About fasting and almsgiving
bishops to suffer for Me and for the people to tell to all of them with a strong word that it is not allowed in an Orthodox country that the time of the fasting to be violated disorderly . It is written into the Scriptures that the people who violates the holy customs over the church coming from the fathers is an adulterous and sinful people , and behold , those who stay in My name over the Church are ashamed of My Gospel and do not tell the Christians to have progress and advance with days of feasting before Me for their salvation . Oh , well , how are they able to tell the people when even they do not fast and when they eat by stealth so that other people may not see them doing this ? These people are not faithful , and even if someone rose from the dead they would not believe or fulfill God ’ s word and the word of God ’ s saints , for Lazarus came to life from the dead , and I , the Lord , resurrected him and in spite of all these Israel did not believe , who today wants to give Me another crush and wants to lead the world to the denial of God in order that it may be god over the earth , it and only it itself , and everything is only about the money , for the money is the curse of its head , because it sold the Son of God on money when He came down from heaven to it to be crucified by it , by the people to which He came to be its Savior .
Oh , he who does not fast from his own self , that one fasts from food in time of fasting in vain , for haughtiness is with the man who is not steadfast on his way with Me , and behold a word of wisdom in it , for Adam was tempted and was overcame by temptation because he did not fast , because it did not listen to fast from his self , and I , the Lord , Jesus Christ , had been tempted by satan as a man for forty days and I was not overcame by him , because I fasted , because I bowed before the Father and before the time of the testing sent by Him , and I stayed with humility before the Father and before satan at the same time , and satan did not know that the Father was in Me , that I was in Him , and that is why the victory was Mine by My humility before the Father and by My courage for Him face to face with the tempting satan .
***
Take heed , you , those who are faithful , and you , those who are not faithful , and learn from God to keep away from sin , for the wages of sin do not protect you ! Oh , come under watching , come into the light and receive light , and come out of the works of the darkness in you ! When man wants to be alone for his sinful works in him , the devil takes him under his control and man goes into hiding , and then he forgets about the angel and then about God . When two come together , it is an evil thing for it is a choice too and it is a devilish trap for the one who is weak and stays without watching , but when brothers come together , three or five or ten of them and many other are living together and giving each other their sacrifice with love in it , then the Lord ’ s blessing works much , and the brothers watch upon them to the Lord , if they come together for this . The prayer with fasting added to it , these are the things that weaken satan and his angels ’ power , who swarm with power everywhere in the air , in man and between man and man , and here there is exhortation for fasting , as fasting is needed for all the evil things in man , not only from food , because man goes wrong in his thought , in his speaking , in his heart , and not by food and as long as it is a time for fasting . Those who fasted , the devout and hermits , wanted to keep away from sin in the time of fasting from food and they even wanted to protect others too from the sin in them , and they went into asceticism during fasting , for they knew that the reward of sin was severe , and then they struggled with all the power of their soul against the power of the flesh , which asks for itself , and many of them overcame and received grace upon grace , and then they received proclaimed grace , working to the healing of many of those who sought God ; however , those who stay together in My name
64