Fasting of the body is food for the soul
Once a cluster of grapes was brought as a gift to Macarius of Alexandria. The holy father greatly desired to taste the fruit, but, wishing to show forth abstinence, he sent the cluster to one of the brethren. The elder, beyond measure gladdened by the gift, also desired with all his heart to eat the grapes, but he overcame the desire and sent the cluster to another brother. And that brother, like those before him, sent the cluster on to another, though he too desired with all his heart to delight in the fruit. In this way the cluster of grapes went round the whole brotherhood so that not one elder put his lips to it. And at the last the brother to whom the cluster came last brought it again to Macarius as a precious gift. The holy father knew the cluster, inquired about everything in detail and, amazed, glorified the Lord, Who had granted the brotherhood such abstinence and patience.
And the returned fruit the God-inspired elder did not taste after all.
A certain ascetic named Elin, being alone in the desert, desired honey. Soon he found under a stone a comb full of honey and said: “Depart from me, unbridled desire, for it is written: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh’ (Gal. 5:16)” — and, without touching the comb, he went away from that place.
And once, after three weeks of fasting in the desert, Saint Elin saw fruits of many kinds scattered upon the ground and said: “I shall neither come near them nor taste them, lest I cause my brother or my soul to stumble, for it is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’ (Matt. 4:4).” He fasted one week more and at last fell asleep. And in his sleep an angel appeared to him and said: “Arise, and what thou findest, eat.” The elder rose, looked about him and saw a spring, around which wondrous plants were growing. The saint drank of the water and tasted also the most delicious fruits of those plants. Afterward Abba Elin affirmed that he had tasted nothing like it in all his life. Nearby Father Elin came also upon a small cave, where for several days he again remained without food or drink. At last, feeling the need of food, the elder bent his knees, offered up a prayer, and at that very moment every kind of food was given him — warm bread, olives and various sweet fruits.
Macarius of Alexandria was a most zealous ascetic. If he learned that this or that elder had taken upon himself some special labour, he too would at once do the same. Once he learned from a brother that the hermits of Tabennesi throughout the whole of Great Lent did not eat food prepared upon fire, and from that very day he vowed to abstain from food prepared upon fire. For seven years he fed upon soaked peas. And the blessed one, having fulfilled the seven years' vow, did not leave off this rule, but made it part of his way of life.
Once Macarius learned that a certain hermit ate in a day only one litra (about 324 grams) of bread. Saint Macarius was filled with divine zeal and took upon himself this labour: all the bread he had, and his rusks, he broke into small pieces and poured them into a pot with a narrow neck, through which the palm of the hand passed only with difficulty. The venerable father ate only as much bread as came out of the pot at one taking, and that but once a day. Afterward he related that sometimes, when he put his hand into the pot, a large piece of bread came into it, but when he wished to draw it out, his hand would no longer pass through the narrow neck of the pot, and the piece fell back again. So that my pot did not let me eat much, he would say.
Once Macarius the Great learned of the wondrous life and labours of the ascetics of Tabennesi. He put off his monastic garb, clothed himself in the dress of a simple layman and set out on the road that leads to the desert of the Thebaid. Coming to the monastery of Tabennesi, he asked for the archimandrite. At that time the superior of this monastery was the venerable Pachomius — a glorious ascetic and a father endowed with the gift of prophecy, to whom the Lord had not yet revealed that Macarius of Alexandria himself had come to his house. The blessed Macarius met the superior and began to entreat him: “I beseech thee, my lord, receive me into thy house, that I too may become a monk and serve the Lord.”
Pachomius the Great answered: “How canst thou, so old a man, bear the ascetic life? In this monastery the brethren endure exhausting labour because they have struggled here from their youth and are used to such a life; but a man of thy years will not be able to bear the heaviest trials of asceticism; first thou wilt begin to murmur and grumble, and at the last thou wilt leave the house and say nothing but evil of us.”
Macarius came to the monastery the next day also, but heard the same answer. Seven days running the holy father met the superior seven times, and seven times he was sent away with a refusal. But the purpose of the God-inspired father was firm; once more he came to Pachomius the Great and said: “Abba, I ask thee, receive me. If I cannot endure such a fast as the brethren keep and do not do what they do, command that I be driven out of the house.” Pachomius the Great no longer opposed him, and he persuaded the brotherhood of the house, which numbered one thousand four hundred monks and novices, to receive the old man into the monastery.
Thus was Macarius the Great received into the house.
