Fasting Sentence Examples

From the first, fasting was practised in the church for similar reason.

In this season fasting played a part, but it was not universally nor rigorously enforced.

Fasting is frequent and severe.

Your body has been in fasting mode for approximately eight hours while you were sleeping.

The king consents, the saint is acclaimed, the bodies of the thirty-seven martyrs solemnly interred, and the king, after fasting five, and listening to Gregory's homilies for sixty days, is healed.

Dispensations from fasting were, however, given in case of illness.

We come to a third widespread reason for fasting, common among savages.

Among the North American Indians ecstatic fasting is regularly practised.

The American Diabetes Association recommends that a random plasma glucose, fasting plasma glucose, or oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) be used for diagnosis of diabetes.

The 41st canon of the council of Carthage enacted that the sacraments of the altar should be received fasting, except on the anniversary of the Lord's supper.

They should be dissolved in warm water and taken in the morning, fasting.

Not a few saints were rewarded for their fasting by glimpses of the beatific vision.

From the 6th century the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as that of Lent; but in the Anglican and Lutheran churches the rule is now relaxed.

Visions are vouchsafed only to those who to prayer have added fasting.

In the discipline of the Christian Church abstinence is the term for a less severe form of Fasting.

In many ways he was a typical Mahommedan, fiercely hostile towards unbelievers - "Let us purge the air of the air they breathe" was his aim for the demons of the Cross, - intensely devout and regular in prayers and fasting.

The 6th of April was kept as a day of fasting and prayer, and the 1st of July was thus set apart in order to seek divine guidance for the approaching conference.

Fish were supposed to be born in the water without sexual connexion, and on the basis of this old physiological fallacy the Cathars equally with the Catholic framed their rule of fasting.

This is why the Zulus and other primitive races distrust a medicine man who is not an ascetic and lean with fasting.

He was converted by a hermit; but as he had neither the gift of fasting nor that of prayer, he decided to devote himself to a work of charity and set himself to carry wayfarers over a bridgeless river.

Dancing and festivities are forbidden, fasting enjoined and purple vestments are worn in the church services.

He exhorted his hearers to prepare themselves by fasting and prayer for the danger which menaced their civil and religious liberties, and refused even to speak to the courtier who came down to remodel the corporation of Bedford, and who, as was supposed, had it in charge to offer some municipal dignity to the bishop of the Baptists.

Great stress is laid upon virginity (although there is not a sign of monasticism), upon fasting (especially for the bishop), upon the regular attendance of the whole clerical body and the " more perfect " of the laity at the hours of prayer.

All that night he is said to have remained in deep meditation under the Bo tree; and the orthodox Buddhists believe that for seven times seven nights and days he continued fasting near the spot, when the archangel Brahma, came and ministered to him.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them.

Saul and Barnabas equally are separated for a certain missionary work by imposition of hands with prayer and fasting, and are so sent forth by the Holy Ghost.

To refuse to submit to fasting was considered indelibly disgraceful, and was one of the things which legally degraded a man by reducing or destroying his honour-value.

The law said "he who does not give a pledge to fasting is an evader of all; he who disregards all things shall not be paid by God or man."

If a person fasting in accordance with law died during.

Fasting could be stopped by paying the debt, giving a pledge, or submitting to the decision of a Brehon.

A creditor fasting after a reasonable offer of settlement had been made to him forfeited his claim.

In a looser sense the word is employed to denote abstinence from certain kinds of food merely; and this meaning, which in ordinary usage is probably the more prevalent, seems also to be at least tolerated by the Church of England when it speaks of " fast or abstinence days," as if fasting and abstinence were synonymous.

For the physiology of fasting, see Dietetics; Nutrition; also Corpulence.

In the spring of 1869 this was tried on the person of a " fasting girl " in South Wales.

This canon teacheth so evidently how fasting was used in the primitive church as by words it cannot be more plainly expressed " (Of Good Works; and first, of Fasting.) 2 As indeed they are, etymologically; but, prior to the Reformation, a conventional distinction between abstinentia and jejunium naturale had long been recognized.

