Fasting in Combination with Prayer
Mark 9:29 – This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.
Tobit 12:8-9 – Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life:
Wherefore let us forsake the vain doing of the many and their false teachings, and turn unto the word which was delivered unto us from the beginning, being sober unto prayer and constant in fastings, entreating the all-seeing God with supplications that He bring us not into temptation, according as the Lord said, The Spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. Polycarp (A.D. 69-156) ch.7
Every prayer should be accompanied with humility. Fast, therefore, and you will obtain from the Lord what you plead for. Shepherd of Hermas (c. AD 100-160) 2.16
“Fasting with prayer is a good thing.” Now fastings signify abstinence from all evils whatsoever, both in action and in word, and in thought itself. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, chapter 12
And thus Holy Scripture instructs us, saying, “Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving.” For He who will give us in the day of judgment a reward for our labors and alms, is even in this life a merciful hearer of one who comes to Him in prayer associated with good works. Thus, for instance, Cornelius the centurion, when he prayed, had a claim to be heard. For he was in the habit of doing many alms-deeds towards the people, and of ever praying to God. To this man, when he prayed about the ninth hour, appeared an angel bearing testimony to his labors, and saying, “Cornelius, your prayers and your alms are gone up in remembrance before God.” Those prayers quickly ascend to God which the merits of our labors urge upon God. Thus also Raphael the angel was a witness to the constant prayer and the constant good works of Tobias, saying, “It is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God. For when you didst pray, and Sarah, I did bring the remembrance of your prayers before the holiness of God. And when you didst bury the dead in simplicity, and because you didst not delay to rise up and to leave your dinner, but didst go out and cover the dead, I was sent to prove you; and again God has sent me to heal you, and Sarah your daughter-in-law. For I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which stand and go in and out before the glory of God.” Cyprian (A.D. 250) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.5 pg.456
At the time of some religious observance, our prayer ascends with more acceptability. Tertullian on Prayer, Chapter 18
In every way make your own soul safe, by fastings, prayers, almsgivings, and reading the oracles of God; that having lived the rest of your life in the flesh in soberness and godly doctrine, you may enjoy the one salvation which flows from Baptism; and thus enrolled in the armies of heaven by God and the Father, may also be deemed worthy of the heavenly crowns, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. Cyril of Jerusalem, 4th Catechetical Lecture
When to fast?
Luke 5:33-35 – And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
Jesus taught that His followers will fast after His ascension… Scripture does not give specific instructions regarding when to fast. However, we find this instruction in the early church and in the earliest writings we have.
But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but fast on the fourth day (Wednesday) and the Preparation (Friday). Didache, Chapter 8
But He [Jesus] commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week; the former on account of His being betrayed, and the latter on account of His passion. Apostolic Constitutions, Book 5, Chapter 3
However, we do not say this that we may loosen the restraints of Christian abstinence. For we have forty days dedicated to fasting; we have the fourth and the sixth day of the week on which we regularly fast. Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 10.2.6
“Son, [hear] the laws of your father, and do not reject the ordinances of your mother.” (Prov. 6:20) We take the words of the “father” [as referring to] Scripture, and “mother” as the unwritten traditions of the Church, such as fasting in preparations, and other such things. Therefore it says, “Do not desire to hear all things from letters”. We can also understand [this to refer to] natural fathers, or also understand spiritual teachers. For the Church is mother of these as well. Origen, Commentary on Proverbs
No one shall find fault with us for observing the fourth day of the week, and the preparation, on which it is reasonably enjoined us to fast according to the tradition. On the fourth day, indeed, because on it the Jews took counsel for the betrayal of the Lord; and on the sixth, because on it He himself suffered for us. But the Lord’s day we celebrate as a day of joy, because on it He rose again, on which day we have received it for a custom not even to bow the knee. Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistles, Canon 15
The early Christians did usually also refrain from fasting on the Lord’s Day and the time after easter to Pentecost:
We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord’s day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.94
I do not mean, of course, that it is unlawful to fast at other times through the year — always excepting Pentecost — only that while in Lent it is a duty of obligation, at other seasons it is a matter of choice. Jerome Letter 41.3
Length of the fast
The early Christians typically concluded their weekly fasts at 3:00 PM, although some fasted longer:
Now is manifested the reason of the truth why the fourth day is called the Tetras, why we fast even to the ninth hour, or even to the evening, or why there should be a passing over even to the next day. Victorinus, on the Creation of the World
The majority of Christians agree that fasting… is part of the new discipline of choice – not command. They say it should be observed according to the times and needs of each individual. Furthermore, they say that this had been the observance of the apostles, imposing no other yoke of definite fasts to be observed by all Christians in general. – Tertullian, on Fasting, Chapter 2
Before Baptism
In addition to the weekly fasts every Wednesday and Friday, new believers fasted for one or two days before being baptized. The early Christians also fasted before Easter, although the length of the fast varied.
