The Soul and the Body

He lost even Israel through their lifestyle, becoming himself a barbarian and a stranger, and begetting a people like him. This disease led even the people of the old covenant into transgression of the divine and holy laws. For while Moses was occupied with the leisure of the giving of the law, the people, being distracted, turned toward luxury and dancing; the devil dragged them, as they were slipping and trampling the order of life toward impiety. From there, the demon-possessed skill of calf-making, Aaron sharing in the defilement and the corruption of the law, the smashing of the tablets, and Moses' second ascent to the mountain—all these things, which the history mocks with full detail, had their beginning and cause in immoderate eating.

I wish to set before you another account, second in time to what was said before, but equal in practice. King Saul was preparing and leading the war with much care; he forbade the people to take food on that day, sealing the judgment with an oath, and death was the penalty to the one who disobeyed. But while the whole army obediently received the command, only the king's son Jonathan stumbled, being overcome by the honey, and he dared to taste the scepter of sweetness by rushing toward the lords. Danger came near, unless the whole multitude, acting in concert with the impulse of their father and king, decided to turn the threat into action.

Regarding what has been said, it is possible to collect ten thousand such things from the Scriptures to see clearly that self-control is good, and conversely, the unrestrained enjoyment of drink and food is harmful. Fasting is the companion of the saints; fasting is the leader of every good work. And just as craftsmen do not perform their arts without tools, so also the diligent, even when helping with spiritual gifts, have never performed any of the wonders and marvels without self-control. Fasting Elijah raised the dead and gave them life; fasting Moses saw God; fasting Daniel mastered the sorcery and error of the Assyrians; fasting the Lord withstood the temptations of the devil; and fasting the...

The apostles performed prayers for important matters; the Ninevites through fasting overcame the threat of death (Jonah 3:5-10). This prayer is an intercessor toward God, worthy of reverence, and a reliable embassy that quickly covers itself with shame for whatever supplication it brings to God.

Therefore, let every pious man, who loves God more than pleasure, approach the days of self-control with joy and good cheer. For no one who is merely a scavenger is a noble combatant at the beginning of the contests.

Do not become sullen like a child being dragged to school; do not grumble about the purity of the days; do not seek the end of the week like the arrival of spring after a bitter winter; do not long for the Sabbath for the sake of feasting like a Jew (Exodus 16); do not count the days of the forty days like a lazy laborer waiting for the end of his agreed-upon wage; do not grieve because from the first hour your house is not smoking, nor has the cook stood by the fire.

Grant something also to the soul, not everything to the body. The former nourishes by the withholding of food, the latter by the abundance. But since the two are joined to one another, and those which are much separated by nature are seated together by the providence and art of the Creator, let us deliberate so that both might happen, each not being deprived of what is appropriate. You, O man, were composed of the two, and I am entirely silent as to the fact that the soul is much more preferable and it was fitting that it should receive the greater share of favor.

But judge between both as a rational and discerning man. Consider a little, and if you wish, I will make the argument for the soul as if to a faithful woman, providing support regarding those things of which she says she is being treated unjustly and being cast down. This, then, is sacred and incorporeal, immortal and incorruptible, having its kinship not toward earth and these things, but toward God. Being pure, she rejoices with the pure, and having an incorporeal origin, she flees from material substances.

However, since the vessel formed from the earth was commanded to be managed, as an obedient handmaid to the Lord, she sits upon the clay and is subject to the guarding and the providence over it, until the command comes allowing the separation. This abstinence from food, which gives life to the body, is necessary; but for the organ of the earth, the enjoyment of food is necessary. He seeks nothing...