Why the Sabbath Vigil Is Kept and the Fast Relaxed

Throughout the whole East it has been settled, ever since the time of the apostles’ preaching, when the Christian faith and religion was founded, that these vigils should be celebrated as the Sabbath dawns. The reason is this: when our Lord and Savior had been crucified on the sixth day of the week, the disciples, overwhelmed by the freshness of his sufferings, stayed awake through the whole night, giving their eyes no rest or sleep. That is why, ever since that time, a service of vigils has been appointed for this night, and it is still kept in the same way throughout the East to this day. [a]

And so, after the effort of the vigil, a release from fasting, appointed in the same way for the Sabbath by apostolic men, is not without reason ordered in all the churches of the East. This follows that saying of Ecclesiastes which, though it has another and a mystical sense, is not misapplied to this. By it we are charged to give both days, that is, the seventh and the eighth alike, the same share of the service, as it says: “Give a portion to these seven, and also to these eight.” For this release from fasting must not be understood as taking part in the Jewish festival, least of all by those who are shown to be free from all Jewish superstition. It serves the rest of the weary body that we have spoken of. Since the body fasts continually five days a week all the year round, it would easily be worn out and fail unless it were revived by an interval of at least two days.