In Egypt the Fast Gave Way to Guests

When we had come from the region of Syria to the province of Egypt, wanting to learn the rules of the elders, we were astonished at the eagerness of heart with which we were received there. No rule forbidding a meal until the appointed hour of the fast was over was kept, such as we had been brought up to keep in the monasteries of Palestine. Except on the regular days, Wednesdays and Fridays, wherever we went the daily fast was broken. And when we asked why they set the daily fast aside in this way without scruple, one of the elders replied: “The opportunity for fasting is always with me. But since I am about to send you on your way, I cannot keep you with me always. And a fast, though it is useful and advisable, is a freewill offering. But the demands of a command require that a work of love be carried out. So, receiving Christ in you, I ought to refresh him. But when I have sent you on your way, I will be able to balance the hospitality shown for his sake with a stricter fast of my own. For ‘the wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them,’ but when he has gone, then they will rightly fast.” [a]