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De jejunio

On fasting 62.731 It is the season for propitiations, and let us not overlook the opportunity; it is the season for the recall of sins, and let us not cast away grace, but let us fast from foods, and first from sins; for the first good is the release from evils. And vice is the opposite of virtue: envy and theft, and murder and war, and as many things as are called and are evil. But he who is in evil things has vice as his punishment; for even before Gehenna, the presence of vice is a punishment. For not even a physician's incision is evil; but because of the preceding evil, the punishment is brought on. The first evil is to be found in vice. The impious man is a stranger to God; even if he is not cast into Gehenna, he has been deprived of good things. He who is not self-controlled is ravaged by his desires, he who envies is consumed by his passion, he who steals is ashamed and afraid, he who murders does not trust his own life. The first evil is to be evil. Even if the physician does not cut, the sick man is sick; even if God does not punish—for He is long-suffering—the one who sins is in sickness; For `he who commits 62.732 sin,` it says, `is a slave of sin.` Therefore, before the sin, the sinner is enslaved, and already has his punishment. Good is the bridle of fasting for those who love the benefit from fasting. Do not pay attention only to the toil, but also to the fruit. For if one did not pay attention to the need, the sower would not have sown, lest he seem to scatter what was stored up; looking to hope, he sows what he had, so that he may reap what he did not have. The flesh suffers in fasts, but the soul rejoices in the hope of good things. What is better in us, soul or body? which, even if it is spared suffering, is nourished by the beauty of the virtues with a better abundance. We must be in a fast, which is not a destruction of the body, but a healing and a cure. Those who fast are also freed from bodily utterances; those who practice discipline melt away the excess of the flesh, and nourish the deficiency of the soul. The soul always cares for the body; but it nourishes for itself and provides for itself. The soul prepares a way of life 62.733 for the body, and prepares reason for itself. For if it cares for the body, much more is it fitting for it to care for itself. The order from God is for the soul to rule the body; those who place the body before the soul overturn the right order. It does not serve the body, but rather it was made upright from the beginning, and the body was always subjected to the soul. But if this does not persuade you, at least let this convince you—the feasts which the soul celebrates against the body—that it also thinks against the body. The body is saved when the body rules the soul, and the soul itself is destroyed. Let us not think that fasting is a small gain. If Adam had abstained from one tree, and had fasted from one, death would have died; or rather, what was not would not have died. Do you see that if Adam had used this medicine, our race would not have become mortal? How much grace became necessary, that what Adam devised through incontinence might be undone? When you see that the opposite worked evil, that is, Adam's not abstaining from one tree, recognize how great a good is fasting and abstinence from things that are permitted. For Adam, by touching what was not permitted, destroyed the race; but fasting, by causing us to abstain even from what is permitted, reverses the transgression. And if Esau had fasted, he would not have sold his birthright; but being overcome by food, he sold his natural advantage for a mess of lentils. To those who have been instructed in the Scriptures I entrust these things. What did he bring down to the Jews from the mountain

