Fasting: Gregory of Nyssa on Fasting and Freedom
Teaching on Fasting from Gregory of Nyssa: Gregory of Nyssa on Fasting and Freedom
This is a spiritual discipline on freedom and self-mastery, drawing on Genesis 3:6, Romans 6:12-14 and Galatians 5:1.
Gregory of Nyssa (d. c. 394) connected fasting to true human freedom. He preached: "Fasting is the champion of every virtue, the beginning of the struggle, the crown of the abstinent, the beauty of virginity and sanctity, the brightness of chastity, the foundation of piety." But Gregory's most original contribution was linking fasting to the Genesis narrative. Gregory taught that humanity's original sin was essentially a failure of fasting -- Adam and Eve ate what was forbidden.…
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