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Concerning Fasting By Saint

Ignatius Brianchaninov
Source: http://theinnerkingdom.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/concerningfasting-by-st-ignatius-brianchaninov/

The head or chief of the virtues is prayer;

their foundation is fasting. Fasting is
constant moderation in food with prudent
discernment in its use.

Proud man! You think so much and so highly of your mind, while
all the time it is in complete and constant dependence on your
stomach.
The law of fasting, though outwardly a law for the stomach, is
essentially a law for the mind.
The mind, that sovereign ruler in man, if it wishes to enter into its
rights of autocracy and retain them, must first submit to the law of
fasting. Only then will it be constantly alert and bright; only then
can it rule over the desires of the heart and body. Only with
constant vigilance and temperance can the mind learn the
commandments of the Gospel and follow them. The foundation of
the virtues is fasting.
Newly-made man when placed in paradise was given a single
commandment, a commandment concerning fasting. Of course,
only one commandment was given because that was sufficient to
have kept primitive man in his innocence.

The commandment did not speak of the quantity of food, but only
prohibited a kind or quality. Let those who recognize a fast in
quantity of food only and not in quality be silent. By devoting
themselves to a practical study of fasting, they will see the
significance of the quality of the food.
So important was the law of fasting declared by God to man in
paradise that with the commandment was pronounced a threat of
punishment for breaking it. The punishment consisted in the
striking of men with eternal death.
And now a sinful death continues to strike the breakers of the holy
commandment of fasting. He who does not observe moderation and
due discernment in food cannot preserve virginity or chastity,
cannot control anger, yields to sloth, despondency and sorrow,
becomes a slave of vainglory and an abode of pride which gets into
a man through his carnal state, which is caused most of all by
luxurious and nourishing food.
The commandment to fast was renewed or confirmed by the
Gospel. Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down
with excessive eating and drinking, said the Lord. Overeating and
drinking impart corpulence or grossness not only to the body, but
to the mind and heart as well; that is, they reduce a person to a
carnal state of soul and body.
Fasting, on the contrary, leads a Christian to a spiritual state. A
person who is purified by fasting is humble in spirit, chaste.
modest, silent, refined in the feelings of his heart and mind, light in
body, fit for spiritual labors and contemplation, apt to receive
divine grace.
The carnal man is completely immersed in sinful pleasures. He is
sensual in body, in heart and in mind He is incapable not only of
spiritual joy and of receiving divine grace, but even of spiritual
occupations. He is nailed to the earth, wallowing in materiality,
spiritually dead while alive.
Woe to you who are full now, for you shall hunger! (Luke 6: 25).
Such is the message of the World of God to breakers of the
commandment of holy fasting. How will you nourish yourself in
eternity when you have learnt here only to glut yourself with
material foods and material pleasures which do not exist in heaven?
What will you feed on in eternity when you have not tasted one of
the good things of heaven? How can you eat and enjoy the good
things of heaven when you have acquired no taste or sympathy for

them, in fact have only acquired aversion for them?

