St. Asterius, Bishop of Amasea: On the Beginning of the Fast (Part One)
Homily 14: On the Beginning of the Fast St. Asterius, Bishop of Amasea (350-410) 1. Man is a composite animal, visible body and rational and bodiless soul being the lot of what he is. But the nature and worthiness of these two aforesaid parts are not equal in honor, but the one was created as an instrument, moved for the economy of the ruler, and the other was arranged to rule and reign, as the better does the worse. And this one, taking its distinction from mind, and from reason, and from beautiful things, and discovering difference in them, knows God as the maker and creator of those things on feet and grasped by sense, but also of things unseen, which the bodiless mind sees through imagination. And, hearing of righteousness and virtue, as beloved by God, it goes to philosophy, and, persuaded by those laws and instructions, it draws itself away from most bodily desires, and it draws near to God and strives, as much as it can, to become familiar with the ...