👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾About
#Fasting (How Do we #fast)
(Part 3)
Dear followers of the Orthodox teachings , we greet you with the peace of the Lord. Today, based on the topic mentioned above, we present to you the following important lesson. We encourage everyone to read it carefully and learn from it.
✍🏾The Meaning and Purpose of Fasting
The prophet Isaiah said, “Is this the fast that I have chosen? Should a man humble his soul on such a day? Should he humble himself like a reed, and spread sackcloth and ashes under his feet?” (Isaiah 58:5)
✍🏾 The reed (Engcha) is a type of grass that grows near water. In the Old Testament, priests sometimes referred to it in their rituals, saying, “The Lord is tried, the devil is bound.” When a reed grows, it bends and lowers itself naturally.
✍🏾 Isaiah teaches us to humble ourselves like the reed. True fasting is not about outward display but inner humility: “Humble yourselves like a reed,” meaning, fast sincerely and quietly, without seeking praise or showing off.
✍🏾 Fasting is a time to treasure humility and allow it to grow. A true Christian is one who endures trials patiently, listens carefully, and submits willingly to God’s will.
✍🏾 The prophet Ezra also emphasizes humility in fasting, saying, “I proclaimed a fast there by the Ahava River, that we might humble ourselves before our God, and seek from him a right way for us and our children and all our possessions” (Ezra 8:21). Through fasting, we submit ourselves fully to God and seek His guidance in all aspects of our lives.
✍🏾Fasting Is a Divine Command
Fasting is not a human tradition. It is God Himself who established it. When God commanded Adam and Eve, “You shall not eat of the tree,” He gave humanity the first commandment, which is the foundation of fasting.
Adam lost his glory because he broke God’s law through food. Likewise, if we fast, we gain blessing; but if we neglect fasting, we lose spiritual grace.
✍🏾The Practice of Fasting
King David said, “My flesh grows weak for lack of fatness.” (Psalm 109:24)
Daniel also said, “I ate no pleasant bread; neither came meat nor wine into my mouth.” (Daniel 10:3)
These verses teach us to abstain from the foods forbidden during the fasting seasons.
Saint Paul explains that fasting directs us toward God:
“Food does not bring us closer to God; we are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.” (Romans 14:7; 1 Corinthians 8:8)
This shows that fasting is a spiritual act that draws the heart nearer to God.
The Holy Fathers also teach that no one fasts and remains without reward, for the blessings received through fasting far exceed any pleasure gained from eating.
✍🏾The Spiritual Benefits of Fasting
Saint Isaac the Syrian teaches that fasting is:
“Fasting is a healing of the soul and a quencher of passions. It is the beginning of all virtues and a giver of grace to God. Fasting brings glory to the pure, acts as a jewel of purity for the virgins, and is the mother of prayer. It becomes a source of tears, a teacher of harmony, and a stimulant to all good works. By humbling the body before God, fasting also strengthens humility.
✍🏾 As Mar Isaac writes (Article 4, Chapter 6), fasting not only nourishes the soul spiritually but also prolongs life, as it aligns the believer with God’s will and strengthens the body through discipline.
Continues 👇🏾