After noting the loss of consciousness of fasting in the modern West – or its transformation into a secularized “dieting” – Father Gabriel (Bunge) continues this second chapter of Earthen Vessels: The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition on “Places and Times” by noting that prayer and fasting have been seen as intimately connected from time immemorial, as is attested to by numerous passages of Scripture.
At first glance the Christian practice of fasting might seem difficult to reconcile with Christ’s word and example. Despite fasting for forty days and nights in the desert, Jesus had a reputation for being a “glutton and a drunkard” (Mt 11:19) and his disciples’ lack of fasting was contrasted to the practice of John’s disciples (Lk 5:53).
However,
Christ did not reject fasting any more than he rejected prayer. In both cases, nevertheless, he was concerned with guarding his disciples against every sort of hypocrisy and vain display of their own “piety”.
And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
It is with fasting just as it is with prayer: The disciples of Jesus also fast, naturally, but they do it solely for God’s sake, not in order to be seen and praised. The same goes for almsgiving and ultimately for the practice of all the virtues. The Fathers, who were noted for the severity of their fasts, took that very much to heart. It is especially true of fasting that one should “seal up the good odor of one’s [ascetical] efforts with silence.” (89)
Moreover, Christ had a particular reason for disregarding the customary fasts of His day, namely, the presence of the “Bridegroom” (Mt 9:15). He also used the symbolism of the common meal as a way to indicate the presence of the Kingdom and announce the good news of reconciliation. This privileging of the common meal was something that the Desert Fathers took to heart teaching that the commandment of hospitality overrides the rules of fasting. In addition, because fasting belonged to the penitential practices of the Church, it was not to be observed on those days “on which Christians call to mind the return of Christ the ‘Bridegroom’”.
From Saturday evening, the vigil of the Lord’s day, until the following evening, one does not bend the knee among the Egyptians, and it is the same during the entire time of Pentecost [between Easter and Pentecost], and in this season the rule of fasting is not observed, either.[Cassian] (92)
Fasting has a relative value, but its importance lies in humbling the soul.
Hence the spiritual meaning of fasting is, first of all, to make the soul humble. “Indeed, nothing humbles the soul as does fasting,” [Evagrius] since it causes the soul to experience in a fundamental way its complete dependence on God.
The obstacles to this humility of heart are our manifold “passions”, those “sicknesses of the soul” that do not allow it to behave “naturally”, that is, according to the purpose for which it was created. Now fasting is an excellent means of “covering over” these passions, as Evagrius says in an allegorical interpretation of a psalm verse.
Fasting is a covering for the soul, which conceals its passions, that is, shameful desires and irrational anger. Therefore he who does not fast exposes himself indecently,
like Noah when he was drunk, to whom Evagrius is alluding here. This means that the purpose of bodily fasting is to cleanse the soul of its shameful vices and to instil a humble attitude. Without this “purity of heart”, even the thought of “true prayer” would be sacrilege.
Whoever is [still] caught up in sins and outbursts of anger and dares to reach out shamelessly after the knowledge of divine things or even to enter [the place] of immaterial prayer, let him expect to hear the Apostle’s reproach, according to which it is not safe for him “to pray with head uncovered”. Indeed, such a soul, he says, “should have an ‘authority’ on her head, because of the angels,” by wrapping herself fittingly in shame and humility. (93)
In addition to this, fasting has a practical significance in that it enables one to watch in prayer, as opposed to a full stomach which is inclined to sleep. Fasting prepares the mind for the contemplation of the divine mysteries.
Father Gabriel concludes:
Although fasting is therefore just as indispensable as watching to anyone who wants to “pray in truth”, still, like everything in the spiritual life, it must take place “at the appropriate times and in moderation”. In this respect each person will have his own suitable measure, according to his strength, his age, the circumstances of his life, and so on.
For what is immoderate and untimely is of short duration. Something that lasts only a short time, though, is more likely harmful than useful. [Evagrius] (94-95)
A vow of conversation 
January 22, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Dear Macrina,
Very nice post and I agree with Bunge about the loss of the practice of fasting as an integral part of the spiritual life. At best it has become an episodic practice and for most in the West something that is even limited to a few days a year. Even the fast done in preparation for Holy Communion has been limited to a rather meaningless one hour discipline. If you are interested in great resource (although you may already know about it) try “To Love Fasting” by Adalbert de Vogue. It is perhaps the best and most thorough modern work on the subject that I have come across, especially in regards to the practice of the regular fast.
Blessings,
Fr. David
January 22, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Thank you for your comment, Father David.
There is much that I could say about the loss of consciousness of fasting in the West, but I fear that I had better refrain in case I come across as a judgmental convert! I am certainly no hero in this regard, and Orthodox Christians do not always practise what they preach. But I have certainly realised that fasting touches us at a level that, however prosaic it may often seem, is beyond what we can express in cerebral language.
I read To Love Fasting
several years ago and was certainly struck by it. For readers who are interested, it may be good to mention that there is an article by Father de Vogüé (who one of the readers of this blog considers infallible) on the same theme here (scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link).
January 23, 2011 at 7:49 pm
The link to the article seems to be broken…
Mary
January 23, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Okay, I seem to have fixed it, although I don’t really understand what went wrong as it worked yesterday…
January 23, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Oh!!!…That’s funny. One of my most favorite websites and I actually have that article on files.
I don’t have his book though. A bit too pricey for the time being.
M.
January 24, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Yes, definitely pricey, and it’s actually a very short book from what I remember.