It is suggested that the fasting which was at first the natural and inevitable result of such sacrifice on behalf of the dead may eventually have come to be regarded as an indispensable concomitant of all sacrifice, and so have survived as a wellestablished usage long after the original cause had ceased to operate.'

In the Westminster Assembly's Larger Catechism fasting is mentioned among the duties required by the second commandment.

The practice of stated fasting was not in any other case enjoined by the law; and it is generally understood to have been forbidden on Sabbath.

The only other provision about fasting in the Pentateuch is of a regulative nature, Numb.

The history of Israel from Moses to Ezra furnishes a large number of instances in which the fasting instinct was obeyed both publicly and privately, locally and nationally, under the influence of sorrow, or fear, or passionate desire.

The second book (Seder Moed) of the Mishna contains two tractates bearing upon the subject of fasting.

They used to attend the temple in rotation, and be present at the sacrifices; and as this duty fell to each in his turn, the men of the class or family which he represented were expected in their several cities and places of abode to engage themselves in religious exercises, and especially in fasting.

It ought to be borne in mind that the Aramaic portion of the Megillath Taanith (a document considerably older than the treatises in the Mishna) gives a catalogue only of the days on which fasting was forbidden.

He never formally forbade fasting, but neither did He ever enjoin it.

The words which appear to encourage fasting in i Cor.

Fasting in the stricter sense was not unknown; but it is certain that it did not at first occupy nearly so prominent a place in Christian ritual as that to which it afterwards attained.

As early as the time of Tertullian it was also usual for communicants to prepare themselves by fasting for receiving the eucharist.

In that treatise (c. 15) he approves indeed of the church practice of not fasting on Saturdays and Sundays (as elsewhere, De corona, c. 3, he had expressed his concurrence in the other practice of observing the entire period between Easter and Pentecost as a season of joy); but otherwise he evinces great dissatisfaction with the indifference of the church as to the number, duration and severity of her fasts.'

The church thus came to be more and more involved in discussions as to the number of days to be observed, especially in " Lent," as fast days, as to the hour at which a fast ought to terminate (whether at the 3rd or at the 9th hour), as to the rigour with which each fast ought to be observed (whether by abstinence from flesh merely, abstinentia, or by abstinence from lacticinia, xerophagia, or by literal jejunium), and as to the penalties by which the laws of fasting ought to be enforced.

The synod of Hippo (393 A.D.) enacted that the sacrament of the altar should always be taken fasting, except on the Thursday before Easter.

He " did not allow himself to be hurried on by an inconsiderate zeal to condemn fasting, the life of celibacy, monachism, considered purely in themselves..

He did not condemn fasting altogether, but thought that it ought to be resorted to in the spirit of gospel freedom according as each occasion should arise.

It is probable that the apparent severity of the medieval Latin Church on this subject was largely due to the real strictness of the Greek Church, which, under the patriarch Photius in 864, had taken what was virtually a new departure in its fasting praxis.

Of the nine fundamental laws of that Priscillian, whose widespread heresy evoked from the synod of Saragossa (418) the canon, " No one shall fast on Sunday, nor may any one absent himself from church during Lent and hold a festival of his own," appears, on the question of fasting, not to have differed from the Encratites and various other sects of Manichean tendency (c. 406).

The Armenians are equally strict; but (adds Rycaut) " the times seem so confused and without rule that they can scarce be recounted, unless by those who live amongst them, and strictly observe them, it being the chief care of the priest, whose learning principally consists in knowing the appointed times of fasting and feasting, the which they never omit on Sundays to publish unto the people."

They did not deny that fasting might be a good thing, nor did they maintain that the church or the authority might not ordain fasts, though they deprecated the imposition of needless burdens on the conscience.

What they protested against was the theory of the opus operatum et meritorium as applied to fasting.

In the Anglican Church, the " days of fasting or abstinence " are the forty days of Lent, the Ember days, the Rogation days, and all the Fridays in the year, except Christmas day.

In this connexion the homily Of Fasting may be again referred to.