The daily bread of Christians is Christ. Uncloying repletion with
this bread is the saving satiety and delight to which all Christians
are invited. Be insatiably filled with the Word of God; be insatiably
filled with the doing of Christs commandments; be insatiably filled
with the table prepared against those who trouble you, and be
inebriated with the strong chalice (Ps. 22: 5).
Where are we to begin, says St. Macarius the Great, we who
have never engaged in searching our hearts? Let us stand outside
and knock with prayer and fasting, as the Lord commanded; Knock
and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7: 7).
This work which is proposed to us by one of the greatest teachers of
monasticism was a work of the Holy Apostles. From the midst of it
they were granted to hear the Spirits messages. While they were
serving the Lord and fasting, says the writer of their acts, the
Holy Spirit said: Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work
to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying they
laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13: 2). From the
midst of their effort in which fasting was combined with prayer the
Spirits command concerning the call of the Gentiles to Christianity
was heard.
Wonderful union of fasting with prayer! Prayer is powerless unless
it is based on fasting, and fasting is fruitless unless prayer is built
upon it.
Fasting frees a person from fleshly passions, while prayer wrestles
with the passions of the soul and, having conquered them, it
penetrates and permeates the persons whole constitution, and
purifies it. Into the purified spiritual temple it introduces God.
He who sows his land without working it wastes his seed and
instead of wheat reaps thorns. So too if we sow seeds of prayer
without refining our flesh, instead of righteousness we shall
produce sin. Our prayer will be ruined and robbed by various
thoughts and fantasies, it will be defiled by sensual feelings. Our
flesh came from the earth and unless it is cultivated like the earth it
can never produce the fruit of righteousness.
On the other hand if anyone works his land with great care and at
great expense but leaves it unsown, it will be covered with a thick
crop of weeds. So if the body is refined by fasting but the soul is not
cultivated by prayer, reading and humility, then fasting becomes

the parent of numerous weeds passions of the soul: pride,

vainglory, scorn.
What is the passion of gluttony and drunkenness? Having lost
regularity (that is, a sense of what is right and lawful), the natural
craving for food and drink demands a much greater quantity and
more varied quality than is needed for the maintenance of life and
the bodily powers, and becomes a passion. Excessive food acts on
the bodily powers in a way that is the reverse of its natural purpose;
it acts harmfully, weakening and destroying them.
The craving for food is satisfied by a simple table and by refraining
from excess and delight in food. First, excess and delight must be
abandoned; in this way the desire for food is refined and reduced to
order. But when desire becomes normal, it is satisfied with simple
food.
On the other hand when the craving for food is satisfied with excess
and delight it is coarsened. To arouse it we resort to a variety of
tasty foods and drinks. At first our desire seems satisfied; then it
becomes capricious, and finally it turns into a morbid passion
constantly seeking repletion and pleasure, and never satisfied.
Having resolved to consecrate ourselves to the service of God, let us
make fasting the foundation of our effort. The essential quality of
every foundation should be an unshakable firmness; otherwise it
will be impossible to construct a building on it, however solid the
building itself may be. So let us never on any account, on any
pretext whatever, allow ourselves to break our fast by overeating,
and especially by drunkenness.
The use of food once a day not to repletion is regarded by the Holy
Fathers as the best fast. Such a fast does not weaken the body by
prolonged abstinence or overload it with excessive food, but keeps
it fit for soul-saving activity. Such a fast presents no glaring
peculiarity, and therefore the person fasting has no cause for
boasting, to which people are so prone on account of virtue itself,
especially when it stands out sharply.
Those engaged in physical labors or who are so weak in body that
they cannot content themselves with the use of food once a day
should eat twice. Fasting is for man, not man for fasting. But
however often food is used, whether frequently or infrequently,
satiety is strictly forbidden; it makes a person unfit for spiritual
labours, and opens the door to other carnal passions.

