Early Christian Quotes on Fasting

 

Didache 

(1st Century)

8:1:

 

Your fasts must not be identical with those of the hypocrites. They fast on Mondays and Thursdays, so you should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 5, Chapter 1:

 

The angel said, "God does not desire such an empty fasting. You will do nothing for a righteous life by fasting to God like this; but offer God the following kind of fast: Do no evil in your life and serve the Lord with a pure heart. Keep His commandments, walking in His precepts, and let no evil desire arise in your heart. And believe in God. If you do these things, and fear Him, and abstain from every evil thing, you will live to God. And if you do these things, you will keep a great fast, one acceptable before God."

 

 

The Shepherd of Hermas

(1st or 2nd Century)

Similitude 5, Chapter 3:

 

The angel said, “You will taste nothing but bread and water on the day you fast. Having calculated the price of the dishes of that day, which you intended to have eaten, you will give that amount of money to a widow or an orphan or some person in want, and as a result, you will show humility, and the one who receives a benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray for you to the Lord. If you observe fasting, as I have commanded you, your sacrifice will be acceptable to God. This fasting will be written down, and the service thus performed is noble and sacred and acceptable to the Lord.”