Fasting
A lecture by His Grace, our teacher, the distinguished theological scholar, Bishop Gregorius, Bishop of Higher Studies and Scientific Research
“… in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness besides the other things…” (2 Cor. 11: 27, 28)
Balancing the needs of the spirit and the body:
A person who is truly wise knows how to maintain an equal and proper balance between the needs of the spirit (according to its essence, being and characteristics) on the one hand, and the needs of the body (according to its being and characteristics) on the other hand. The wise person balances these two without going to extremes,[1]taṭarruf, the opposite of moderation, often used to describe religious extremism or fanaticism. and without destroying either of the two elements in favour of the other, and without giving more attention to one aspect at the expense of the other. This balanced mindset or balanced life brings the spirit and the body together fairly and equitably; it does not neglect the fact that the spirit is a gift from God, and that the body is also a gift from God. A person who lives with this level of sobriety, living a fair and balanced life, is able to walk wisely in leading this present life, and in leading the coming life as well.
The great mistake we often make as human beings is extremism, excess. We run after one factor and ignore the other factor. A beast does not suffer from extremism; it is governed by instinct, which is why, for example, when an animal eats, it eats just the amount which the body needs and then stops; it will not eat [after that] even if you hit it. Likewise, it drinks just the amount of water which it needs, and if you hit it to make it drink more, it cannot drink.
It is not so with a human being. He can eat and drink more than his body needs. The reason is that a human being has a mind,[2]‘aql, meaning mind, reason, intellect. and through the mind, he has a certain experience, and feels a pleasure in his thoughts.[3]liddha fikriyya, lit. a mental or intellectual pleasure, a pleasure in the realm of thoughts or ideas (fikr). So for instance, when a man eats and experiences the pleasure of food, he forgets himself and is not satisfied with the basic essentials, and so he goes to excess
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and goes to the extreme, affected by the thought of pleasure, the thought of enjoyment, the thought of happiness and the thought of desire, because desire associates with thought and the mind. In this way, man can descend to the level of a beast; and even lower than an animal, because an animal is governed by instinct and does not have a mind that makes it indulge in mental or bodily pleasure through experiences and thoughts, as the mind of man indulges in them.[4]laysa ‘anduhu ‘aql yaj‘aluhu yamtadd bi-l-khibrāt wa bi-l-āfkār ilā al-liddha al-‘aqliyya āww ilā al-liddha al-jasadiyya imtidādān kamā yamtadd fikr al-insān fīhā. Thus, it is through the mind and thought that a human being falls into the sin of excess, extremism and caring about one factor at the expense of another; it is not so with animals. From this, we understand that the spirit takes part in decadence along with the body.
The cause of sin is thought and the mind.
This is how I respond to a question often given to me, namely: if the spirit is from God, how can the spirit sin? I answer:
We tend to attribute fault and sin to the body. But this is not right, because the body, insofar as it is a body governed by instinct, does not sin; and an animal does not sin; the fault is in the man. The source of the fault is the entry of a thought, because this thought — [the thought] of meditating on pleasure and experiencing desire — is what makes a man indulge in the dusty desires of the earth. Thus, it is not the body that is the cause of sin; rather, the cause of sin in man is thought and the mind. Even though the mind is from God, through its association with the body it becomes saturated with bodily things and inclines towards them, and descends with the body to a greater extent than the body itself demands.[5]This concern about the spirit “inclining” towards the body and losing its virtue is a classic theme in patristic writers; cf. for instance St Athanasius, Against the Gentiles 1.2, and St John Cassian, Conferences 1.31.1; 1.14.8–9; 3.7.3. The secret of sin, therefore, goes back to thought and the mind, not to the body. This why man is defiled in spirit before he is defiled in the body.
For this reason, the core of Christianity says that the way for a person to get rid of sin is not to pluck out his eye or cut off his hands, legs or any other organ of his body. Rather, the real victory is the victory of the mind, victory of the will. A person can stop his eye from looking without plucking it out. He can keep his hand from sin without wounding or cutting it off with any implement: he cuts it off from action voluntarily, that is, by controlling it through his will.
Fasting is Important for the Control of the Spirit over the Body
The primary means of gaining control, control of the soul over the body, is fasting. Why? Because there is food before you, but you prevent yourself from eating it by your own will and your own choice. Food lies before you — nothing prevents you — and yet, by your own will and your own choice, out of conviction, you prevent yourself from eating it. Fasting therefore brings about the strength of the will and the control of the mind and the spirit over the body. Fasting is a bridle held by the mind and the spirit; a bit that ties a man’s soul away from its desires. Fasting is the greatest school for strengthening the will, like physical exercise and its ability to strengthen— 8 —
the body. Fasting strengthens the inner will and self-control. We all know that those who fast are more capable than others at refraining from particular kinds of food when their health requires it, or when the doctor orders them not to eat certain things that might harm their health. But a person who is not accustomed to fasting struggles to follow the doctor’s instructions. He says, “There is one age and one Lord,”[6]al-‘umr wāḥid wa-l-rabbu wāḥid. A popular saying meaning that whatever we do, God is ultimately in control of our lives. In this case, it is used as an excuse to justify not caring for one’s body by curbing one’s desires. as though he were very pious, when the truth is that he is weak-willed and incapable of restraining himself from that kind of food. Whereas someone who fasts and has trained themselves to fast is able to keep themselves from what is harmful to them, without any great struggle. Why? Because they are well-trained and because they are able to bridle their will and keep themselves from this or that sort of food.
