John Chrysostom, On Fasting

He calls back and saves. Examine yourself, O man. For what need is there of readings? consider yourself, who you were before the fast, and who you are while fasting. For of things done, some bear their fruit later, but others 62.736 produce their fruit in the very act itself. The one who goes down to the sea for a catch does not have the catch while descending; but the one who fasts has the fruit immediately. Do you not have tranquility? Have you not been delivered from the waves of wine? Have you not been delivered from the squall and the storm? Do you not desire to hear that the flesh is bridled, not leaping, not blushing? Do you not know how to speak of self-control now? Do you not hear that so-and-so has fasted, and you rejoice? You who are fasting, do not consider the fast to be for an evil purpose; for the one who considers the fast an evil thing, even if he fasts, is in a state of evil. The angels are not in a state of evil, having no need of our luxury. We do not eat according to worth, but we are filled according to our need. Whatever evils come from us are extinguished in fasts. But I speak of a fast, not only the abstinence from foods, but that which Isaiah knew; fast, that you may be heard. And if you say to God according to the Jewish saying: We have fasted and you did not see; we have humbled our souls, and you did not know; beware, lest you hear. For in your fasts you find your own wills. If you fulfill the will of the Lord, you have accomplished the fast. For the fast is not a business transaction, so that we may gain by not eating, but so that a poor person may eat what you were going to eat instead of you; and the good becomes double for you, both that you are fasting, and that another is not hungry. Let us labor in fasting; we have not yet been crucified while fasting. Why the fast? In place of the cross; we have received greater things, we give back small things. He was crucified for you, and he thirsts, and drinks vinegar with gall. Unpleasant is the food, great is the fast. Not yet as much as the gall, and you stand weary? You have not yet been hung upon a cross. Do not be ungrateful toward Jesus, do not weep because you are fasting, but weep because you are not always fasting. Of what have you been deprived by fasting? of wine? Not of wine, but of inflammation, headache, painful panting. Consider then in what state you are: in quietness, in meekness, in tranquility. A good color comes to the face in fasts, gentle, calm; for the color from wine is the burning of a fire. The one who does not suffer with Jesus does not know Jesus; the one who rejects the fast does not know the cross. Let us not approach the fast as something evil, lest what you suspect become an evil for you; nor be found serving God as a shameful servant. No one is burdened at festivals, except the one who is ignorant of the power of the festivals. When it is a festival, then be all the