FAST. 474 FAST. are genuine. Assuming the authenticity also of the remarks concerning the bridegroom who is to be taken away, Roman Catholic interpreters understand, not improperly, the words, "And then they shall fast in those days," to be a direct exhortation, and that the disciples were only ex- empted from fasting during the presence of their Master on earth. This must indeed have been the manner in which the words were apprehended in the early Church. But the genuineness of this saving is seriously questioned by competent critics, and it is most naturally understood as a justification of a practice not observed by Jesus Himself or His disciples in His lifetime, but subse- quently adopted. It seems to be earlier than the story of His fast for forty days ( Matt, iv. ) . These passages probably show that at the end of the first century fasting was quite generally ob- served in the Church. This is also shown bv Acts xiii. 2, 3; xiv. 23; II. Cor. vi. 5: xi. 27. and the interpolations found in the received text of Matt. xvii. 21; Mark ix. 29; Acts x. 30; I. Cor. vii. 5. In the Oxyrhyncus fragment containing what claim to be the sayings of Jesus, He is repre- sented as having said, "If ye fast not in respect of the world, ye shall not find the Kingdom of God." The language is probably to be taken figuratively, may be directed against physical fasting, and certainly does not come from Jesus. Fasting was required as a preparation for holy acts and feasts, for ordination and baptism. The forty hours between Friday afternoon and Sun- day morning, commemorating the time when Christ lay in the sepulchre, were annually cele- brated, and early fathers allude to the forty days of Lent as handed down and observed by the Church. The moral earnestness of the Montanis- tic movement found expression in vigorous fast- ing. (See Montanus.) While Wednesdays and Fridays had no doubt been observed by fasting before his time, Montanus emphasized the neces- sity of abstaining from all food on these days, and probably was the first to lay down definite rules concerning fasting. The growing Catholic Church was led by this movement to regulate more closely the matter of fasting and to grant certain relaxations. At the Council of Orleans (541), abstinence from meat during Lent, ex- cept on Sundays, was prescribed. The eighth Council of Toledo (633) declared those who ate meat, during Lent sinners unworthy to partake in the resurrection. But the severe laws on this subject which prevailed in earlier times gener- ally, and were made jdill stricter in the monastic rules (the Cistercians, for example, eating noth- ing at all until two o'clock in the afternoon), have been much relaxed in later days as a conces- sion to the needs of modern complexity of life and severity of climate. To regulate the details of fasting has always been considered as within the authority of the Church: in George Herbert's phrase, "The Bible bids us fast — the Church says 'Now.'" Accordingly the power of dispensation is considered by Roman Catholic theologians to re- Bide primarily and universally in the Tope, fur praetieal purposes alsn in I lie hi, hups, and (for individual cases) in parish priests ami confess- ors. Fasting is divided into the natural or abso lute and total list, which means entire ab- stinence from any sort of food or drink, no matter in how small quantities; the ecclesiastical or partial fast; and abstinence. The first only applies to the regulation for those who are to receive Holy Communion ; it lasts from the pre- vious midnight until after communion, and is never relaxed except in the case of the dying. The second allows only one full meal in the day, with a small collation in the evening, and two ounces of dry bread with the morning coffee or tea. The third does not regulate the quantity, but forbids the use of meat. Normally, all week- days in Lent, the ember-days (q.v.) at the four seasons, certain vigils (q.v.), and in some coun- tries the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, are observed as strict fasts under the above defini- tion; but the regulations vary considerably in detail in different countries. Recently a dispen- sation granted for ten years and already once renewed allows the bishops of the United States to relax very much the Lenten fast for the work- ing classes. Those who are under twenty-one or over sixty, the insane, sick, or convalescent per- sons, pregnant and nursing women, and those whose occupations are specially laborious or ex- hausting, are excused from fasting. Strictly, the prohibition of flesh-meat includes the prod- ucts of the animals whose flesh is not to be eaten, as milk, butter, cheese, eggs, classed together as lactici nia; but in northern countries, at least, these are usually allowed, either by custom or express dispensation. The Roman Catholic Church regards fasting as a means of grace, under two aspects — that of the actual mortifica- tion and that of obedience to ecclesiastical pre- cept. In the Greek Church fasting is kept with much greater severity. The Easter fast lasts 48 days, that of Christmas 39 days, that in honor of the Virgin 14 days, and that of the Apostles begins on Monday after Trinity and extends to the 29th of June. There are also many vigils preparatory for great festivals. The Church of England con- siders fasting as praiseworthy, but not as obliga- tory, a useful exercise preparatory for the means of grace, but not itself one. The days named by the English Church as seasons of fasting are the forty days of Lent, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; the ember-days, the three rogation days, all the Fridays of the .year (except Christ- mas Day), and the eves or vigils of certain festi- vals. Mohammed commanded but one fast, viz. that during the month of Ramadan (see Ramadan), although he recommended fasting at certain other times as a meritorious act. The fast of Ramadan is rigorously observed, at least in letter, by all Mussulmans. Whether fasting was practiced in Arabia before contact with Judaism or Christianity is doubtful. Certain of the fasts recommended by Mohammed seem to be imita- tions; thai on the 10th of Muharram (see Mr HABRAM), for instance, corresponds to the Day of Atonement on the loth of Tishri. Abstinence from food may cause a grave condi- tion of I he body, and may even endanger life. In an experiment upon an animal which was caused to fast for 13 days, the more important tissues lost the following percentages of dry solid mat- ter: The adipose tissues. 97 percent-.; the spleen. 63.1 per cent.; the liver, 56.6 per cent.; the mus- cles, 30.2 per cent.: the blood. 17.0 per cent.; the brain and spinal cord. none. The tissih^ in general became more watery than in health.
