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On Fasting. Sermon 2. Again holy fasting calls us to the enjoyment of good things, again it makes us athletes, again it wants us to be courageous, so that it may show us as conquerors of the passions, and prove the beauty of the soul to be more radiant, and through labors may it weave crowns for our heads. For what is fasting, but a crown of contests, and a procurer of rewards, and a way of salvation? For fasting transfers from slavery to freedom, from captivity it leads back to the fatherland; fasting heals the wounds of the soul, fasting renews a soul decayed by sins, it strengthens the soul, it makes the mind courageous, it introduces the fear of God, it lays waste the passions, it calms the thoughts. In days of fasting, pleasures are extinguished, and virtues blossom, and the beauty of temperance is shown most pure, and the body passes over into soul, having become spiritual beyond nature. Rejoice in fasting, and do not be gloomy, like the hypocrites; they disfigure their faces for human show, losing the reward of the fast. For the saying is the Savior's: In fasting, anoint your head, wash your face with good deeds, shine with virtues, so that you may appear to be fasting to me alone, who sees what is hidden. Do not be vexed, beloved, with the fast, the mother of virtues, the root of good things, the spring of temperance, the guardian of piety, the foster-sister of the saints, the tent-mate of angels, the enemy of the devil, the friend of the Spirit; through which pleasures flee from us and demons withdraw, and anger is weakened, and desire is put to death, and virtues live and shine in us; through which the passions are calmed, and the tumult of pleasures is suppressed, and the mind sails as in a calm, having well traversed the stormy waves of the winter of wickedness through this self-control, and having moored the vessel at the harbor of virtue. You have, therefore, an inviolable profit, an unshipwrecked cargo, when you trade with the commandments of the Spirit, when, having strengthened your thought with the fear of God, you also set aside present things, hearing the divine Scripture saying: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Let us not love the luxury of this world, which, becoming like a heavy cargo for the ship of the soul, makes it sink. Or do you not know, that all luxury stops at the throat, and then is idle after the throat; but the punishment born from it has endless torment? Luxury darkens those who are not sober, it dims the beauty of the soul, it makes a living corpse; it prepares one to do whatever is not lawful, it arouses the organs of pleasure, it increases the war, 60.714 it awakens the desires; you are then inoperative toward virtue. For with your members weakened, and your mind stolen by much wine, you no longer have strength to fight back, and you become easy to attack for the enemies, just like a ship driven by the wind, not having a pilot able to fight against the assaults of the waves, which is thrown here and there, and nothing else remains for it, except to expect shipwreck. Therefore, I beseech you, let us not give ourselves to luxury after the fast, nor let us extinguish our many labors with neglect; but joining labors to labors, so let us expect the reward. For when one joins reward to reward, he has much profit stored up. Let us not extinguish the flower of the fast, nor let us allow the mind to be shipwrecked by luxury toward pleasures, so that not with incurable evils the soul

