Therefore, having turned away from the righteousness and judgment of God—which are titles attributed to Christ, as the Psalmist proclaims, "O God, give Thy judgment to the King, and Thy righteousness to the Son of the King" (Psalm 71:1)—they boast foolishly in their knowledge of the law. Meanwhile, a righteous individual does not boast of understanding Scripture but of their deeds, as it is said, "The way of Thy commandments flowed when Thou enlargedst my heart" (Ps. 118:32).
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They ask Me about judgments of righteousness and long to draw near to Me. They question, "Why did we fast, and You did not notice; why did we humble our souls, and You did not respond?" Behold, on the day of your fasting, your desires will be fulfilled, yet you extort from all your debtors. You fast for strife and discord, beating your fists unjustly. According to the Septuagint: they plead for judgment and righteousness, stating, "Why have we fasted, and You have not perceived? We have humbled our souls, and You have not known." For on the days of your fasts, your desires are granted, and you exhaust those under your authority, fasting for conflicts and beating the meek. Another folly exists among the Jews, as if they possessed confidence in a clear conscience—they demand righteous judgment and echo the words of the saints, saying: "Judge me, O Lord, for I am not evil in my walk" (Psalm 23:1), and again: "Try me, O Lord, and test me; kindle my womb and my heart" (Psalm 23:2). In another passage: "Judge my trial, and deliver me" (Psalms 118:154). They strive to come near to God, yet such proximity is not about location, but rather disposition; it is not about empty contemplation but requires diligent action. Hence, the Scripture instructs us about what it means to draw near to God: "Seek the Lord. And when He draweth nigh unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the lawless man his thoughts." The Lord is close to those who approach Him, to them who act righteously according to the truth and can proclaim, "It is good for me to cleave unto God" (Psalm 72:28). For if the Almighty God is the Father of truth and righteousness, then those who are false and unrighteous cannot draw near Him, of whom it is declared, "Neither shall the wicked sit down to Thee, nor shall the unrighteous abide before Thy eyes" (Psalm 5:6). They challenge, "Why have we fasted, and You have not seen; we have humbled our souls, and You have not known?" They accuse the Lord of injustice, claiming He overlooks their good deeds, while presenting to God a mere need for sustenance, devoid of virtues, neglecting the true nourishment designed for the faithful who recognize the truth, and instead pursuing the warnings of Proverbs: "These feed on the food of wickedness, but they are drunk with the wine of transgression" (Proverbs 4:17). The Pharisee who feasted on such fare boasted of his fasting twice a week (Luke 18), though he drank not from the vineyard of Sorek but from the vineyard of Sodom, whose wine is the fury of dragons and the poisonous clusters of bitterness (Deuteronomy 32). God rebukes them through the prophet: "The sins of My people are consuming them" (Hosea 4:8). Furthermore, "Wherefore wickedness hath prevailed, and unrighteousness hath enlarged; the fruit of falsehood hath come to an end" (Hosea 10:13). As they posed the question to God, desiring the reason for their fasting and humility without response from Him, they overlooked the ancient account of why He did not regard the offerings of Cain, who, though he brought gifts properly, failed to share rightly with his brother (Genesis 4). Ignoring the commandment to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Matthew 22:37; Matthew 22:39), they forgot that God is not dismissive of fasting but of the behaviors enacted during those fasts, asserting, "In the days of your fasts your desires are fulfilled," indicating that you fulfill not God's wishes but your own, as Paul cautions in his letter to the Ephesians: "According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience; among whom we all once lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the others" (Eph. 2:2-3). The expression in the Seventy referring to extorting from creditors is better rendered by Theodotion and Symmachus, whose interpretations we adopt here, stating you take advantage of your debtors. This demonstrates the danger of exploiting a poor individual who cannot repay, as well as the objection of seizing a garment from a cold debtor, lest their voice reach God. For he who shows mercy to the poor lends to God (Proverbs 19:17), whereas he who extorts the needy inflicts harm upon God. Assuredly, the text implies the same, leading us to the subsequent passage: "Loose the bonds of wickedness, untie the cords