We should fast with our eyes ( Abba Dorotheus )

Not only should we observe moderation with food, but we must also abstain from every other sin so that just as we fast with our stomach, we should fast with our tongue. Likewise, we should fast with our eyes i.e. not look at agitating things, not allow your eyes freedom to roam, not to look shamelessly and without fear. Similarly, arms and legs should be restrained from doing any evil acts.

Abba Dorotheus

The Great Fast

By Hieromonk Moses the Hagiorite, Vatopaidi Monastery, Mt.Athos

Many people ignore or do not will to acknowledge the true meaning of these days (of fast), consuming themselves with their routine (monotonous) everyday life. The modern man complains that life is tiring him, yet makes no step towards a fundamental change. He takes on strict diets sometimes, yet disregards the fast. He can make time for a counseling psychologist, can spend hours in front of television, but finds no time for a spiritual father or for the church.

Today’s man does not want to offer but he’d rather receive with not much effort or personal sacrifice. Too afraid to look himself in the eyes, he runs away from himself and struggles in his inner emptiness.

The Great Fast works like an X-Ray, like a (video) camera or like a mirror. In a certain way, we do not welcome it because it reveals our hidden reality.

Today’ spirit of consumerism, comfort and pride leaves man a prisoner of the many unnecessary things that have filled his life. The Great Lent is a halt in the routine rush of life and an opportunity for transfiguration. The prayer of blessed Ephraim the Syrian that in this period it is said hundreds of times during the religious services, urges us to abandon sloth, a lot of care, love of power and idle talk and gain purity, humble thoughts, patience and love. This beautiful and meaningful prayer ends by asking God: “Grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother…”



Let’s abandon gossip, judgment of others that continually stain our soul and let’s move the focus on ourselves correcting our fallings.

The Great Lent urges us to return to one-self and it contributes to our healing from the spiritual diseases that darken our minds and make our lives difficult and bitter.

If we manage to reach this self-knowledge and repentance, then the Great Lent will not be a gloomy and barren time for us, or a simple time to fulfill the “moral duties”, but an opportunity to soften our hardened hearts, which will lead us to the love of people and the love for God.

The excessive rationalism of the difficult time we live in, strives to keep us away from what is mystical, from all that is holy – unspeakable and beyond nature – mystery.

And the result of this state comes to light. Everywhere melancholy and despair reigns, wounding the soul. It is time to see from the depth of our hearts, that we have become estranged and, the time is ripen to return to the cradle of Crucified Love.

Often during the time of Great Lent, temptations, trials, tribulations and failures occur. These will come for us to mature, to acquire balance and a child like nature. Let’s not forget that the life of the Christian is one with the Cross. Without crucifixion comes no resurrection.

The Great Lent is a beautiful time for preparation, a semi-darken corridor leading us to the chamber full of light. The members of this preparatory time are prayer and fasting. But prayer and fasting without humility and love, bares no fruit. The fasting and prayer aim to temper our selfishness. Let’s not loose this opportunity offered once again by the Great Fast, as we’re slowly approaching its end. In the Church, our problems find their solution. The cold winter is followed by spring. Following the clouds, the sunny weather is even more beautiful. The Triodion is followed by the Pentecostarion. And now, as a wonderful hymn says, is the “time of repentance and the hour for prayer.”

Why Don’t You Fast?

The Prophets Fasted

Moses: When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone...I was in the mountain forty days and forty nights, I ate no bread and drank no water. Deuteronomy 9:9 (LXX)

Prophet Jonah:  It was by fasting among other things that the people of Nineveh were saved from his prediction of peril.  Jonah 3:7  (LXX)

Prophet Joel:  “Now, says the Lord your God, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and with wailing, and with mourning. Joel 2:12 (LXX)

Prophet Daniel: And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek him diligently by prayer and supplication, with fastings and sackcloth.  And I Prayed to the Lord my God, and confessed...  Daniel 9:3-4 (LXX)

Jesus Fasted:

Immediately after His Baptism, what did He do?

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. 

What was His instruction for Apostles in the case of the epileptic boy whose demon the Apostles could not cast out?

This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

When challenged by Pharisees about His disciples what did He say? 

Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. 

The Lord Himself gave instructions for fasting:

But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; That you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret. Matthew. 6:17-18

Why did he say this?

Apostles fasted:

In the Acts of the Apostles we read: As they ministered (liturgical rite) to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where unto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

They coupled fasting with liturgical acts:

Paul: Apostle Paul describes his own spiritual life as one of sacrifice, vigils, thirst, and fasting lived “in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

He also refers to fasting in the context of marriage saying that by mutual consent husband and wife abstain from marital relations periodically while fasting and prayer.

The first century - Didache:
“The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” 

Your fasts must not be identical with those of the hypocrites. They fast on Mondays and Thursdays; but you should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

The fasting referred to here was a complete abstention from both food and drink until sundown. 

