The Problem of Ascetical Fasting in the Greek Patristic Writers

Abstract

Studies in comparative religion have shown the important role played by the practice of ascetical fasting in the history of man's religious development. But many gaps in that history still exist. We may surmise, for example, that primitive man stumbled on the practice of fasting accidentally, as a way to conserve food in time of shortage, or, again, out of revulsion for food in times of sickness, as well as under stress of sorrow or fear. On the other hand, he would find that overeating might interfere with sleep and cause a feeling of heaviness, or that certain foods could cause sickness and nausea. The lacuna between these primitive experiences and the religious-ascetical practice of fasting still remains a subject for investigation, although, from the point of view of Greece and Rome, it has been adequately treated by Arbesmann. The object of the present work is not to cover the practice of ecclesiastical fasting, either from the canonical point of view (as this has been sufficiently treated by Parra Herrera) or in its connection with prophecy and revelation (as this has again been fully discussed by Arbesmann) — but merely to treat the problem of ascetical fasting as we find it in the Greek patristic writers down to the time of John Damascene.