by St. Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome (d. 461)
[N.B. The Church’s fasting season, known as Advent (Lat., “Arrival”), prior to the Feast of Christmas is an ancient practice. Today this Orthodox Nativity Fast is 40 days long, from November 15 to December 25.]On the Fast of the Tenth Month, VIII (Sermon XIX).
- Self-restraint leads to higher enjoyments.
When the Savior would instruct His disciples about the Advent of God’s Kingdom and the end of the world’s times, and teach His whole Church, in the person of the Apostles, He said, “Take heed lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and care of this life” (Lk. 21:34). And assuredly, dearly beloved, we acknowledge that this precept applies more especially to us, to whom undoubtedly the day denounced is near, even though hidden. For the advent of which it behooves every man to prepare himself, lest it find him given over to gluttony, or entangled in cares of this life. For by daily experience, beloved, it is proved that the mind’s edge is blunted by over-indulgence of the flesh, and the heart’s vigor is dulled by excess of food, so that the delights of eating are even opposed to the health of the body, unless reasonable moderation withstand the temptation and the consideration of future discomfort keep from the pleasure.
For although the flesh desires nothing without the soul, and receives its sensations from the same source as it receives its motions also, yet it is the function of the same soul to deny certain things to the body which is subject to it, and by its inner judgment to restrain the outer parts from things unseasonable, in order that it may be the oftener free from bodily lusts, and have leisure for Divine wisdom in the palace of the mind, where, away from all the noise of earthly cares, it may in silence enjoy holy meditations and eternal delights. And, although this is difficult to maintain in this life, yet the attempt can frequently be renewed, in order that we may the oftener and longer be occupied with spiritual rather than fleshly cares; and by our spending ever greater portions of our time on higher cares, even our temporal actions may end in gaining the incorruptible riches.
- The teaching of the four yearly fasts is that spiritual self-restraint is as necessary as corporeal.
This profitable observance, dearly beloved, is especially laid down for the fasts of the Church, which, in accordance with the Holy Spirit’s teaching, are so distributed over the whole year that the law of abstinence may be kept before us at all times. Accordingly we keep the spring fast in Lent, the summer fast at Pentecost, the autumn fast in the seventh month, and the winter fast in this which is the tenth month[1], knowing that there is nothing unconnected with the Divine commands, and that all the elements serve the Word of God to our instruction, so that from the very hinges on which the world turns, as if by four Gospels we learn unceasingly what to preach and what to do.
For, when the prophet says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork: day unto day utters speech, and night shows knowledge” (Ps. 18:1-2), what is there by which the Truth does not speak to us? By day and by night His voices are heard, and the beauty of the things made by the workmanship of the One God ceases not to instill the teachings of Reason into our hearts’ ears, so that “the invisible things of God may be perceived and seen through the things which are made,” and men may serve the Creator of all, not His creatures (Rom. 1:20, 25).
Since therefore all vices are destroyed by self-restraint, and whatever avarice thirsts for, pride strives for, luxury lusts after, is overcome by the solid force of this virtue, who can fail to understand the aid which is given us by fastings? For therein we are bidden to restrain ourselves, not only in food, but also in all carnal desires. Otherwise it is lost labor to endure hunger and yet not put away wrong wishes; to afflict oneself by curtailing food, and yet not to flee from sinful thoughts. That is a carnal, not a spiritual fast, where the body only is stinted, and those things persisted in, which are more harmful than all delights. What profit is it to the soul to act outwardly as mistress and inwardly to be a captive and a slave, to issue orders to the limbs and to lose the right to her own liberty? That soul for the most part (and deservedly) meets with rebellion in her servant, which does not pay to God the service that is due. When the body therefore fasts from food, let the mind fast from vices, and pass judgment upon all earthly cares and desires according to the law of its King
III. Thus fasting in mind as well as body, and giving alms freely, we shall win God’s highest favor.
Let us remember that we owe love first to God, secondly to our neighbor, and that all our affections must be so regulated as not to draw us away from the worship of God, or the benefiting our fellow slave. But how shall we worship God unless that which is pleasing to Him is also pleasing to us? For, if our will is His will, our weakness will receive strength from Him, from Whom the very will came; “for it is God,” as the Apostle says, “who worketh in us both to will and to do for (His) good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). And so a man will not be puffed up with pride, nor crushed with despair, if he uses the gifts which God gave to His glory, and withholds his inclinations from those things, which he knows will harm him.
For in abstaining from malicious envy, from luxurious and dissolute living, from the perturbations of anger, from the lust after vengeance, he will be made pure and holy by true fasting, and will be fed upon the pleasures of incorruptible delights, and so he will know how, by the spiritual use of his earthly riches, to transform them into heavenly treasures, not by hoarding up for himself what he has received, but by gaining a hundred-fold on what he gives. And hence we warn you, beloved, in fatherly affection, to make this winter fast fruitful to yourselves by bounteous alms, rejoicing that by you the Lord feeds and clothes His poor, to whom assuredly He could have given the possessions which He has bestowed on you, had He not in His unspeakable mercy wished to justify them for their patient labor, and you for your works of love. Let us therefore fast on Wednesday and Friday, and on Saturday keep vigil with the most blessed Apostle Peter, and he will deign to assist with his own prayers our supplications and fastings and alms which our Lord Jesus Christ presents, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
From the same, On the Fast of the Tenth Month, I (Sermon XII).
- Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the three comprehensive duties of a Christian.
But there are three things which most belong to religious actions, namely prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in the exercising of which while every time is accepted, yet that ought to be more zealously observed, which we have received as hallowed by tradition from the apostles: even as this tenth month brings round again to us the opportunity when according to the ancient practice we may give more diligent heed to those three things of which I have spoken. For by prayer we seek to propitiate God, by fasting we extinguish the lusts of the flesh, by alms we redeem our sins (Dan. 4:27; Tob. 12:8-9); and at the same time God’s image is throughout renewed in us, if we are always ready to praise Him, unfailingly intent on our purification and unceasingly active in cherishing our neighbor. This threefold round of duty, dearly beloved, brings all other virtues into action (Matt. 6:1-18): it attains to God’s image and likeness and unites us inseparably with the Holy Spirit. Because in prayer faith remains steadfast, in fastings life remains innocent, and in almsgiving the mind remains kind. On Wednesday and Friday therefore let us fast[2]: and on Saturday let us keep vigil with the most blessed Apostle Peter, who will deign to aid our supplications and fast and alms with his own prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Reflection for today’s Nativity Fast:
- Fasting from food and drink includes abstaining from other carnal (fleshly) pleasures and vices, e.g., entertainments, shopping, self-promotion, etc.
- Freeing the body and soul from carnal attachments provides more opportunity for spiritual enjoyment: prayer, worship of God, meditation on God’s Word, thankfulness for God’s gifts, attention to the needs of others, etc.
- Fasting is most effective when joined to prayer and almsgiving, thus purifying the heart to blossom with other virtues springing from the love of God and our neighbor.
- When fasting, abstain from over-eating (gluttony) more-so than kinds of foods eaten (keeping “fasting rules,” which have varied through time, is not the same as fasting). Eat simply not to the point of being over-full.
[1] In the old Roman calendar year which began with the month of March, the seventh month was September, and the tenth month was December.
[2] Here fasting carries its basic meaning, not to eat anything all day on Wednesdays and Fridays, but then eating in the evening at the end of the day, which is the original practice of the Church (see Didache, chapter 8; ca. 100 A.D.).
