There is a bodily fast, and there is also a fast of the soul. The bodily fast is when the body abstains from food and drink; the fast of the soul is when the soul abstains from evil thoughts, deeds, and words.
Many fast with the body, but do not fast with the soul; many abstain from food and drink, yet do not abstain from evil thoughts, deeds, and words—and what profit is there in that? Many refrain from wine, meat, and fish, yet with their tongue they bite people who are like themselves—and what benefit do they gain from this?
If you desire, O Christian, that your fast be profitable, then as you fast bodily, fast also spiritually. As you impose a fast upon your body, impose a fast also upon your evil desires. Let your mind fast from vain thoughts; let your memory fast from resentment; let your will fast from evil intentions; let your eyes fast from harmful sights: Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity (Ps. 119:37). Depart from evil, and do good (Ps. 34:14).
Such is the Christian fast that God requires of us! Repent, and, restraining yourself from every evil word, deed, and thought, devote yourself to every virtue—and you will always be fasting before God.
—Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
On Spiritual Fasting
The time of fasting is a time especially important for the spiritual life; it is the accepted time… the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). It is entirely evident that the labor of repentance and prayer during the fast must be accompanied by thoughts of one’s own sinfulness and, of course, by abstinence from all amusements—attending the theater or cinema, visiting for entertainment, light reading, cheerful music, watching television, and the like. If these things attract the heart of a Christian, let him make some effort to detach his heart from them, at least during the days of fasting.
Fasting is a period of spiritual exertion. If we cannot give our whole life to God, let us at least dedicate to Him wholeheartedly the period of the fast—intensifying our prayer, increasing our works of mercy, restraining our passions, and reconciling ourselves with our enemies.
—Priest Alexander Elchaninov
Sanctify the fast! But is not the fast holy in itself? It may fail to be holy because of our impurity. Look at those who fast: one despises all who do not fast; another, in a zeal not according to knowledge, fasts so severely that he becomes incapable of work; a third fasts bodily, yet does not think of spiritual fasting.
Fasting should be understood only as a means of weakening fleshly passions. Do the sick boast of the multitude of medicines they take? And how are medicines taken? Gradually. The holy ascetics fasted for a long time, gradually accustoming themselves to fasting.
What occupations are fitting for the fast? Prayer; examination of one’s life and conscience; meditation upon the life, teaching, sufferings, and death of the Savior for our sake; reconciliation with neighbors; reading of the Word of God and soul-profiting books; conversations with pious people. The principal aim of the fast must be kept in mind: repentance, confession, and Holy Communion.
For many, during fasting, the need may arise for the counsel of experienced people—spiritual fathers. Do not neglect this important means; make the effort to find for yourself a prudent guide.
—Saint Innocent of Kherson
He who limits fasting to abstinence from food alone greatly dishonors it. Not only the mouth must fast—no, let the eye fast also, and the ear, and the hands, and all our members.
—Saint John Chrysostom
Virtues are corrected by our own striving and diligence, and are acquired by our own labors and efforts; but spiritual gifts are free gifts of mercy, granted by Christ to those who struggle.
—St. Symeon the New Theologian
The virtues are successive one to another, so that the path of virtue may not be difficult and burdensome; that one may advance in them gradually and in order, and thus find relief therein; and so that even the sorrows endured for the sake of good may become beloved, as something good in themselves.
—Venerable Isaac the Syrian
On the Benefit of Fasting
First, the benefit of holy fasting consists in restraining the flesh and subduing its every disordered movement. This is most pleasing to God—that we should crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts. Concerning this the Apostle Paul says: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection (1 Cor. 9:27). By “keeping under” he means precisely the labors of fasting, as St. John Chrysostom explains this passage of Holy Scripture.
The Psalmist likewise extols fasting as a mighty weapon against the power of darkness: But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom (Ps. 35:13). And in another place he says of turning to fasting in spiritual warfare: My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness (Ps. 109:24).
Fasting possesses such power that it can bridle unruly passions, quench the flame of envy, irritability, and anger, destroy proud arrogance, banish vain and fantasizing thoughts, extinguish the fire of sensual desire, and restrain all the senses—sight, hearing, touch, and smell. In short, fasting is a most glorious slayer of passions, a tamer of lusts, a conqueror and triumphant destroyer of every frenzy of the raging flesh.
The second benefit from holy fasting is that it gives wings to the soul and makes it capable of prayer and heavenly wisdom.
The prophets of the Old Testament first prepared themselves by fasting and only then, with great fear, approached converse with God. Thus Moses, before he dared to approach God and receive from Him the God-written tablets, prepared his soul by fasting (Ex. 34:28). So also the Prophet Elias fasted forty days before he was granted to behold God on Mount Horeb, in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). And the Prophet Daniel prepared himself by a three-week fast to understand Divine revelations (Dan. 10). Thus, fasting is as it were a ladder that raises the mind to Heaven; fasting is like wings that lift the soul to God, to divine contemplation and meditation on things above.
The third benefit of fasting lies in this: Through it we render service unto God, and by keeping it we offer Him the honor due unto Him.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1). Thus the Apostle Paul calls all Christians to the mortification of fleshly passions, whose power is especially restrained and weakened by fasting; and this mortification of the flesh he calls our “reasonable service.”
The fourth benefit of fasting is that it serves as a small tribute to God for the sins we have committed and appeases His righteous wrath.
Thus the sons of Israel, by fasting, entreated God’s mercy and obtained a solemn victory (1 Sam. 7). The Ninevites likewise turned away God’s wrath by a common and strict fast (Jonah 3). The same occurred in the days of Esther (Esth. 4) and Judith (Judith 4), when the people were delivered from impending death through fasting. Therefore the Prophet Joel calls all people with these words: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments” (Joel 2:12–13).
The fifth benefit of holy fasting is that it is reckoned as a virtue, and through it both temporal and eternal blessings are sought and obtained.
Thus Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, through fasting besought a son, Samuel (1 Sam. 1). Thus the Prophet David afflicted himself with fasting to ask God for the life of his sick child (2 Sam. 12). Likewise Sarah delivered her life from the demon by the weapon of fasting, and the words of Christ were fulfilled in deed. All the saints resorted to fasting as the most powerful expeller of demonic force. Hear the words of the Lord Himself: “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).
But a special benefit of holy fasting is seen in this: that it is counted to us as merit, and through it blessings—both temporal and eternal—are asked of God and granted. This truth is clearly seen in Christ’s words: But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly (Matt. 6:17–18). And with what shall He reward? With nothing other than a reward indeed.
In these words Christ contrasts true fasting with the hypocritical, Pharisaical fast. For the Pharisees disfigure their faces while fasting, seeking the praise of men. Therefore the Lord says of them: Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (Matt. 6:16)—that is, the praise of men.
True fasting, without hypocrisy, does not seek this reward or human glory, but hopes to receive a heavenly reward, that the words of Christ may be fulfilled: And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Therefore, if Christ promises a reward for fasting, those who fast may by fasting deserve and ask of God both temporal and eternal blessings.
Fasting—a Commandment of God, from the writings of Metropolitan Stefan (Yavorsky).
From: Readings For Every Day of Great Lent, Ed. N. Shaposhnikova (Moscow: Danilov Monastery, 2025).
