Asterius of Amasea, Homilies

receiving of defilements, has an unimpeded operation and the contemplation of heavenly and kindred things. 14.2.1 Therefore, all you who are nurslings of philosophy and lovers of high things and disciples of the Word, love the present season and joyfully receive the holy forty days as a teacher of self-control, a mother of virtue, a nurse of the sons of God, a tutor for the disorderly, a calm for souls, a stability of life, and a covenanted and untroubled peace. 14.2.2 For its austerity and gravity puts passions to sleep, extinguishes anger and wrath, and cools and represses every surge boiling up from gluttony. And just as in summer, when the sun shines its flame upon the earth, the north wind benefits those who are heated by driving away the stifling heat with gentle breezes, so too does the fast bestow such a gift, driving away the fever of the body that comes from gluttony. 14.2.3 While benefiting the soul so much, it no less profits the body. For it thins the thickness of humors and unloads the bulk of the body, and relaxes the veins bursting with the abundance of blood, and gives a little room to their narrowness, so that they do not suffer the fate of pipes. For those too, when much and immeasurable water flows into them beyond their capacity, burst, not containing the volume forced into them. 14.2.4 The head has a gentle and calm state, with neither the arteries throbbing nor the brain being darkened by the rising of vapors. Self-control is freedom for the stomach. For then it is released from forced servitude and from boiling like a cauldron, laboring with digestion. The eyes see clearly and unobscured, with all mist being removed which satiety is accustomed to pour over the eyes, and the footing of the feet is firm, and the action of the hands is steady. 14.2.5 The breath is ordered and moderate, hurried from within by none of the troubling vapors. The speech of the one fasting is clear and articulate, the mind is pure and then truly has its godlike quality, when as if in an incorporeal flesh it performs its own operation without pain and disturbance. Sleep is without pain and without phantoms; and, to pass over many things and say it briefly, fasting is a common peace of soul and body, an untroubled life, a stable way of life, a life pleasing God and grieving the enemy. 14.2.6 For just as the enemy, when he sees his opponent watchful and sober, arming himself carefully and practicing courage, considers that one's diligent preparation his own defeat, so also the plotter against our salvation hates all our precision in virtue as his own misfortune. 14.3.1 And for this reason know that of the house of one who fasts, angels are guardians and attendant guards, but of the one who revels in pleasures during the forty days, demons are inhabitants, lovers of the savor of sacrifice and lovers of blood and attendants of drunkenness. For of the spirits, whether holy or unclean, each draws near to its own and its friends, just as one can see also in the case of birds. 14.3.2 For the dove indeed haunts clean places and frequents the fields, gathering seeds for itself and its young; and the turtledove gladly perches on the leaves of the trees, cooing something sweet and delicate. But the gluttonous raven sits near the butcher shops, cawing something heavy and unpleasant against those who distribute meat. 14.3.3 So let us love self-control, that we may be loved by angels, and let us hate intemperate luxury, that with it we may cast out fellowship with demons. No one living in luxury became virtuous, nor one devoted to feasting a disciple of virtue, nor a lover of pleasure a saint, nor one living carnally a sharer of the kingdom. 14.4.1 Come in memory to the beginning of our race and you will find experience a witness of the things we censure. For a law of fasting would not have been established for us, if the law of the first self-control had not been transgressed; the belly would not have been named

