A letter of Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi on fasting, temperance and diet

11/9/1988 Vatopaidi Monastery

My esteemed Mrs M., our Christ’s Grace be with your spirit.

I have received your letter and read the contents carefully. The issues you raise are not as worthy of praise as your good will and decision to live a more meticulous life in Christ. In this, I wish you to have never-ending progress.

The issue of diet, my devout lady, as the most necessary duty and element of our lives, is something which preoccupies – if not captivates – everyone, due to the particular extravagance that characterizes our generation. Right now, it is neither beneficial for us nor praiseworthy to stop eating, especially abruptly, one of the main types of foods under the pretext that perhaps we may have lost control over it. Neither do the Fathers approve of or praise such a move, but, in my opinion, the middle road is the best. Which road is this? To restrict its consumption, so that health is not affected, and to prevent people making a fuss that “M. is not eating meat”, which will create for you a useless struggle to avoid haughtiness and pride. The same applies to sweets, since they too are useful to a certain extent to preserve a normal and balanced life. read more…It is only in this way that temperance as a necessary rule of life can be applied, in order to cause prudence and balance in our lives. The entire psychosomatic manner and condition of our lives lies in the balance created by this general temperance in our diet, and a healthy balance of both body and soul is formed as a result.

Consequently, restless sleep is normalized, harmful thoughts and assaults to the mind disappear and an increase in eagerness and zeal is born. This is, therefore, what you must do without any further excesses, and if you do not succeed sometimes, you must start again and again, and finally, with the Grace of Christ, you will certainly prevail.

You are a social person even in difficult and unhealthy times, and you cannot apply monastic rules to your life, which even the monks today cannot keep.

With prayerful wishes and affection in Christ,

lowly Elder Joseph the monk

Source: Γέροντας Ιωσήφ Βατοπαιδινός – Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi (Facebook)