“Man does not fast because it pleases God if His servants do not eat, for, as the Lenten hymns of the Church remind us, ―the devil also never eats‖. Neither do men fast in order to afflict themselves with suffering and pain for God has no pleasure in the discomfort of His people. Neither do men fast with the idea that their hunger and thirst can somehow serve as a reparation for their sins…The purpose of fasting is to gain mastery over oneself and to conquer the passions of the flesh.”
(Protopresbyter George D. Konstantopoulos in ‘The Way’)

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