Time passed, and Great Lent came. Macarius saw that all the monks were preparing for the fast and doing good works — some took no food until the coming of evening, some ate nothing for five days, and some stood all night at prayer and by day worked with their hands. Nor did Macarius taste bread until the radiant feast of Pascha; he drank no water, he did not bend his knee — neither sat down nor lay down — and ate nothing but a few leaves of cabbage, and that on Sundays and only that others might see that he was eating something, while he himself might not fall into the sin of self-satisfaction nor think highly of himself. He did not open his lips nor speak with anyone; he stood in silence and laboured, and if for some need he went out of his cell, he strove to return quickly to his handiwork — to make fast the palm branches and to plait them without ceasing, praying the while in his heart. In this was all his occupation. Seeing this, the brethren began to murmur against the superior: this bodiless man thou hast surely brought for our punishment; either let him leave the house, or we shall go from the monastery. Hearing such a reproach, the superior began to ask the brethren about Macarius, and, learning what labour the newly come brother had taken upon himself, he besought the Lord to reveal to him who this unknown old man was. God fulfilled his request and declared to the venerable father that the unknown ascetic was the monk Macarius. Then Pachomius the Great took the blessed one by the hand, led him out of his cell, brought him to the altar, kissed him and asked: “Bless us, venerable ascetic, holy Macarius! Why didst thou hide who thou art, for of thy deeds I had heard much. I am grateful to thee, abba, that thou hast planted obedience in my children; henceforth they will never exalt themselves for their own virtues. And now I entreat thee, return thither whence thou camest, and pray for us. Thou hast already taught us very much.”
Saint Mark knew the Old and New Testaments by heart from his youth. Withal he was a wonderfully meek and humble-minded ascetic. One of the newly-begun ascetics recalled this episode from his life: once in a free hour I went to him, sat down at the door of his cell and listened; I wished to learn what the holy elder was doing or saying. In the cell, being wholly alone, the hundred-year-old monk, who had not even his teeth left, was again fighting with himself and with the devil. He said: “What more dost thou want, old man? Thou hast drunk thy wine and tasted thy oil; what more dost thou require of me? Grey-haired glutton and belly-server and shamer of thyself!..” Then he turned to the devil: “Wilt thou at last leave off from me, Satan! Thou too hast grown old with me in carelessness and sloth; under the pretext of the body's weakness thou hast many times forced me to take wine and oil and hast made me a lover of dainties. Do I yet owe thee anything? Thou seest that there is nothing left in me to plunder; depart from me, thou hater of men!..” And then, as if in jest, he turned again to himself: “Ah, thou unbridled glutton and belly-server, thou greedy old wretch, how much longer must I be with thee?”
The venerable Ammon was the spiritual father of about three thousand monks in the Thebaid. They were called Tabennesiotes. The brethren were followers and keepers of the great rule of Pachomius; they wore sheepskin mantles, and came to the refectory with covered faces and always with heads bowed, that they might not see how the other brethren took their food. All of them kept so strict a silence that a man would have thought himself in the desert. The monks fulfilled their rule in secret, and sat down in the refectory only that they might hide their fasting from others. Some raised their hand to their mouth once or twice and were content with one piece of bread, an olive or some other small thing; some ate bread only; and some stilled their hunger with three spoonfuls of gruel.
When Nebuchadnezzar sent the Jews upon the road to Babylon, he took to the court to be brought up several children from the best Hebrew families. Among the youths were Daniel, twelve years old, and his three friends: Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. From the king's table they were served plentiful food, but such as was forbidden by the law of Moses. The youths did not wish to be defiled and asked their overseer to bring them only vegetables and water. The overseer refused: if the king sees you weakened with hunger, he will take my life. Daniel answered: watch us ten days, and if at the end of that time those youths who eat from the king's table have a healthier look than ours, refuse us; but if not, grant our request. The overseer agreed. And indeed, the appointed time passed, and it was found that the Hebrew children were fairer and healthier than those youths who received the king's portion (Dan. 1:15).
Macarius of Alexandria lived a hundred years; Saint Simeon the Stylite ate nothing throughout the whole of Great Lent and reposed at the age of a hundred and three; the venerable Anthimus too passed Great Lent without food. He departed at the age of a hundred and ten. Other ascetics left this world at a still more advanced age: Paul of Thebes at a hundred and thirteen, Alypius the Stylite at a hundred and eighteen...
So then, fasting not only does not harm the health, but even improves it.