more cheerful. But you do rather the opposite; when you were an angel, then you are angry. Do you not know the difference? When nature demands marriage, you do not marry contrary to nature. Be reverent in marriage; if you honor the fasts, on the days of the fasts become an angel. I do not slander marriage, but I prefer the fast. What we ate before the fast does not remain with us. Why then do we occupy ourselves with things that are not present? The whole pleasure of foods is until one swallows; but when it has passed the place of taste, it has become as if it were not. But the fast does not wither, it does not go into the belly, nor through the belly is it changed into dung; for it is a purveyor of immortality, it has its way of life with angels, because it is an imitation of angels as far as possible. Are you listless, because you are sober? because you are not weighed down by foreign luxuries? because your reasoning is sound? because your flesh is pure? because your mind flourishes? because you listen to Scripture with joy? because you keep silent about secret things, and you are not a man, but almost an angel? A feast of the Lord who has called us to a spiritual wedding, who entered to see those reclining at table; lest anyone enter having foreign garments. It is necessary for garments to be brought to a wedding that are pure and undefiled and holy for holy and undefiled weddings, bright on the outside, and radiant on the inside. Let marriage also be at rest, and let each one have the command of the apostle according to his admonition, of the one from

ἀνακαλεῖται καὶ σώζει. Σαυτὸν δοκίμασον, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. Τίς γὰρ χρεία ἀναγνωσμάτων; σκόπει σαυτὸν, τίς ἦς πρὸ τῆς νηστείας, καὶ τίς νηστεύων. Τῶν γὰρ πραττομένων τὰ μὲν ὕστερον φέρει τὸν καρπὸν, τὰ 62.736 δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἔργῳ προξενεῖ καὶ τὸν καρπόν. Ὁ κατερχόμενος εἰς θάλασσαν ἐπὶ θήραν, οὐκ ἐν τῷ καταδύειν ἔχει τὴν θήραν· ὁ δὲ νηστεύων εὐθὺς ἔχει τὸν καρπόν. Οὐκ ἔχεις γαλήνην; οὐκ ἀπήλλαξαι κυμάτων ἀπὸ οἴνου; οὐκ ἀπήλλαξαι ζάλης καὶ χειμῶνος; οὐκ ἐπιθυμεῖς ἀκοῦσαι ὅτι ἡ σὰρξ κεχαλίνωται, μὴ σκιρτῶσα, μὴ ἐρυθριῶσα. οὐκ ᾔδεις σὺ περὶ σωφροσύνης κινεῖν λόγον νῦν; οὐκ ἀκούεις ὅτι ἐνήστευσεν ὁ δεῖνα, καὶ χαίρεις; Οἱ νηστεύοντες μὴ ἐπὶ κακῷ τὴν νηστείαν νομίζετε· ὁ γὰρ κακὸν νομίζων τὴν νηστείαν, κἂν νηστεύῃ, ἐν κακίᾳ ἐστίν. Οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν κακοῖς οἱ ἄγγελοι, μὴ χρείαν ἔχοντες τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν τρυφῆς. Οὐ κατ' ἀξίαν ἐσθίομεν, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἔνδειαν ἀποπληρούμεθα. Ὅσα κακὰ παρ' ἡμῶν γίνονται, σβέννυνται ἐν νηστείαις. Νηστείαν δὲ λέγω, οὐ μόνον τὴν ἀποχὴν τῶν τροφῶν, ἀλλ' ἣν οἶδεν Ἡσαΐας· νήστευσον, ἵνα ἀκουσθῇς. Καὶ ἐὰν εἴπῃς τῷ Θεῷ κατὰ τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν λόγον· Ἐνηστεύσαμεν καὶ οὐκ εἶδες· ἐταπεινώσαμεν τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνως· ἀσφαλίζου, μὴ ἀκούσῃς. Ἐν γὰρ ταῖς νηστείαις ὑμῶν εὑρίσκετε ὑμῶν τὰ θελήματα. Ἐὰν τὸ θέλημα Κυρίου πληρώσῃς, τὴν νηστείαν ἐποίησας. Οὐ γὰρ πραγματεία ἐστὶν ἡ νηστεία, ἵνα κερδήσωμεν μὴ ἐσθίοντες, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὃ μέλλεις ἐσθίειν φάγῃ πτωχὸς ἀντὶ σοῦ· καὶ γίνεταί σοι διπλοῦν τὸ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ ὅτι σὺ νηστεύεις, καὶ ὅτι ἄλλος οὐ πεινᾷ. Κάμνωμεν νηστεύοντες· οὔπω ἀνεσταυρώθημεν νηστεύοντες. ∆ιὰ τί ἡ νηστεία; Ἀντὶ σταυροῦ· μείζονα ἐλάβομεν, μικρὰ ἀποδιδοῦμεν. Ἐσταύρωται διὰ σὲ, καὶ διψᾷ, καὶ πίνει ὄξος μετὰ χολήν. Ἀηδὴς ἡ τροφὴ, μέγα ἡ νηστεία. Οὔπω ὅσον ἡ χολὴ, καὶ στήκεις κάμνων; οὔπω ἐκρεμάσθης ἐπὶ σταυροῦ. Μὴ ἀγνωμόνει πρὸς Ἰησοῦν, μὴ ἀπόκλαιε ὅτι νηστεύεις, ἀλλὰ ἀπόκλαιε, ὅτι ἀεὶ οὐ νηστεύεις. Τίνων ἀπεστερήθης νηστεύων; οἴνου; Οὐκ οἴνου, ἀλλὰ φλεγμονῆς, κεφαλαλγίας, ἄσθματος μοχθηροῦ. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν ἐν ποίοις εἶ, ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ, ἐν πραότητι, ἐν γαλήνῃ. Καλὸν χρῶμα ἐν νηστείαις ἐπὶ ταῖς ὄψεσιν ἐγγίνεται, ἥμερον, γαληνόν· οἴνου γὰρ χρῶμα καῦσις πυρός. Ὁ μὴ συμπάσχων τῷ Ἰησοῦ, οὐκ οἶδε τὸν Ἰησοῦν· ὁ ἀποκρουόμενος τὴν νηστείαν, οὐκ οἶδε τὸν σταυρόν. Μὴ ὡς κακῷ προσερχώμεθα τῇ νηστείᾳ, ἵνα μὴ ὡς κακὸν γένηταί σοι τὸ ὑποπτευόμενον· μηδὲ ὡς αἰσχρὸς δοῦλος Θεῷ δὲ εὑρεθήσῃ ὑπηρετῶν. Οὐδεὶς ἄχθεται ἐν ἑορταῖς, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀγνοῶν τὴν δύναμιν τῶν ἑορτῶν. Ὅτε ἑορταὶ τότε μᾶλλον φαιδρύνου. Σὺ δὲ μᾶλλον τοὐναντίον ποιεῖς· ὅτε ἦς ἄγγελος, τότε χαλεπαίνεις. Οὐκ οἶδας τὸ μεταξύ; Ὅτε ἡ φύσις τὸν γάμον ἀπαιτεῖ, οὐ γαμεῖς ὑπὲρ φύσιν. Εὐλαβοῦ ἐν γάμῳ· εἰ τιμᾷς τὰς νηστείας, τὰς ἡμέρας τῶν νηστειῶν γενοῦ ἄγγελος. Οὐ διαβάλλω τὸν γάμον, προκρίνω δὲ τὴν νηστείαν. Ἃ ἐφάγομεν πρὸ τῆς νηστείας, οὐ μένει μεθ' ἡμῶν. Τί οὖν ἀσχολούμεθα ἐπὶ τὰ μὴ παρόντα; ὅλη ἡ ἡδονὴ τῶν βρωμάτων, ἕως τοῦ καταπιεῖν ἐστιν· ἐπὰν δὲ παρέλθῃ τὸ γευστικὸν χωρίον, γέγονεν ὡς οὐκ ἦν. Ἡ νηστεία δὲ οὐ μαραίνεται, οὐ χωρεῖ ἐν κοιλίᾳ, οὐδὲ διὰ κοιλίας εἰς σκύβαλον μεταβάλλεται· ἀθανασίας γάρ ἐστι πρόξενος, μετ' ἀγγέλων τὸ διαίτημα ἔχει, ὅτι ἀγγέλων κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν ἐστι μίμησις. Ἀκηδιάζεις, ὅτι νήφεις; ὅτι οὐ βεβάρησαι ἀλλοτρίαις εὐπραγίαις; ὅτι ὀρθὸς ὁ λογισμός; ὅτι καθαρὰ ἡ σάρξ; ὅτι ἀνθεῖ ἡ διάνοια; ὅτι ἀκούεις τῆς Γραφῆς μετὰ χαρᾶς; ὅτι τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα σιωπᾷς, καὶ οὐκ εἶ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἄγγελος; Ἑορτὴ Κυρίου τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς εἰς γάμον πνευματικὸν, τοῦ εἰσελθόντος ἰδεῖν τοὺς ἀνακειμένους· μή τις ἀλλοτρίοις ἱματίοις ἔχων εἰσέλθῃ. Ἱμάτια δεῖ γάμῳ ἐπιφέρεσθαι καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμόλυντα καὶ ἅγια πρὸς γάμους ἁγίους καὶ ἀμολύντους, φαιδρὰ ἔξωθεν, καὶ ἔσωθεν λαμπρά. Ἡσυχαζέτω καὶ ὁ γάμος, καὶ τὴν παραγγελίαν τοῦ ἀποστόλου κατὰ νουθεσίαν ἐχέτω ἕκαστος, τοῦ ἐκ