But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before. But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week. Rather, fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). Didache, Chapter 8
When Niceta had spoken thus, our mother fell down at Peter’s feet, entreating and beseeching him that both herself and her hostess might be baptized without delay; “that,” said she, “I may not even for a single day suffer the loss of the company and society of my sons.” In like manner, we her sons also entreated Peter. But he [Peter] said: “What! Do you think that I alone am unpitiful, and that I do not wish you to enjoy your mother’s society at meals? But she must fast at least one day first, and so be baptized; and this because I have heard from her a certain declaration, by which her faith has been made manifest to me, and which has given evidence of her belief; otherwise she must have been instructed and taught many days before she could have been baptized.”
They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through. Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 20
How to fast?
Although believers may have refrained from all food on fast days, you were allowed to eat only breat and water:
Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast, you will taste nothing but bread and water. Then, reckon up the price of the meals of that day that you intended to have eaten, and give that amount to a widow, an orphan, or some person in need. – Hermas (c. 150)
In the first place, fasting is the affliction of the flesh. It makes an offering to the Lord of mourning garments and scantiness of food, content with a simple diet and the pure drink of water. It is a victim able to appease the Lord by means of the sacrifice of humiliation. . . This bodily patience adds grace to our prayers for good, a strength to our prayers against evil. – Tertullian (c. 200)
Attitude while fasting
At fasts, moreover, and Stations, no prayer should be made without kneeling, and the remaining customary marks of humility; for (then) we are not only praying, but deprecating, and making satisfaction to God our Lord. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 689
But now that you have despised the boastfulness of the world, do not let the fact inspire you with new boastfulness. Harbor not the secret thought that having ceased to court attention in garments of gold you may begin to do so in mean attire. And when you come into a room full of brothers and sisters, do not sit in too low a place or plead that you are unworthy of a footstool. Do not deliberately lower your voice as though worn out with fasting; nor, leaning on the shoulder of another, mimic the tottering gait of one who is faint. Some women, it is true, disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. As soon as they catch sight of any one they groan, they look down; they cover up their faces, all but one eye, which they keep free to see with. Jerome, Letter 22, chapter 27
Righteous fasting
True fasting is not merely abstaining from food but involves a life of righteousness, obedience, and internal purity. It is not comparable to the fasting that the jews did.
Isaiah 58:6-7 (LXX) – Did I not choose such a fast, says the Lord. But untie every bond of injustice! Part violent perverseness of exchanges! Send out by a free release the ones having been devastated and tear apart every unjust writ! Break your bread with ones hungering, and bring the homeless poor into your house! If you behold one naked, clothe him! And concerning the members of your family of your seed, you shall not disdain them.
Sirach 34:23-26 – When one buildeth, and another pulleth down, what profit have they then but labour? When one prayeth, and another curseth, whose voice will the Lord hear? He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing? So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins, and goeth again, and doeth the same: who will hear his prayer? or what does his humbling profit him?
While fasting and sitting on a certain mountain, and giving thanks to the Lord for all His dealings with me, I see the Shepherd sitting down beside me, and saying, Why have you come hither [so] early in the morning? Because, sir, I answered, I have a station. What is a station? he asked. I am fasting, sir, I replied. What is this fasting, he continued, which you are observing? As I have been accustomed, sir, I reply, so I fast. You do not know, he says, how to fast unto the Lord: this useless fasting which you observe to Him is of no value. Why, sir, I answered, do you say this? I say to you, he continued, that the fasting which you think you observe is not a fasting. But I will teach you what is a full and acceptable fasting to the Lord. Listen, he continued: God does not desire such an empty fasting. For fasting to God in this way you will do nothing for a righteous life; but offer to God a fasting of the following kind: Do no evil in your life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart: keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart; and believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and abstain from every evil thing, you will live unto God; and if you do these things, you will keep a great fast, and one acceptable before God. – Shepherd of Hermas, Book 3, Similitude 5, Chapter 1
This fasting, he continued, is very good, provided the commandments of the Lord be observed. Thus, then, shall you observe the fasting which you intend to keep. First of all, be on your guard against every evil word, and every evil desire, and purify your heart from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things, your fasting will be perfect. And you will do also as follows. Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread and water; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul, and pray for you to the Lord. If you observe fasting, as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God, and this fasting will be written down; and the service thus performed is noble, and sacred, and acceptable to the Lord. – Shepherd of Hermas, Book 3, Similitude 5, Chapter 3
