“First of all, be on your guard against every evil word, and every evil
desire, and purify your heart from all the vanities of this world. If you
guard against these things, your fasting will be perfect. And you will do
also as follows. Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you
fast you will taste nothing but bread and water; and having reckoned up
the price of the dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you
will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus
you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received 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, and this fasting will be written down; and the service
thus performed is noble, and sacred, and acceptable to the Lord.”
Tertullian, The Demurrer Against the Heretics 19, 1 (inter 200-206
AD)
“Likewise, in regard to days of fast, many do not think they should be
present at the sacrificial prayers, because their fast would be broken if they
were to receive the Body of the Lord ... Will not your fast be more solemn
if, in addition, you have stood at God’s altar?”
St. Jerome, Epistle to Furia 54, 8 (394 AD)
“The apostle macerates his body and brings it into subjection to the soul
lest what he has preached to others he should himself fail to keep; and can a
mere girl whose passions are kindled by abundance of food afford to be
confident of her own chastity?”
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