it brings brightness both to the complexion and to the gaze. Orderly in fasts are the movements, easy the tongue, not distorted by wine, upright the reasoning; for desires are not poured out. It dances in temperance, it maintains calm; for the outer man is at leisure, and while we do not remember what we suffer in drunkenness, we have a reminder of what we are delivered from in fasts. For fasting knows both itself and its opposites; but drunkenness, being ignorant of itself, is also ignorant of the good things that come from fasting. For what reason, tell me, were the sons of Aaron the priests destroyed? Was it not because while ministering they tasted wine? What was the law of the Nazirites? Was it not to abstain from wine, and from all things that come from wine? Those with Daniel ate seeds, despising the tyrannical table of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, the man of desires, fasted for three weeks of days; when he abstained from desires, he received this final address. He fasted not one Jewish day, not a poor one, but three weeks of days, himself prefiguring the ecclesiastical way. Bread of desires, I said, I did not eat; but they hunger for desires for the time being; Wine and meat did not enter my mouth, from which the Church fasts. See in the Old Testament a Christian way of life. For among the weak are the types, but among the prophets are already the traces of the truth. Fasting recalled a decision of God. For God said, Nineveh is overthrown, and it was not overthrown; for they offered a fast, and Jonah fled, fearing the help that came from fasting. For a great fish swallowed him; but it swallowed him fasting. For the one that swallowed him did not use its prey for food, but put it aside and kept the deposit for the Master, 62.735 and him who was unwilling to go by himself, it brought where he was commanded. Nineveh the great city heard one naked prophet, who had come out of the great fish, not even preserving the color of a man because of fear; one prophet arrived there, and the time showed the sign which he had performed. But he also said that the city is overthrown; he ought to have anticipated and led them away from the faith. But they

λέων, μηνύων τὴν ὑπακοήν· παρειστήκει δὲ ἡ ὄνος, οὔτε τὴν φύσιν τοῦ λέοντος φοβουμένη, οὔτε ἀναχωροῦσα, οὔτε πάσχουσά τι ὑπὸ τοῦ λέοντος, ἵνα φανῇ ὅτι οὐ διὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν τῆς γαστρὸς ὁ λέων ἐπῆλθεν, ὡς ἐπῆλθεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ μὴ προσχρῆσθαι νηστείαις τὸν κελευσθέντα μὴ γεύσασθαι. Πάλιν ἀνελήφθη Ἠλίας ὡς ἐπ' οὐρανόν. Τί δὴ τὸ σημεῖον τῆς ἀναλήψεως, ἢ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν ἡ νηστεία; Εἰ Μωϋσῆς νηστεύει, καὶ Ἠλίας ἐπινηστεύει, καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐπισφραγίζει, καλὴ ἡ μίμησις. Καίτοι οὐκ ἀναπολοῦμεν τὰς ἀναπαύλας τὰς ἐν τῷ μεταξύ· οὐ γὰρ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας νηστεύομεν, ἀλλὰ διαστήματα ἐγκαταλιπόντες ἐν μέσῳ, τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν συνάπτομεν, τὴν δὲ νηστείαν οὐ διακρίνομεν. Μεγάλα τὰ πρὸ ἡμῶν, μικρὰ τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῶν μικρῶν ἀποτύχωμεν, φανερῶς ἀλλότριοι τῶν νηστευσάντων ἐγενόμεθα. Οὐδεὶς ἡμῶν νηστεύει τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας· ἐπὶ γὰρ τεσσαράκοντα διαστήματα ἀναπαυόμεθα, ὥσπερ οἱ ὁδεύοντες, καθ' ἑσπέραν αὐλιζόμενοι, καὶ πάλιν ἀρχόμενοι. Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τὰς τεσσαράκοντα ἐνήστευσαν, ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐδὲ μετὰ ἀναπαύσεως τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν ἐκείνοις ὁδεύομεν, μηδὲ τολμήσωμεν μνημονεῦσαι ὧν τὴν μίμησιν οὐκ ἔχομεν. Νηστεία, ἀγγέλων ἐστὶ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν μίμησις, καταφρόνησις τῶν παρόντων, σχολὴ προσευχῆς, τρυφὴ ψυχῆς, χαλινὸς σώματος καὶ πραΰτης ἐπιθυμίας. Καὶ οἴδασιν οἱ νηστεύοντες, ὅτι πραΰνει τὰς ἡδονὰς, καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοοῦσιν οἱ πειρασθέντες· μαλάσσει θυμὸν, συνδάκνει τὴν ὀργὴν, καὶ καταπαύει τὰ φυσικὰ κύματα, ἀνεγείρει τὸν λογισμὸν, καὶ φαιδρὰν ἀπεργάζεται τὴν ψυχὴν, κουφίζει τὴν σάρκα, ἀπελαύνει ἀκρασίας αἰσχρὰς τὰς νυκτερινὰς, ἀπαλλάσσει μέθης, ῥύεται κεφαλαλγίας· φαιδρὰ φέρει καὶ τὰ χρώματα καὶ τὰ βλέμματα. Εὔτακτα ἐν νηστείαις τὰ κινήματα, εὔκολος ἡ γλῶσσα, μὴ διαστρεφομένη ἀπὸ οἴνου, ὀρθὸς ὁ λογισμός· οὐ γὰρ ἐκχέονται αἱ ἐπιθυμίαι. Χορεύει ἐν σωφροσύνῃ, γαλήνην κρατεῖ· ὁ γὰρ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος σχολάζει, καὶ ὧν μὲν πάσχομεν ἐν μέθῃ, οὐ μεμνήμεθα, ὧν δὲ ἀπαλλαττόμεθα ἐν νηστείαις, ἔχομεν τὴν ὑπόμνησιν. Ἡ γὰρ νηστεία καὶ ἑαυτὴν γινώσκει, καὶ τὰ ἀντικείμενα· μέθη δὲ ἑαυτὴν ἀγνοοῦσα, καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ νηστείας ἀγαθὰ ἀγνοεῖ. Τίνος χάριν, εἰπέ μοι, ἀνῃρέθησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀαρὼν οἱ ἱερεῖς; οὐχ ὅτι ὑπουργοῦντες οἴνου ἐγεύσαντο; Τίς ἦν νόμος τῶν Ναζωραίων; οὐχὶ οἴνου ἀπέχεσθαι, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀπὸ οἴνου; Οἱ περὶ ∆ανιὴλ σπέρματα ἤσθιον, καταφρονοῦντες τραπέζης τυραννικῆς τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ. Ἐνήστευσε τρεῖς ἑβδομάδας ἡμερῶν ∆ανιὴλ ὁ ἀνὴρ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν· ὅτε ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀπέσχετο, ταύτην τὴν ἐσχάτην προσηγορίαν ἐδέξατο. Ἐνήστευσεν οὐ μίαν ἡμέραν Ἰουδαϊκὴν, οὐ πτωχὴν, ἀλλὰ τρεῖς ἑβδομάδας ἡμερῶν, τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν καὶ αὐτὸς προτυπῶν ὁδόν. Ἄρτον, ἔφην, ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐκ ἔφαγον· οἱ δὲ πεινοῦσιν εἰς ἐπιθυμίας πρὸς τὸν καιρόν· Οἶνος καὶ κρέα οὐκ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου, ὧν νηστεύει ἡ Ἐκκλησία. Ὅρα ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ πολιτείαν Χριστιανικήν. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἀσθενοῦσιν οἱ τύποι, ἐν δὲ τοῖς προφήταις ἤδη τῆς ἀληθείας τὰ ἴχνη. Ἡ νηστεία ἀπόφασιν Θεοῦ ἀνεκαλέσατο. Εἶπε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς, Καταστρέφεται Νινευῒ, καὶ οὐ κατεστράφη· προσήνεγκαν γὰρ νηστείαν, καὶ ἐξέφυγεν Ἰωνᾶς, φοβηθεὶς τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς νηστείας βοήθειαν. Καὶ γὰρ κατέπιεν αὐτὸν κῆτος· κατέπιε δὲ νηστεῦον. Ὁ γὰρ καταπιὼν οὐκ ἐχρήσατο τῇ θήρᾳ εἰς βρῶσιν, ἀλλ' ἀπέθετο καὶ ἐτήρησε τὴν παρακαταθήκην τῷ ∆εσπό 62.735 τῃ, καὶ τὸν μὴ θελήσαντα δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἀπελθεῖν, ἀπήγαγεν ὅπου προσετάχθη. Ἤκουσε Νινευῒ ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ἑνὸς προφήτου γυμνοῦ, ὃς ἦν ἀπὸ κήτους ἐξελθὼν, οὐδὲ χρῶμα ἀνθρώπου σώζων διὰ τὸν φόβον· εἷς προφήτης ἐπέβη ἐκεῖ, καὶ τὸ σημεῖον, ὅπερ πεποίηκεν, ὁ καιρὸς ἐνεδείξατο. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἶπεν, ὅτι Καταστρέφεται ἡ πόλις· προλαβὼν ὤφειλεν αὐτοὺς ἀπαγαγεῖν τῆς πίστεως. Οἱ δὲ