Martyr Nicholas Varzhansky
What is Christian Fasting?
Christian fasting is bodily and spiritual abstinence not only from what is forbidden but also from what is permitted to a person.
Firstly, fasting is either complete abstinence from food (as exemplified by the Lord Jesus Christ – Matthew 4; the prophet Moses – Exodus 34; the Ninevites – Jonah 3; the Apostle Paul – Acts 9, and others) or temporary and even permanent abstinence only from certain types of food—for example, from meat, milk, wine, luxurious dishes, and the like. The prophet Daniel, for instance, temporarily abstained from specific kinds of food. He speaks of himself: “I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no tasty food, no meat or wine entered my mouth” (Daniel 10:2–3).
Secondly, fasting is abstinence from the marriage bed (1 Corinthians 7:5), from modest and permissible joys and entertainments of life (e.g., from spectacles, visiting and receiving guests, etc.).
Thirdly, fasting is primarily a concern for the poor, i.e., the renunciation of one’s surplus and comfort for the benefit of the destitute and unfortunate, as demonstrated by the words of the prophet Isaiah below (Isaiah 58:3–4, 6–7).
Is it correct for some to think that fasting consists only of not eating non-fasting foods, while the soul need not be humbled?
Such a notion of fasting is non-Christian. Even in the Old Testament, the Lord rebuked people through the prophet Isaiah for such ostentatious fasting, saying that He would not hear them during such a fast. “Why have we fasted,” say such hypocritical fasters, addressing the Lord, “and You do not see? Why have we humbled our souls, and You do not take notice?” And the Lord answers why He does not love hypocritical, external, and feigned fasting.
“Indeed, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. …Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:3–4, 6–7).
How does the Orthodox Church teach about Christian fasting in its worship?
“Let us fast, brethren, bodily, and let us also fast spiritually: let us loose every bond of unrighteousness (connection with unrighteousness); let us tear apart the burdensome documents of oppression; let us rend every unjust contract; let us give bread to the hungry and bring the poor and homeless into our houses: that we may receive great mercy from Christ God” (Sticheron at Vespers on Wednesday of the first week of Great Lent).
Another sticheron (at Vespers on Monday of the second week of Great Lent) teaches us thus: “Let us fast with a spiritual fast, let us tear apart every corruption, let us also avoid the temptations of sin, let us forgive our brethren their debts, so that our trespasses may also be forgiven us; for thus we shall be able to cry out: Let our prayer be set forth before You as incense, O Lord.” A similar fast is offered by the sticheron at Vespers on Monday of the first week of Great Lent:
“Let us fast with a pleasing fast, one well-pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is turning away from evil, restraint of the tongue, laying aside anger, estrangement from lusts, evil speaking, lying, and perjury—the diminishment of these (the abandonment of all this) is true and acceptable fasting.”
What is the purpose of Christian fasting?
Firstly, fasting is needed to give the spirit victory over the flesh. When we have strong carnal desires, it is difficult for a person to live spiritually. Therefore, it is necessary to weaken the body. The Apostle Peter says that “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1), and the Apostle Paul teaches: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Thus, we can curb our passions only through fasting.
The second purpose of fasting is to accustom us to constant moderation, so that we may be indifferent to food and not delight in it. Otherwise, it often happens that people only think about how to eat better, more, and sweeter, so that they have neither time nor desire to think about the Kingdom of God.
Thirdly, we need to accustom ourselves to the afterlife, the angelic life. In the next world, there is no eating or drinking, and if a person, during his earthly life, becomes accustomed to being “burdened with cares” about food and drink (Chrysostom), then he will have nothing to do in the Kingdom of God. For such people, “their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame—who set their minds on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:19–21).
This is how St. John Chrysostom reasons about the benefits of fasting: “He who prays as he should and fasts has few needs; and he who has few needs will not be covetous; and he who is not covetous will gladly give alms... He who fasts is light, deeply attentive, prays watchfully, extinguishes evil desires, propitiates God, and humbles the proud soul. Therefore, the Apostles always fasted... He who prays with fasting does not yawn, does not stretch, is not sluggish” (Chrysostom, 7, 590).
Is it correct for some to think that fasting is abstinence only from non-fasting foods, but without abstinence from gluttony, drunkenness, and other sins?
No, it is not correct: in the Church of Christ, there has never been and never will be permission or indulgence for gluttony, drunkenness, or any sin in general.
How should we respond to sectarians when they maliciously say that in the Orthodox Church, though one cannot eat meat and dairy on fast days, one can, supposedly, get drunk and, in general, sin?
We must answer that sectarians lie about the Orthodox Church when they speak thus, because, according to our Christian faith, drunkenness and other sins have never been and are not approved, not only during fasting but also at any time.
Is it correct for some to assert that meat cannot be eaten during fasting because it is inherently sinful and a creation of the devil?
Such reasoning is incorrect. Not Christians think this way, but the Khlysts, Skoptsy, “New Israel,” Besedchiki, “Bratichki,” or as they call themselves, “Nazarenes.” They all foolishly assert that meat is demonic food. The Holy Spirit speaks clearly of them in the Word of God: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:1–4).
Who established fasting for people?
The Lord Himself, even in paradise and before the fall of the first humans. God, having created Adam and Eve, gave them as food “every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit” (Genesis 1:29); but a prohibition was placed by God on one fruit, namely, the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). Humans violated this first fast by heeding the devil’s counsel and departed from God. From this first violation of fasting, sin began. Therefore, to this day, people impose fasting upon themselves to be freed from sin.
Was there fasting in the Old Testament?