Do you still want me to show you what kind of fast it is appropriate for you to practise? Fast from every sin, take no food of malice, take no feasts of passion, do not burn with any wine of luxury. Fast from evil deeds, abstain from evil words, hold yourself from the worst evil thoughts. Do not touch the secret loaves of perverse doctrine. Do not desire the deceptive foods of philosophy which seduce you from truth. Such a fast pleases God. But “to abstain from the foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful” and to do this with those who crucified Christ, cannot be acceptable to God. Once the Pharisees were indignant with the Lord because his disciples were not fasting. He responded to them, “The sons of the bridegroom cannot fast as long as the bridegroom is with them.” Therefore, let them fast when they lose the bridegroom; but we, who have the bridegroom with us, cannot fast. Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 10.2.5
On account of this, the divine word says to you, “Arise, you who sleep, arise from the dead, so that you may take hold of Christ.” “Rise from the dead” is said to those who continue in the works of death, persisting in their filthiness and heinous ways that, although they are not evident to human beings, are known to God. Repent of this and turn back to the Lord with your whole heart. Spend time in prayers. Spend time in the Word of God. What good is it if we fast for our sins and then commit them again? What good is it to wash and then wallow again in the mire? Have you fasted for some time? Origen, Homilies on Joshua, Homily 1
Fasting, according to the signification of the word, is abstinence from food. Now food makes us neither more righteous nor less. But mystically it shows that, as life is maintained in individuals by sustenance, and want of sustenance is the token of death; so also ought we to fast from worldly things, that we may die to the world, and after that, by partaking of divine sustenance, live to God. Especially does fasting empty the soul of matter, and make it, along with the body, pure and light for the divine words. Worldly food is, then, the former life and sins; but the divine food is faith, hope, love, patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. “For blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God’s righteousness; for they shall be filled.” The soul, but not the body, it is which is susceptible of this craving. Clement of Alexandria, Selections from the Prophets XIV
Now fastings signify abstinence from all evils whatsoever, both in action and in word, and in thought itself. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata VI, 12
And if you will be convinced of this very point, that the baptism of John is a redemption from the threat of the fire, hear how he says, „O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?“ Be not then henceforth a viper, but as you have been formerly a viper’s brood, put off, says he, the slough of your former sinful life. For every serpent creeps into a hole and casts its old slough, and having rubbed off the old skin, grows young again in body. In like manner enter thou also through the strait and narrow gate rub off your former self by fasting, and drive out that which is destroying you. Put off the old man with his doings, and quote that saying in the Canticles, „I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on?“ Cyril of Jerusalem, 3rd Catechetical Lectures, Chapter 7
Attitude towards Fasting
The soul when poorly treated in the matter of food and drinks is improved; and so Christians when punished increase more and more daily. Letter to Diognetus (A.D. 125-200) ch. 6
There is certainly freedom for the Christian to fast at all times, not by an excessive regard of an observance but by virtue of moderation. For how can chastity be preserved uncorrupted by them except sustained by the more perfect aid of continence? How can they be zealous for Scriptures; how can they be diligent in knowledge and wisdom? Is it not by the moderation of the belly and of gluttony? How can anyone “emasculate himself because of the kingdom of heaven,” unless he restrains the affluence of foods, unless he uses the aids of abstinence? This therefore is the reason for Christians to fast. But there is yet another, also religious, whose praise is proclaimed by the letters of certain apostles. For in a certain book we find this saying by the apostles: “Blessed is the one who also fasts that he may feed the poor.” His fast is very acceptable to God and truly worthy. For he imitates that one “who laid down his soul for his brothers.” Therefore, why do we patch new garments with old rags? Why do we put new wine into old wineskins? ”The old has passed away; behold, everything has become new,” through Christ our Lord, “to whom is glory and power forever and ever. Amen.” Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 10.2.6
If you have fasted two or three days, do not think yourself better than others who do not fast. – Jerome, To Eustochium chapter 37
Beloved, even if the fasting is over, let the piety remain. Even if the time of the holy quarantine has gone by, let us not put aside the memory of it. Let no one feel displeasure at this exhortation; for I do not say it to impose on you another period of fasting, but because I wish you both to relax and to display now a more exact kind of fasting—the true one. For it is possible for one who is not fasting to fast. How is this? I shall tell you. While on the one hand we are taking food, let us, on the other, abstain from sin. For this is the fasting which helps us, and it is with this fasting in view that we abstain from food, so that we may more easily run in the course of virtue. Therefore, if we wish both to take proper care of the body and to keep the soul free from sin, let us take heed and act accordingly. 2. This manner of fasting will be easier for us. Regarding the other kind, I mean abstaining from food, I used to hear many a man say he found it difficult to endure the burden of want of food, blame the weakness of his body, and utter many other bitter laments, saying that his health was being ruined because he had to go without a bath and had to confine his drinking to water. No such excuse is possible with regard to the fasting from sin. It is possible to enjoy all these things and to supply the corresponding service to the body, and also to take proper care of the soul. In fact, I am not urging you now to abstain from any of these things. Keep away only from sin and show yourself constantly faithful to that abstinence. In this way you will be able, at every period of your life, to practice the true fasting. There is nothing to stop you from enjoying in moderation the things I enumerated; but sin in every form is forbidden. Sin, however, is born precisely from such sources as wantonness, gluttony, and too much sloth. Therefore, I exhort, since we know clearly that these are wrong, let us not use what is wrong on the pretext that we are relaxing. – John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions 5.1-2