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De jejunio (sermones 1-7) [Sp.]

On the proclamation of a fast. 60.711 Sermon 1.

Today God calls the human race to healing. For through the prophet He appointed the fast as a medical treatment, saying, Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing. For when God saw Adam cast out from paradise grievously wounded, He assigned him the fast as a therapy; and rightly so. For what does fasting not heal? What passion of the mind does it not cause to disappear? Having driven away the surfeit of incontinence, it renews the heart; having emptied out the moisture of life, it suppresses the flames of anger, it softens the hardness of envy, it operates on the swellings of desires, it makes the fevers of pleasures disappear, it drives out the phantoms of vainglory, it chases away the sleeplessness of anxiety, it cleanses the rheum of the eyes, it purifies the senses of body and soul; for it is an artisan, having received from on high the art of healing from the Creator. Let him, therefore, who loves health readily give himself over to fasting; for when it has healed, it does not demand a doctor's fee, but even adds a reward. What sort of reward, then, does it add? For it is good to learn this also. It gives as a reward, not obols, but temperate thoughts; not gold, but a good character; not silver, but purity of limbs; not precious stones, but reverent thoughts; not brilliant garments, but the unerring senses of the flesh. It gives to fornicators the reward of chastity, to drunkards sobriety, to the petty the love of honor, to the avaricious the love of the poor, to those who hate their brothers the love of brothers and hospitality, to the fainthearted long-suffering; and what is greater, having given life, it unites to God. For it is not possible, it is not possible to converse with God in any other way, without first having communed with the medicine of fasting. For thus from of old some were shown to be enemies, and others friends of God, incontinence and self-control having produced each result. For having eaten, Adam fled God as an enemy; Cain, not yielding the first place to God, groaned and trembled, as one unloved by God; those in Noah's time, having lived wantonly, raised up the judge of judgment against themselves; those in Sodom, having nourished their pleasures, like enemies of God, received the thunderbolts from on high; eating did not permit Esau to be called beloved and firstborn; eating and drinking made Israel an enemy to him who had led them with signs and wonders; because of wine and strong drink the prophet accused the people; wine and drunkenness deprived Herod of the friendship of John and of Christ 60.712.20. You have known those who through incontinence became enemies of God; learn also of those who through fasting were established as friends of God. For not by tasting, but by offering to God, Abel was seen to show kindness to God; having fasted, Moses was called a renowned and faithful friend; having fasted, Elijah was taken up as a friend; having fasted, the prophets knew the mysteries of God, as friends; having fasted, Isaiah described the six-winged Seraphim; having gone without food, Ezekiel understood the many-eyed Cherubim; God visited those in Babylon who fasted as friends, sending the angel to those in the furnace, and Habakkuk to the one in the pit; the Ninevites became friends from being enemies through fasting; similarly also David, a friend from being an enemy. For when he loved the wife of Uriah, he was at enmity with God; but when he humbled his soul in fasting, he heard, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. John son of Zacharias, a friend of the bridegroom, why? Because in the desert he remained gathering locusts, and harvesting wild honey. Anna, why? Because worshipping with fastings and prayers, night

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De jejunio (sermones 1-7) [Sp.]

Εἰς κήρυγμα νηστείας. 60.711 Λόγος αʹ.

