Athanasius of Alexandria : The Word blamed the children of Israel on account of such a fast as this, exhorting them by Isaiah the prophet and saying, "This is not the fast or the day that I have chosen, that a person should humble his soul." That we may be able to show what kind of persons we should be when we fast, and of what character the fast should be, listen again to God commanding Moses.… In the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement; a convocation, and a holy day shall it be to you; and you shall humble your souls, and offer whole burnt offerings to the Lord. And afterwards, that the law might be defined on this point, he proceeds to say, "Every soul that shall not humble itself shall be cut off from the people." — FESTAL LETTERS 1:4 Augustine of Hippo : What if your flesh obeys you, and you do not obey God? Aren't you condemned by your own flesh, when it submits to you? Doesn't it bear witness against you, precisely by submitting to you? — SERMON 400:7 Cyril of Alexandria : Now fasting is a very worthwhile and excellent thing, and prayer is most useful. And humbling oneself in God's eyes has much to commend it. … The God of the universe says, return to me with fasting, wailing, mourning. For he readily has mercy on those doing penance through travail. But it is unusual that those wishing to receive mercy in another way should annoy the legislator and provoke him to wrath by not liking to do the things commanded. For it is necessary that all saints who wish to draw near to God not only do the good works to be done but also that they be free from all reproach. — COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 5:3.58:3-4 Ephrem the Syrian : "Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself?" Do not fast as if with the aim to fulfill your evil intentions, as if you had made a certain vow in order to obtain one thing or another and so that misfortunes might befall your enemies. Through this kind of fasting and prayers, he says, you seek to delight your will and not mine, and, since you despise me, you say on high, "Why have we fasted, and you do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you do not notice?" — COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 58:4-5 Isaac of Nineveh : Ye offer [your own wills] as whole burnt offerings unto idols; and unto the wretched thoughts, that ye reckon in yourselves as gods, ye daily sacrifice your free will, a thing more precious than all incense, which ye ought rather to consecrate unto Me by your good works and your purity of conscience. — ASCETICAL HOMILIES 6 Jerome : (Verse 3) They ask me for judgments of justice, and for the nearness of God. Why did we fast, and you did not look upon us? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? Behold, in the day of your fast your will is found, and you exact all your debtors. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and you strike with the fist wickedly. LXX: They now seek a just judgment from me, and they desire to draw near to God, saying: Why did we fast, and you did not see? We have humiliated our souls, and you have not acknowledged? For on the days of your fasts, your desires are found, and you afflict all those subject to you, fasting for judgments and arguments, and you strike the humble with your fists. There is another rashness of the Jews, as if with the confidence of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, and they imitate the words of the saints saying: Judge me, O Lord, for I have entered in my innocence (Ps. XXV, 1, 2). And again: Test me, O Lord, and try me: burn my reins and my heart. And in another place: Judge my cause, and redeem me (Psalms 118:154). And they desire to draw near to God: but this does not occur in a physical place, but in affection, nor in idle thoughts, but in laborious deeds. Finally, Scripture instructs us on what it means to draw near to God, saying: Seek the Lord. And when the wicked draws near to you, let him forsake his ways, and the unjust his thoughts. For the Lord is near to those who approach Him, and to those who pursue what is just. And they can say: But for me it is good to cling to God (Ps. LXXII, 28). For if Almighty God is the Father of truth and justice, whoever is deceitful and unjust cannot draw near to God, of whom it is written: The wicked shall not dwell with you, nor shall the unjust remain before your eyes (Ps. V, 6). Why did we fast, they say, and you did not look? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? They accuse the Lord of injustice, because he does not regard good works, and they offer to God only the hunger of the belly, without the work of virtues: not eating the foods that God created for the faithful and those who know the truth, so that they may take them with thanksgiving. But those of whom it is written in Proverbs: For they are nourished with the foods of impiety and are intoxicated with the wine of iniquity (Prov. 4:17). The Pharisee, satisfied with these kinds of banquets, among other words of pride, boasted on the Sabbath that he was fasting. (Luke XVIII): he did not drink wine from the vineyard of Sorec, but from the vineyard of the Sodomites, whose wine is the madness of dragons, and the madness of asps is incurable, and their grapes are grapes of gall: whom God reproves through the Prophet: They eat the sins of my people (Hos. IV, 8). And again: Why have you remained silent about their wickedness, and gathered and eaten the harvest of falsehood? (Hos. X, 13). Therefore, because they had posed the question to God, desiring to know why they had fasted and humbled their souls, and God did not respond, forgetting the old story of why He did not regard Cain's offering, who offered correctly but did not divide rightly with his brother (Gen. IV), not seeing the love of God, as the Scripture says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself (Matt. XXII, 39): therefore, God answered that He does not reject fasting, but the works that are done in fasting, saying: In the days of your fasting, your own wills are found, that you do not do God's will, but your own wills, which Paul, writing to the Ephesians, rejects: According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of unbelief, among whom we all once conversed in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and thoughts. And we were by nature children of wrath, like the others (Eph. 2:2-3). And what follows according to the Septuagint: 'And you oppress, or afflict, all your subjects,' which Theodotion and Symmachus translated better, whom we have followed in this place, 'and you demand payment from all your debtors.' From this it is evident that it is not without danger to demand repayment from a poor person who is unable to pay, and to not return a cloak taken as a pledge to a debtor who is shivering, lest his cry come before God. For he who has pity on the poor lends to God (Proverbs XIX). And on the contrary, he who withholds from the poor, harms God. And so that we may know that this is the meaning in the present passage, we will also read in the following verses in this same chapter: Break the bonds of wickedness, untie the bundles of oppression. It is undoubtedly clear that the bonds refer to: For what profit is it if you make your face pale with fasting, and fast for quarrels and arguments, as the Scripture says, He who loves sin rejoices in arguments (Proverbs XVII, 11)? But a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle (2 Tim. 2), and imitate Him who says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11, 29): so that humility is not affected, but of the heart, not seeking the glory of men, but the conscience of the soul. You fast and strike with fists the humble, and with slaps you beat (1 Tim. 3). Therefore, a bishop must not be a striker. For how can he restrain lust, who is unable to restrain his own hand or tongue? The Lord reproves such fasting and in the beginning of this prophet he says: My soul hates your fasting and rest, your new moons and Sabbaths, and your other solemnities (Isaiah 1:13). Therefore, Joel commands: Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing (Joel 2:15); so that we may fast from vices and become holy through good works and the healing of sins. Finally, it follows: Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal chamber; so that during the time of fasting we may give ourselves to prayer: lest our inner self be nourished by the dragon's flesh, which has been given as food to the peoples of Ethiopia. And we say this, not because we disapprove of fasting, through which both Daniel, a man of desires, knew the future (Daniel IX), and the Ninevites appeased the anger of God (Jonah III), and Elijah (III Kings XIX) and Moses (Exodus XXXIV), satisfied with the familiarity of God through a forty-day fast, and the Lord Himself (Matthew IV) fasted for the same number of days in the wilderness, in order to leave us the solemn days of fasting. But fasting alone should not be empty, and one should not do other things that displease God. And, leaving aside other things, you will make their faces disfigured so that they appear to be fasting ((or fasting)), those who, by obtaining glory in the present, will be excluded from the kingdom of God, because they have received their reward (Matt. VI). Therefore, even if the Apostle were to offer his body to martyrdom, as it were, to be burned or to boast (both are mentioned in the copies), without the love of God (which is in the conscience of the heart), he says in vain that he pours out his blood (I Cor. XIII). — Commentary on Isaiah Theodoret of Cyrus : They think that abstaining from food is the height of virtue, and they accuse me of not automatically deeming them worthy of all providence. As for the phrase "they desire to be near to God," Symmachus translates, "they wish the nearness of God" and Aquila, "they will19 the drawing near of God." The text shows that they have no desire to draw near to God, but want him to come near to them through his protection and care, even while choosing a life unworthy of him. — COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 18:58.3