The same can be said about harmful things like smoking, drinking and other bad habits and behaviours. The person who has experienced fasting is better able to quit smoking, drinking, and other harmful habits which need to be eliminated. A person who fasts is more capable of reaching that sublime level, getting control over every habit, and by means of his will, removing every obstacle to his spiritual progress.
Thus, fasting from food is the first round: if a man wins here, he will also win the rest of the rounds. For a man is confronted throughout his life by many hardships, whether in his spiritual life, material life, intellectual life or mental life. A strong-willed man is able to overcome these hardships, and fasting, because strengthens the will, helps a man to develop the virtues of self-control, strength of will, and steadfastness in the face of hardships or any kind of desire.
Fasting and the Achievement of High Goals
We need strength of will in two domains. Firstly, [we need strength of will] in the domain of overcoming the obstacles and difficulties that litter our path. Secondly, we need strength of will in order to reach lofty aspirations and high goals.[7]Cf. the theme of humanity’s “infinite aspirations” in the writings of Bishop Samuel, e.g. Life and Hope and From the Depths. If a person is not satisfied with their present level, whether spiritually or academically or in any other respect and they have great goals ahead them, the achievement of these goals will require patience and struggle. A person who fasts is more capable than one who does not when it come to this kind of endurance in the face of obstacles, and also endurance along the path to achieving high goals and sublime targets and making the sublime life he wants to live a reality. In this way, a person takes hold of the reins of his own self and masters it. But when his self instead controls him, he becomes a slave to his desires and says, “I want to, but I cannot.” In the lives of those who fast, however, there is no such thing as “impossible”, for one who fasts is able to master himself. The first
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instinct of life, as psychology tells us, is the greatest of all the instincts, namely, the instinct for food. They call it the primary instinct of life because many experiments and general studies on animals and human beings have shown it to be the greatest instinct of all the instincts which affect human life. The instinct for food is stronger than the paternal or maternal instinct, stronger than the sexual instinct, and stronger than the instincts of anger, aggression and possession. Many experiments were conducted to demonstrate this. Thus a mother, who represents the greatest human ideal of love for one’s children — to the extent when the Lord needed an analogy for His love toward us He compared it to the love of a mother — a mother, I tell you, who represents this great ideal of love, in cases of severe hunger, is capable of killing her child and eating it. This has happened among all nations during times of severe hunger; we find examples of mothers who killed their children and ate them. This is what Jeremiah writes in his prophecy: “The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for them” (Lam 4:10).
We gain control over all instincts through fasting
The instinct for food is thus the primary instinct of life, and therefore, since fasting is the virtue through which a human being gains control over the primary instinct of life, the instinct for food, this means that fasting is the virtue which opens the door for man to gain control over all the other instincts. Accordingly, the virtue of chastity flows from the virtue of fasting, and there is a direct link between food and sexual indulgence. So one who gains control over the instinct for food is able to gain control over sexual desires, anger, possessiveness, selfishness and other instincts that prevent him from progressing in the spiritual life. Thus, fasting rules over the instinct for food, and fasting is considered a triumph for man, a triumph for the human will, over all the difficulties that confront him in his spiritual or intellectual life, which is the great goal of fasting.
Fasting brings about clarity of soul[8]ṣafā’ al-nafs, meaning not simply “purity” of soul, but “clarity” or even “transparency”. Ṣafī is an adjective naturally applied to a sky that is calm and clear of clouds, or a body of water that is tranquil enough to yield a reflection. It also connotes honesty and genuineness. and the release of the spirit[9]intilāq al-rūḥ. A phrase that inevitably calls to mind Pope Shenouda’s celebrated work of the same name.
There is another goal [of fasting], although there is no room to discuss it here in detail, namely, bringing about clarity of soul and the release of the spirit, where a man enters spiritually into advanced relationships in the world of spirits and into resemblance between God and man. This is why we find that some of the saints were able, through fasting, to achieve a wondrous state of spiritual clarity, whereby they came into direct contact with the upper world, reaching the stage of spiritual revelations and an openness to the intellectual, spiritual and heavenly worlds. These revelations are confirmed by the experiences of those great saints who entered into spiritual visions. St Paul the Apostle says, “It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” (2 Cor 1:12), and John the Seer says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10). Now, the great vision which
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of which we read in this great book, the last book of the Holy Scripture, would not have been possible for a fleshly man, or one driven by desires. And John the Baptist, who lived in the wilderness in the style of a pious ascetic monk, was able through this spiritual life to reach high spiritual levels, and to see God, to hear the voice God saying to John the Baptist concerning Christ, to whom be the glory: “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:33–34).
