Fasting
Going hungry on purpose: the ancient discipline that empties the body to open the soul
Fasting is abstinence from food as an ascetic and penitential discipline. The early church structured it into regular weekly fasts and the great fast of Lent preceding Pascha, with the Didache already prescribing set fast days. Far from a private austerity, it became a shared rhythm of Christian life, joining the body's hunger to prayer and repentance. It prepares believers, especially in the weeks before Easter, to share in Christ's passion and resurrection.
How it traveled
- The Church History of EusebiusCaesarea · c. 339 CEexplains
- The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods— · c. 360 CEapplies
- Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His LifeAlexandria · c. 373 CEapplies
- The Catechetical Lectures of S. CyrilJerusalem · c. 386 CEapplies
- Selections from the Letters of St. AmbroseMilan · c. 397 CEexplains
- Concerning VirginsMilan · c. 397 CEapplies
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEredefines
- A Commentary on the Acts of the ApostlesConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEapplies
- Homilies on Second CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEapplies
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · c. 420 CEexplains
- Against JovinianusBethlehem · c. 420 CEexplains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · c. 430 CEapplies
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Our Lord’s Sermon on the MountHippo Regius · c. 430 CEapplies
- The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal FaultsMarseille · c. 435 CEexplains
- The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIVMarseille · c. 435 CEexplains
- The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-XMarseille · c. 435 CEapplies
- The Letters and Sermons of Leo the GreatRome · c. 461 CEexplains
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · c. 1274 CEexplains
- Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)Paris · c. 1274 CEapplies
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · c. 1564 CEexplains
- Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New EnglandNorthampton, Massachusetts · c. 1758 CEapplies
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 4: Further, the taking of water or medicine, or of any other food or drink in very slight quantity, or of the remains of food continuing in the mouth, neither breaks the Church's fast, nor t
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A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles · John Chrysostom
A great, yes a great good is fasting: it is circumscribed by no limits. When need was to ordain, then they fast: and to them while fasting, the Spirit spake. Thus much only do I enjoin: (I say) not fa
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A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness · Augustine of Hippo
(18.) The Righteousness of This Life Comprehended in Three Parts,—Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer. As long, then, as we are “absent from the Lord, we walk by faith, not by sight;”the fasting He indic
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The founder of the schism which afterwards bore the name of Novatian was Novatus, a presbyter of Carthage who went to Rome (about a.d. 250) and there co-operated with Novatianus, one of the most disti
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Gen. vi. 3, 5. Gen. viii. 21; ix. 3. Ex. xvi. 3. Numb. xi. 4–6. They despised angels’ food, and sighed for the flesh of Egypt. Moses for forty days and forty nights fasted on Mount Sinai, and show
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
15. A holy and lawful fast has three ends in view. We use it either to mortify and subdue the flesh, that it may not wanton, or to prepare the better for prayer and holy meditation; or to give evidenc
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
19. But the first thing always to be avoided is, the encroachment of superstition, as formerly happened, to the great injury of the Church. It would have been much better to have had no fasting at all
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
I. Festal Letters. Letter I.—For 329. Easter-day xi Pharmuthi; viii Id. April; Ær. Dioclet. 45; Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII. Constantinus Cæs. IV; Præfect. Septimius Zenius; Indict. II. Of Fasting,
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
26. In this question, however, of fasting or not fasting on the seventh day, nothing appears to me more safe and conducive to peace than the apostle’s rule: “Let not him that eateth despise him that e
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Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter XII. 40. There follows a precept concerning fasting, having reference to that same purification of heart which is at present under discussion. For in this work also we must be on our guard, l
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Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose · Ambrose of Milan
12. These then ought to take heed to themselves who have that which they may lose, rather than they who have it not. These ought to act with greater care, these ought to guard against the allurements
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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV · John Cassian
Cf. S. Matt. viii. 21, sq. How Theonas exhorted his wife that she too should make her renunciation. And when he had heard this the blessed Theonas was fired with an uncontrollable Cf. 2 Cor. vii. 1
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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV · John Cassian
And this may be distinguished from those other things which we have termed indifferent, in these ways: if a thing is good in itself and not by reason of something else: if it is useful for its own sak
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom · John Chrysostom
Homily XX. [Or Homily XXI. in the Latin versions; see note on Homily XIX., sec. 6, p. 134.—R.] Matt. VI. 16. “And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. For they disfigure th
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
6. Doth a man affright you? Hasten to the Lord above, and thou wilt suffer no evil. Thus the ancients had release from their calamities; and not men only, but also women. There was a certain Hebrew wo
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
11. I have said these things, not that we may disparage fasting, but that we may honour fasting; for the honour of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practice
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
Homily X. Commendation of those who came to hear after taking a meal.—Observations on the physiology of the natural world; and against those who deify the creation; and on the duty of not swearing.
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The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great · Pope Leo the Great
Sermon XXXIX. On Lent, I. I. The benefits of abstinence shown by the example of the Hebrews. In former days, when the people of the Hebrews and all the tribes of Israel were oppressed for their sca
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The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great · Pope Leo the Great
Sermon LXXXVIII. On the Fast of the Seventh Month, III That is the September, or as we should now say, the Michaelmas Embertide. I. The Fasts, which the ancient prophets proclaimed, are still neces
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The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great · Pope Leo the Great
Sermon XIX. On the Fast of the Ten Month, VIII. I. Self-restraint leads to higher enjoyments. When the Saviour would instruct His disciples about the Advent of God’s Kingdom and the end of the worl
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