Fasting

DIMITRI CONOMOS

Fasting, like prayer, demonstrates the essential duality that qualifies the Christian life. Both of these religious practices operate at two levels: the personal and the corporate, and together they are linked inseparably. At the personal level, fasting and prayer are actions enjoined by Christ to be carried out “in secret” (Mt. 6.6, 17–18). At the fully corporate level, the faithful are advised to pray together for certain things in common (Mt. 18.20). The analogy with fasting can be seen in the regulations for abstention prescribed by the Orthodox Church for the entire worshipping community. Whereas the fast in secret, normally known as the ascetic fast, has its own rule and rhythm, according to differing traditions and circumstances, and is essentially an abstinence (the avoidance of particular foods at certain periods of the year or on certain days of the week), the fast of the ekklesia is total (no food or liquid intake) and is in effect a preparation for the Eucharistic banquet, which is a type of the heavenly kingdom.

The divine injunction to fast is as ancient as humanity itself: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest there of thou shalt surely die’” (Gen. 2.16–17).

Original sin is thus revealed to us by the breaking of a fast by Adam in Eden. Succumbing to temptation and eating the forbidden fruit, he was expelled from Paradise and made subject to death. The New Adam of the gospels, on the other hand, begins his mission with fasting (Mt. 4.1–11). In overcoming the temptation to eat, Christ destroyed death and opened once more the gates of Paradise. From either perspective, the biblical view of fasting is of something vital (in the literal sense of “life-giving”) and of decisive importance. The abstinence of the first Adam may be considered ascetical since its obvious purpose was to lead the moral head of the human race to recognize the necessary dependence of creature upon Creator. The total fast of Christ in the wilderness was undertaken as the immediate preparation for his public ministry: to lead humanity back to the Kingdom of God.

The notion of fasting (as opposed to the keeping of dietary laws) in preparation for a theophany is known both in Antiquity and in the Old Testament: Moses, on the mountain, fasted for forty days and forty nights (Ex. 24.18), while the Israelites below were instructed also to abstain from sexual activity (Ex. 19.15) and Daniel fasted as he awaited God’s answer to his prayer (Dan. 9.3). There are many instances of fasting as an act of national penitence. After the disaster of the civil war with Benjamin, all Israel fasted (Judg. 20.26) and Samuel made the people fast because they had strayed away to Baal (1Sam. 7.6). Nehemiah also made the people fast and confess their sins (Neh. 9.1).

Some of these early characteristics of fasting recur in early Christianity, but in general the position adopted towards fasting was different and exceptional. Jesus had criticized the ritual formalism of the Pharisees because it assumed precedence over ethical action. However, he did not eliminate fasting, for he spent forty days in the desert praying and fasting and he suggested that both could be used as effective means against the devil, a view which is reminiscent of ancient practices. Yet, because of the prevailing view associating fasting with mourning, Jesus regarded fasting in his Messianic presence as meaningless (Mk. 2.18–20).

In the post-apostolic period, however, Christianity imposed its own rules with regard to fasting, which seem to have developed from Jewish ones. In the 2nd century the Pre-Pascha fast was established. The duration of this severe fast was analogous to the period of time that Christ spent in the tomb. However, it was not associated with mourning, but rather was viewed as a preparatory period for the celebration that lasted from Pascha to Pentecost and as an outward sign of the anticipation of spiritual fulfilment. During the course of the 4th century this fasting period was extended to forty days in commemoration of the forty years spent by the children of Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 16.35) and Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness, tempted by the devil (Mt. 4.1); from then onwards it was known as the Great Fast (Lent). Also, by the 3rd century, Wednesdays and Fridays were designated as fasting days for Christians. These days were chosen because they were days of mourning: Wednesday in remembrance of the betrayal of Jesus and Friday in remembrance of his death. To fast on Saturday, the day that the Lord rested from his work of Creation, and on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, was prohibited since fasting and joy were regarded as antithetical.

Ascetic, or personal, abstinence is also understood as an act of restoration and reconciliation – not a measure of sacrifice as such, since the emphasis is not primarily a matter of giving up but of giving. Lenten Scripture readings and the hymns establish the priorities: persons come first, rules of fasting come afterwards. Abstinence is ineffective if it does not bring us closer to our fellow humans.

The collective fast of the church, the Body of Christ, presupposes a dimension that is essentially liturgical. It is an act of unification and time-reckoning. It unites the soul with the body, the one who fasts with the divine, and also all believers in the world in a shared action. Yesterday and tomorrow become ever-present in this time scale, for through liturgical fasting and feasting the faithful are given the opportunity to be actually present as contemporaries at the cardinal moments of salvation history. Liturgical life and everyday life are not viewed as separate compartments in the life of a Christian. Liturgy is life and all of life is liturgical, and this includes the fasting of the assembly.