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they were content with the manna, and with the water from the rock, they conquered the Egyptians, they journeyed through the sea, there was no one feeble among their tribes; but when they remembered the meats, the cauldrons, and returned to Egypt in their desires, they did not see the land of promise. Do you not fear the example? Do you not shudder at gluttony, lest it shut you out from the hoped-for goods? But the wise Daniel would not have seen the visions, if fasting had not made his soul more transparent. For from rich food, sooty exhalations as it were are sent up, which like a dense cloud interrupt the illuminations that come to the mind from the Holy Spirit. And if there is any food of angels, it is bread (as the Prophet says, Man ate the bread of angels), not meat, not wine, not those things that are the earnest pursuit of the slaves of the belly. Fasting is a weapon for the campaign against demons;

For this kind does not go out, except by prayer and fasting. And such are the good things from fasting. But satiety is the beginning of insolence. For immediately with luxury and drunkenness and all kinds of seasonings, every form of brutish licentiousness enters in. Thence men become like horses mad for females, because of the frenzy engendered in the soul by luxury among the drunken; the exchanges of nature, seeking the female in the male, and the male in the female. But fasting knows the measure of even marital works, and chastises the lack of measure in things permitted by law. You, of finding a man with another who ought to be judged before the king, and of not finding him at all.

For it has destroyed many of those choosing to do wrong. For these reasons the good-loving God did not overlook the tears and groans of His priests and holy ones calling upon Him on his behalf, He who said through the prophet Isaiah, Judge for the orphan, and justify the widow, and come, let us reason together. But having heeded these prayers, He also forgave that one's transgressions that were beyond human measure, and to the Church He restored her proper adornment, and the beauty of the holy and venerable icons, and to us who sincerely venerate and kiss them, and who keep his divine commandments, He grants stable peace and forgiveness of our transgressions each day; for to Him is the glory and the power and the honor and the worship, unto ages of ages. Amen.

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μὲν ἠρκοῦντο τῷ μάννᾳ, καὶ τῷ ἐκ πέτρας ὕδατι, Αἰγυπτίους ἐνίκων, διὰ θαλάσσης ὥδευον, οὐκ ἦν ἐν ταῖς φυλαῖς αὐτῶν ὁ ἀσθενῶν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐμνήσθησαν τῶν κρεῶν, τῶν λεβήτων, καὶ ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, οὐκ εἶδον τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας. Οὐ φοβῇ τὸ ὑπόδειγμα; οὐ φρίττεις τὴν ἀδηφαγίαν, μή πού σε τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ἀγαθῶν ἀποκλείσῃ; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ὁ σοφὸς ∆ανιὴλ τὰς ὀπτασίας εἶδεν, εἰ μὴ ἡ νηστεία διαυγεστέραν αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐποίησεν. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς παχείας τροφῆς οἱονεὶ αἰθαλώδεις ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀναπεμπόμεναι νεφέλης δίκην πυκνῆς τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐγγινομένας ἐλλάμψεις ἐπὶ νοῦν διακόπτουσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀγγέλων ἐστί τις τροφὴ, ἄρτος ἐστὶν (ὥς φησιν ὁ Προφήτης, Ἄρτον ἀγγέλων ἔφαγεν ἄνθρωπος), οὐ κρέα, οὐκ οἶνος, οὐχ ὅσα τοῖς δούλοις τῆς γαστρὸς διεσπούδασται. Νηστεία ὅπλον ἐστὶ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ δαιμόνων στρατηγίαν·

Τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ γένος οὐκ ἐξέρχεται, εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς νηστείας ἀγαθὰ τοσαῦτα. Ὁ δὲ κόρος, ὕβρεως ἀρχή. Εὐθὺς γὰρ συνεισέπεισι τῇ τρυφῇ καὶ τῇ μέθῃ καὶ ταῖς παντοδαπαῖς καρυκείαις πᾶν εἶδος ἀκολασίας βοσκηματώδους. Ἔνθεν ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς οἱ ἄνθρωποι, διὰ τὸν ἐκ τῆς τρυφῆς ἐγγινόμενον οἶστρον τῇ ψυχῇ παρὰ τῶν μεθυόντων· αἱ τῆς φύσεως ἐναλλαγαὶ, ἐν ἄῤῥενι μὲν τὸ θῆλυ, ἐν δὲ τῷ θήλει τὸ ἄῤῥεν ἐπιζητούντων. Νηστεία δὲ καὶ γαμικῶν ἔργων μέτρον γνωρίζει, καὶ τῶν ἐκ νόμου συγκεχωρημένων τὴν ἀμετρίαν κολάζουσα. Σὺ τοῦ εὑρεῖν ἄνθρωπον μετά τινος ἑτέρου ὀφείλοντα δικάσασθαι ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τὸ μὴ καθόλου εὑρεῖν.

Πολλοὺς γὰρ ἀπώλεσε τῶν ἀδικεῖν αἱρουμένων. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ὁ φιλάγαθος Θεὸς οὐ παρεῖδε τὰ δάκρυα καὶ τοὺς στεναγμοὺς τῶν αὐτοῦ ἱερέων καὶ ὁσίων ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ παρακαλούντων αὐτὸν, ὁ εἰπὼν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου Ἡσαΐου, Κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ, καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν, καὶ δεῦτε, καὶ διαλεχθῶμεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων τῶν εὐχῶν εἰσακούσας, κἀκείνου τὰ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον παρανομήματα συνεχώρησε, καὶ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τὸν οἰκεῖον κόσμον, καὶ τὴν εὐπρέπειαν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ σεπτῶν εἰκόνων ἀπένειμε, καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς εἰλικρινῶς προσκυνοῦσι καὶ κατασπαζομένοις αὐτὰς, καὶ τὰ θεῖα παραγγέλματα αὐτοῦ φυλάττουσιν εἰρήνην σταθηρὰν καὶ συγχώρησιν τῶν πεπλημμελημένων καθ' ἑκάστην δωρεῖται· ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ προσκύνησις, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.