Fasting

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

SUMMARY: Fasting was ordained by Christ himself. Jesus said, "When you fast, not if you fast." Clearly, Christians ought to fast. Even though their fasting observances and traditions were extra-biblical, the early Christians had good reasons for fasting—or for not fasting—on specific days. Examples include the Didache: Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Victorinus, and Peter of Alexandria. Still, there is evidence from Tertullian that these appointed fasts were not required. Fasting on certain days was known as stations. These fasts were fixed very early for Wednesday and Friday, as seen in the Didache: Clement of Alexandria and Victorinus. Monday and Thursday were the common Jewish fasting days. In the Didache, these were considered the fasts of hypocrites. According to 2 Clement, fasting is better than prayer. The Didache and Justin Martyr mention the practice of fasting for baptism. "Let us keep going in fasting," as Polycarp says. "Fast, and you will obtain from the Lord what you beg," as Hermas says. The soul, when it has too little food and drink, becomes better, as Mathetes says. Christians often fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food, as Aristides says. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Hermas urge Christians to keep the true fast of God, as Isaiah says. Hermas and Clement of Alexandria also understood that fasting means staying away from all evils of every kind, in action, in word, and even in thought itself. The dead have been raised when the Church has brought the prayer request with much fasting, as Irenaeus says. 16-18 2 Clement: Almsgiving, therefore, is a good thing, like repentance from sin. Fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving is better than both. But love covers a multitude of sins.

THE DIDACHE: But before the baptism, let the one who baptizes fast, and the one being baptized, and any others who can. But you should tell the one being baptized to fast for one or two days before. But do not let your fast be like the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but you should fast on the fourth day and the Preparation.

POLYCARP: Leaving behind the empty ways of many people and their false teachings, let us return to the Word that has been handed down to us from the beginning. Let us be "watching in prayer" and keep going in fasting. Let us beg, in our prayers, the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord has said, "The Spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."

HERMAS: every prayer should be joined with humility. Therefore, fast, and you will receive from the Lord what you ask for.

HERMAS: While I was fasting and sitting on a certain mountain and giving thanks to the Lord for all His dealings with me, I saw the shepherd sit down beside me. He said, "Why have you come here so early in the morning?" "Because, sir," I answered, "I have a station." "What is a station?" he asked. "I am fasting, sir," I replied. "What is this fasting?" he continued, "that you are observing?" "As I have been accustomed, sir," I replied, "so I fast." "You do not know," he says, "how to fast to the Lord. This useless fasting that you observe to Him is of no value." "Why, sir?" I answered. "Do you say this?" "I say to you," he continued, "that the fasting you think you observe is not a fasting. But I will teach you what is a full and acceptable fasting to the Lord." "Listen," he continued, "God does not desire such an empty fasting. If you fast to God in this way, you will do nothing for a righteous life. But offer to God a fasting of the following kind: do no evil in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart. Keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart. And believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and stay away from every evil thing, you will live to God. And if you do these things, you will keep a great fast, and one acceptable before God." I said to him, "Sir, I do not see the meaning of these similitudes. I am not able to understand them unless you explain them to me." "I will explain them all to you," he said. "And whatever I mention in the course of our conversations, I will show you. Keep the commandments of the Lord, and you will be approved. You will be written down among the number of those who observe His commands. And if you do any good beyond what is commanded by God, you will gain for yourself more abundant glory. You will be more honored by God than you would otherwise be. Therefore, in keeping the commandments of God, if you also do these services in addition, you will have joy if you observe them according to my command." I said to him, "Sir, whatever you command me, I will observe, for I know that you are with me." "I will be with you," he replied, "because you have such a desire for doing good." "And I will be with all those," he added, "who have such a desire. This fasting," he continued, "is very good, provided the commandments of the Lord are observed. So then, you will observe the fasting you intend to keep like this. First of all, be on your guard against every evil word and every evil desire. Purify your heart from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things, your fasting will be perfect. And you will also do the following: after you have fulfilled what is written, on the day you fast, you will taste nothing but bread and water. Then you will add up the price of the dishes you intended to eat that day. You will give that amount to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in need. In this way, you will show humility of mind, so that the one who has received help from your humility may fill his own soul and pray for you to the Lord. If you fast as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God. This fasting will be written down, and the service done in this way is noble, sacred, and acceptable to the Lord. Therefore, you will observe these things with your children and all your household. In observing them, you will be blessed. And as many as hear these words and observe them will be blessed. And whatever they ask of the Lord, they will receive."

