Though the
rules may appear quite strict to those who have not seen them before, they were
developed with all of the faithful, not only monks, in mind. (Monks do not eat
meat, so rules regarding the eating of meat cannot have been written with them
in mind. Similarly rules regarding marital abstinence apply only to the laity
and married clergy.) Though few laymen are able to keep the rule in its
fullness, it seems best to present it mostly without judgement of what level is
"appropriate" for the laity, since this is a matter best worked out
in each Christian's own setting, under the guidance of his spiritual fathers.
There are many
exceptions to the broad rules given here, such as when a major feast day, or
the patronal feast of a parish, falls during a fasting period. Consult your
priest and your parish calendar for details. St. Innocent Press publishes wall and
pocket calendars that give the fasting rule for every day of the year. The Saint
Herman Calendar, published annually by St.
Herman of Alaska Press, is also a good day-by-day guide.
Non-fasting Periods
For the
Christian, all foods are clean. When no fast is prescribed, there are no
forbidden foods.
Unless a
fast-free period has been declared, Orthodox Christians are to keep a strict
fast every Wednesday and Friday. The following foods are avoided:
Meat, including poultry, and any meat products such as lard and meat broth.
Fish (meaning fish with backbones; shellfish are permitted).
Meat, including poultry, and any meat products such as lard and meat broth.
Fish (meaning fish with backbones; shellfish are permitted).
Eggs and dairy products (milk, butter, cheese,
etc.)
Olive oil. A
literal interpretation of the rule forbids only olive oil. Especially where
olive oil is not a major part of the diet, the rule is sometimes taken to
include all vegetable oils, as well as oil products such as margarine.
Wine and other
alcoholic drink. In the Slavic tradition, beer is often permitted on fast days.
How Much?
Sad to say, it
is easy to keep the letter of the fasting rule and still practice gluttony. When
fasting, we should eat simply and modestly. Monastics eat only one full meal a
day on strict fast days, two meals on "Wine and oil" days (see
below). Laymen are not usually encouraged to limit meals in this way: consult
your priest.
Exceptions
The Church has always exempted small children, the sick, the very old, and pregnant and nursing mothers from strict fasting. While people in these groups should not seriously restrict the amount that they eat, no harm will come from doing without some foods on two days out of the week — simply eat enough of the permitted foods. Exceptions to the fast based on medical necessity (as with diabetes) are always allowed.
The Church has always exempted small children, the sick, the very old, and pregnant and nursing mothers from strict fasting. While people in these groups should not seriously restrict the amount that they eat, no harm will come from doing without some foods on two days out of the week — simply eat enough of the permitted foods. Exceptions to the fast based on medical necessity (as with diabetes) are always allowed.
Communion Fast
So that the Body and Blood of our Lord may be the first thing to pass our lips on the day of communion, we abstain from all food and drink from the time that we retire (or midnight, whichever comes first) the night before. Married couples should abstain from sexual relations the night before communion.
So that the Body and Blood of our Lord may be the first thing to pass our lips on the day of communion, we abstain from all food and drink from the time that we retire (or midnight, whichever comes first) the night before. Married couples should abstain from sexual relations the night before communion.
When
communion is in the evening, as with Presanctified Liturgies during Lent, this
fast should if possible be extended throughout the day until after communion.
For those who cannot keep this discipline, a total fast beginning at noon is
sometimes prescribed.
The Lenten Fast
Great Lent is
the longest and strictest fasting season of the year.
Week before Lent
("Cheesefare Week"): Meat and other animal products are
prohibited, but eggs and dairy products are permitted, even on Wednesday and
Friday.
First Week of
Lent: Only two full meals are eaten during the first five days, on
Wednesday and Friday after the Presanctified Liturgy. Nothing is eaten from
Monday morning until Wednesday evening, the longest time without food in the
Church year. (Few laymen keep these rules in their fullness). For the Wednesday
and Friday meals, as for all weekdays in Lent, meat and animal products, fish,
dairy products, wine and oil are avoided. On Saturday of the first week, the
usual rule for Lenten Saturdays begins (see below).
Weekdays in the
Second through Sixth Weeks: The strict fasting rule is kept every
day: avoidance of meat, meat products, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil.
Saturdays and
Sundays in the Second through Sixth Weeks: Wine and oil are
permitted; otherwise the strict fasting rule is kept.
Holy Week:
The Thursday evening meal is ideally the last meal taken until Pascha. At this
meal, wine and oil are permitted. The Fast of Great and Holy Friday is the
strictest fast day of the year: even those who have not kept a strict Lenten
fast are strongly urged not to eat on this day. After St. Basil's Liturgy on
Holy Saturday, a little wine and fruit may be taken for sustenance. The fast is
sometimes broken on Saturday night after Resurrection Matins, or, at the
latest, after the Divine Liturgy on Pascha.
Wine and oil
are permitted on several feast days if they fall on a weekday during Lent.
Consult your parish calendar. On Annunciation and Palm Sunday, fish is also
permitted.
Apostles' Fast
The rule for
this variable-length fast is more lenient than for Great Lent.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Strict fast.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Strict fast.
Tuesday, Thursday: Oil and wine permitted.
Saturday, Sunday: Fish, oil and wine permitted.
This is the
rule kept by many monasteries during non-fasting seasons.
Dormition Fast
Fasting during
the two-week Dormition fast is like that during most of Great Lent: Monday-Friday:
Strict fast.
Saturday and Sunday: Wine and oil permitted.
Nativity Fast.
During the
early part of the fast, the rule is identical to that of the Apostles' Fast.