In the Scottish Presbyterian churches days of " fasting, humiliation and prayer " are observed by ecclesiastical appointment in each parish once or twice every year on some day of the week preceding the Sunday fixed for the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

In some of the New England States, it has been usual for the governor to appoint by proclamation at some time in spring a day of fasting, when religious services are conducted in the churches.

On the subject of fasting the views of Aerius are to a large extent shared by modern Protestant moralists.

Rothe, for example, who on this point may be regarded as a representative thinker, rejects the idea that fasting is a thing meritorious in itself, and is very doubtful of its value even as an aid to devotional feeling.

In this last aspect, however, habitual temperance will generally be found to be much more beneficial than occasional fasting.

It is extremely questionable, in particular, whether fasting be so efficient as it is sometimes supposed to be in protecting against temptation to fleshly sin.

Mahomet himself called fasting the " gate of religion," and forbade it only on the two great festivals, namely, on that which immediately follows Ramadan and on that which succeeds the pilgrimage.

This formal and regulated " penitence " was extended from apostasy to other grave - or, as they were subsequently called, " deadly " - sins; while for minor offences all Christians were called upon to express contrition by fasting and abstinence from ordinarily permitted pleasures, as well as verbally in public and private devotions.

This feeling is exhibited in the value set on fasting in the Christian church from the earliest times, and in an extreme form in the self-torments of later monasticism; while both tendencies, anti-worldliness and antisensualism, seem to have combined in causing the preference of celibacy over marriage which is common to most early Christian writers.'

Mourning is expressed by fasting, by shaving the head and face, or by cutting off the little finger.

The family went on with their usual avocations, but some of the men and women, and in some cases all, practised celibacy, and all joined in fasting and prayer.

They condemned marriage (save, perhaps, first marriages), the eating of meat, baptism of children, veneration of saints, fasting, prayers for the dead and belief in purgatory, denied transubstantiation, declared the Catholic priesthood worthless, and considered the whole church of their time corrupted by the "negotia saecularia" which absorbed all 1 One result is their inability to form a true theory of Judaism and of the Old Testament in relation to the Gospel, a matter of great moment for them and for their successors.

This feature originated in the 5th century, when Mamercus, bishop of Vienna, instituted special prayers and fasting and processions on these days.

However, Allah has made fasting compulsory so that we become pious, God-fearing and God-conscious.

Below what licensed of newly arrived in overall coverage Aaron require fasting talk.

Figure 4. [below] Linear regression of plasma ACTH following fasting stress on daily fatigue severity rating.

This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.

When Allahu ta ' ala made fasting the month of Ramadhan fardh, the fast of Muharram became nafl [optional] .

Anna never left the temple courtyard but worshiped day and night by fasting and praying.

This gives a sensitivity of 85% when performed on all patients with a fasting gastrin of less than 400 pmol/l.

The various other benefits of fasting are that man gets to exercise sacrificing physical comfort and to endure hunger and thirst.

Patients need regular fasting blood glucose testing for patients who develop hyperglycemia (diabetes) while on atypical antipsychotics.

The improved glycaemic control is associated with a reduction in both fasting and postprandial plasma insulin concentrations.

He encouraged the laity to follow monastic practices such as fasting and meditation on the Gospels and lived himself in poverty.

Fasting has been used by patients for weight management, to rest the digestive tract and for lowering lipids.

Current guidelines are that fasting total lipids be below 5.2.

There was no significant effect on serum lipids, fasting glucose or insulin levels, or blood pressure.

The divine ordinance of fasting has been pretty much dropped out of our modern church life.

Fasting, skipping meals, and overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose weight in the short run.

Iron overload can be detected by measuring serum ferritin and fasting transferrin saturation.

In hypertensive patients eprosartan does not affect fasting triglycerides, total cholesterol, or LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels.

The length of this fast and the rigour with which it has been observed have varied greatly at different times and in different countries (see Fasting).