ῥυπασμάτων δεχόμενος ἀνεμπόδιστον ἔχει τὴν ἐνέργειαν καὶ τὴν περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων καὶ συγγενῶν αὐτῷ θεωρίαν. 14.2.1 Οὐκοῦν ὅσοι τῆς φιλοσοφίας τρόφιμοι καὶ τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐρασταὶ καὶ μαθηταὶ τοῦ λόγου, ἀγαπήσατε τὸν ἐνεστῶτα καιρὸν καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τεσσαρακοστὴν χαίροντες ὑποδέξασθε ὡς σωφροσύνης διδάσκαλον καὶ ἀρετῆς μητέρα καὶ τροφὸν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ παιδαγωγὸν τῶν ἀτάκτων καὶ γαλήνην ψυχῶν καὶ εὐστάθειαν βίου καὶ εἰρήνην ἔνσπονδον καὶ ἀτάραχον. 14.2.2 Ταύτης γὰρ τὸ αὐστηρὸν καὶ σεμνὸν πάθη κοιμίζει, ὀργὰς καὶ θυμοὺς ἀποσβέννυσιν, πάντα κλύδωνα τὸν ἐκ πολυφαγίας ἀναζέοντα καταψύχει καὶ καταστέλλει. Καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ θέρους, ὅταν ὁ ἥλιος τὸ φλογῶδες καταλάμπῃ τῆς γῆς, ὁ βορρᾶς τοὺς θαλπομένους εὐεργετεῖ πραείαις αὔραις ἀπελαύνων τὸ πνῖγος, τοιοῦτον καὶ ἡ νηστεία χαρίζεται τὴν ἐκ τῆς γαστριμαργίας πύρωσιν τῶν σωμάτων ἀποδιώκουσα. 14.2.3 Τοσαῦτα δὲ ψυχὴν εὐεργετοῦσα οὐχ ἧττον ὠφελεῖ καὶ τὸ σῶμα. Λεπτύνει γὰρ καὶ τῶν ὑλῶν τὰς παχύτητας καὶ τὸν ὄγκον ἀποσκευάζει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὰς φλέβας τῷ πλήθει ῥηγνυμένας τοῦ αἵματος ἀνίησι καὶ δίδωσιν ὀλίγον χώρημα τῇ στενότητι, ἵνα μὴ πάθωσι τὸ τῶν σωλήνων πάθος. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, ὅταν αὐτοῖς πολύ τι καὶ ἄμετρον ὑπὲρ τὴν χώρησιν ἐποχετεύσῃ τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐκρήγνυνται τὸν ἐκ τῆς βίας εἰσωθούμενον ὄγκον μὴ στέγοντες. 14.2.4 Κεφαλὴ δὲ πραεῖαν ἔχει καὶ γαληνιῶσαν κατά στασιν, οὔτε τῶν ἀρτηρίων παλλομένων οὔτε τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου διὰ τῆς ἀναδόσεως τῶν ἀτμῶν ζοφουμένου. Στομάχου δὲ ἐλευθερία ἐγκράτεια. Τότε γὰρ ἀφίεται τῆς ἠναγκασμένης δουλείας καὶ τοῦ ζέειν ὡς λέβης, κάμνων ταῖς πέψεσιν. Ὀφθαλμοὶ καθαρὸν καὶ ἀνεπισκότητον βλέπουσι πάσης ἀχλύος ἀφαιρουμένης, ἣν ὁ κόρος καταχέειν εἴωθε τῶν ὀμμάτων, καὶ τῶν ποδῶν ἡ βάσις ἑδραία, ἀκλόνητος δὲ τῶν χειρῶν ἡ ἐνέργεια. 14.2.5 Ἆσθμα τεταγμένον καὶ μέτριον, παρ' οὐδενὸς τῶν ὀχλούντων πνευμά των ἔνδοθεν ἐπειγόμενον. Λόγος τοῦ νηστευτοῦ σαφὴς καὶ διηρθρωμένος, νοῦς καθαρὸς καὶ τότε ἀληθῶς τὸ θεοειδὲς ἔχων, ὅταν ὡς ἐν ἀσωμάτῳ τῇ σαρκὶ ἄλυπον καὶ ἀθορύβητον ἐπιτελῇ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐνέργειαν. Ὕπνοι ἄλυποι καὶ ἀφαντασίαστοι· καὶ ἵνα τὰ πολλὰ παραδραμὼν εἴπω, νηστεία ἐστὶν εἰρήνη κοινὴ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, ἀτάραχος ζωή, εὐσταθὴς πολιτεία, βίος Θεὸν εὐφραίνων καὶ λυπῶν τὸν ἐχθρόν. 14.2.6 Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ πολέμιος ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν ἐναντίον γρήγορον καὶ νηφάλιον, ὁπλιζόμενον ἐπιμελῶς καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἀσκοῦντα, ἧτταν οἰκείαν ἡγεῖται τὴν φιλόπονον ἐκείνου παρασκευήν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας ἐπίβουλος πᾶσαν ἡμῶν τὴν κατ' ἀρετὴν ἀκριβείαν ὡς ἱδίαν μισεῖ συμφοράν. 14.3.1 Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γίνωσκε τῆς μὲν τοῦ νηστευτοῦ οἰκίας ἀγγέλους εἶναι φύλακας καὶ φρουροὺς παρέδρους, τοῦ δὲ ταῖς ἀπολαύσεσι κατὰ τῆς τεσσαρακοστῆς κωμάζοντος δαίμονας οἰκείους, κνίσης φίλους καὶ ἐραστὰς αἱμάτων καὶ παρέδρους τῆς μέθης. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τῶν πνευμάτων, εἴτε τῶν ἁγίων εἴτε τῶν ἀκαθάρτων, ἕκαστον προσχωρεῖ τοῖς οἰκείοις καὶ φίλοις, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. 14.3.2 Περιστερὰ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τοὺς καθαροὺς τῶν τόπων φιλοχωρεῖ καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀρούρας στρέφεται ἑαυτῇ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις σπερμολογοῦσα· καὶ ἡ τρυγὼν ἡδέως τοῖς πετάλοις τῶν δένδρων ἐγκάθηται ἡδύ τι καὶ λεπτὸν ὑποτρύζουσα. Ὁ δὲ γαστρίμαργος κόραξ τοῖς κρεοπωλίοις προσκάθηται βαρύ τι καὶ ἀηδὲς τῶν κρεανομούντων καταβοῶν. 14.3.3 Ὥστε τὴν ἐγκράτειαν ἀγαπήσωμεν, ἵνα παρ' ἀγγέλων ἀγαπηθῶμεν, μισήσωμεν δὲ τὴν τρυφὴν τὴν ἀκόλαστον, ἵνα μετ' ἐκείνης τὴν πρὸς δαίμονας συνεκβάλωμεν κοινωνίαν. Οὐδεὶς τρυφῶν ἐγένετο σπουδαῖος, οὐδὲ εὐωχίαις σχολάζων ἀρετῆς μαθητής, οὐδὲ φιλήδονος ἅγιος, οὐδὲ σαρκικῶς ζῶν κοινωνὸς βασιλείας. 14.4.1 Ἐλθὲ τῇ μνήμῃ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν καὶ τὴν πεῖραν εὑρήσεις ὧν μεμφόμεθα μάρτυρα. Οὐκ ἂν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐτέθη νόμος νηστείας, εἰ μὴ παρεβάθη τῆς πρώτης ἐγκρατείας ὁ νόμος· οὐκ ἂν ὠνομάσθη γαστὴρ