MATHETES: When the soul has too little food and drink, it becomes better. In the same way, Christians, even though they are punished day after day, increase even more in number.

ARISTIDES: And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or suffering because of the name of their Messiah, all of them eagerly care for what he needs. If it is possible to pay to redeem him, they set him free. And if there is anyone among them who is poor and needy, and if they have no extra food, they fast for two or three days in order to give the needy person the food they are missing. They obey the commands of their Messiah with great care. They live in a just and self-controlled way, as the Lord their God commanded them.

JUSTIN MARTYR: On baptism. I will also explain the way we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ. As many as are convinced and believe that what we teach and say is true, and who commit to being able to live that way, are taught to pray and to ask God, with fasting, for the forgiveness of their past sins, we pray and fast with them. Then we bring them to a place where there is water, and they are born again in the same way we ourselves were born again. For in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Unless you are born again, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And for this rite we learned this reason from the apostles. At our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, because our parents came together, and we were brought up in bad habits and wicked training, so that we will not remain children of necessity and ignorance, but may become children of choice and knowledge, and may receive in the water the forgiveness of sins committed before. The name of God the Father and Lord of the universe is spoken over the one who chooses to be born again and has repented of his sins. The one who leads the person to the bath to be washed calls him by this name alone. For no one can speak the name of the God who cannot be fully spoken of. And if anyone dares to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because those who learn these things are enlightened in their understanding. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, the one who is illuminated is washed.

JUSTIN MARTYR: Learn, therefore, to keep the true fast of God, as Isaiah says, so that you may please God. Isaiah has cried out like this: "Shout loudly and do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; show my people their sins and the house of Jacob their wrongs. They seek me day after day, and want to know my ways, like a nation that did what was right and did not abandon the judgment of God. They ask me now for righteous judgment, and want to draw near to God, saying, 'Why have we fasted, and you do not see? Why have we humbled our souls, and you have not noticed?' Because in the days of your fasting, you look for your own pleasure, and you oppress all those who are under you. Look, you fast for fights and arguments, and you strike the humble with your fists. Why do you fast for me, as you do today, so that your voice is heard loudly? This is not the fast I have chosen, the day when a man will humble his soul. And not even if you bend your neck like a ring, or dress yourself in sackcloth and ashes, will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord. This is not the fast I have chosen, says the Lord. Instead, loosen every unrighteous bond; break the terms of unjust agreements; let the oppressed go free; and avoid every sinful contract. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your home. If you see the naked, clothe him; and do not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then your light will break out like the morning, and your healing will come quickly; your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will surround you. Then you will cry out, and the Lord will hear you. While you are still speaking, he will say, 'Look, I am here.' And if you take away the yoke, and the pointing of the finger, and complaining words, and gladly give your bread to the hungry, and satisfy the suffering soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday, and your God will be with you always. You will be satisfied as your soul desires; your bones will become fat, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, or like a land where water does not fail. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, as the words of God in all these passages require.

IRENAEUS: For they, the Gnostics, can neither give sight to the blind nor hearing to the deaf, nor drive away all kinds of demons—in fact, they can drive away none at all except those that they themselves send into other people, if they can even do that much; nor can they heal the weak or the lame or the paralyzed or those who are suffering in any other part of the body. Yet this has often been done when it comes to sickness in the body; nor can they provide effective remedies for injuries from outside accidents that may happen, and they are far from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised the dead and as the apostles did by means of prayer. This has also been done many times among the believers because of some need. The whole church in that place made the request with much fasting and prayer. Then the spirit of the dead man returned, and he was given back in answer to the prayers of the saints.