Church Fathers fasted:

Ecclesiastical writer Tertullian (220) notes that spiritual growth requires confession and prayer fed by “fasting, ...not for the stomach’s sake, ...but for the soul’s.

St. Gregory (391) - practice of receiving the Eucharist after fasting.

Saint Basil (379) wrote much on fasting.

St. John Cassian (435): Therefore, fastings, vigils, meditation on the Scriptures, self-denial, and the abnegation of all possessions are not perfection, but aids to perfection: because the end of that science does not lie in these, but by means of these we arrive at the end. 

St. Athanasius (373) - Fasting is more than just food. ...let us vie with each other in observing the purity of the fast by watchfulness in prayers, by study of the Scriptures, by distributing to the poor, and let us be at peace with our enemies. Let us bind up those who are scattered abroad, banish pride, and return to lowliness of mind, being at peace with all men, and urging the brethren unto love. Letter XIV.

St. Athanasius describes the benefits of fasting:
It “...cures ills and dries up bodily humors, casts out demons and turns away evil thoughts; it makes the mind brighter, the heart clean, and the body holy; and it presents man before the Throne of God.”

Modern Saints Fasted:

St. Nectarios of Aegina (1920) Fasting is an ordinance of the church, obliging the Christian to observe it on specific days.  ...He who fasts for the uplifting of his mind and heart towards God shall be rewarded by God, Who is a most liberal bestower of divine gifts, for his devotion.  
...unless one lifts his mind and heart towards God through Christian--not Pharisaic--fasting and through prayer, he cannot attain a consciousness of his sinful state and earnestly seek the forgiveness of sins.. Prayer and fasting--Christian fasting-- serve as means of self-study, of discernment of our true moral state, of an accurate estimation of our sins and of a knowledge of their true character. (Vol 7 of Modern Orthodox Saints, 2nd ed., p 178)

The purpose of fasting is chiefly spiritual: to provide an opportunity and preparation for spiritual works of prayer and meditation on the Divine through the complete abstinence from food, or the eating of uncooked food or frugal fare.  

However, fasting is no less valuable for physical health, since self-control and simplicity of life are necessary conditions of health and longevity, as dietetics tells us.

Canons of Church require fasting:

If you do not honor the Wednesday and Friday fast you are to be excommunicated.

Must fast prior to taking Communion.

Strict fast during entire Lenten period.

Do not fast on Sunday and Saturday.

If ill or weak relaxation of guidelines appropriate.

Always been essential part of Orthodox Christian Life. 

Necessary discipline to combat the passions and open the door to the renewal of the Holy Spirit. 

Why don’t you fast?

Fasting foods should be simple and plain and not extravagant. 

The more effort that goes into their creativity and preparation, the more its value is reduced. 

They should not be prepared to satisfy our craving for certain tastes.       
• Break from our automatic response to food,
• Give thanks to our Lord,
•  Increase our self-control.

St. Dorotheos of Gaza on the Great Lenten Fast

Icon of Christ Pantocrator, St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
St. Dorotheos of Gaza on the Great Lenten Fast


In the Law, God laid down that the sons of Israel should each year give tithes of all they possessed, and if they did so they were blessed in all their works. The holy Apostles, knowing this to be for the help and advancement of our souls, resolved to fulfil it in a better and higher way, namely, for us to deliver up a tithe of the very days of our lives as if to consecrate them to God, so that we may be blessed in all our works, and each year to be unburdened of the whole year’s sins. They elected to consecrate out of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, seven weeks of fasting, and so they ordained; but our Fathers, in their time, thought it advisable to add another week, both to train and better prepare themselves to enter on the labor of fasting and to honor with their fasting the holy number of forty days which our Lord fasted. The eight weeks, subtracting Saturdays and Sundays, makes forty days, but we honor Holy Saturday with a fast because it is a very holy day and the only Saturday fast of the year.


The seven weeks, without Saturdays, gives thirty-five days, and if we finally add the half of the brilliant and light-giving night, this makes thirty-six and a half, which is exactly a tenth of three hundred and sixty-five. For thirty is the tenth of three hundred, six is the tenth of sixty, and the tenth of five is one half. Here then, are the thirty-six and a half days, the very tithing of the whole year as one might say, which the holy Apostles consecrated to penance for the cleansing of our sins of the whole year. Whoever, therefore, keeps careful guard over himself, as is fitting during these holy days, will be rewarded with blessings, brothers, even if it happens that, being a man, he has sinned either through weakness or carelessness. You see, God gave us these holy days so that by diligence in abstinence, in the spirit of humility and repentance, a man may be cleansed of the sins of the whole year and the soul relieved of its burden. Purified, he goes forward to the holy day of the Resurrection, and being made a new man through the change of heart induced by the fast, he can take his part in the Holy Mysteries and remain in spiritual joy and happiness, feasting with God the whole fifty days. Paschal time, as has been said, is the resurrection of the soul and the sign of this is that we do not kneel in church during the whole season up to Pentecost.