His letters (especially Ep. 45) are full of outcries against his enemies and of indignant protestations that he had done nothing unbecoming a Christian, that he had taken no money, nor gifts great nor small, that he had no delight in silken attire, sparkling gems or gold ornaments, that no matron moved him unless by penitence and fasting, &c. His route is given in the third book In Rufinum; he went by Rhegium and Cyprus, where he was entertained by Bishop Epiphanius, to Antioch.

Early in 814 he was attacked by a fever which he sought to subdue by fasting; but pleurisy supervened, and after partaking of the communion, he died on the 28th of January 814, and on the same day his body was buried in the church of St Mary at Aix.

She conceived herself to be specially favoured by Christ, who appeared to her in the most extravagant forms. At last, by dint of fasting and lacerating her flesh, she succeeded in reducing herself to such a state of ecstatic suffering that she believed herself to be undergoing in her own person the Passion of the Lord.

Just as many of the punishments enjoined by the Roman criminal code were gradually commuted by medieval legislators for pecuniary fines, so the years or months of fasting enjoined by the earlier ecclesiastical codes were commuted for proportionate fines, the recitation of a certain number of psalms, and the like.

He used prayer and fasting to deliver himself from evil enchantment; and when he saw ecstatic and mystical visions promising him the Lord's help and great usefulness in the Lord's work, he feared that these revelations might be of diabolic origin.

The Didache and Justin merely prescribe fasting, the use of which was to hurry the exit of evil spirits who, in choosing a nidus or tenement, preferred a well-fed body to an emaciated one, according to the belief embodied in the interpolated saying of Matt.

This meal only we had in two nights and a day; and had not one of us bought a partridge, we had taken our journey fasting.

Their ceremonies were secret and involved fasting and ritual purification.

However, this is similar to doing a fast, and although acai berries are not dangerous, fasting can be.

Fasting to lose weight quickly is not recommended by some nutritionists since they say you're depriving your body of the nutrition it needs during the fast.

Other nutritionist say fasting is safe as long as you do it properly and are completely healthy going into the fast.

Still others say fasting is counterproductive, because you're starving your body and your body's natural reaction after the fast will be to gain weight as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, fasting can be down right dangerous for those with medical conditions or for those who are underweight or undernourished.

However, if you decide to go on an all acai diet or cleanse, the fasting aspect of this decision could have negative repercussions.

If you choose to go on an all acai diet, the fasting part of this diet could lead to headaches, stomachaches, dizziness, fainting or worse if you have an underlying condition.

In all three groups, cinnamon was found to reduce fasting blood glucose by up to 29 percent.

Although most bulimics vomit or use laxatives to purge food from the body, some people with this eating disorder will alternate binge eating with fasting or periods of excessive exercise.

For some patients, avoiding physiological stressors such as extreme cold, extreme heat, poor nutrition, fasting, and lack of sleep may improve their condition.

The hGH or somatotropin test requires that a fasting blood sample be drawn from a vein, usually in the arm.

The somatomedin C test also requires a fasting blood sample.

Growth hormone suppression testing requires two fasting blood samples, one before the test and another two hours after the child is given a glucose solution by mouth.

If the fasting blood level of cholesterol is 170 to 199 mg/dL, total cholesterol should be repeated and the two tests averaged.

Fasting plasma glucose is the test of choice unless a child is exhibiting classic symptoms of diabetes, in which case a random (or casual) plasma glucose test is acceptable.

Unless hyperglycemia is obvious (e.g., blood glucose levels are extremely high or the child experiences DKA), the fasting or random plasma glucose test should be confirmed on a subsequent day with a repeat test.

A fasting plasma glucose level of 126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) or higher indicates diabetes (with a confirming retest on a subsequent day).

Prediabetes-A precursor condition to type 2 diabetes, sometimes called impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose.

If the person already has symptoms of diabetes, a blood glucose test without fasting, called a casual plasma glucose test, may be performed.

In documented hypoglycemia, blood glucose tests are used along with measurements of insulin and C-peptide (a fragment of proinsulin) to differentiate between fasting and postprandial (after a meal) causes.

The fasting plasma glucose test requires an eight-hour fast.