TATIAN: when you fast, do not frown like the hypocrites. They make their faces look serious so that people will see that they are fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, wash your face and anoint your head. Do this so that you do not look like you are fasting in front of people, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: About fasting, it is said: "Why do you fast for me?" says the Lord. "Is this the kind of fast I have chosen? Just one day for a person to humble his soul? Do not bend your neck like a circle, and spread sackcloth and ashes under you. Do not call this an acceptable fast." So what is a fast, then? "Look, this is the fast I have chosen," says the Lord. "Loose every band of wickedness. Untie the knots of oppressive contracts. Let the oppressed go free, and tear every unjust bond. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see the naked, cover him."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: "Fasting with prayer is a good thing." Now, fasting means staying away from every kind of evil—in what you do, in what you say, and even in what you think.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Christian also understands the hidden meanings of fasting on those days—I mean, the fourth and the preparation. The Christian fasts, in his life, by staying away from greed and from living only for pleasure. All vices grow from these, for we have already often shown above the three kinds of sexual sin, according to the Apostle: love of pleasure, love of money, and idolatry. So, the Christian fasts according to the law by avoiding bad deeds. And according to the perfection of the Gospel, the Christian also fasts from evil thoughts.

TERTULLIAN: We consider fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's Day to be unlawful. We also rejoice in the same privilege from Pascha (18) to Pentecost.

TERTULLIAN: We kneel at other times, but on the Lord's Day and from the Passover feast to Pentecost, we stand when we pray. We also do not consider it lawful to fast on Sundays.

TERTULLIAN: Therefore, Christ belonged to John, and John belonged to Christ, and both belonged to the Creator. Both were part of the law and the prophets, as preachers and teachers. If this were not true, Christ would have rejected John's training, as if it came from a rival god. He also would have defended the disciples, as if they were right to live a different way, because they were set apart to serve another god, one who was opposed to the Creator. But instead, he modestly gave a reason why the children of the bridegroom are unable to fast during the time the bridegroom is with them. He also promised that they should afterwards fast when the bridegroom was taken away from them. So he did not defend the disciples. Instead, he excused them as if they had not been blamed without some reason. And he did not reject John's training. Instead, he allowed it. He connected it to John's time, even though he was saving it for his own time. Otherwise, his purpose would have been to reject it and to defend those who opposed it, if he had not already belonged to it himself, since it was in force at that time.

TERTULLIAN: Another custom has now become common: people who are fasting hold back from the kiss of peace after prayer with brothers and sisters. The kiss of peace is the seal of prayer. But when is it more right to make peace with brothers and sisters than at a time of a religious practice like fasting? At that time, our prayer rises with greater acceptance. Then they can share in our practice. In that way, they can be satisfied when dealing with their brother about their own peace. What prayer is complete if it is separated from the holy kiss? Who is held back by peace when serving his Lord? What kind of sacrifice is it when people leave without peace? Whatever our prayer is, it will not be better than obeying the command that tells us to hide our fasts. But now, by not giving the kiss, people know we are fasting. Even if there is some reason for this practice, still, so that you do not break this command, you might delay your peace until you are at home. At home, it is not possible for your fast to be completely hidden anyway. But wherever else you can hide what you are doing, you should remember the command. In this way, you can meet the needs of discipline in public and the needs of custom at home. In the same way, on the day of the Passover, when the religious practice of fasting is general and in a way public, we rightly leave out the holy kiss. We do not try to hide something we are doing together with everyone. In the same way, about the days of stations, most people think they must not be present at the sacrificial prayers. They say this because the station must be ended by receiving the Lord's body. So, does the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God? Or does it tie it more closely to God? Will your station not be more serious and holy if you also stand at God's altar?

TERTULLIAN: Also, during fasts and stations, no prayer should be made without kneeling and showing the other usual signs of humility. At those times, we are not only praying; we are also asking God not to punish us, and we are making satisfaction to God our Lord.

