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Chapter 89FeofanPisma.1.89

Письмо 89

The Necessity of Fasting

The author defends the practice of fasting as an apostolic tradition and a necessary means for recovering the paradise lost by disobedience.

How much talk there is about fasting, how people rise up against it and say: “Why fasting—and such a strict fast—when the Lord Himself says that what goes into a person does not defile him, but what comes out of the heart, and the Apostle teaches: ‘Let not the one who does not eat judge the one who eats’ (Rom. 14:3), and St. Chrysostom on the day of Holy1 Pascha calls everyone to joy—both those who have fasted and those who have not?”2 I think that after what I wrote earlier, this line of reasoning no longer confuses you.3 Poor fasting! How many reproaches, slanders, and persecutions it endures! And yet, by God's mercy, it all still stands. And how else could it be? The support is strong!4 The Lord fasted; the Apostles fasted, and not a little at that, but as the Apostle Paul says of himself: "in fastings often"; and all God's saints kept a strict fast, so that if we were given to survey the dwellings of paradise, we would not find there a single one who shunned fasting. And that is how it should be. Paradise was lost by breaking the fast; therefore, taking up a strict fast should be one of the ways we recover the paradise we lost.5 Our Mother, the Holy6 Church, so tender-hearted — is she really a stepmother to us? Would she ever lay a heavy and needless burden on us?✦ And yet she does lay one! Clearly, it can't be otherwise. So let us submit. .7 . And really, everyone who wants to be saved submits. . . Look around. As soon as someone has even a little concern for their soul, they start fasting right away—and the stronger that concern, the stricter the fast. Why is that? Because with fasting the work goes better, and it's easier to get a hold of the soul.

The Spirit of Rebellion

Those who reject fasting often do so out of a desire for a broad, unconstrained life, revealing a deeper resistance to the cross of Christ.

If someone makes excuses to avoid fasting, you can be sure that salvation isn't precious to them. Wherever the belly dictates the rules, the belly is god. Whoever has the belly for god is an enemy of the cross of Christ. Whoever is an enemy of the cross is an enemy of Christ, our Savior and God. Here's how you should go forward from now on: when someone starts rising up against some ascetic ordinance of God, begin asking him which one he does accept, besides the one he's rejecting.8 For example, if someone rejects fasting, ask: well, do you need to go to church? Do you need to keep a home prayer rule?9 Do you need to go to confession, and so on? . . You'll almost certainly find that he'll refuse everything. It will be clear to you that for him it isn't about fasting at all, but about any constraint whatsoever.✦10 . . He wants to live the broad way.✦11 . . Well then, let him live! Just make sure you read him God's judgment on the broad path!12 That is the duty of anyone who knows this judgment!13 For when you've questioned him about everything, it will turn out that a wise man of this sort has a completely different faith, it seems.14 And tell him that; tell him: brother, you have another god, other laws, other hopes! . . But for us, God is the Lord Jesus Christ who fasted, and our mother is the holy Church, which by her canons requires fasting, and our sureties are the holy15 Apostles, the pastors and teachers of the whole world—all of them fasters and lawgivers of the fast! So for us, there is no other way. And as for you—go your own way. Do you really think you can convince people like that? .

The False Logic of the Belly

The author dismantles the rationalizations used to avoid fasting, emphasizing that true purity of heart is not found in avoiding discipline but in obedience.

. How could we! They have foreheads of bronze and necks of iron.16 What are you going to do with them? Don't think they have any solid reasons. No. All they have is sheer stubbornness. Those twisted interpretations you've heard are, no doubt, considered lofty ideas by them. But just look at what they have here. They say that what goes into the mouth doesn’t defile. . . Who argues against that? Do those who fast really stay away from food because they’re afraid it will defile them? God forbid!17 No one thinks that. But worldly schemers spin this lie so they can somehow cover themselves with a show of respectability. Those who break the fast defile themselves—not by the food, but by breaking God's commandment, by disobedience and stubbornness.✦ And those who fast but don't keep their heart pure aren't counted pure either. You need both: a bodily fast and a spiritual fast.18 That's how the teachings put it, and that's how the Church sings it too. If someone doesn't do this—it isn't the fast that's at fault! So why refuse the fast under this pretext? You ought to ask those who refuse to fast whether they keep their heart pure. It's unbelievable! If even with fasting and other ascetic practices we can barely manage our dear heart, then without fasting, there's nothing left to say.19 Remember how an elder met a young monk coming out of a tavern and said to him, "Hey, brother! It's not a good thing to come here!" The young man answered him: Come now!20 As long as the heart is pure. . . Then the elder said in astonishment: "I've lived in the desert for so many years, fasting and praying and rarely going anywhere, yet I still haven't gained a pure heart; but you, young man, going around taverns, have managed to gain one." What a marvel!" That's exactly what should be said to anyone who refuses to fast! And as for what is said further on—“Let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats”—that leads nowhere.21 After all, that is instruction! Counting ourselves among those who fast, let's give thanks for the counsel, or the reminder. But the one who does not fast is not thereby freed from the duty to fast, or from responsibility for not fasting. Whoever judges the one who does not fast sins—but the one who does not fast does not become righteous just because of that.

