The time of Lent is a time of special attention to the struggle with one's passions. It is given as a reminder of what a Christian must do in his personal life. He must turn his attention inward, to his soul, and pay attention to himself with the goal of eradicating his sinful, passionate desires and feelings and, in their place, cultivating and instilling virtuous desires and feelings of the soul, turning to God for help. One must devote one's attention to this inner work , especially during Lent. And then, when the fast ends, one should not abandon it, but continue it throughout one's life.
Keeping the fast begins with the soul. The goal is to avoid giving in to one's passions—sinful habits, desires, feelings, and thoughts—while struggling with them. One strives to replace sinful, passionate desires and feelings with virtuous ones that are salutary for the soul. The purpose of fasting, then, is for the soul to abstain from all sin, all impiety, all vice, and passion. Food is secondary, unimportant.
If a physical fast is carried out without feelings of humility before God and meekness, without compassion and mercy, without simplicity of soul, good nature and kindness, without love for truth and justice, then such a fast will be a means of connecting with demons in the mood of the spirit.
If a person, even without physical fasting, is driven by their spiritual passions—irritated, angry, offended, filled with discontent, hatred, malice, and revenge—then physical fasting will only intensify these passions. And physical fasting will do them no good. They must pay attention to their spiritual passions in order to begin to combat them. For this is the essence of fasting—the eradication of passions. Without this, observing physical fasting will only fuel their spiritual passions and lead them into contact with demons. For the purpose of fasting is not to abstain from eating meat—not as a restriction in food—but, first and foremost, to eradicate passions, both spiritual and physical. However, eradicating only physical passions, without addressing the spiritual, leads to false asceticism and breeds a Pharisee.
In our time, spiritual fasting, which should come first, has been replaced by restrictions on non-fasting foods, a physical fast. A person abstains from fasting, yet at the same time becomes irritated and angry, quarrels, slanders and condemns, grumbles and gives in to a spirit of discontent, takes offense and hates, dwells on indifference, alienation, and false humility, on spiritual lust, and asserts himself in spirit. And by abstaining from fasting foods, like the pagan and Pharisee, he thinks he will please God, eradicate passions and draw closer to Him, and receive grace from God. But it turns out that before God, he is not fasting. For a fasting person should not have all these passionate feelings of the soul. For it is impossible to fast physically while experiencing these passionate desires and feelings without struggling with them. For this would be a fast not salutary for the soul, but destructive. And such a fast will make a person spiritually worse, not better. Such a fast will connect them not with God, but with demons.
We must always remember the main purpose of fasting—the cultivation of virtuous spiritual feelings: a sense of contrition and humility before God, a sense of mercy and compassionate love, kindness and generosity, gentleness and simplicity of soul, love and goodwill, and a love of truth and justice. This is the main purpose of fasting. Without this, fasting loses all meaning and brings not benefit but spiritual harm.
Fasting without a properly conducted internal struggle with one's passions, without the cultivation of virtuous spiritual feelings, will lead to spiritual delusion and self-delusion, will connect one's spiritual disposition with demons, will raise a Pharisee, and will lead to destruction.
"Food does not bring us nearer to God: for whether we eat, we gain nothing; and whether we do not eat, we lose nothing" (1 Cor. 8:8). Whether we eat meat or lenten foods, this in itself does not bring us closer to God or distance us from Him. For food does not defile a person and does not, in itself, make him sinful. If someone hopes that by fasting, by abstaining from meat, they unite with God, then they attribute this fast to themselves, and through this they fuel their conceit , the spirit of selfishness and pride. Through such a spiritual attitude, they unite with demons.
Nor can fast food in itself defile a person or make him sinful, since on non-fasting days a person eats fast food, and this does not defile him. It is the passions that originate in the human heart that defile a person and make him guilty of sin, as Christ said: “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man… Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ Jesus said, ‘Do you also not yet understand? Do you not yet understand that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out? But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart; this is what defiles a man’” (Matt. 15:15-18). That is, eating Lenten or fasting foods in and of themselves does not defile a person, but sinful desires, feelings, and passions make one guilty of sin: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:19) . That is, if a person seeks to satisfy their passions, then this is what defiles them. But if they indulge their natural weakness and eat fasting foods during Lent, this does not defile them, since this is not related to passions.
Here it's important to understand that people have different physical compositions, varying levels of physical strength, health, and mental state. And especially in our times, chronic illnesses and abnormal mental states are commonplace. Children are born sick and even with cancer. Food and air are poisoned. If all this is ignored and everyone is simply expected to obey the letter of the law, then this will impose burdens grievous to bear on people, for which Christ reproached the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Woe to you, lawyers! For you lay on people burdens grievous to bear " (Luke 11:46). It was for this stupid imposition of the letter of the law on people, unrelated to the circumstances of the times, the circumstances of their lives, and their mental states, that Christ reproached the lawyers and Pharisees.
