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we sing hymns to our all-good God. The evil one, always envying good things, stealthily entering into each of the faithful and invisibly binding him with laziness and neglect, persuades him to scornfully cast off from himself the saving yoke of the fast and to return to his former habit. For this reason today I remind and exhort your love and fatherhood not to obey the enemy at all, nor to be carried away by the wicked habit of insatiable gluttony, nor to turn back to the past and long-standing fulfillment of wicked desires, but just as we honored the first and this second week of the fasts, so let us in succession and together honor the remaining ones.

Yes, my fathers and brothers, let us benefit ourselves by so doing and let us not consent now to lose what we then gathered, but rather let us hasten to add to it and increase it, but neither let us wish now to wickedly tear down what we have previously built up well. And let each of you remember the benefit from the fast and what gifts he has enjoyed from God in these few days (193) and let him become more eager for what is to come. For she, this physician of our souls, is accustomed to restrain the fiery passions and movements of the flesh, to calm anger, to drive away sleep, to stir up zeal, to cleanse the mind and to set it free from wicked thoughts, for another, to tame the untamable tongue and, as with a kind of bridle, to restrain it by the fear of God and not allow it to utter idle or corrupt words at all; for another, it invisibly covers and stops the wandering eyes and does not allow them to be carried about curiously here and there, but prepares each one to examine himself and teaches him to be mindful of his own sins and shortcomings. Fasting little by little thins out and drives away the intelligible darkness and the veil of sin that lies upon the soul, just as the sun does the mist. Fasting makes us see with the mind the spiritual air, in which does not rise, but ever shines, the unsetting Sun, Christ our God. Fasting, taking vigil as its helper, entering into the hardness of the heart, softens it and instead of the former drunkenness prepares it to gush forth springs of compunction, which let each of us hasten to bring about in ourselves, I beseech you, brothers. For when this has happened, easily, with God, we shall break through the whole sea of the passions and having passed through the waves of the temptations of the one who bitterly tyrannizes over us, we shall come to anchor in the harbor of dispassion.

But these things, my brothers, cannot happen in one day, nor in one week, but in much (194) time and labor and toil according to the proportion of each one's intention and resolve, and further, according to the measure of faith and of contempt for things seen and things conceived, and not only this, but also according to the fervor of unceasing repentance and of the perpetual work itself in the secret chamber of the soul, are these things achieved either more quickly or more slowly by the gift and grace of God, but without fasting, neither these nor any other virtues could ever be achieved by anyone; for fasting is the beginning and foundation of every spiritual work. Whatever, therefore, you build upon this foundation, becomes unfallen and indestructible, as if built upon solid rock; but whenever you remove this foundation and put in its place satiety of the belly and unseemly desires, like sand, these things are swept away by wicked thoughts and by the river of the passions and it overturns the whole edifice of the virtues. Therefore, so that this may not happen to us, let us stand with great joy upon the solid foundation of the fast, let us stand, my brothers, well, let us stand of our own will; for he who is forced against his will to ascend the rock of the fast, surely dragging himself down from there by desire

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ὕμνους τῷ παναγάθῳ Θεῷ ἡμῶν ᾄδομεν, ἀεί φθονῶν τά καλά πονηρός, ἑκάστῳ τῶν πιστῶν λανθανόντως ὑπεισερχόμενος καί ῥᾳθυμίᾳ καί ἀμελείᾳ τοῦτον ἀοράτως καταδεσμεύων, ἀπορρίψαι πείθει καταφρονητικῶς ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τόν σωτηριώδη τῆς νηστείας ζυγόν καί πρός τήν προτέραν παλινδρομῆσαι συνήθειαν, διά τοῦτο τήν σήμερον ὑπομιμνήσκω καί παρακαλῶ τήν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην ὁμοῦ καί πατρότητα τοῦ μή ὑπακοῦσαι καθόλου τῷ δυσμενεῖ, μηδέ τῇ πονηρᾷ συνηθείᾳ τῆς ἀκορέστου γαστριμαργίας συναπαχθῆναι, μηδέ πρός τήν ὄπισθεν καί χρονίαν τῶν πονηρῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἐκπλήρωσιν ἐπαναστρέψαι, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τήν πρώτην καί τήν δευτέραν ταύτην τῶν νηστειῶν ἑβδομάδα τιμήσωμεν, καί καθεξῆς ὁμοῦ τάς λοιπάς.

