Program / Course 20: Spiritual Theology / Lesson 5.1
What you will learn
- Summarize what the Old and New Testaments say about fasting and its purposes.
- Describe the early Christian pattern of fasting and its later development.
- Compare the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant approaches to fasting and their reasons.
- State the health cautions that every serious tradition attaches to fasting.
The big idea
Fasting, going without food or some foods for a spiritual purpose, appears throughout Scripture as an expression of repentance, longing and dependence on God. Jesus fasted and assumed his followers would. The early church fasted on set days and before baptism and Easter. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions kept the practice in different forms: the Orthodox with the most extensive calendar, the Catholic with a reduced one, and Protestants with a range from regular practice to occasional days of fasting. The prophets also insist that fasting without justice and mercy is empty.
Key terms
- Fast
- Going without food entirely, or without some foods, for a set time as an act of devotion.
- Abstinence
- Refraining from certain foods, especially meat, as a form of penance. Catholic usage distinguishes it from fasting.
- Lent
- The forty-day season before Easter, observed in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some other churches with fasting and repentance.
- Penance
- An act of repentance. It may include prayer, almsgiving or fasting.
- Almsgiving
- Giving to the poor. Jewish and Christian teaching often joins it with prayer and fasting (Matthew 6:1-18).
- Eucharistic fast
- A period of abstaining from food before receiving communion, kept in Catholic and Orthodox practice with different lengths.
- Day of fasting and humiliation
- A day of public repentance called by church or civil authorities, used in Reformed, Puritan and later Protestant tradition.
Background
Fasting is common in many religions, and the Bible records it from early times. The only fast required in the law of Moses was the Day of Atonement, when the people were to afflict their souls (Leviticus 16:29), which Jewish tradition took to mean fasting. Individuals and the community fasted in mourning, repentance and prayer. David fasted when his child was ill (2 Samuel 12:16). Esther called for a fast before approaching the king (Esther 4:16). Moses fasted forty days on Sinai (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah traveled forty days to Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
The prophets add a warning. In Isaiah 58, the people complain that God does not notice their fasting, and God answers that the fast he wants is to loose the bonds of wickedness, share bread with the hungry and bring the poor into one’s house. Joel calls the people to turn to God with fasting, weeping and mourning, and to rend their hearts and not their garments (Joel 2:12-13). Fasting is meant to express repentance, not replace it.
This lesson looks at the biblical and historical background and the theological reasons the traditions give. The next lesson examines the broader question of asceticism, its purposes, its dangers and its abuses.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Jesus and fasting
Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness before his ministry (Matthew 4:2), and answered the tempter that a person does not live by bread alone. In the Sermon on the Mount he says, when you fast, and not if you fast, and tells his hearers to do it without show, so that only the Father sees (Matthew 6:16-18). When asked why his disciples did not fast, he answered that the guests of the bridegroom do not fast while he is with them, but that the days will come when he is taken away (Matthew 9:15).
The church in Acts fasted when appointing leaders and sending missionaries (Acts 13:2-3 and 14:23).
Step 2: Early Christian practice
The Didache, an early manual, tells Christians to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, rather than on the days it says others kept, and to fast before baptism. By the second century, Christians also fasted before Easter, with a length that varied by region until the forty days of Lent were set in the fourth century. Fasting was often paired with almsgiving, with the savings given to the poor. The desert elders also fasted, with a range of severity, and their stories include warnings against excess.
In the early church, fasting normally meant eating once a day, in the evening, and avoiding meat and wine. Strictly total abstention for long periods was uncommon.
Step 3: The Orthodox practice
The Orthodox keep the most extensive calendar. Wednesdays and Fridays are fast days through most of the year, and there are four major fasting seasons: Great Lent before Easter, the Apostles’ Fast, the Dormition Fast in August and the Nativity Fast before Christmas. The usual fast means abstaining from meat, dairy and eggs, with fish, wine and oil permitted on certain days. Orthodox writers stress that fasting must be joined to prayer and almsgiving and must be fitted to a person’s health, usually in consultation with a priest.
Many Orthodox laypeople keep only part of the full rule, and priests may adjust it. The aim is stated as freedom from the passions and attention to God.
Step 4: The Catholic practice
In the Catholic Church, the law of the Church today asks for fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstinence from meat on the Fridays of Lent, and some form of penance on other Fridays of the year. Fasting binds adults from eighteen to fifty-nine and abstinence those fourteen and older, with exceptions for illness and need. There is also a short Eucharistic fast of one hour before communion.
Catholic teaching presents fasting as a work of penance, joined to prayer and almsgiving, that disciplines the body and expresses sorrow for sin. The detailed rules have been relaxed over the twentieth century, and bishops’ conferences may set local forms.
Step 5: The Protestant practice
The Reformers criticized fasting as a means of earning merit and as a human regulation binding conscience. Luther said that fasting and bodily preparation are a fine outward training, but that the one who believes the words, given for you, has the proper worthiness (Small Catechism). Calvin defended fasting as a useful discipline in times of public distress and for private humbling, and urged that it be joined to repentance, while rejecting rules that bind everyone. Anglican churches kept days of fasting in the Book of Common Prayer. Puritans and later Protestants called days of fasting and humiliation. John Wesley taught his followers to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Today practice varies widely. Some Protestants fast regularly, some on occasion, and some rarely. Common arguments for it are the example of Jesus and the discipline of attention to God.