It is necessary to distinguish between indulgences made for the passions and condescension to the weakness of nature and the spiritual weakness of man. Modern legalism and Pharisaism, which is nothing more than false eldership and false mentorship, due to its spiritual blindness, cannot distinguish the weakness of nature from the action of passion. And for this reason, condescension to the weakness of nature is called an indulgence for passion. This occurs because people enter into a false asceticism and asceticism, which are based on the spirit of selfishness and pride, and in which the experiential knowledge of one's own weaknesses, both physical and spiritual, is completely absent. Yet "on the knowledge and awareness of weakness is built the entire edifice of salvation" (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Vol. 1, Ch. 50). For this reason, all their work begins to be carried out in the spirit of self-confidence and arrogance, in the spirit of selfishness and pride.
Through such asceticism—which lacks an empirical understanding of the weakness of one's own nature, and instead is arrogant and self-assured, a spirit of self-affirmation—they enter a state of spiritual delusion and self-delusion. For this reason, having not acquired an empirical understanding of their own weakness, they fail to comprehend how this weakness can manifest itself in others. Therefore, they judge and instruct everyone based on their own conceit and proud spirit, which fails to see and take into account the physical and spiritual state of others. Therefore, they impose burdens grievous to bear, blindly forcing everyone to conform to the letter of the law. And thus, they fall under Christ's definition: "Woe to you, lawyers!" (Luke 11:46).
Every effort and ascetic labor should ultimately lead to an experiential sense of one's own weakness and helplessness in fulfilling the commandment, as St. Simeon the New Theologian says: "Fulfilling the commandments teaches a person his own weakness" (Theological and Practical Chapters, Chapter 4, Philokalia, Part 1). For then the spirit of pride within him is humbled and contrite, and he places all hope for his deliverance solely in God's mercy. A person cannot, by the disposition of his spirit, place all his hope solely in God's mercy without an experiential knowledge and sense of his own weakness, in the depths of his spirit. And if there is no sense of one's own weakness, then a spirit of selfishness and pride is inevitably present instead. Prayer , properly speaking, must be offered from a contrite and humble spirit, on the basis of one's own weakness. "The foundation of prayer is profound humility." "Prayer is the cry and lament of humility. Without humility, the feat of prayer becomes susceptible to self-delusion and demonic delusion" (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Vol. 1, Chapter "On Humility").
What does the appeal to God, "Have mercy on me, a sinner," mean in the Jesus Prayer, or "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me," in the Great Canon of Andrew of Crete? It is the cry of the soul, humble and contrite in spirit, sensing its own weakness; and therefore, all feelings of hope and confidence are directed solely to the mercy of God. According to the meaning of all these prayers, each of us must, through experience, arrive at this state of mind in our lives.
Therefore, in our times, it's foolish to propose that the letter of the law on fasting applies equally to everyone—that's legalism. In principle, this applies to all external prescriptions of the letter of the law.
The degree of fasting required for a person is determined based on their physical strength, physical and spiritual makeup. It's important to remember that only with the right, virtuous, spiritual frame of mind does physical fasting gain its meaning. However, if fasting is performed with the wrong, passionate frame of mind, it will actually be harmful to the soul.
For only a fast observed with a proper and virtuous spiritual disposition will unite a person with God; if not, then with demons. Therefore, forcing people to observe a physical fast without observing it with a virtuous spiritual disposition will only harm their souls. This is because it will foster the development of spiritual passions and turn them into Pharisees in their spiritual disposition, connecting them not with God, but with the devil.
The most important thing during Lent is not a physical fast, but a properly conducted struggle with the passions and the cultivation of virtuous spiritual feelings. Without a proper struggle with the passions, or in its absence, fasting will bring harm rather than benefit, connecting one not with God, but with the devil.
" Bodily effort, unaccompanied by spiritual effort, is more harmful than beneficial; it serves as the cause of an extraordinary intensification of spiritual passions: vanity, hypocrisy, deceit, pride, hatred, envy, and conceit. 'If inner work according to God,' said the great Barsanuphius, 'does not help a person, then his external labors are in vain' (Answer 210)" (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, Vol. 2, Ch. 21, Item 4).
That is why during fasting it is very important to take into account the physical and mental state of a person, so that through this means, fasting, we can help him to unite with God, and not with the devil.
Sources:
1. https://www.paraklit.org/5-cherkovnie/nastavlenie-k-postu#pspzn1
2. https://www.paraklit.org/velikiy_post/o-suti-posta