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Περὶ νηστείας. Λόγος βʹ. Πάλιν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἁγία νηστεία πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν ἀγαθῶν καλεῖ, πάλιν ἀγωνιστὰς κατασκευάζει, πάλιν ἀνδρείους βούλεται εἶναι, ὅπως νικητὰς τῶν παθῶν ἀναδείξῃ, καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῆς ψυχῆς λαμπρότερον ἀποδείξῃ, καὶ διὰ τῶν πόνων στεφάνους ἡμῶν πλέξῃ ταῖς κορυφαῖς. Τί γάρ ἐστι νηστεία, ἢ ἀγώνων στέφανος, καὶ μισθῶν πρόξενος, καὶ σωτηρίας ὁδός; Νηστεία γὰρ ἀπὸ δουλείας εἰς ἐλευθερίαν μεθίστησιν, ἀπὸ αἰχμαλωσίας εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἐπανάγει· νηστεία τὰ τραύματα τῆς ψυχῆς ἰᾶται, νηστεία σαθρωθεῖσαν ψυχὴν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀνακαινίζει, νευροῖ τὴν ψυχὴν, ἀνδρειοῖ τὸ φρόνημα, τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσάγει, ἐκπορθεῖ τὰ πάθη, γαληνιᾷ τοὺς λογισμούς. Ἐν ἡμέραις νηστειῶν ἡδοναὶ σβέννυνται, καὶ ἀρεταὶ ἀνθοῦσι, καὶ σωφροσύνης τὸ κάλλος καθαρώτατον δείκνυται, καὶ σῶμα εἰς ψυχὴν μεταβαίνει, πνευματικὸν γενόμενον ὑπὲρ φύσιν. Χαῖρε ἐν νηστείᾳ, καὶ μὴ στύγναζε, ὡς οἱ ὑποκριταί· ἀφανίζουσι τὰ πρόσωπα πρὸς θέαν ἀνθρωπίνην, ἀπολλύντες τὸν μισθὸν τῆς νηστείας. Τοῦ γὰρ Σωτῆρός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος· Ἐν νηστείᾳ ἄλειψόν σου τὴν κεφαλὴν, νίψον τὸ πρόσωπον τῇ εὐποιίᾳ, λάμψον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, ὅπως ἐμοὶ μόνῳ φαίνῃ νηστεύων, τῷ τὰ κρυπτὰ καθορῶντι. Μὴ δυσχεράνῃς, ἀγαπητὲ, πρὸς τὴν νηστείαν, τὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν μητέρα, τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, τὴν πηγὴν τῆς σωφροσύνης, τὴν φύλακα τῆς εὐσεβείας, τὴν τῶν ἁγίων σύντροφον, τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁμόσκηνον, τὴν διαβόλου ἔχθραν, τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος φίλην· δι' ἧς αἱ ἡδοναὶ ἡμᾶς φεύγουσι καὶ δαίμονες ὑπαναχωροῦσι, καὶ θυμὸς ἀτονεῖ, καὶ ἐπιθυμία νεκροῦται, καὶ ἀρεταὶ ζῶσι καὶ λάμπουσιν ἐν ἡμῖν· δι' ἧς τὰ πάθη ἠρεμεῖ, καὶ καταστέλλεται τῶν ἡδονῶν ὁ τάραχος, καὶ ὡς ἐν γαλήνῃ πλεῖ ὁ νοῦς, τῶν τρικυμιῶν τοῦ χειμῶνος τῆς πονηρίας διὰ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ταύτης καλῶς διανύσας, καὶ τῷ λιμένι τῆς ἀρετῆς τὴν ὁλκάδα προσορμίσας. Ἔχεις λοιπὸν τὸ κέρδος ἀσύλητον, τὸν φόρτον ἀναυάγητον, ὅταν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐμπορεύσῃ, ὅταν τὸν λογισμὸν τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ στηρίξας καὶ τὰ παρόντα διακρούσῃ, ἀκούων τῆς θείας Γραφῆς λεγούσης· Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον, μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. Μὴ ἀγαπήσωμεν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου τὴν τρυφὴν, ἥτις ὡς φόρτος βαρὺς τῷ σκάφει τῆς ψυχῆς γινομένη ὑποβρύχιον αὐτὸ ἀπεργάζεται. Ἢ οὐκ οἶδας, ὅτι μέχρι φάρυγγος ἵσταται, καὶ ἀργεῖ λοιπὸν μετὰ τὸν φάρυγγα πᾶσα τρυφή· ἡ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῆς τικτομένη τιμωρία ἀτελεύτητον ἔχει τὴν βάσανον; Τοὺς μὴ νήφοντας σκοτοῖ ἡ τρυφὴ, τὸ κάλλος τῆς ψυχῆς ἀμαυροῖ, νεκρὸν ἔμπνουν ἀπεργάζεται· ὅσα οὐ θέμις, ἐκεῖνα πράττειν παρασκευάζει, διεγείρει τῆς ἡδονῆς τὰ ὄργανα, τὸν πόλεμον αὔξει, 60.714 διυπνίζει τὰς ἐπιθυμίας· ἀνενέργητος εἶ λοιπὸν πρὸς ἀρετήν. Τῶν γὰρ μελῶν λυθέντων, καὶ τῇ πολυοινίᾳ τὴν φρένα κλαπεὶς οὐκ ἰσχύεις ἔτι ἀνταγωνίσασθαι, καὶ εὐεπιχείρητος τοῖς ἐχθροῖς γίνῃ, ὥσπερ ναῦς ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἐλαυνομένη, μὴ ἔχουσα κυβερνήτην δυνάμενον ταῖς προσβολαῖς τῶν κυμάτων ἀντιμαχήσασθαι, ἥτις ὧδε κἀκεῖσε βάλλεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον αὐτῇ ὑπάρχει, εἰ μὴ ναυαγίαν προσδοκᾷν. Μὴ τοίνυν, παρακαλῶ, μὴ μετὰ τὴν νηστείαν τρυφῇ σχολάσωμεν, μηδὲ τοὺς πολλοὺς πόνους ἀμελείᾳ κατασβέσωμεν· ἀλλὰ πόνους πόνοις συνάπτοντες, οὕτω προσδοκήσωμεν τὴν ἀντίδοσιν. Ὅταν γάρ τις μισθὸν μισθῷ συνάψῃ, ἔχει πολὺ κέρδος τεθησαυρισμένον. Μὴ σβέσωμεν τῆς νηστείας τὸ ἄνθος, μηδὲ τρυφῇ ναυαγῆσαι τὴν φρένα πρὸς ἡδονὰς παραχωρήσωμεν, ἵνα μὴ ἀνιάτοις κακοῖς τὴν ψυχὴν