The ADA recommends a normal range for fasting plasma glucose of 55-109 mg/dL.

A fasting plasma glucose level of 110-125 gm/dL is referred to as "impaired fasting glucose."

An eight-hour fast is required for the fasting plasma or whole-blood glucose test.

In addition, the person must abstain from exercise in the 12-hour fasting period.

The patient may experience weakness, fainting, sweating, or other reactions while fasting or during the test.

Unlike CT, no fasting or laxatives are required prior to an MRI scan.

Abdominal CT examinations usually require fasting for at least 12 hours before the scan.

No preparation is needed before performing fetal hemoglobin tests, and fasting (nothing to eat or drink for a period of hours before the test) is not required.

Also rare is fasting hypoglycemia, a condition in which blood sugars are 50 mg/dl or lower after an over-night fast or between meals.

Causes of fasting hypoglycemia in children without diabetes may include insulin-producing tumors, certain hormonal deficiencies, medications (including sulfa drugs and large doses of aspirin), and critical illnesses.

Fasting hypoglycemia is more likely to occur in children under the age of 10.

Episodes of reactive and fasting hypoglycemia in children without diabetes can also be treated with a fast-acting carbohydrate.

People with bulimia, known as bulimics, consume large amounts of food (binge) and then try to rid themselves of the food and calories (purge) by fasting, excessive exercise, vomiting, or using laxatives.

The second test requires fasting overnight.

For diabetics, fiber can help slow the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream, thereby reducing fasting blood sugar levels.

At breakfast time, your body has been without food, in a fasting state, for 6 to 10 hours.

Other methods of purging include excessive fasting or stringent dieting as a form of self-punishment, excessive exercise, negative self-talk, or overuse of laxatives and enemas.

Fasting diets are especially dangerous and should not be followed without sound knowledge and support.

Although the diet does promise quick results, which may appear to be at odds with traditional advice of losing weight slowly when dieting, this is not achieved through drastic measures such as fasting.

These is a standard procedure with most fasting or cleansing regimes and generally a herbal tea is used.

As with many programs that involve some kind of fasting or radical reduction in calories, many people experience headaches, dizziness, acne, nausea, body aches, fatigue or other health problems a few days into the diet.

Both short and long term health can be harmed by fasting.

Research from years of various studies show that human bodies can tolerate short term fasting.

What the body cannot tolerate is long term and or frequent fasting.

In as little as 24 hours most people fasting will lose integrity in their intestinal wall lining.

Fasting is often viewed in a religious context, but the benefits of fasting go beyond that and may indeed prove a tangible health boost.

It is important to know how to go about it, however, since fasting may slip into starvation territory before long -- which is a distinctly negative development.

Fasting is quite simply abstaining from solid foods for a while, giving your digestive system a chance to rest and toxins to be flushed out.

Christianity, Islam and in fact most religions have elements of fasting in them, whether they're commonly observed or not.

This, too, is beyond the scope of this article, since we'll focus exclusively on the physical aspect of fasting.

On that note, fasting can help extend your lifespan as it is good for various anti-aging hormones.

Finally, there's the distinct but hard-to-prove feeling of wellness and alertness that usually accompany fasting.

It may be a factor of the immunity boost, or a combination of all the above; whatever the reason, odds are you'll feel a good deal more clear-headed after a couple of days of fasting.

Fasting is a time-honored cleansing process with tangible and intangible effects alike.

The benefits of fasting listed above are compelling, but be smart about it.

If you're about to embark on a fast, study up on how you can get on a suitable fasting strategy that works for you.

That aside, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by giving fasting a shot.

It gains its power because it is a kind of fasting.

Fasting has been used for thousands of years to rejuvenate the body like pressing the reset button.

In Russia, which is much closer to Asia than we are, they are much more embracive of natural ways and fasting.

Restricting your diet to raw vegetables is also known as vegetable fasting or a juice fast.

Some of the main reasons are dieting, skipping meals and fasting.

Following these two days of fasting, food is slowly reintroduced through the following phases.

