Beware of limiting the good of fasting
to mere abstinence from meats. Real fasting is alienation from evil.
‘Loose the bands of wickedness.’ For give your neighbour the mischief he
has done you. Forgive him his trespasses against you. Do not ‘fast for
strife and debate.’ You do not devour flesh, but you devour your
brother. You abstain from wine, but you indulge in outrages. You wait
for evening before you take food, but you spend the day in the law
courts. Woe to those who are ‘drunken, but not with wine.’ Anger is the
intoxication of the soul, and makes it out of its wits like wine.
St. Basil, in his homilies on the Holy Spirit
Bodily purity is primarily attained
through fasting, and through bodily purity comes spiritual purity.
Abstinence from food, according to the words of that son of grace, St.
Ephraim the Syrian, means: ‘Not to desire or demand much food, either
sweet or costly; to eat nothing outside the stated times; not to give
oneself over to gratification of the appetite; not to stir up hunger in
oneself by looking at good food; and not to desire one or another sort
of food.
The Prologue from Ochrid – by St. Nikolai Velimirovich (Volume 4, p 338):
Fasting is an exceptional virtue; it
represses bodily impulses and gives strength to the soul to fight
against the poisoning of the heart through the senses, and provides it
with a remedy against any past poisoning. Fasting causes the mind to be
cleansed constantly. It whithers up every evil thought and brings
healthy, godly thoughts – holy thoughts that enlighten the mind and
kindle it with more zeal and spiritual fervour.
Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, “Counsels from the Holy Mountain”
http://www.pantanassamonastery.org/
http://www.orthodoxpath.org/catechisms-and-articles/fathers-of-church-about-fasting/
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