Abstract
The purpose of this article is to compare the views of Basil of Caesarea (330–79 AD), Evagrius of Pontus (345–99 AD) and John Chrysostom (347–407 AD) regarding food and eating habits and how these contributed to their understanding of spirituality. The study is interested in the relationship between food, asceticism and spirituality in the thought of these three authors, and the role of food and fasting (and by implication, gluttony) in the daily lives of their audiences. It also asks whether the views of these ancient authors are still applicable to modern-day Christian spirituality. Because of the breadth of the early Christian literary corpus, these authors are chosen based on the fact that they all wrote in Greek, and thus represent some section of the Eastern church, and, more importantly, because each one of them had to address an audience with a unique background. Basil’s audience found themselves in the middle of a terrible famine that ravaged the region, while Evagrius’s audience consisted mainly of monks. John Chrysostom addresses an audience somewhat similar to that of Basil, but one that is not suffering under famine. The article therefore explores the strategies of these authors to address the specific challenges of their audience and society at large.
This article’s point of departure is that Christian spirituality is concerned with the “lived experience” of the Christian faith and believers. Food and eating (or not eating) are some of the fundamentals of human daily life. We structure our day around meals, and we are constantly concerned about how food impacts our health and social relationships. This means that the study of food and eating habits presents a fruitful opportunity for analysis within the scheme of Christian spirituality.
Norman Wirzba, in his book Food and faith: A theology of eating (2011:2), understands eating as a mystical experience: “Food is a holy and humbling mystery. Every time a creature eats it participates in God’s life-giving yet costly ways, ways that simultaneously affirm creation as a delectable gift, and as a divinely ordered membership of interdependent need and suffering and help. Whenever people come to the table they demonstrate with the unmistakable evidence of their stomachs that they are not self-subsisting gods.” Wirzba’s remark on the link between spiritual experience, food and eating is foundational to the approach followed in this article.
The analysis examines early Christian spirituality more closely, particularly the type of spirituality that exemplified the respective contexts of Basil, Evagrius and Chrysostom. The type of spirituality that characterised Patristic thought is called ascetical spirituality. In other words, the experience of faith and the relationship with God are expressed in acts of self-renunciation and self-mortification – known in Greek as askêsis (“discipline”). The passions of the body must be controlled and brought under subjection of the soul and the will. The care and well-being of the body should not receive priority over the care of the soul, and the body should be in service of the soul and not vice versa. Food and eating habits played an important part in this regard, since the consumption of food – its quantity but also its quality (food types) – directly impacted the humours of the body, which in turn influenced the bodily temperaments and emotions. Self-control started, in essence, on the plate of food set before the individual. Gluttony, in ancient medical thought, was consistently associated with excessive and shameful sexual lust and sexual immorality.
When looking at the role of food and eating habits in the ascetical spirituality of Basil, who writes in the context of famine, it becomes evident that the act of fasting was a service to society. By sharing one’s food, one may save another from famine. Gluttony is determined by the relationship between the person eating and the person starving. Simply eating more than what is necessary to survive, in this context, was considered gluttony. According to Basil, if someone eats more than their share, while someone else is starving, it is not only gluttony, but akin to murder. In such severe famine, Basil proposed a very radical ascetical spirituality. Asceticism is not simply a spiritual exercise, but a saving measure for those in need, since food is shared among people of all classes. Fasting is therefore beneficial not only to the individual body, but also to the social body.
Evagrius is writing to monks who required practical advice for success in the monastic lifestyle. The analysis shows that food and eating habits were central to Evagrius’s ascetical spirituality. Eating the right types of foods in the right quantities assisted the monk in ascending to spiritual heights and conquering the passions of the body. Fasting was also considered a form of protection against demons.
The majority of John Chrysostom’s audience were not suffering under famine (despite the high levels of poverty in Antioch and Constantinople), nor were they monks who had renounced all family and social bonds. His audience had many wealthy individuals, and gluttony here was perhaps closer to modern ideas of the concept – some in his audience fit the image of the Roman symposiast who ate and wasted so much that it was shameful. Chrysostom was realistic about his expectations for his audience. He encouraged moderation – he knew that if he prescribed a strict and rigorous monastic diet, his audience would not follow it. But he also wanted to change their habits by introducing fasting as an important spiritual practice that should be performed regularly with moderation.
In conclusion, the article shows that each author constructed his views about food and eating habits (fasting and gluttony) contextually. The value of the views of these ancient authors, however, is seen in one overarching principle: when one eats one must think of the hungry. In a dynamic and practical spirituality, fasting must also have a social dimension. When one does not eat, one should share the food that would have been eaten. Fasting and responsible eating habits are then no longer self-centred spiritual practices, but a form of outreach that is based on empathy with the hungry and the needy.
Keywords: asceticism; Basil of Caesarea; Christian spirituality; Evagrius of Pontus; fasting; food; gluttony; John Chrysostom; Patristics