Ναί πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί μου, εὐεργετήσωμεν οὕτω ποιοῦντες ἑαυτούς καί μή ἅπερ συνήξαμεν τότε, νυνί ἀπολέσαι καταδεξώμεθα, προσθεῖναι δέ μᾶλλον καί αὐξῆσαι σπουδάσωμεν, ἀλλά μηδέ ἅπερ ὄπισθεν καλῶς ἀνῳκοδομήσαμεν νῦν κακῶς καταλῦσαι θελήσωμεν. Μνημονευέτω δέ ὑμῶν ἕκαστος τήν ἐκ τῆς νηστείας ὠφέλειαν καί οἵας ἀπήλαυσε παρά Θεοῦ δωρεᾶς ἐν ταῖς ὀλίγαις ταύταις ἡμέραις (193) καί προθυμότερος γινέσθω πρός τό ἑξῆς. Καί γάρ εἴωθεν ἡ ἰατρός τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν αὕτη τοῦ μέν τῆς σαρκός τάς πυρώσεις καί τάς κινήσεις συστέλλειν, τοῦ δέ τό θυμῶδες καταπραΰνειν, τοῦ δέ τόν ὕπνον ἀποδιώκειν, τοῦ μέν τό πρόθυμον διεγείρειν, τοῦ δέ τόν νοῦν ἀνακαθαίρειν καί τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν ἐλεύθερον αὐτόν ἀποκαθιστᾶν, ἄλλου τήν ἀδάμαστον γλῶσσαν δαμάζειν καί οἱονεί χαλινῷ τινι τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ταύτην ἐπέχειν καί μή ἐᾶν ὅλως ἀργούς ἤ σαπρούς λόγους φθέγγεσθα· ἑτέρου τούς μετεώρους σκεπάζει ἀφανῶς καί ἱστᾷ ὀφθαλμούς καί περιέργως αὐτούς οὐκ ἐᾷ ὧδέ τε κἀκεῖσε φέρεσθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἕκαστον παρασκευάζει σκοπεῖν καί τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων τε καί ἐλαττωμάτων μεμνῆσθαι διδάσκει. Νηστεία τόν νοητόν ζόφον καί τό ἐπικείμενον τῇ ψυχῇ κάλυμμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατά μικρόν ἐκλεπτύνει καί ἀπελαύνει, καθάπερ τήν ὀμίχλην ὁ ἥλιος. Νηστεία τόν πνευματικόν ἀέρα νοερῶς ἡμῖν καθορᾶν ἐμποιεῖ, ἐν ᾧ οὐκ ἀνατέλλει, ἀλλά ἀεί λάμπει ὁ ἄδυτος ἥλιος Χριστός ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν. Νηστεία, συνεργόν λαβοῦσα τήν ἀγρυπνίαν, τό σκληρόν ὑπεισελθοῦσα τῆς καρδίας μαλλάσσει καί ἀντί τῆς πρῴην κραιπάλης κατανύξεως πηγάς βλυστάνειν παρασκευάζει, ὅπερ καί ἐν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι σπουδάσωμεν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν, παρακαλῶ, ἀδελφοί. Τούτου γάρ γενομένου εὐκόλως σύν Θεῷ, πᾶσαν τήν τῶν παθῶν θάλασσαν διαρρήξομεν καί τά κύματα διελθόντες τῶν πειρασμῶν τοῦ πικρῶς τυραννοῦντος ἡμᾶς, εἰς τόν λιμένα ἐγκαθορμισθῶμεν τῆς ἀπαθείας.

Ταῦτα δέ, ἀδελφοί μου, οὐκ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ, οὐδέ ἐν μιᾷ ἑβδομάδι γενέσθαι δυνατόν, ἀλλά ἐν πολλῷ (194) χρόνῳ καί πόνῳ καί κόπῳ κατά τό ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἑκάστου προθέσεώς τε καί προαιρέσεως, ἔτι δέ καί κατά τό μέτρον τῆς πίστεως καί τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων καί νοουμένων πραγμάτων καταφρονήσεως, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί κατά τήν θέρμην τῆς ἀδιαλείπτου μετανοίας καί αὐτῆς τῆς ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ταμείῳ ἀεννάου ἐργασίας ἤ συντομώτερον ἤ βραδύτερον Θεοῦ δωρεᾷ τε καί χάριτι κατορθοῦνται, ἄνευ δέ νηστείας οὐδέν οὔτε τούτων οὔτε τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν κατορθωθῆναί ποτε παρά τινος ἠδυνήθη· νηστεία γάρ πάσης ἐργασίας πνευματικῆς ἀρχή καί θεμέλιος. Ὅσα τοιγαροῦν οἰκοδομήσεις ἐπί τόν θεμέλιον τοῦτον, ἄπτωτα καί ἀκατάλυτα, ὡς ἐπί στερεάν πέτραν κτισθέντα, γίνεται· ἐπάν δέ τοῦτον τόν θεμέλιον ἄρῃς καί ἀντ᾿ αὐτοῦ γαστρός κόρον καί ἐπιθυμίας ἀτόπους ὑποθῇ, ὥσπερ ψάμμος ὑπό τῶν πονηρῶν ταῦτα λογισμῶν καί τοῦ ποταμοῦ τῶν παθῶν ὑποσύρεται καί πᾶσαν τήν οἰκοδομήν τῶν ἀρετῶν καταστρέφει. Ἵν᾿ οὖν μή καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν τοῦτο γένηται, στῶμεν περιχαρῶς ἐπί τόν στερεόν θεμέλιον τῆς νηστείας, στῶμεν, ἀδελφοί μου, καλῶς, στῶμεν αὐτοθελῶς· ὁ βάρ ἀβουλήτως ἐπί τήν τῆς νηστείας πέτραν ἀναβαίνειν ἀναγκαζόμενος, ἑαυτόν πάντως ἐκεῖθεν ὑπό τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ὑποσυρείς