Immoderate fasting that is, prolonged excessive abstinence from

food is not approved by the Holy Fathers. From inordinate
fasting and the exhaustion which results from it, a person becomes
unfit for spiritual labours, frequently turns to gluttony, and often
falls into the passion of boasting and pride.
Very important is the quality of food. The forbidden fruit of
Paradise, although it was beautiful in appearance and tasted
delicious, had a fatal effect on the soul. It imparted to it a
knowledge of good and evil, and thereby ruined the innocence in
which our first parents were created. And now food continues to
have a powerful effect on the soul, which is particularly noticeable
in the use of wine. This effect of food is due to its diverse action on
the flesh and blood, and to the fact that the vapors and gases
produced by it rise from the stomach into the brain and affect the
mind. For this reason all intoxicating drinks are forbidden to the
ascetic, since they deprive the mind of soberness and vigilance, and
so of victory in the war of thought. The defeated mind, especially
when it has been defeated by sensual thoughts in which it has taken
pleasure, is deprived of spiritual grace. What was acquired by many
protracted labours is lost in a few hours, in a few minutes.
A monk should not use wine at all, said Saint Poemen the Great.
This rule ought to be followed by every pious Christian who wishes
to preserve his chastity and virginity. The Holy Fathers followed
this rule, and if they did use wine, it was extremely seldom and
with the greatest moderation. Heating foods should be banished
from the table of the abstinent since they arouse bodily passions.
Such are pepper, ginger and other spices.
The most natural food is that which was assigned to man by the
Creator immediately after his creation food of the vegetable
kingdom. God said to our fist parents: Behold I have given you
every seed-bearing plant, the sowing seed which is on the whole
earth; and every tree which has within it the fruit of seminal seed
shall be to you for food (Gen. 1, 29). It was only after the flood that
the use of meat was allowed (Gen. 9, 3).
Vegetable food is the best for an ascetic. It is less heating for the
blood and less fattening for the flesh. The vapors and gases it
produces and which rise to the brain affect it less. Finally it is the
most wholesome because it produces less mucus in the stomach.
For these reasons, when vegetable food is used, it is particularly
easy to preserve purity and mental alertness, and the power of the
mind over the whole man; also the passions act more feebly, and

the person is more capable of engaging in the labours of piety.

Fish foods, especially those prepared from large sea fish, are of
quite another kind. They act more perceptibly on the brain, fatten
the body, heat the blood, and fill the stomach with harmful mucus,
specially when they are frequently or constantly used.
These effects are incomparably more violent in the case of meat. It
has an extremely fattening effect on the flesh, it causes a special
corpulency, and heats the blood. The vapors and gases it produces
are very oppressive to the brain. For this reason it is not used at all
by monks. It is the prerogative of people living in the world who
are always engaged in hard physical labor. But even for them the
constant use of meat is harmful.
What! at this point would-be wiseacres exclaim, Meat is allowed
man by God, and do you forbid its use? To this we reply in the
words of the Apostle, All things are lawful for me, but not all
things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things
edify (1 Cor. 10: 23). We decline from the use of meat not because
we regard it as unclean but because it produces a special corpulence
in our whole constitution and hinders spiritual progress.
Holy Church, by her wise rules and regulations, has allowed
Christians living in the world to use meat. Yet she does not allow its
constant use, but has divided the year into seasons of meat-eating
and seasons of abstinence from meat in which the Christian is
detached from his meat-eating. This fruit of the fasts can be
discovered by experience by everyone who keeps them.
For those living the monastic life the use of meat is forbidden. In its
place the use of milk foods and eggs is permitted during the seasons
of meat-eating. At certain times and on certain days the use of fish
is permitted them. But mostly they can use only vegetable food.
Vegetable food is used almost exclusively by the most zealous
ascetics and exponents of piety, especially those who have felt
within them the movement of the Spirit of God, on account of the
convenience mentioned above and the cheapness of this food. For
drink they use only water and avoid not only heating and
intoxicating beverages but even nourishing ones like all the drinks
made from bread.
The rules of fasting are appointed by the Church with the object of
helping her children and to supply direction for the whole of
Christian society. At the same time it is prescribed for everyone to

examine himself with the help of an experienced and discerning

spiritual father and not to impose upon himself a fast which is
beyond his strength. We repeat fasting is for man, and not man
for fasting. Food given for the support of the body should not be
used to destroy it.
If you control your stomach, said Saint Basil the Great, you will
mount to Paradise; but if you do not control it, you will be a victim
of death. Here by the name Paradise should be understood a state
of grace and prayer, and by death a passionate condition. A state of
grace during our life on earth serves as a pledge of our eternal
beatitude in the heavenly Eden. A fall into the power of sin and into
a state of spiritual deadness serves as a pledge of our fall into the
abyss of hell for eternal torment.
Amen.

Article published in English on: 10-8-2010.

Last update: 10-8-2010.

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