of the oppressed." This likely references unjust claims. For what benefit is there in appearing pale from fasting, or fasting for quarrels and conflict, as stated: "He who loves sin rejoices in strife" (Proverbs 17). The servant of the Lord ought not to quarrel but should exemplify gentleness (2 Tim. 2), imitating Him who teaches, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29), ensuring that humility is genuine and seeks not the accolades of men but the awareness within one’s own soul. Yet alas, they fast and strike down the humble with their fists, thus denying them dignity. Hence, a bishop must not be a striker (1 Tim. 2:3). For how can he who cannot control his hands or speech restrain his passions? This is the sort of fasting the Lord reproaches at the outset of this prophet, declaring: "My soul hates fasting and idleness, new moons and Sabbaths and your other feasts" (Isaiah 1:13-14). Thus, it is commanded through Joel, "Sanctify the fast, proclaim a holy assembly" (Joel 2:15), so we may turn from sin and sanctify our fasts through good works and heal the wounds of sin. Consequently, it is further stated, "Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal room" (Joel 2:16), calling for a focus on prayer during the fast, that our inward selves may not consume the flesh of the dragon given as food to the nations of Ethiopia. We do not assert this to discourage fasting, for through fasting, Daniel, the beloved of God, learned what was to come (Dan. 9), and the Ninevites turned away God’s wrath (John 3), and Elijah (3 Kings 19) and Moses (Ex. 34), during their forty days of fasting, received divine love, just as the Lord Himself (Mt. 4) fasted for that same duration, establishing annual days of fasting. It is futile to have an empty belly while simultaneously engaging in actions displeasing to God; to wear a disfigured face merely to appear fasting before others; for such individuals will be excluded from the kingdom of God, having already received their reward (Matt. 6). In light of this, the Apostle emphasizes that even if one were to sacrifice their body to be burnt or glorified (as both are possible), without the love of God that resides in the heart, such acts of devotion would amount to nothing.
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"Do not fast as you do today, that your voice may be elevated on high. Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen—wearing out one's soul all day, bowing down one's head like a bulrush, and covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes? Is this the fasting I desire and the acceptable day of the Lord?" The Septuagint states: "Why do you fast for Me, as you do now, that your voice may be heard crying? Not such a fast have I chosen, nor such a day to humble your soul. And not such a one if you bend your neck in a circle or cover yourself with rags and ashes will you call an acceptable fast." To prevent them from dismissing the fasting He has commanded, He instructs on the proper manner of fasting, warning what to avoid. Thus, concerning your cries being heard on high, do not shout when you pray, nor pray in the synagogues or at the street corners to make yourself visible to men (Matt. 6), nor lift your voice excessively, like the Pharisee rejected in God's eyes; do not parade your appearance and deeds (Luke 18). Therefore, the Lord, in distancing Himself from the prayers of Pharisees, teaches the disciples the proper approach to prayer (Matt. 6): let them conceal their inner thoughts and speak privately to God, who listens to the silence of the heart; let them cry out internally, "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15), and rather than distorting their faces in somberness, wash and anoint themselves with oil. The Evangelist John reflects this: "And you also have an anointing from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20), by which, when they are anointed, they themselves become holy. For God desires not merely exhaustion and internal humility at the expense of the body, bending it shapeless, lowering the neck, and trudging about morose, as reflected in the Psalms: "I have suffered and slumbered to the end; I have walked all day long in sorrow" (Psalm 37:7). No one should don ragged clothing or sleep in ashes, as we read concerning David and Ahab (2 Sam. 3; 3 Sam. 21), but let him pursue what follows. The Apostle mentions often fasting (2 Cor. 6; 2 Cor. 11), and the Lord teaches that when the Bridegroom is taken from the disciples, they will fast (Mk. 2), whereas the penitent declares in the Psalms, "I will eat ashes like bread, and my drink will be mingled with weeping" (Ps. 101:10). When they neglected me, I was veiled (Psalm 34:13). From these verses, we learn that we should prioritize pleasing the Lord and not neglect other duties.
THEOSIS