Ἐπὶ θεραπείαν τήμερον ὁ Θεὸς τὸ γένος καλεῖ. Ἰατρείαν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου τὴν νηστείαν ὡρίσατο, Ἁγιάσατε, λέγων, νηστείαν, κηρύξατε θεραπείαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ παραδείσου πολυτραυμάτιστον τὸν Ἀδὰμ βληθέντα, θεραπείαν τούτῳ τὴν νηστείαν ἀπένειμε· καλῶς. Τί γὰρ οὐκ ἰατρεύει νηστεία; Ποῖον δὲ πάθος οὐκ ἀφανίζει τοῦ νοῦ; Τὸν τῆς ἀκρασίας κόρον ἀποδιώξασα, ἀνακαινίζει καρδίαν· τοῦ βίου τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐκκενώσασα, τοῦ θυμοῦ τὰς φλεγμονὰς καταστέλλει, τοῦ φθόνου τὴν σκληρότητα καταπλάττει, τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν τοὺς ὄγκους χειρουργεῖ, τῶν ἡδονῶν τοὺς πυρετοὺς ἀφανίζει, τῆς κενοδοξίας τὰς φαντασίας ἐλαύνει, τῆς μερίμνης τὰς ἀγρυπνίας ἀποδιώκει, ὀφθαλμῶν τὰς λήμας καθαίρει, σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἐκκαθαίρει· τεχνῖτις γὰρ αὕτη ἄνωθεν τὸ ἰατρεύειν δεξαμένη παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος. Ὁ τοίνυν ὑγιείας ἐραστὴς ἑτοίμως τῇ νηστείᾳ ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδότω· οὐ γὰρ ἀπαιτεῖ ἰατρεύσασα ἰατρικὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσδίδωσι μισθόν. Ὁποῖον οὖν προσδίδωσι τὸν μισθόν; καλὸν γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο μαθεῖν. ∆ίδωσι μισθὸν, οὐκ ὀβολοὺς, ἀλλὰ σώφρονας λογισμούς· οὐ χρυσὸν, ἀλλ' ἦθος χρηστόν· οὐκ ἄργυρον, ἀλλὰ καθαρότητα μελῶν· οὐ λίθους τιμίους, ἀλλ' εὐλαβεῖς λογισμούς· οὐκ ἐσθῆτας λαμπρὰς, ἀλλ' ἀπταίστους τῆς σαρκὸς τὰς αἰσθήσεις. ∆ίδωσι πόρναις μισθὸν τὴν σεμνότητα, μεθύσοις τὸ νηφάλιον, σμικρολόγοις τὸ φιλότιμον, φιλαργύροις τὸ φιλόπτωχον, μισαδέλφοις τὸ φιλάδελφον καὶ φιλόξενον, μικροψύχοις τὸ μακρόθυμον· τὸ δὲ μεῖζον, ζωώσασα συνάπτει Θεῷ. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ὁμιλῆσαι Θεῷ, μὴ πρότερον τῷ τῆς νηστείας φαρμάκῳ προσομιλήσαντας. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐξ αἰῶνος οἱ μὲν ἐχθροὶ, οἱ δὲ φίλοι ἐδείχθησαν Θεοῦ, ἀκρασίας καὶ ἐγκρατείας ἐργασαμένης ἑκάτερον. Φαγὼν γὰρ Ἀδὰμ ἔφυγε Θεὸν ὡς ἐχθρός· τῶν πρωτείων Κάϊν οὐ παραχωρήσας Θεῷ, ἔστενε καὶ ἔτρεμε, ὡς ἄφιλος Θεῷ· σπαταλήσαντες οἱ ἐπὶ Νῶε ἤγειραν καθ' ἑαυτῶν τῆς κρίσεως τὸν κριτήν· θρέψαντες τὰς ἡδονὰς οἱ ἐν Σοδόμοις, ὥσπερ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοὺς ἄνωθεν ἐδέξαντο κεραυνούς· βρῶσις οὐ συνεχώρησε τὸν Ἡσαῦ λέγεσθαι ἀγαπητὸν καὶ πρωτότοκον· βρῶσις καὶ πόσις κατέστησεν ἐχθρὸν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ τὸν ἐν σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν ὁδηγήσαντα· δι' οἶνον καὶ σίκερα ὁ προφήτης κατηγόρησε τοῦ λαοῦ· οἶνος καὶ μέθη τῆς Ἰωάννου καὶ τῆς Χριστοῦ φιλίας τὸν Ἡρώδην ἐστέρη 60.712.20 σεν. Ἔγνως τοὺς δι' ἀκρασίας ἐχθροὺς γενομένους τοῦ Θεοῦ· μάνθανε καὶ τοὺς διὰ νηστείας φίλους κατασταθέντας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ γευσάμενος, ἀλλὰ προσενέγκας Ἄβελ Θεῷ, φιλοφρονήσας ἐφάνη Θεόν· νηστεύσας Μωϋσῆς φίλος ὀνομαστὸς καὶ πιστὸς ἐκλήθη· νηστεύσας Ἠλίας, ὡς φίλος ἀνελήφθη· νηστεύσαντες προφῆται ἔγνωσαν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς φίλοι, μυστήρια· νηστεύσας Ἡσαΐας ἱστόρησε τὰ ἑξαπτέρυγα Σεραφίμ· ἄσιτος γενόμενος Ἰεζεκιὴλ κατενόησε τὰ πολυόμματα Χερουβίμ· νηστεύσαντας τοὺς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ὡς φίλους ἐπέσκεπεν ὁ Θεὸς, τοῖς μὲν ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ τὸν ἄγγελον, τῷ δὲ ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ ἀποστείλας τὸν Ἀμβακούμ· φίλοι ἐξ ἐχθρῶν Νινευῖται διὰ νηστείας ἐγένοντο· φίλος ἐξ ἐχθροῦ ὁμοίως καὶ ∆αυΐδ. Ὅτε μὲν γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου ἤρα γυναικὸς, ἤχθραινε Θεῷ· ὅτε δὲ ἐταπείνου ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν, Ηὗρον, ἤκουσε, ∆αυῒδ τὸν τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ, ἄνδρα κατὰ τὴν καρδίαν μου. Ὁ Ζαχαρίου Ἰωάννης τοῦ νυμφίου φίλος, διὰ τί; Ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἔμεινεν ἀκρίδας συλλέγων, καὶ μέλι ἄγριον τρυγῶν. Ἄννα διὰ τί; Ἐπειδὴ ἐν νηστείαις καὶ δεήσεσι λατρεύουσα, νύκτα