Everyone who wants to purify himself of the sins of the whole year during these days must first of all restrain himself from the pleasure of eating. For the pleasure of eating, as the Fathers say, caused all men’s evil. Likewise he must take care not to break the fast without great necessity or to look for pleasurable things to eat, or weigh himself down by eating and drinking until he is full.


There are two kinds of gluttony. There is the kind which concerns taste: a man does not want to eat a lot but he wants it to be appetizing. It follows that such a person eats the food that pleases him and is defeated by the pleasure of it. He keeps the food in his mouth, rolling it round and round, and has not the heart to swallow it because he enjoys the taste. This is called fastidiousness. Another man is concerned about satisfying himself. He doesn’t ask for fancy food nor does he care especially about whether the taste is nice or not, he only wants to eat and fill his stomach. This is gluttony. I will tell you how it gets its name: margainein means to rage furiously, to be mad; according to the profane, margos is the name given to the man who rages furiously or is mad. When this disease or mania for packing his belly full of food comes upon a man, therefore, it is called gastromargia, the madness of the stomach, whereas laimargia is the madness of the palate. These must be guarded against and abandoned seriously by the man who desires to be cleansed of his sins. They accord not with the needs of the body, but with its vicious inclinations, and if they are tolerated, they lead a man into sin. As is the case with legitimate marital union and fornication, the practice is the same but the object is different. In the one case, there is copulation in order to raise a family, in the other, to satisfy a desire for pleasure. The same is true with feeding: in one case it is a question of the body’s needs and in the other of eating for pleasure. The intention is what makes it a sin. A man eats to satisfy a need when he lays down how much he will take each day and, if what he has determined on overloads him, takes a little less, or if he is not overloaded and his body is weakened, adds a little. And so he estimates exactly his need and he bases his conclusion not on pleasure but on preserving the strength of his body. And what he takes he receives with prayer, deeming himself unworthy of that comfort and he is not on the look out to see if others, as is likely, because of special need or necessity are given special attention, lest he himself hankers for that comfort or think it a trivial thing for the soul to be at rest.


One day when I was in the monastery, I went to see one of the elders–and there were many great men among the elders there. I discovered that his disciple sat down to eat with him, and in private I said to the young man: You know, brother, these elders whom you see eating and taking a little recreation are like men who had deep purses and kept at work, always putting something into them until they filled them up. And after sealing them up they went on working some more and amassed another thousand crowns, so as to have something to draw on in time of need, and so they preserved what was sealed up in the purse. And so it is with these elders. They persevered in their labors, always storing up treasures for themselves, and after sealing up the treasure they worked a little more, and they hold these treasures in reserve for times of sickness and old age so they have something to draw on, and still preserve the treasures they have stored up. But we haven’t even a purse to draw on!


As I was saying, therefore, we ought, even if we take food out of necessity, to consider ourselves unworthy of any kind of special relief or even of monastic life itself–and not take food purely for pleasure, and in this way food will not bring our condemnation.


Enough about sobriety in eating. We must not only keep a sharp watch over our diet, but keep away from all other kinds of sin so that as our stomach keeps fast, so also may our tongue as we abstain from calumny, from deceit, from idle talk, from railing and anger and all other vices which arise from the tongue.


So also let our eyes keep fast. No looking for trivialities, no letting the eyes wander freely, no impudent lying in wait for people to talk to. The same with the hands and feet, to prevent them from doing anything evil. Fasting in this way, as Saint Basil says, is an acceptable fast and, leaving behind all the evil to which our senses are inclined, we may come to the holy day of the Resurrection, renewed and clean and worthy to share in the Holy Mysteries, as we have already said.


First we go out to meet our Lord and receive him with palms and olive branches and seat him on the colt and come with him into the Holy City. What does this mean, sitting on a colt? He is seated on a colt that he may convert the soul (which, as the Prophet says, has become irrational and is compared to senseless beasts) into an image of God, and subject it to his own divinity. What does it mean, going to meet him with palms and olive branches? When someone marches out to war against an adversary and returns victorious, all his own people go before him with palm branches to mark his victory. The palm-branch is the symbol of victory. Again, when one man is injured by another, he desires to approach an authority who can vindicate him. He carries an olive branch and calls out, asking to be heard and helped. The olive branch is the symbol of mercy. Therefore, we go out to meet our Master Christ with palms because he is victorious–for he conquered our enemy–and with olive branches–for we are asking his mercy. May we, by asking, conquer through him and be found carrying the emblems of his victory, not only the victory by which he won for us, but also the victory which we won also through him by the prayers of all the Saints. Amen.



Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!


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