On the Mount of Transfiguration, He stood in great glory, and with exceedingly radiant light — the Lord Christ who fasted forty days, and with Him were two who also fasted forty days, namely Moses and Elijah…

Christ fasted these days in a folded manner, in a way that we cannot do… And it was a period of solitude with the Father. This gives us an idea about fasting in a spiritual way, as the Scripture says: “Sanctify a fast”…

Sanctify a fast

Fasting and the health of the body:
Fasting is not merely a commandment given to us by God, but it is a gift…
It is a gift, a grace, and a blessing. God knows that we need fasting, and that our spiritual life is not upright without it. Therefore, for the sake of our spiritual growth and for our eternity, He granted us the commandment of fasting…
It is wrong for people to look at fasting from the material perspective, as merely abstaining from food for a period of time, followed by food free of animal fats. Rather, we are supposed to place before us the spiritual considerations in fasting.
Yet even the physical aspect of fasting has its benefits, and it must also lead to spiritual benefits.

Fasting is known in all religions, and it exists with greater intensity and asceticism among the Buddhists, yoga practitioners, and Brahmins.
Their practices in fasting bring them out with better health and stronger will. Some yoga practitioners may reach high spiritual levels, which Christians can attain and even surpass through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Excessive eating tires the body in many ways. It has been said that “the stomach is the mother of disease,” and therefore fasting has been described as a remedy.
The abundance of fats and greases, the excess vapors in the body, the surplus thermal energy, the deposits in the body, excess obesity, its pressure on the heart, its strain on the arteries, and its effect on blood pressure and cholesterol levels — all these have their harmful effect from the health aspect, and also from the spiritual aspects. Therefore many seek slimness and impose dietary systems on themselves.
It is strange that some fast for slimness and physical beauty, yet do not fast for their spiritual growth and their attachment to God!!

Fasting is beneficial for giving rest to the stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, and the rest of the systems related to eating, digestion, and metabolism.
Fasting is also connected with vigilance and alertness… the one who fasts is watchful…
But the one who eats much is often burdened by sleep, heaviness, and laziness, because a large portion of his blood flows to nourish the capillaries surrounding the digestive system, thus decreasing in other parts of the body, and he feels the need to sleep.

Our monastic fathers had light bodies, even in movement and walking, in prostrations, and in activity, and they did not feel heaviness in the body…
They walked many kilometers in the mountain and did not feel tired, like deer and gazelles…
And in the same way, their spirits were light, not hindered in their path by the density of the body, nor darkened by a veil from it.

Satan deceives you when he says that fasting weakens your health…
On the contrary, fasting is beneficial for health. I have read a beautiful book about “Vegetarianism and Vegetarians” that explained many examples of the strength and health of vegetarians. I also read another book about “Healing by Fasting,” which explained how fasting is a complete and remarkable remedy for bodily diseases… and I have read many books that confirm in scientific ways the benefits of fasting for health, so be reassured…
And beware of confusing health with obesity.

History gives us an idea about children who fasted and their health was not affected:
Anba Shenouda, the head of anchorites, used to fast until sunset while he was a child, and his health did not deteriorate, and he lived to the age of 120. Saint Mark the hermit on Mount Antony also fasted while he was a child.
And we read about the prophet Daniel and the three youths, that when they fasted, their health became better than the others, and their appearance more radiant.

The spiritual aspects of fasting:
Fasting must be connected with repentance, with prayer and worship, and with contrition and humility before God. It is also connected with strength of will.
Fasting is linked to repentance, because it is not permissible for a person to fast while living in sin. Repentance is associated with contrition, humility, and confession of sin, as the people of Nineveh did, wearing sackcloth and sitting on the ground.

Fasting is connected with worship, because it is not enough to deprive the body of food, for this is a negative act. Rather, at the same time, one must give the spirit its nourishment; this is the positive work for which we fast…
Therefore, the Church always links prayer with fasting. In the fraction of the Great Fast, the phrase “by prayer and fasting” is repeated in all God’s graces to humanity, and we do not forget the saying of the Lord regarding casting out demons:
“This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Some people fast without spiritual work: no prayer, no contemplation, no reading, no hymns, no chanting, no confession, and no liturgies… therefore fasting becomes for them heavy, tiring, and without spiritual benefit.
If you have fasted and have not begun spiritual work, then begin from now with a strong, focused spiritual program that includes all spiritual means.
If you have no spiritual work, then what is the difference between your fasting and the fasting of Buddhists and yoga practitioners?! Your human spiritual work should be mixed with the divine work. Here the difference appears…

The Scripture says in the book of Joel: “Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.”
And when the Lord Christ fasted, He withdrew on the mountain for forty days in prayer and in communion with the Father…

Fasting is also connected with prostrations. The days in which abstinent fasting is not permitted, prostrations are also not permitted, such as the Pentecost days, Saturdays, Sundays, and the Lordly feasts…
Even from a health perspective, prostrations are suitable when the stomach is empty, but a full stomach becomes tired from prostrations and does not produce a spiritual feeling.

Fasting is also accompanied by seclusion suitable for contemplation and prayer…
It is a period in which a person devotes himself to God, not to people. He uses his time to examine himself, in acts of repentance, and in spiritual work that is hindered by continuous interaction with people…
Therefore, try to get rid of wasted time and devote yourselves to the Lord.

In all the well-known fasts in the Scripture — the fast of Nehemiah, the fast of Ezra, the fast of Nineveh, the fast of Esther, and others — we find fasting accompanied by prayer, crying out to God, repentance, confession of sin, and humility…
Because fasting is not merely a bodily act, but a spiritual act.

The people of Nineveh made their fasting an act of repentance, and the Lord saw their repentance and had mercy on them (Jonah 3:10). And King Darius, when he fasted for Daniel, “spent the night fasting and no concubines were brought before him” (Dan. 6:18).
And the prophet Daniel, when he fasted, mixed his fasting with prayer, supplications, sackcloth, ashes, and confession of sin (Dan. 9:3–4). And he was mourning, he did not eat pleasant food, and no meat or wine entered his mouth, nor did he anoint himself (Dan. 10:2–3).

The period of fasting is a period of humility and contrition before God, a period of reverence for the soul and repentance, in which it confesses its sins.
Therefore, fasting with pride is not fasting at all, and when the body is humbled by hunger, the spirit is humbled with it. Hunger is an important bodily element in fasting…

When the Lord Christ fasted, it was said of Him: “Afterward He was hungry” (Matt. 4:2). And it was said of the apostle Peter: “He became hungry and wanted to eat.”
Hunger humbles the body, and thus the soul is humbled, and the spirit becomes contrite.
Through hunger, a person feels his weakness, inability, and insignificance, so he does not become proud…
Experience hunger, and whenever the time for eating comes, delay it even a little. And during the period of hunger, kneel in your prayer, for it will be deeper with hunger.

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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III — Al-Keraza Magazine — Year Eight (Issue Eight) 25-2-1977

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