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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Howbeit, this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting;" meaning the whole kind of evil spirits, not that of lunatics only. Seest thou how He now proceeds to lay beforehand in them the foundation of His doctrine about fasting? Nay, argue not with me from rare cases, that some even without fasting have cast them out. …
Desert Fathers
John the Short said, 'If a king wants to take a city filled with his enemies, he first captures their food and water, and when they are starving he subdues them. So it is with gluttony. If a man is sincere about fasting and is hungry, the enemies that trouble his soul will grow weak.'
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
But this kind of demons (the word this does not indicate only the kind of lunatic demon, but every kind of demon) is not cast out but by prayer and fasting. Chrysostom says that the more the soul is elevated, the more terrible it is to demons; for Christ himself is terrible to demons. Hence those who are united to Christ are terrible to them. …
Rabanus Maurus
But while He teaches the Apostles how the dæmon ought to be cast out, He instructs all in regulation of life; that we may all know that all the heavier inflictions, whether of unclean spirits, or temptations of men, may be removed by fasts and prayers; and that the wrath also of the Lord may be appeased by this remedy alone; whence he adds, Howbeit this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.
Remigius of Rheims
Or, fasting is here understood generally as abstinence not from food only, but from all carnal allurements, and sinful passions. In like manner prayer is to be understood in general as consisting in pious and good acts, concerning which the Apostle speaks, Pray without ceasing. (1 Thess. 5:17.)
Translation