My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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NOT BY BREAD ALONE: FASTING TODAY IN THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WAY (PART IV)
By Reverend Father Peter A. Chamberas

When the Prophets of Israel referred to fasting in their preaching, they were invariably critical in their remarks. However, they did not condemn fasting itself as a religious practice, but rather the religious hypocrisy of the people in keeping the fast only externally and superficially, without the benefit of real mourning and true repentance over their sins, and, moreover, without the benefit of any works of mercy, righteousness and prayer that should have always accompanied their proper observance of the discipline of fasting. The Prophet Isaiah especially sounded the warning against such formalized fasting and enumerated those elements that make fasting authentic and acceptable to God: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evils from your souls before my eyes...learn to do good...defend the orphan and justify the widow" (Isaiah 1:13-17). The Prophet went on to define the will of God with reference to the true nature of fasting that must be accompanied with a proper spiritual and moral content: "I did not choose such a fast, says the Lord; 'Rather, loose every bond of wrongdoing: untie the knots of violent dealings; cancel the debts of the oppressed; and tear apart every unjust contract. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house...Then you shall cry out, and God will hear you...God shall be with you continually..." (Isaiah 58: 6-11).

The transition of true fasting from the Old Testament into the New Testament is beautifully illustrated by two personalities. The Prophetess Anna, who "never left the temple, but worshipped God day and night with fasting and prayer" (St. Luke 2:36), was blessed to see, together with the righteous Simeon, the forty-day old Child Jesus brought to the Temple. Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner, preaching fervently for the people to return to God with repentance and fasting, lived a most austere and ascetic life in the desert.

When Jesus Christ Himself was about to begin His public ministry, the Holy Spirit led Him into the desert and there, "He fasted for forty days and nights" (St. Matthew 4:1-2; St. Luke 4:2; cf. St. Mark 1:12). When Jesus became hungry, after fasting, He was tempted by Satan: "If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (St. Matthew 4:3-4; cf. Deuteronomy 8:3). In rejecting this first temptation, Jesus reversed not only the disobedience of Adam, but also that of the Israelites, who often proved disobedient and rebellious to the will of God. Thus Jesus Christ not only confirmed the discipline of fasting of the Old Testament, but He also gave us His personal example to emulate. In addition, Jesus also gave us a new and specific teaching about fasting, first by correcting the abuses of the Pharisees of His time, and then by reintroducing the teaching of the prophets, and finally by adding the specifically Christian elements to the tradition of fasting.

The Pharisees, who represented the epitome of Jewish piety at that time and who "fasted twice a week" (St. Luke 19:12), did this only hypocritically, merely "to appear before the people as fasting" (St. Matthew 6:16), as the Lord Himself indicated. Like the Prophets of old, Jesus did not condemn the discipline of fasting as such, but rather preached against the insincerity with which it was being practiced. Here is His first teaching of fasting: "When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (St. Matthew 6:16-18; cf. St. Luke 18:9-14). Here again it is clear that Jesus is teaching, like the Prophets of the Old Testament, that fasting, like every other practice of religious piety, must not be a mere external display of nonexistent piety, but rather the authentic expression of a person's love for God and man that motivates one to do everything that one does, including fasting.

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George