What about fasting?

Sometimes it seems as though people aren’t doing much fasting. It’s no wonder since our society promotes all kinds of self-indulgence, especially in regard to food. We have grisly Arby’s commercials that bellow: “We have the meats!” - meaning things like a bacon double cheeseburger that you can hardly fit in your mouth, things that pile fat on fat. There’s no end to amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup we’re conned into ingesting. We fixate on food and forget Jesus’ putdown to Satan in the desert: “It is not by bread alone that man lives, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4 from Deut. 8:3.)

The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy puts this aright as we fast from physical food during the day in anticipation of the “Bread of the Day to come” in the evening. (This would be a more accurate rendering of the defective translation of this phrase in the English Lord’s Prayer translation.)

The Lenten fast has other purpose as well. St Athanasius of Alexandria (4 th Century) puts it this way:

“Let us not fulfill these days like those who mourn; but by enjoying spiritual food, let us try to silence our fleshly lusts. By these means we shall overcome our adversaries, like blessed Judith – when having first exercised herself in fasting, she overcame the enemies and slew Holophernes.”

So fasting is a practical exercise to tame our unruly minds and bodies, to subdue those things that divert us from peace, love, generosity, and God. We stint the physical appetite so we can turn our hearts to what is spiritual. It’s a practical matter: would you eat a big, rich meal before taking an exam that required mental acuity? It wouldn’t help your concentration.

One more thing that Orthodox often overlook – the Fathers, like St John Chrysostom, emphasize this: fasting from rich, excessive food is meant to put us in mind of those who suffer want of food and other essentials, and to reach out to them. Fasting is not an end in itself, but a means of enhancing prayer, repentance, and active love for others, especially those in need. As St Isaac of Syria says, “Fasting…is the mother of prayer, the wellspring of sobriety and prudence, the teacher of stillness, the precursor of all good works.”

How to fast? Eat less. Avoid rich, fatty foods (meat, dairy) as well as you can. Turn down the noise of controversy, conflict, and agitation. Give your computer and phone a break – don’t waste time on internet prattle, trivialities, infighting, and gossip. Don’t get hung up in technicalities – what counts is the practical effort to stifle self-indulgence and open our hearts to prayer, repentance, generosity, and peace. Fasting is not an end in itself, just as working out is not an end in itself, but a means to better physical health. In terms of fasting, it’s a means to gain SPIRITUAL health.