Thoughts on Fasting and Temperance
by Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich
Man, having received his present being, consisting
of a visible body and an intellectual,
immaterial soul, is a being complex. But the nature
and worth of both the just-named parts are not of
equal value. The body is made as an instrument
that is moved by the order of a ruler; the soul is designed
to govern and command it, as the superior
of an inferior. The soul, receiving from the intellect
and reason the means by which it makes distinctions,
may, possessing such a quality of distinction,
separate the truly beautiful from its common imitation;
it may perceive God as the Creator and Designer,
not only of that which is underneath our
feet and received by our senses, but that, also,
which is hidden from the eyes, and which the immaterial
mind may contemplate, having the power
of imagination at its command.
Practicing, as the godly one, in righteousness
and virtue, it aspires unto divine wisdom, and,
obeying its laws and commands, withdraws as
much as possible from the desires of the flesh,
comes nearer to God, and strives by all its strength
to ally itself with the good. The particular and most
importantobjectofthissacredphilosophyis
temperance; as it is the mind, which is not
disturbed, but free of all influences of pollution,
arising from the stomach or other senses, that has a
continual action and contemplates the heavenly,
the things pertaining to its own sphere.
And so it behooves us, the lovers of all things
pure, the lovers of the word of God, yea—even
Christians, to love the present time, which our holy
Church has set apart for a special opportunity of
obtaining greater grace in the sight of God. We
should hail with joy such an opportunity! The time
I refer to is Great Lent. We should love this fast as
the teacher of sobriety, the mother of virtue, the educator
of the children of God, the guardian of the
unruly, the quiet of the soul, the staff of life, the
peace that is firm and serene. Its importance and
strictness pacifies the passions, puts out the fire of
anger and wrath, cools and quiets the agitation produced
by overeating. And, as in summer time,
when the sweltering heat of the sun hangs over the
ground, the northern breeze proves a blessing to the
sufferers, scattering the closeness by its pleasant
coolness, so does likewise fasting, destroying the
overabundance of heat in the body, which is caused
by gluttony. Proving to be of so much benefit to the
soul, Lent brings the body no less benefit. It refines
the coarseness of matter, releases the body of part of
its burden, lightens the blood vessels that are often
ready to burst with an overflow of blood, and prevents
them from becoming clogged, which may
happen as easily as it occurs with a water pipe, that,
when being forced to maintain the abundance of
water pressed into it by a powerful machine, bursts
from the pressure. And the head feels light and clear
when the blood vessels do not nervously beat, and
the brain does not become clouded by the spreading
of evaporations. Abstinence gives the stomach
ease, which relieves it from a forced condition of
slavery, and from boiling like a boiler, working with
a sickly effort to cook the food it contains. The eyes
look clear and undimmed, without the haze that
generally shadows the vision of a glutton. The activity
of the limbs is stable, that of the hand firm;
the breath is regular and even, and not burdened by
pent-up organs. The speech of him who fasts is
plain and distinct; the mind is pure, and then it is
that the mind shows forth its true image of God,
when, as if in an immaterial body, it quietly and
undisturbedly exercises the functions belonging to
it. The sleep is quiet and free from all apparitions.
Not to extend unnecessarily, we may sum up by
saying that fasting is the common peace of the soul
and body. Such are the beneficent results of a temperate
life; and such are the precepts of a Christian
life. It is a law of the Holy Church, which prescribes
that we should fast during the Lenten season.
Do you not know that angels are the constant
watchers and guardians of those that fast, just as the
demons, those very friends of greasy stuffs, those lovers
of blood and companions of drunkards, are the
associates of those that give themselves up to debauchery
and orgies during such a holy time as Lent?
The angels and saints, as also the evil spirits, ally
themselves with those they love; they become related
with that which is pleasing to them. Every day in our
life God points out a lesson to us concerning the
eternal life, but we very seldom heed it; in a word, we
generally don't care! Oh, is this not terrible to think
of? And yet no one man will deliberately, so to speak,
attempt to slight the Almighty Creator, no one who
is capable of using his understanding in the very least
degree. But yet, beloved brethren, we do it! We, day
after day, in our worldly habits unconsciously say: "I
don't care!" Have we a right to do anything at all unconsciously,
when He, in Whose hand the very
breath of our life flutters as a very weak, little thing,
when He, I say, bestowed upon us this conscience?
Over and over again we dare to directly disobey
God's commands. It is a terrible thing to fall into the
hands of the Living God (Heb. 10:31). But the Lord
of Hosts is long-suffering, and to repentant Christians
He is the Father of Mercies. Yet it behooves us,
Christians, to zealously watch every step we take, to
be sure that we are walking in the path that our Holy
Church not only pointed out, but, as it were, even
cut out for us by the stream of martyrs' blood, by the
wisdom of the Holy Spirit abiding in the sainted
bishops of the universal Councils, the night labor of
praying and fasting fathers, and a host of pure,
self-sacrificing, obedient women, such as Mary,
Thecla, Barbara, Macrina. The Church says that in
the time of Lent we must fast, and we should not disobey,
because our Holy Church is the Church of
God, and she tells us what God Himself wills that we
should do. If we have all the learning of the nineteenth
century, it will appear as a blank before the
simple words of the Church, spoken in the power of
the Spirit of God. We cannot, and we have no right
(for who gave us such a privilege?), to excuse ourselves.
We are with good intention, in simplicity of
heart, to obey the commandments of the Church,
and not worry about adapting ourselves to the ways
of the Church, for when we obey with our whole
heart, with a strong desire to fulfill the holy commandments,
then our Holy Mother Church adapts
herself to the weakness of her faithful children.
But let us turn back to the lesson pointed out for
us. We may every day learn a new lesson about the
next life, which is of so much importance, that the
examples in this life are inexhaustible. Look around
and observe. In this instance look into the kingdom
of animals and birds. See the clean dove hovering
over places that are clean, over the grain field,
gathering seed for its young. Now look at the unsatiated
raven, flapping its heavy wings around the meat
market. And so we must strive to love a temperate
life, that we may be beloved by angels, and hate all
unnecessary luxury, so as not to fall with it into
communion with demons.
Let us return with our memory to the commencement
of our race, and experience will testify
to that which we sometimes make light of. The law
of fasting would not be given to us, had not the law
of the first abstinence been transgressed. The stomach
would not be named as an evil-minded thing,
had not the pretext for pleasure entailed after it such
consequences of sin. There would be no need of the
plow and the laboring oxen, the planting of seed,
the watering shower, the mutual change of the seasons
of the year, the winter binding in fetters and
the summer opening up all things. In a word there
would be no need of such periodically repeating
toil, had not we, through the mistaken pleasure of
our first parents, condemned ourselves to this round
of labor. Yet we were on the way of leading another
kind of life, in comparison with what we see now,
and which we hope to regain once more, when we
are liberated from this life of passion by the resurrection.
Such is the mercy of God's condescension towards
us, that we should be again restored to the
former dignity, which we had enjoyed through His
love to man, and which mercy we did not carefully
keep. Fasting is a type of the future life, an imitation
of the incorruptible existence. There are no feastings
and sensual gratifications over there.
Do not flee from the difficulty of fasting, but set
up hope against the trial, and you will obtain the
desired abstinence from food. Repeat to yourself
the words of the pious: "Fasting is bitter, but paradise
is sweet; thirst is tormenting, but the spring,
from which he who drinks will thirst never again, is
at hand." The body is importunate, but the immaterial
soul is much stronger—strength is dead, but
nigh is the resurrection. Let us say to our
much-craving stomach what the Lord said to the
tempter: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word of God (Luke 4:4). Fasting is not hunger,
but a little abstinence from food, not an inevitable
punishment, but a voluntary continence, not a servile
necessity, but a free selection of the wise. Pray
and you will be strengthened; call, and a prompt
helper will come to your assistance.
From the Saint
Herman Calendar 2008, pp. 3-4. Posted on 3/23/2008 with the blessing of Abbot Gerasim.
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