TERTULLIAN: it is the suffering of the body. It is a sacrifice that can please the Lord through the offering of humility. This happens when a person pours out an offering to the Lord by wearing rough, dirty clothing and by eating very little. The person is content with simple food and the clean drink of water. The person also joins fasting to all this and trains herself to wear sackcloth and ashes. This patience in the body adds beauty to our prayers for good things. It also adds strength to our prayers against evil. This opens the ears of Christ our God. It softens strictness and brings out mercy. If the spirit is willing but the flesh, without patience, is weak, then where, except in patience, is the safety of the spirit and of the flesh itself? But when the Lord says this about the flesh, calling it weak, He shows how much it needs to be strengthened. That is, it needs to be strengthened by patience. Then it can face every attempt to overthrow faith or to punish faith. Then it can keep going with steady courage through whips, fire, cross, wild animals, and sword. All these things the prophets and apostles conquered by enduring them.

TERTULLIAN: They think that, under the new discipline, fasting should be observed in a flexible way. They say it is a matter of choice, not a command. They say it should depend on the times and the needs of each person. They also say that this was the practice of the apostles. They say the apostles did not place any other burden of set fasts that everyone had to keep. They say the same thing about stations, too. Stations also have their own days, but they still vary widely based on each person's judgment. They are not under the rule of a fixed command. They also should not be carried past the last hour of the day. They say this because even prayers usually end at the ninth hour, following Peter's example, which is written in the Acts. Meanwhile, they throw in our faces that Isaiah has clearly declared, "Not such a fast has the Lord elected," meaning not just staying away from food, but doing works of righteousness.

TERTULLIAN: they say that this duty of the stations should be kept by free choice. They also say it should not continue past the ninth hour. Of course, they get this rule from their own practice. As for what relates to the question of a command, I will give one answer, once and for all, that fits every case. Now I turn to what belongs to this particular case—I mean, the time limit. First, I must ask them where they get this rule that says stations must end at the ninth hour. If they get it from the fact that we read that Peter and the one who was with him went into the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, who will prove to me that they had been keeping a station that day? If no one can prove that, then how can anyone explain the ninth hour as the time to end and be released from the station?

TERTULLIAN: It is a common practice for bishops to give orders for fasts for the whole Church. I do not mean for the special purpose of collecting gifts for the poor, as your beggarly custom does, but sometimes they do it because of some specific reason related to caring for the Church.

TERTULLIAN: If the Apostle has erased all devotion completely of seasons and days and months and years, why do we celebrate the Passover every year in the first month? Why, in the fifty days that follow, do we spend our time in full joy? Why do we set apart the fourth and sixth days of the week for stations and the preparation day for fasts? In any case, you sometimes continue your station even through the Sabbath, a day that should never be kept as a fast except during the Passover season.

VICTORINUS: now the true reason is made clear why the fourth day is called the Tetras, why we fast even until the ninth hour, or even until evening, or why there should be a passing over even to the next day. Therefore, this world of ours is made of four elements: fire, water, heaven, and earth. These four elements then form a group of four times or seasons. The sun and the moon also make, through the space of the year, four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. And these seasons make a group of four. And to go even further from that same principle, look, there are four living creatures before God's throne, four gospels, and four rivers flowing in paradise. There are four generations of people: from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to Christ the Lord, the Son of God. There are also four living creatures, namely a man, a calf, a lion, and an eagle. And there are four rivers: the Pison, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. The man Christ Jesus, the originator of these things we have spoken about above, was taken prisoner by wicked hands, by a group of four soldiers. Therefore, because of his captivity by a group of four, and because of the majesty of his works, so that the seasons also, healthy for humanity, joyful for the harvests, and calm for the storms, may keep going. Therefore we make the fourth day a station, or an extra fast. On this day also, the sixth day, because of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, we make either a station to God or a fast. On the seventh day, Saturday, he rested from all his works and blessed it and made it holy. On the day before, we are used to fasting strictly, so that on the Lord's day we may go out to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the Parasive become a strict fast, so that we do not seem to keep any Sabbath with the Jews. Christ himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by his prophets that his soul hates that Sabbath, that Sabbath he abolished in his body.

PETER OF ALEXANDRIA: No one should find fault with us for observing the fourth day of the week and the preparation day. On these days, it is reasonably required that we fast according to the tradition. We fast on the fourth day because on that day the Jews made plans for the betrayal of the Lord. We fast on the sixth day because on that day He Himself suffered for us. But we celebrate the Lord's Day as a day of joy because on that day He rose again. On that day we have received the custom of not even bowing the knee.