True Joy and Repentance

Chrysostom's invitation to Paschal joy is intended for the contrite, not as a license to ignore the binding obligation of the fast.

And let's not judge. Let each person handle it for themselves as they see fit.22 But we still need to adhere to the rules of fasting and not allow those who take liberties to cleverly spin lies.23 Ultimately, Chrysostom's leniency toward those who didn't observe the fast reflects only the goodness of his heart and his wish that everyone should rejoice on Bright Sunday of Christ, with no one left sad.24 That is the holy father's wish—but whether it actually comes true, God knows! You can tell a sick person, “Get well, get well.” . . Will that actually make him well? It's the same there, too. Everyone is invited to rejoice—but does everyone truly rejoice? And what about the conscience? Noise and racket aren't joy. Joy belongs to the heart, and the heart doesn't always rejoice amid outward merrymaking. Here is St. Chrysostom, assuming that someone's conscience is troubled for not having fasted, takes that very distress as repentance and penance, and gives everyone leave for joy and merriment.25 . . So then, this small group of those who are contrite over not fasting will truly taste spiritual consolation, or heartfelt tenderness — but the rest will hardly!26 And even so, that doesn't diminish the lawfulness or the binding force of the fast for everyone one bit.

Read the original Russian

Как много толков о посте, как восстают на него и говорят: «почему же пост и – такой строгий, когда Господь Сам говорит, что не входящее в человека сквернит, но исходящее из сердца, и Апостол учит: "не ядый ядущаго да не осуждает» (Рим. 14:3), и Св. Златоуст в день Св. Пасхи призывает к веселию всех, и постившихся, и не постившихся?»

Думаю, что после того, что писал прежде, настоящее мудрование не затрудняет уже вас. Бедный пост! Сколько он терпит укоров, наветов, гонений! Но вот все, по милости Божией, стоит. Да и как иначе-то? Подпора крепка! Господь постился, Апостолы постились и притом – не мало, но как говорит о себе Апостол Павел: в «пощениих многащи»; и все святые Божии держали строгий пост, так что, если б дано было нам обозреть обители райския, мы не нашли бы там ни одного, кто бы чуждался поста. Так и следует.

Нарушением поста потерян рай, – подятие строгаго поста должно стоять в числе средств к возвращению потеряннаго рая. Мать наша, Св. Церковь сердобольная, разве мачиха нам? Стала ли бы она налагать на нас какое бремя тяжкое и ненужное? А вот налагает! Верно, нельзя иначе. Покоримся же. .

. Да и все, хотящие спастися, покоряются. . . Посмотрите вокруг. Мало-мальски у кого западет забота о душе, сейчас начинает поститься и, чем сильнее у него забота, тем строже он постится. От чего бы это? От того, что при посте успешнее идет дело и легче совладать с душею.

Кто же отговаривается от поста, верно, тому не дорого спасение. Уж где чрево пишет законы, там Бог – чрево. Кому Бог – чрево, тот враг креста Христова. Кто враг креста, тот враг Христа, Спасителя нашего и Бога. Вы вот как вперед поступайте: когда кто станет восставать на какое-нибудь подвижническое установление Божие, начинайте его спрашивать, какое же принимает он, кроме этого отвергаемаго? напр. , кто пост отвергает, спросите: ну, а в церковь нужно ли ходить? нужно ли домашнее держать молитвенное правило?

нужно ли исповедаться, и проч. . . и уж наверно найдете, что он откажется от всего. И ясно будет вам, что не о посте у него толк, а о всякой вообще тесноте. . . Ему хочется жить широко.

. . Ну, и пусть живет! Только уже непременно прочитайте ему определение суда Божия на широкий путь! Это долг всякаго, ведущаго сие определение! Ведь, когда все расспросите, окажется, что такого рода мудрец совсем другой будто веры. И скажите ему то; скажите, что у тебя, брат, другой бог, другие законы, другия надежды! .

. А у нас Бог – Господь Иисус Христос постившийся, мать у нас – св. Церковь, уставами требующая поста, споручники наши – св. Апостолы, пастыри и учители вселенные, все постники и законоположники поста! Так нам иначе нельзя. А ты себе иди своею дорогою. Не думаете ли вы убедить таких? .

. Куда нам! Лоб у них медян и выя железна! Что вы с ними сделаете? Не думайте, что у них есть резоны какие основательные. Нет. У них только упорство сильно. Вот те кривотолкования, что вы слышали, верно, считаются у них высокими идеями.

А посмотрите, что тут есть? Говорят: не входящее в уста сквернит. . . Кто против этого спорит? Разве постящиеся воздерживаются от пищи потому, что боятся оскверниться ею? Помилуй Бог! Никто так не думает.

А это хитрецы мирские сплетают ложь, чтоб как-нибудь прикрыть себя благовидностию. Нарушающие пост сквернят себя, только не пищею, а нарушением заповеди Божией, непокоривостию и упорством. И те, кои постятся, а не хранят сердца своего чистым, не считаются чистыми. Надобно то и другое: и пост телесный, и пост душевный. Так в поучениях говорится, так и в церкви поется. Кто не исполняет сего, – не пост виноват! За чем же от поста-то отказываться под сим предлогом? Спросить бы тех, кои не хотят поститься, хранят ли они свое сердце чистым?

Дело невероятное! Если при посте и других подвигах едва-едва можно управляться с нашим любезным сердцем, то без поста – уж и говорить нечего. Помните, как один старец встретил молодаго монаха, выходившаго из харчевни, и сказал ему: «э, брат! не доброе дело сюда ходить!» Тот отвечал ему: поди! лишь бы сердце было чисто. . .

Тогда старец с изумлением сказал: «сколько лет живу я в пустыне и пощусь, и молюсь, и редко куда выхожу, но еще не приобрел чистаго сердца; а ты, юный, ходя по харчевням, успел приобресть чистое сердце. Диво!» Вот тоже надо сказать и всякому, отказывающемуся от поста! А то, что там дальше говорится: не ядый ядущаго да не осуждает, ни к чему не ведет. Ведь это наставление! Поставляя себя в число постящихся, поблагодарим за совет, или напоминание. Но непостящийся чрез это не высвобождается от обязанности поститься и от ответственности за непощение. Кто осуждает непостящагося, тот грешит, но непостящийся чрез это не становится праведным.

И не будем осуждать. Пусть всякий себе, как знает. А за правило или закон поста стоять надо и не давать вольникам коварно сплетать ложь. Наконец, снисхождение Златоуста к непостившимся означает только доброту его сердца и желание, чтоб в Светлое Христово Воскресенье все радовались и не было печальнаго лица ни одного. Таково желание святаго отца, а сбывается ли оно на деле, Бог весть! Говорите больному: будь здоров, будь здоров. . .

Поздоровится ли ему от сего? Тоже и там. Всех приглашают радоваться, а все ли истинно радуются? Совесть-то куда девать? Шум да гам не есть радость. Радость бывает на сердце, которое не всегда радуется при внешних увеселениях. Вот св. Златоуст, предполагая, что иного тревожит совесть за непощение, сию самую тревогу принимает за раскаяние и епитимию и всех разрешает на радость и веселие.

. . Так вот эта частичка сокрушающихся о непощении действительно вкусит духовнаго утешения, или умиления сердечнаго, а прочие едва ли! Да пусть и так; законность и обязательность поста для всех от этого нисколько не умаляется!