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De jejunio

Περὶ νηστείας 62.731 Ἱλασμῶν ὁ καιρὸς, καὶ μὴ παρίδωμεν τὸ εὔκαιρον· ἀνακλήσεως ἁμαρτημάτων ὁ καιρὸς, καὶ μὴ προησώμεθα τὴν χάριν, ἀλλὰ νηστεύσωμεν ἀπὸ βρωμάτων, καὶ πρότερον ἀπὸ ἁμαρτημάτων· πρῶτον γὰρ ἀγαθὸν ἀπαλλαγὴ κακῶν. Κακία δέ ἐστι τὸ ἀντικείμενον τῇ ἀρετῇ, φθόνος καὶ κλοπὴ, καὶ φόνος καὶ πόλεμος, καὶ ὅσα κακὰ λέγεται καὶ ἔστιν. Ὁ δὲ ὢν ἐν κακοῖς, τιμωρίαν ἔχει τὴν κακίαν· καὶ γὰρ πρὸ γεέννης κόλασις ἡ παρουσία τῆς κακίας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἰατροῦ τμῆσις κακή· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν προηγησαμένην κακίαν ἐπιφέρεται ἡ κόλασις. Πρῶτον κακὸν τὸ ἐν κακίᾳ ἐξετάζεσθαι. Ὁ ἀσεβὴς ἀλλότριος Θεοῦ ἐστι· κἂν μὴ βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστέρηται. Ὁ μὴ σωφρονῶν λυμαίνεται ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, ὁ φθονῶν τήκεται τῷ πάθει, ὁ κλέπτων αἰδεῖται καὶ φοβεῖται, ὁ φονεύων οὐ πιστεύει αὐτοῦ τῇ ζωῇ. Πρῶτον κακὸν τὸ κακὸν εἶναι. Κἂν μὴ τέμῃ ὁ ἰατρὸς, νοσεῖ ὁ νοσῶν· κἂν μὴ τιμωρήσηται ὁ Θεὸς μακροθυμεῖ γὰρ, ἐν νόσῳ ἐστὶν ὁ ἁμαρτάνων· Ὁ ποιῶν 62.732 γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, δοῦλός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Οὐκοῦν πρὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δεδούλωται ὁ ἁμαρτάνων, καὶ ἤδη ἔχει τὴν τιμωρίαν. Καλὸς ὁ τῆς νηστείας χαλινὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς νηστείας ὠφέλειαν. Μὴ πρόσεχε μόνῳ τῷ ἐπιπόνῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ καρπῷ. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ τῇ χρείᾳ προσεῖχέ τις, οὐκ ἂν ἔσπειρεν ὁ σπείρων, ἵνα μὴ δοκῇ σκορπίζειν τὰ ἀποκείμενα· ἀποβλέπων εἰς ἐλπίδα, σπείρει ἃ εἶχεν, ἵνα θερίσῃ ἃ οὐκ εἶχεν. Ἀλγεῖ ἡ σὰρξ ἐν νηστείαις, ἀλλ' εὐφραίνεται ἡ ψυχὴ τῇ ἐλπίδι τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Τί κρεῖττον ἐν ἡμῖν, ψυχὴ ἢ σῶμα; ἥτις κἂν τὸ μὴ ἀλγεῖν ἔλαβε, τρέφεται δὲ τῷ κάλλει τῶν ἀρετῶν μετὰ κρείττονος τῆς περιουσίας. ∆εῖ ἡμᾶς εἶναι ἐν νηστείᾳ, ἥτις τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἔστι φθορὰ, ἀλλ' ἴασις καὶ θεραπεία. Οἱ νηστεύοντες, καὶ ῥημάτων σωματικῶν ἀπαλλάττονται· οἱ ἀσκοῦντες τήκουσι τὸ περιττὸν τῶν σαρκῶν, καὶ τρέφουσι τὸ ἐλλεῖπον τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἀεὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ σώματος κήδεται· τρέφει δὲ ἑαυτῇ καὶ ἑαυτῇ φροντίζει. Ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ σώματι εὐτρεπίζει τρόπον 62.733 καὶ ἑαυτῇ εὐτρεπίζει λόγον. Εἰ γὰρ σώματος ἐπιμελεῖται πολλῷ μᾶλλον πρέπει αὐτῇ ἑαυτῆς κήδεσθαι. Ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τάξις, τὸ ψυχὴν κρατεῖν σώματος· οἱ τιθέμενοι τὸ, σῶμα πρὸ τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀνατρέπουσι τὴν ὀρθὴν τάξιν. Οὐκ αὐτὴ σώματι δουλεύει, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐγένετο μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὀρθὴ, καὶ ἀεὶ τῇ ψυχῇ ἦν τὸ σῶμα ὑποτασσόμενον. Εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτο πείθει σε, κἂν γοῦν τὸ τὰς ἑορτὰς, ἃς ἑορτάζει ἡ ψυχὴ κατὰ τοῦ σώματος, τοῦτο πληροφορείτω σοι, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ φρονεῖ κατὰ τοῦ σώματος. Σῶμα σώζεται, ὅταν κρατῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπόλλυται. Μὴ νομίσωμεν μικρὸν κέρδος εἶναι νηστείαν. Ἑνὸς ξύλου εἰ ἀπέσχετο Ἀδὰμ, καὶ ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ἐνήστευσε, τεθνήκει ἂν ὁ θάνατος· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐ τεθνήκει ὁ μὴ ὤν. Ὁρᾷς εἰ τούτῳ ἐχρήσατο τῷ φαρμάκῳ ὁ Ἀδὰμ, οὐκ ἂν γέγονε τὸ γένος ἡμῶν θνητόν; Ὅσης χάριτος γέγονε χρεία, ἵνα ἀναλυθῇ ὃ ἐφεῦρεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ δι' ἀκρασίαν; Ὅταν ἴδῃς ὅτι κακὸν εἰργάσατο τὸ ἐναντίον, τουτέστι, τὸ μὴ ἀποσχέσθαι ἑνὸς ξύλου τὸν Ἀδὰμ, ἐπίγνωθι ὅσον ἀγαθὸν ἡ νηστεία καὶ ἡ ἀποχὴ ὧν ἔξεστιν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀδὰμ, οὗ οὐκ ἐξῆν ἁψάμενος, ἀπώλεσε τὸ γένος· ἡ δὲ νηστεία καὶ ὧν ἔξεστιν ἀποστήσασα, ἀνακαλεῖται τὸ παράπτωμα. Εἰ δὲ καὶ Ἡσαῦ ἐνήστευσεν, οὐκ ἐπίπρασκε τὰ πρωτοτόκια· ἀλλὰ ἐδωδῆς ἥττων γενόμενος, τὸ ἀπὸ φύσεως πλεονέκτημα ἀντὶ φακῶν πέπρακε. Τοῖς πεπαιδευμένοις Γραφὰς ταῦτα ἐπιτρέπω. Τί κατήνεγκε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους