What is fasting for?
In short: Fasting is not a diet and it is not about calories. It is a training of the will, a way to stop being the slave of your stomach, in order to make room for prayer. Saint John Chrysostom said it forcefully: there is no point fasting from food if at the same time you devour your neighbour with your words. True fasting is first of all a fasting from sin.
The Orthodox nuance
Fasting is as old as the world. Saint Basil the Great says that the first commandment given to man in paradise was already a fast: of that tree you shall not eat. It is therefore not a sad invention of monks, it is an ancient remedy given to our nature.
And it is not the body against the soul. We do not fast to torture ourselves, but to put things back in their place: let the body serve, not command. When you cut back a little on food, on sleep, on pleasures, your will is strengthened and the mind clears for prayer. That is why fasting never goes alone: it comes together with prayer and almsgiving. You fast, and what you have saved you give to the poor, otherwise you have only kept a diet.
But beware of measure. Fasting is not a contest of heroism. A sick person, a child, a pregnant woman, an elderly person, do not fast like a healthy monk. Saint John Chrysostom said that true fasting is seen in deeds, in gentleness, in forgiveness, and not in how pale your face is.
Sources
- Saint Basil the Great, Homilies on Fasting (fasting, ancient from the beginning)
- Saint John Chrysostom (true fasting, fasting from sin, seen in deeds)
- Matthew 6, 16-18 (how to fast without boasting)