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.23.4;Matt.11.28-Matt.11.30 — They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with their finger. Matt.11.28 — Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Matt.11.29 — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
  2. ↩Matt.7.13-Matt.7.14 — Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. Matt.7.14 — Because the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
  3. ↩Matt.7.13-Matt.7.14 — Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. Matt.7.14 — Because the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
  4. ↩Matt.15.11;Mark.7.15 — It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth — this is what defiles a person. Mark.7.15 — There is nothing outside a person that can defile by going into him. But the things that come out of a person are what defile.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩«Златоуст» is St. John Chrysostom; kept as Chrysostom to match common English usage.
  2. 2 ↩«веселию» rendered as joy rather than merriment, to keep the Paschal festal register without sounding frivolous.
  3. 3 ↩мудрование can mean reasoning, a way of thinking, or (sometimes pejoratively) sophistry; настоящее may mean either 'present/current' or 'true/genuine'. Rendered as the current line of thought in context of the letter’s argument about fasting.
  4. 4 ↩Подпора (prop/support/stay) personifies the firm foundation of fasting in the example of Christ, the Apostles, and the saints (developed in the next sentence).
  5. 5 ↩Source «подятие» is treated as «подъятие» (undertaking/taking up of a strict fast).
  6. 6 ↩Sentence is truncated mid-phrase («Св.»); it continues in the next sentence as «Holy Church».
  7. 7 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period with no recoverable text.
  8. 8 ↩подвижническое установление Божие: rendered 'ascetic ordinance of God' (ascetical discipline instituted by God); could also be 'ascetic rule/institution,' but 'ordinance' keeps the force of a binding divine establishment.
  9. 9 ↩домашнее... молитвенное правило: Orthodox private prayer rule (fixed daily prayers at home), not a monastic community rule.
  10. 10 ↩Russian теснота (literally tightness/straitness) names the constrained, narrow, ascetic life; it is set against жить широко in s8 and the 'broad path' in the following section.
  11. 11 ↩жить широко can mean live large/unconstrained; here it is deliberately paired with теснота (s5) and with the following section's 'broad path' (широкий путь), so 'broad way' preserves that contrast.
  12. 12 ↩«Определение суда Божия» rendered as “God's judgment” (the declared verdict/sentence). «Широкий путь» keeps the biblical image of the broad way rather than a looser paraphrase such as “easy living.”
  13. 13 ↩«Ведущаго» from ведать, “to know / be aware of,” not “to lead.” Rendered “who knows.”
  14. 14 ↩«Мудрец» is kept as “wise man,” with irony from the context of the easy, unconstrained life. «Совсем другой будто веры» rendered “of quite another faith, it seems,” preserving the softening particle будто.
  15. 15 ↩«споручники» rendered as «sureties» (spiritual guarantors/sponsors who stand for the rule of faith); alternative: sponsors.
  16. 16 ↩Idiom of obstinate hardness of heart; echoes the biblical image of a brass forehead and iron neck.
  17. 17 ↩Помилуй Бог! is a fixed Russian interjection of strong rejection ('God have mercy!'), here functioning as 'God forbid!' rather than a formal petition for mercy.
  18. 18 ↩пост душевный rendered as 'spiritual fast'; more literally 'fast of the soul,' pairing body and soul in the dual discipline of fasting.
  19. 19 ↩«любезным сердцем» is gently ironic: the heart we dote on / our own stubborn heart, not mere endearment.
  20. 20 ↩«поди!» is a dismissive brush-off (roughly 'come on / never mind / go on'); rendered as colloquial 'Come now!' to match the monk's careless retort.
  21. 21 ↩Source quotes Church Slavonic «не ядый ядущаго да не осуждает» (Romans 14:3b). Rendered in plain modern biblical cadence; the argument is that the verse is instruction, not a release from fasting.
  22. 22 ↩Elliptical Russian: Пусть всякий себе, как знает — literally “let each for himself, as he knows”; the verb of managing/acting is understood.
  23. 23 ↩вольникам: freethinkers / those who take license against the fast, not “volunteers.”
  24. 24 ↩Светлое Христово Воскресенье: the Bright Sunday of Christ / Pascha (Orthodox Easter).
  25. 25 ↩епитимия rendered as 'penance' (canonical penitential discipline), not generic punishment.
  26. 26 ↩умиление сердечное: Orthodox spiritual tenderness/softening of the heart (umilenie), not mere emotion; rendered as heartfelt tenderness.

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