Holy Scripture shows us that all the great righteous ones of the Old Testament and, in general, all people fasted. They fasted when seeking mercy from the Lord; they fasted when repenting of sins; they fasted when God instructed them. The prophet Moses fasted when receiving instruction on Mount Sinai from “the Lord God; he neither ate bread nor drank water for forty days and forty nights” (Exodus 34:28; 24:18; Deuteronomy 9:9).
King David also fasted, for example, on the day of the burial of his ally Abner (2 Samuel 3:35) and, in general, during sad and difficult circumstances (Psalm 35:13; 109:24). The prophets fasted: Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) and Daniel (Daniel 10:2–3).
There were also common fasts—for the entire people on days of national repentance, for example, among the Israelites (Judges 20:26; 1 Samuel 7:6, 31:13) and among the Ninevites after the preaching of the prophet Jonah (Jonah 3:5).
What instruction is there for us in that Old Testament people fasted?
All Old Testament examples, according to the Apostle, “were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Who began fasting in the New Testament?
In the New Testament, the Savior Himself set an example of fasting. The Evangelist narrates that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness… and when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry” (Matthew 4:1–2).
Did the Lord recognize fasting as beneficial for Christians?
The Savior explained that one can fight the devil only with the help of fasting and prayer. “This kind” (i.e., of demonic possession), said the Savior, “can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).
Did the Lord show what fasting should be like?
The Savior explained that one should fast not for show, not so that people may see the faster and praise him. One should fast not with the aim of achieving glory among people, but to obtain God’s mercy and grace. “Moreover, when you fast,” says the Savior, “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 you, 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” (Matthew 6:16–18). Thus, the Savior promised a heavenly reward for fasting.
Is it accurate to say that the Savior supposedly abolished fasting for the Apostles and all who believe in Him?
No, it is not accurate, for the Lord Jesus Himself predicted that the Apostles would fast. The matter was as follows. The scribes and Pharisees asked Christ: “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom** fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days” (Luke 5:33–35).
So, did the Apostles fast after the Lord’s ascension into heaven?
Yes, they fasted. From the Word of God, we know very little about the Apostles, and moreover, we know about the life of only some Apostles, but even in these brief accounts, there are indications of the Apostles’ fasting. Thus, the Apostle Paul fasted after his calling by the Savior (Acts 9:9); he fasted before being sent from Antioch to preach (Acts 13:2–3); he fasted when ordaining elders (Acts 14:23); and finally, he spoke of his own fasting (1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Corinthians 6:4–5, 11:27).
Do the Apostles advise Christians to fast?
Yes, they do. The Apostle Paul advises that a husband and wife may refrain from one another for a time “that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer” (1 Corinthians 7:5).
Since when have prolonged general fasts existed in the Church of Christ?
They have existed among Christians since the times of the Holy Apostles, and all believers always knew about these fasts just as well as they do now. Therefore, the Apostle Luke, writing the book of the Acts of the Apostles, recounting the Apostle Paul’s journey to Rome and telling of the shipwreck that happened to him, says that it occurred in winter when “the Fast was already over” (Acts 27:9). The Apostle indicates the time of the fast instead of the month and date, as we often do when we say, for example: “Such and such happened at the beginning of the Philippian Fast.” So also the Apostle wrote.
On account of what events were the general Christian fasts established?
We Christians fast on Wednesday and Friday because we commemorate on these days the betrayal of the Lord by Judas and the sufferings of the Savior. “The days will come,” says the Lord, “when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days” (Luke 5:35). On Wednesday and Friday, the Lord was betrayed and crucified; therefore, Christians fast “in those days.”
The Great Fast (Lent) is established in imitation of the Savior’s forty-day fast; the Philippian or Nativity Fast serves to prepare believers for the worthy celebration of the day of Christ’s Nativity.
The Apostles’ (Peter’s) Fast is observed by Christians in memory of receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and in remembrance of the Apostles’ preaching, which they prepared for by fasting (Acts 13:2–3).
The Dormition Fast is established to remind of the future transfiguration of the lowly bodies of pious Christians (Matthew 17:2; Philippians 3:20–21) and so that Christians may make themselves worthy of this transfiguration; the Dormition Fast is also prescribed for the commemoration of the glorious Dormition of the Mother of God.
Why do sectarians: Shtundists, Baptists, Pashkovtsy-Evangelicals, Molokans, Mennonites, Adventists, and others not recognize Christian fasts?
Because they are not Christians. They have renounced the teachings of Christ the Savior and the Holy Apostles and have invented their own religions. The devil taught and teaches sectarians to oppose the Church of Christ and reject fasting because fasting is terrible for the devil, since he, according to the Savior’s word (Matthew 17:21), “is cast out by fasting.”
By rejecting fasts, can sectarians justify themselves with such words of Scripture: “Food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse” (1 Corinthians 8:8)?
No, they cannot: the indicated words are not about fasting, but it is said about food that it in itself is neither good nor evil: everything depends on how food is used. Sin is not in food but in intemperance, in disobedience to the Church, in withdrawal from its common ascetic effort. The Apostle Paul, to whom sectarians refer, speaks of himself thus: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27; cf. 7:5).
Is the sectarian denial of fasting justified by the Savior’s words: “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11)?
No, it is not justified, because if the Lord’s saying is understood in a sectarian way, then all drunkards and gluttons could say that they are not guilty of their drunkenness and gluttony, because they allow excess of drink and food into their mouths, and this, supposedly, is not a sin.
And Eve in paradise, according to sectarian reasoning, did not sin by taking the fruit of the forbidden tree into her mouth! But no, Eve sinned by listening to the devil and breaking the fast. And sectarians also break the fast only because they have refused God’s counsel, the Church’s counsel, and have begun to listen in everything to the devil, that ancient tempter.
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