Fasting juice recipes are believed by many people to cleanse the body of toxins, and encourage healing due to the quality vitamins, minerals and enzymes consumed in raw form.

Along with antioxidants, fasting juice recipes are full of natural vitamins, minerals, living enzymes, and phytochemicals.

How long you juice fast will depend on why you are fasting.

If you have any of the above symptoms, your doctor can perform a fasting blood sugar test or glucose tolerance test to determine if you are insulin resistant.

People who want instant results often turn to fad diets or fasting and detox programs, although many physicians advise against it.

A detoxification fasting diet is often touted as a great way to rid your body of impurities while losing weight.

Healers have prescribed fasting for spiritual detoxification for centuries, but it is only in recent years the process has been identified as a potential for physical detoxification as well.

A detoxification fasting diet is said to halt the barrage of dietary toxins while supporting your natural detoxification system using fruit and vegetable juices and, sometimes, herbal teas.

While controlled fasting is almost universally accepted among alternative health practitioners, conventional medicine asserts fasting diets are not only ineffective, they might actually be harmful.

While many people think of fasting as not eating anything at all, most fasting programs involve taking in some calories from a prescribed set of foods.

While these diets may be useful, and some evidence even indicates periodic fasting and calorie restriction can halt age-related cognitive decline, the detoxification process can easily take place over a more extended period of time.

While fasting to lose 20 pounds can be quite tempting, it may not be the best way to effectively lose weight.

Prolonged fasting, the kind related to losing an amount of weight as high as 20 pounds, can be dangerous, and here's why.

When these stores are depleted - after about 12 hours - the body turns to muscle stores and will eventually begin breaking down the muscles themselves.Below are some of the risks associated with prolonged fasting.

If you feel over-anxious about your weight, have frequent thoughts about fasting, or feel like you may not have control over your eating habits, it may be necessary to consult a medical or mental health professional.

People who complete the lemonade diet may report a feeling of focus and energy afterward as a result of the detox and the fasting.

Some research even suggests that fasting benefits those with RA.

Whether this should be short-term or long-term fasting is still debated.

Cranberry juice fasts are popular in the fasting community due to the antioxidant levels found in the juice.

Fasting is required for one to two days in order to deplete glucose supplies, allowing doctors to monitor the child's system.

During the religious confusion of the Reformation, the practice of fasting was generally relaxed and it was found necessary to reassert the obligation of keeping Lent and the other periods and days of abstinence by a series of proclamations and statutes.

With the growth of the Oxford Movement in the English Church, the practice of observing Lent was revived; and, though no rules for fasting are authoritatively laid down, the duty of abstinence is now very generally inculcated by bishops and clergy, either as a discipline or as an exercise in self-denial.

In the middle ages the nocturnal vigilia were, except in the monasteries, gradually discontinued, matins and vespers on the preceding day, with fasting, taking their place.

These, however, are really "rest-days," as fasting is forbidden in Mandaeism.

Penance might consist in fasting; it might consist in flagellation; it might consist in pilgrimage.

In 511 the first Council of Orleans ordered that the three days preceding Ascension Day should be celebrated as rogation days with fasting and rogationes.

The qanki, or sanctuary, is divided from the nave, by a solid wall, pierced by a single doorway; it contains the altar, or madhb'kha (literary, the sacrificing place), and may be entered only by persons in holy orders who are fasting.

The burden of the new prophecy seems to have been a new standard of moral obligations, especially with regard to marriage, fasting and martyrdom.

The latter wished for more fasting, the prohibition of second marriages, a frank, courageous profession of Christianity in daily life, and entire separation from the world; the bishops, on the other hand, sought to make it as easy as possible to be a Christian, lest they should lose the greater part of their congregations.

Luther in his Table Talk condemns them as dealing only with fasting, meats, virginity, &c. "If he only had insisted upon the works of faith and performed them!

Dorsey, again, draws a distinction between lore narratives, which can be rehearsed without fasting or prayer, and rituals which require the most rigid preparation.

He began to preach against fasting, saint worship and the celibacy of priests; and some of his hearers began to put his teachings into practice.