January 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Dear Macrina and Father David,
Two things:
The first is to you Macrina, and it is to encourage you at all costs to press this point in your prayer, thinking and writing. There is nothing at all judgmental in the bald faced assertion that the west erred deeply with each softening mitigation of the fast. In fact it may be soul saving to do so.
And the second and related point is that I, in my personal life, have come to the conclusion that until the west regains a deep desire for fasting, there will not be a genuine and truthful resumption of communion between the Catholic Church and Orthodoxy. Discussing all the elements of why I believe that to be true, experientially, is a whole series of posts in themselves.
Mary
January 23, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Thanks for your comment, Mary. While I agree that the West erred in losing its fasting discipline, I find it difficult to view that in isolation from other fundamental shifts that occured. It is not simply about laxity, but a loss of consciousness both of fasting and of the meaning of asceticism more broadly. And, well, I suspect that there are rather deep reasons for that, but I don’t intend getting into that here.
January 23, 2011 at 8:21 pm
Best to leave this where we are in agreement . I don’t think the loss is as profound as you do, nor do I think it is old as you might. It is a large body, this Church of mine, and we look at it frequently as the six blind wise men approaching an elephant.
But it would be interesting to hear your vision and how you got there!!
M.
January 24, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Yes, perhaps best to leave it there.
I have thought of writing more on this, but quite apart from serious questions on whether it would be wise, I don’t know where I’d find the time at the moment!
January 23, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Macrina, I agree that when addressing the question of fasting and its practice in the West one must not look at things in isolation from, as you say, other fundamental shifts. My comments arise solely from what I’m sure is a shared sense of urgency and desire to see the importance of fasting emphasized as well as the shared desire to take up the personal practice of fasting more fully.
To this I would only add there has been a clear understanding and perception from the time of the Second Vatican Council that the discipline of fasting was rarely being practiced in its integrity. The distinct call of the Council was for a spiritual renewal and for a return to the teachings of the Fathers and for religious communities to return to the spirit of their founders, as well as to restore those sound traditions that were so closely identified with religious life. Sadly, this call escaped the conscious grasp of many and faithful Catholics still struggle for and await, so to speak, the reform of the renewal. Both Bunge and De Vogue sought as Benedictines to contribute to this renewal through their writings.
While I recognize that the experience and interpretation of these realities and shifts may be quite different for many of your readers, my own experience has given me cause for great hope as I see that renewal take place in many religious communities, including my own, and those spiritual and ascetical practices embraced by young men and women seeking to live the faith in all its fullness. I pray that the fruits of that renewal contribute in their own way to “resumption of communion” of which Mary speaks in her comment.
It should also be noted that shortly following the Council, Pope Paul VI issued an Apostolic Constitution on Fasting and Penitence in which he clarified that fasting and penitence are of primacy concern, so much so, that he declared them to be “among the grave and urgent problems which summon our pastoral concern”, and reaffirmed “its necessity with particular urgency”. Furthermore, this same pope raised the norm of fasting even higher in regions “where economic well-being is greater”, stating that in such areas, “so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given in order that the sons and daughters of the Church may not be involved in the spirit of the world.”
In more recent times, Pope Benedict XVI, in a general address, again emphasized the need to restore fasting back to its proper place, “so that the authentic and perennial significance of this long held practice may be rediscovered.” Lamenting the current state, he has called us back to lives of greater austerity, beginning with the restoration of fasting to its place of primacy.
January 24, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Thanks, Father David. In case anyone is in any doubt about this, I do not in any way want to detract from the importance of Vatican II’s call to return to the sources, and that of the theological renewal – biblical, patristic and liturgical – that preceded it. In fact I have recently thought of doing a post on that after reading comments by Orthodox priests (who I would have expected to know better) who used the term “Vatican II” as a sort of simple synonym for ecclesial and liturgical disintegration. That there has been disintegration in some places is sadly clear (and I have had my fair share of experience of that), but the causes of that are complex and I am uncomfortable with simplistic analysis, whether from Catholics or from Orthodox.
I certainly think that you are correct when you say that prior to Vatican II “the discipline of fasting was rarely being practiced in its integrity.” This, together with things I have heard from older Catholics, points for me to there being deeper roots to this problem than simply Vatican II opening the floodgates and allowing the nasty progressives to ruin things, which is a narrative one sometimes hears from both Catholics and Orthodox.
One point about fasting, though: my own experience in Orthodoxy is that fasting has a decidely ecclesial character. As I said above, I am no hero in this regard and, however much popes might encourage it, and however much I might appreciate the ideal, I would probably not get very far if I did not know that this is what is expected of me by the Church – not in a legalistic way, but simply in the taken for granted way of “this is what we do.”
January 24, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Well indeed, fasting and the rules of fasting are ecclesial. It is that we keep the foundations of the Apostles, that we follow their Paradosis.
What’s wrong with the “West” is that they relaxed the rules of the whole Tradition, of which fasting is but an aspect. It is the profound conviction of the “West” that they don’t have to keep the “external” rules that led to the current state.
January 25, 2011 at 5:27 am
Actually, I think it is more complex than simply departing from rules. In fact, it would rather seem that fasting had simply become about external rules that had lost their connection to an inner reality. I have heard more than one older Catholic describe the disorientation they felt when what had been a mortal sin one day was suddenly perfectly acceptable. It is precisely that seeing fasting purely in terms of rules that seems to have been part of the problem.
January 26, 2011 at 12:31 am
It is doubtless more complex. I was actually emphasizing that the “West” came to see the Tradition as something “external” and soon meaningless (the faith of the “babouschkis” and “yayas”) that we can deride and finally dispose off in order to find the “inner reality”.
January 25, 2011 at 2:21 pm
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