These saints attained a state of such clarity that they were able to interact with the spiritual world and enter into direct relationships with the upper world. They were able to discover things which would have been impossible to discover if they were subject to the desires and lusts of the body. Thus fasting actually brings about clarity of soul and makes worship an easy thing, bridling the desires of the body and its earthbound inclinations.[10]muyūl al-jasad al-turābiyya, lit. the body’s dusty inclinations. It frees the spirit from the pressures, obstacles, impurities and agitation which the body wreaks in the mind and the spirit. The body and the spirit are both freed from this agitation, allowing a person to pass easily to a point of release into the spiritual world.
From all this, we comprehend that we are entering into one of the holiest periods of the church year, namely, the Great Fast.[11]i.e. Holy Lent. This lecture was evidently delivered towards the beginning of Lent in 1969; Easter fell on April 13 in that year. The Church’s wisdom has made this fast long — to the extent that she adds Passion Week to it, making it fifty-five days, even though Passion Week is distinct and historically far removed from the forty day fast of our Saviour[12]i.e. Christ’s forty day fast in the wilderness took place some years before the events commemorated in Passion Week; the Church has not joined Lent and Passion Week together because the events they commemorate were connected in actual history.” — I say, the Church’s wisdom in this fast is that the longer one fasts, the more one is able thereby to achieve control over the body, clarity of soul and spiritual progress. This is exactly what happens in academic study: if a person is engrossed in writing a paper or immersed in reading on some subject, and someone interrupts him by knocking on his door, the result is that his thinking or reading is brought to a halt.
But if a worshipper fasts for a long time without interruption, he attains many great benefits and develops the ability to persist and persevere in the life of righteousness. Herein lies the wisdom of connecting Passion Week to the forty days of the Great Fast, so that there would be greater opportunity for communing with the upper world and for greater depth in spiritual things. And then they said that it would not be good to enter immediately into Holy Forty Days; when a train begins to move, it moves slowly at first and then begins to pick up speed. Likewise, the Church saw fit that we should not begin Holy Forty Days and the Passion Week that follows it in a sudden manner, but instead added an introduction to it, allowing the faithful to begin slowly before entering into the ascetic life which ought to adorn this greatest and holiest of fasts. This is the origin of the first week of the Great Fast, an introduction to the Holy Forty Days, and to make up for the five Saturdays which fall during this period, since the canons of the Church forbid intermittent fasting on Saturdays
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The article breaks off here and resumes on page 17
(except on Great Saturday, the Saturday of Light), due to the sanctity of the day and in respect for Old Testament law.
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Notes:
| ↑1 | taṭarruf, the opposite of moderation, often used to describe religious extremism or fanaticism. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | ‘aql, meaning mind, reason, intellect. |
| ↑3 | liddha fikriyya, lit. a mental or intellectual pleasure, a pleasure in the realm of thoughts or ideas (fikr). |
| ↑4 | laysa ‘anduhu ‘aql yaj‘aluhu yamtadd bi-l-khibrāt wa bi-l-āfkār ilā al-liddha al-‘aqliyya āww ilā al-liddha al-jasadiyya imtidādān kamā yamtadd fikr al-insān fīhā. |
| ↑5 | This concern about the spirit “inclining” towards the body and losing its virtue is a classic theme in patristic writers; cf. for instance St Athanasius, Against the Gentiles 1.2, and St John Cassian, Conferences 1.31.1; 1.14.8–9; 3.7.3. |
| ↑6 | al-‘umr wāḥid wa-l-rabbu wāḥid. A popular saying meaning that whatever we do, God is ultimately in control of our lives. In this case, it is used as an excuse to justify not caring for one’s body by curbing one’s desires. |
| ↑7 | Cf. the theme of humanity’s “infinite aspirations” in the writings of Bishop Samuel, e.g. Life and Hope and From the Depths. |
| ↑8 | ṣafā’ al-nafs, meaning not simply “purity” of soul, but “clarity” or even “transparency”. Ṣafī is an adjective naturally applied to a sky that is calm and clear of clouds, or a body of water that is tranquil enough to yield a reflection. It also connotes honesty and genuineness. |
| ↑9 | intilāq al-rūḥ. A phrase that inevitably calls to mind Pope Shenouda’s celebrated work of the same name. |
| ↑10 | muyūl al-jasad al-turābiyya, lit. the body’s dusty inclinations. |
| ↑11 | i.e. Holy Lent. This lecture was evidently delivered towards the beginning of Lent in 1969; Easter fell on April 13 in that year. |
| ↑12 | i.e. Christ’s forty day fast in the wilderness took place some years before the events commemorated in Passion Week; the Church has not joined Lent and Passion Week together because the events they commemorate were connected in actual history.” |
| ↑13 | rā’iḥat al-riḍā |
How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):
Gregorius, Bishop of Scientific Research. “Fasting” [al-Ṣūm]. Sunday School Magazine 23, no. 3/4 (1969):7–11, 17. Translated by Lucy Amin. In Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/gr-fasting-1969/.
(For more information, see Citation Guidelines)
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