It conceives salvation as a "wages" (µtc 063) to be earned or forfeited; and regards certain good works, such as prayer, fasting, alms - especially the last - as efficacious to cancel sins.

Among the laity, on the other hand, the ideal of holiness found realization in the observance of the ordinary principles of morality recognized by the world at large, in attendance upon the means of grace provided by the Church, in fasting at stated intervals, in eschewing various popular employments and amusements, and in almsgiving and prayer.

The question of missions is reserved, and the relaxations granted to the Society in such matters as fasting, reciting the hours and reading heretical books, are withdrawn; while the breve ends with clauses carefully drawn to bar any legal exceptions that might be taken against its full validity and obligation.

He wore a sharp shirt of hair next his skin, scourged himself every Friday and other fasting days, lay upon the bare ground with a log under his head, and allowed himself but four or five hours' sleep. This access of the ascetic malady lasted but a short time, and More recovered to all outward appearance his balance of mind.

None but a scion of a priestly family could become a deacon, elder or bishop. Accordingly the primacy remained in the family of Gregory until about 374, when the king Pap or Bab murdered Nerses, who had been ordained by Eusebius of Caesarea (362-370) and was over-zealous in implanting in Armenia the canons about celibacy, marriage, fasting, hospices and monastic life which Basil had established in Cappadocia.

He declared that the cenobitical life is superior to the eremitical; that fasting and austerities should not interfere with prayer or work; that work should form an integral part of the monastic life, not merely as an occupation, but for its own sake and in order to do good to others; and therefore that monasteries should be near towns.

And again, when they challenged His disciples for not observing the regular fasts, He gently reminded them that they themselves relaxed the discipline of fasting for a bridegroom's friends.

A penance of several years fasting might be commuted into saying so many prayers, or giving an arranged amount in alms, or even into a money-fine.

Dionysius Alexandrinus also, in his canonical epistle (260 A.D.), refers to the six fasting days (E Twv Pr YTECwv iijApac) in a manner which implies that the observance of them had already become an established usage in his time.

Fasting is used in primitive asceticism for a variety of reasons, among which the following deserve notice.

Here we have the origin of the Catholic rule of fasting, seldom understood by those who observe it.

The prohibition of taking life, which they took over from the Farther East, in itself entailed fasting from flesh.

All over the world fasting is a recognized mode of evoking, consulting and also of overcoming the spirit world.

Above all, fasting was a mode of preparing oneself for the sacramental eating of a sacred animal, and as such often assisted by use of purgatives and aperients.

They insisted on the restoration of the ancient Catholic customs, and would have made neglect of fasting and other sins of omission penal offences.

No mention is made of the Day of Atonement in the pre-exilic period, and it is a plausible conjecture that the present law arose from the desire to turn the spontaneous fasting of Neh.

Besides Wednesdays and Fridays, there are four fasting seasons, Lent, Pentecost to SS.

Regarding the body as the work of the evil deity, the Cerdonians formed a moral system of great severity, prohibiting marriage, wine and the eating of flesh, and advocating fasting and other austerities.

Hitherto they had been erratic, lukewarm and poorly attended (vagae, tepentes, infrequentesque); those which he instituted were characterized by fasting, prayers, psalms and tears."

Nay, in the Roman church a practice of fasting on Saturday as well as on Friday was current before the time of Tertullian.

The Greek Lent begins on the Monday of Sexagesima, with a week of preparatory fasting, known as TvpoOl yca, or the "butter-week"; the actual fast, however, starts on the Monday of Quinquagesima (Estomihi), this week being known as "the first week of the fast" (050µas T&vv vriamtwv).

But in spite of statutes and proclamations, of occasional severities and of the patriotic example of Queen Elizabeth, the practice of fasting fell more and more into disuse.

Thus Bede records that in a certain year (which must have been 645, 647, 648 or 651) Queen Eanfleda, who had received her instruction from a Kentish priest of the Roman obedience, was fasting and keeping Palm Sunday, while her husband, Oswy, king of Northumbria, following the rule of the British church, was celebrating the Easter festival.