Fasting is Divine Grace

 

From conversations with Elder Dionysius (Ignatus)

Elder Dionysius was one of the most revered Athos confessors, one of the last pillars of the “old school” of hesychasm. He was called the "Patriarch of Athos" and people of various nationalities came to him from all over the world. Father Dionysius passed away into eternity on May 11, 2004 at the age of 95, of which he spent 81 years in a monastery, including 78 years on Mount Athos, 67 of them in the cell of St. George "Kolchu", and for 57 years he nourished numerous spiritual children from all over the world. 

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– Father Dionysius, tell us about fasting. Today, Christians no longer observe fasts as they used to. Everyone fasts as he pleases...

- Yes, everyone fasts as he wants. But not everything happens the way we would like. The fasts were established by the holy fathers at the seven Ecumenical Councils, and if we keep them, we are given great divine grace. If you do not observe them, then it begins: “Ah, Peters fast! Yes, it's not that important. Assumption fasr! Yes, the Mother of God knows that we cannot fast. Great lent! Oh-oh-oh, well, this is already too much: a whole seven weeks. And so you invent all sorts of excuses for yourself and completely move away from fasting. But if there is no fast, there is nothing! After all, fasting is divine grace.

And look, after all, the fast was emasculated a long time ago. Even in those days when I was little, at school, during Great Lent they fasted only on the first week and on Passion, and in the interval between them everything was allowed to eat. But this is far from the truth, and if you have departed from the truth, then we have already begun to limp. You limp first on one leg, then on both legs, until you say at all: “Come on, God knows me! I will live like everyone else."

See? You need to have some attention. A little attention - and God will help us.

– Yes, what kind of a Christian is he if he doesn’t honor fasting? Then it doesn't matter what faith you are. You say that you are a Christian, but if you do not fast, then how are you different from a pagan?

“Do you see how evil progresses? Catholics did not fast, and justify themselves with evidence from Scripture, as they understand it, that fasting is not needed at all. And although there were Catholics at the seven holy Ecumenical Councils—there were no divisions between us then—but little by little they reached the point where they no longer had fasting.

In Romania in 1939, I was talking to a Catholic nun, and she told me: “If I can, I don’t eat meat on Good Friday. If I can; if not, then I eat.

On Good Friday, when the Savior was taken to the Cross, Catholics say that there is nothing wrong with eating meat! They, too, were Orthodox Christians, like us, but look what happened?

So, I told you this as an example. After all, look, when a person starts to go down the mountain, he almost runs, because when you go down, it is more difficult to stop. It comes to the point that a person says: “Why should I fast? It is written in Scripture: what goes out of a person defiles him, but what enters a person does not defile him.

Yes, it is - yes it is not. All fasts were established by the holy fathers, so that by fasting you would belittle the passions. You fast, honoring the passions of the Savior: “I fast because the Savior suffered for me,” and so on. Well, in the state in which humanity is now, what else to expect?

“They say this: you can’t fast now because if you fast and don’t eat meat, you won’t be able to work in the field.

You see, people think so, but it's a delusion. This is a deception of the enemy, because human nature is now full of passions. And passions, if they settle in the mind, heart and thoughts of a person, become second nature. If they have become second nature, then the person begins to say: “If I do not eat meat, then I will die. That's it, this is the end." And with such thoughts, he really will die!

But this is not true. This is a passion imposed by the tempter, who manages the warehouse of all evils and plants the seed of evil deeds in our soul and heart. And if our nature is inclined to one of those evils that he throws at us, then he will continue to “help” us with this (evil). If you want to drink vodka, he “helps” you with this! If you want to eat more excellent dishes, he also “helps” you with this, until evil settles in the soul of a person. If you want to tell a lie, he “helps” you with this as well, until passion takes root, until it hatches, and if it hatches, then it already takes root in the soul and heart of a person. And if it has taken root, then this root is already becoming second nature, and you are already convinced that if you do not eat or drink what you want, then you will die. But this is not true! This is the action of the tempter.

That is, the passion that has taken root in the heart of a person, has taken root, it is already more difficult to eradicate it. Therefore, the holy fathers teach that every evil thought that is in our soul and heart is obvious, and we must be sure that it is from the tempter, and hurry to the confessor and say to him: “This is what my mind tells me, father. Behold, my mind inclines to this and that,” so that the confessor gives you instructions on how the grace of the Holy Spirit will enlighten him.

And by this you shame the enemy, because if you do not go to confession, then the passions that he brought into your soul and heart will destroy you. And when you can’t find a priest in any way, then confess to each other, as the holy apostles say, so that at least in this way you will receive help and be healed, for otherwise you cannot be healed.

– Is there a chance for salvation for those monks who eat meat?

– Look: the holy fathers initially decided that monasteries should be built away from people, that is, in the desert, so that a monk who repents could keep his five senses pure, close to God.

The monk left the world in order to be closer to God, because a person, living in the world, slips into the wickedness of the world.

The holy fathers decided that monks should not eat meat, because it inflames passions more than any other food. A monk, if he eats enough, drinks enough and sleeps enough (sleep is especially important), then woe to him - he can no longer be clean. You will be fought by passions, carnal passions, which are colossal passions; therefore, the holy fathers set a limit for you to keep yourself: do not eat food that kindles carnal passions.

You also need, as a monk, not to sleep enough, because you, as a monk, do not need to sleep for eight hours. You need asceticism, because that is what monastic life is for, so that you ascetic. After all, look at how the holy fathers write: even if your food is humble, as it should be for a monk, but if you sleep enough, passions will again fight you with terrible force.

Therefore, watch and pray in order to enter the Kingdom of God, that is, do not sleep as much as the body wants, but let us humble it with prayer and fasting so that passions do not kindle in us.

– And what if they eat meat in the monastery? Obedience to the abbot or go to another place where he is not eaten?

“The temptations of the enemy will not leave you alone, wherever you go. If you leave a monastery because they eat meat there, and go to another, then the enemy has already prepared other temptations for you there. But since you cannot correct the situation, then show obedience, and in time, maybe the leaders will decide that they no longer eat meat here, because, thank the Lord, the monks in the monastery have something to eat besides meat. If they cannot refuse meat, then eat so that only you can be seen what you eat.

Meat is not unclean food, it is food given by God, but the holy fathers decided that in monasticism they should not eat meat under any pretext, so that it would be easier for you to struggle with carnal passions. Therefore, they established a punishment for those who eat meat.

But since people have changed and there are disturbances in some monasteries, if the monks do eat meat, then you better do your obedience, sit down at the table and eat, if this is a cenobitic monastery. But eat in such a way that only others see what you are eating, and do as the doctors advise you - get up from the table with some desire to eat more.

- Hieromonk Dionysius (Ignatus)