- What do I hope fasting would do for me, and is that hope in line with Scripture?
- How does Isaiah 58 change what fasting would mean in my life?
- Why do the traditions join fasting with prayer and almsgiving?
- How do I weigh the dangers of fasting for my health?
- What do I think of the claim that Jesus assumed his followers would fast?
- Where do I treat fasting as a way of earning favor?
Examples
A Friday fast
A man who has a desk job skips lunch on Fridays, gives the cost of the meal to a food bank and uses the time to pray the Psalms. His priest tells him to eat normally if he feels faint. (A constructed example.)
A family’s Lent
A family gives up meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent and eats simple meals. Each week they decide together where to send the money saved. The children understand fasting as part of a shared practice and not as a punishment. (A constructed example.)
Fasting from something other than food
A woman with a history of an eating disorder is advised by her pastor and her doctor not to fast from food. She chooses instead to fast from social media for a season and spends the time in prayer and visiting a neighbor. Several traditions teach that other forms of fasting are legitimate. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching treats fasting as an act of penance and a share in Christ’s sufferings, with fixed days and local adaptations. The Catechism places it with prayer and almsgiving as the three great works of the Lord’s teaching. The Church allows exemptions for the sick, the pregnant and the very old or young.
Orthodox
Orthodox teaching holds that fasting is a part of the Christian life that trains the body and soul and helps to weaken the passions. The calendar is extensive and normally adapted by a priest to each person. Orthodox writers say that fasting from food without fasting from sin is of no use.
Protestant
Protestants hold that fasting is a legitimate and helpful discipline but not a requirement binding all consciences or a means of earning merit. Lutherans, Anglicans, Reformed and Methodists have differed in how much they emphasize it. Many modern evangelical writers have encouraged a return to it.
Jewish and medical views
Jewish tradition keeps Yom Kippur and other fast days, with exemptions for illness and the law that preserving life overrides the fast. Medical writers advise that people with diabetes, pregnancy, eating disorders and other conditions should not fast without medical advice, a caution consistent with the major religious traditions.
Why it matters
Fasting is one of the most common and most misunderstood Christian practices. Studying it in Scripture and tradition shows that it is not a diet or a bargain, that it has an ethical purpose and that each tradition has thought about its limits. It also prepares the student to read the next lesson on asceticism and its dangers.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Fasting is a way to force God to answer prayer.
Correction: Scripture and tradition describe it as an expression of repentance and longing. Isaiah 58 rejects fasting used as a means of pressing God while neglecting justice.
Misunderstanding: Fasting is only a Catholic or Orthodox practice.
Correction: Protestants have also fasted, and Reformers, Puritans, Methodists and many modern evangelicals have recommended it, while rejecting it as a requirement for salvation.
Misunderstanding: Stronger fasting is more spiritual.
Correction: The tradition warns that extreme fasting can harm health and breed pride. The desert elders and the Reformers alike praised moderation.
Misunderstanding: Everyone can fast from food.
Correction: Illness, pregnancy, eating disorders and some medications make it unsafe. Every serious tradition permits exemptions and other forms of self-denial.
Knowledge check
What does Isaiah 58 teach about fasting?
It says that God rejects fasting that goes with quarrelling and oppression, and desires a fast that looses the bonds of wickedness, shares bread with the hungry and shelters the poor. Fasting is meant to go with justice and mercy and cannot replace them.
How did Jesus speak of fasting?
He fasted forty days in the wilderness, said when you fast and not if you fast, told his hearers to fast without show, and said his disciples would fast after the bridegroom was taken away. He assumed fasting as a part of ordinary religious life.
Name two differences in how the traditions fast.
The Orthodox keep an extensive calendar, with Wednesdays, Fridays and four seasons, and abstain from meat, dairy and eggs. Catholics fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain on Lenten Fridays. Protestants generally treat it as voluntary, without a fixed national calendar.
What health cautions apply?
People who are ill, pregnant, have diabetes, an eating disorder or take certain medications should not fast without medical advice. The traditions allow exemptions and substitute forms of self-denial. Preserving life and health comes before any rule.
Think it through
- What would your fast look like if it were joined to almsgiving?
- Why might the prophets have been so sharp about fasting without justice?
- How could you take up a form of self-denial that is safe for you?
Independent assignment
Examining a fast
In your notebook, write 350 to 500 words. Read Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 6:16-18. Write what each passage asks, then describe a form of fasting or self-denial that would suit your health and circumstances, and how you would join it with prayer and generosity. Name one safeguard. If you have any medical condition, ask a doctor before changing how you eat. Do not share this with anyone.
Further study
- John Cassian, The Institutes Read the book on fasting, which gives rules and warnings from the Egyptian monks.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the section on the Orthodox fasts.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Read the passages on penance and on fasting as a work of prayer.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Read the chapter on fasting in Book 4.
- John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions Read the sermon on the Sermon on the Mount that treats fasting.
- Isaiah 58 The fast that God chooses.
- Joel 2:12 Turn to me with fasting and weeping.
- Matthew 6:16 When you fast.
- Acts 13:2 The church fasts and prays before sending Barnabas and Saul.