During the latter part of the fast, fish is no longer eaten on Saturdays or
Sundays. In different traditions, this heightening of the fast may be for
either the last week or the last two weeks.
Other Fasts
The Eve of
Theophany, the Exaltation of the Cross and the Beheading of John the Baptist
are fast days, with wine and oil allowed.
Fast-free
Periods
Complementing
the four fasting seasons of the Church are four fast-free weeks:
Nativity to Eve of Theophany.
Nativity to Eve of Theophany.
Week following the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee.
Bright Week — the week after Pascha.
Trinity Week — the week after Pentecost, ending with
All Saints Sunday.
The Marital Fast
Married
couples are expected to abstain from sexual relations throughout the Church's
four fasting seasons, as well as on the weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts.
(This aspect of the fasting rule is probably even more widely ignored, and more
difficult for many, than those relating to food. In recognition of this, some
sources advocate a more modest, minimal rule: couples should abstain from
sexual relations before receiving Holy Communion and throughout Holy Week.)
Health Concerns
During fasting
seasons, avoiding prohibited foods poses no health risk as long as adequate
amounts of other foods are taken. Calcium intake and adequate calories may be a
concern for growing children and pregnant and nursing mothers.
Calcium-fortified orange juice is an easy way to guarantee plentiful calcium
intake while avoiding dairy products. Nuts and nut butters are a good source of
calories for those who need to maintain weight on a Lenten diet.
If you are
new to fasting, you may find the onset of hunger pangs distressing. Hunger
pangs are not harmful; they are simply part of the fast.
The first
few days of a long fasting period are often the most difficult. Do not be
discouraged by headaches, fatigue, etc. at the beginning of a fasting season —
they will disappear or reduce in intensity. If you are troubled by lethargy,
try moderate exercise. A short walk can make a surprising difference in your
energy.
At the Grocery
Store. Read the ingredient lists on processed and packaged foods. Butter, milk
solids, whey, meat broth and lard are common additives.
If you are
baffled by what to cook during the fast, consult any of the many vegetarian
cookbooks now available in bookstores or your public library. Several good
"Lenten cookbooks" are on the market.
The rules
given here are of course only one part, the most external part, of a true fast,
which will include increased prayer and other spiritual disciplines, and may
include resolutions to set aside other aspects of our day-to-day life (such as
caffeine or television), or to take up practices such as visiting the sick.
Obviously,
many Orthodox do not keep the traditional rule. If you adopt it, beware of
pride, and pay no attention to anyone's fast but your own. As one monastic put
it, we must "keep our eyes on our own plates."
Do not
substitute the notion of "deciding what to give up for Lent" for the
rule that the Church has given us. First, keep the Church's fasting rule as
well as you are able, then decide on additional disciplines, in consultation
with your priest.
We are always
advised to fast according to our strength, and you may find from experience
that you need to modify the fasting rule to fit your own strength and
situation. But do not assume beforehand that the rule is too difficult for you.
The Lord is our strength, and can uphold us in marvelous and unforseen ways.
Those who
attempt to keep the Church's traditional fast will find that, though the
temptations to pride and legalism are real, the spiritual benefits are great. A
return to more diligent fasting could play a large part in the spiritual
renewal of our Orthodox churches.
Sayings on Fasting
St Symeon the New Theologian: 'Let each one of us
keep in mind the benefit of fasting... For this healer of our souls is
effective, in the case of one to quieten the fevers and impulses of the flesh,
in another to assuage bad temper, in yet another to drive away sleep, in
another to stir up zeal, and in yet another to restore purity of mind and to
set him free from evil thoughts. In one it will control his unbridled tongue
and, as it were by a bit, restrain it by the fear of God and prevent it from
uttering idle and corrupt words. In another it will invisibly guard his eyes
and fix them on high instead of allowing them to roam hither and thither, and
thus cause him to look on himself and teach him to be mindful of his own faults
and shortcomings. Fasting gradually disperses and drives away spiritual
darkness and the veil of sin that lies on the soul, just as the sun dispels the
mist. Fasting enables us spiritually to see that spiritual air in which Christ,
the Sun who knows no setting, does not rise, but shines without ceasing. Fasting,
aided by vigil, penetrates and softens hardness of heart. where once were the
vapors of drunkenness it causes fountains of compunction to spring forth. I
beseech you, brethren, let each of us strive that this may happen in us! Once
this happens we shall readily, with God's help, cleave through the whole sea of
passions and pass through the waves of the temptations inflicted by the cruel
tyrant, and so come to anchor in the port of impassibility.
'My
brethren, it is not possible for these things to come about in one day or one
week! They will take much time, labor, and pain, in accordance with each man's
attitude and willingness, according to the measure of faith and one's contempt
for the objects of sight and thought. In addition, it is also in accordance
with the fervor of his ceaseless penitence and its constant working in the
secret chamber of his heart that this is accomplished more quickly or more
slowly by the gift and grace of God. But without fasting no one was ever able
to achieve any of these virtues or any others, for fasting is the beginning and
foundation of every spiritual activity'.
— Symeon the New Theologian: the Discourses, pub. Paulist Press. pp. 168-169.
— Symeon the New Theologian: the Discourses, pub. Paulist Press. pp. 168-169.
Mother Gavrilia of blessed memory spent much time
traveling in the service of Christ to places that separated her from the daily
liturgical life of the Church. Especially during these times, the advice of her
spiritual father Archimandrite Lazarus Moore stood her in good stead:
'Fasting is
one of our greatest weapons against the Evil One. I will repeat what Father
Lazarus told me once. In 1962, I went to the USA. I stayed there a long time and
travelled to many states. The letters of Father Lazarus were a great help... He
used to say: "Go anywhere you like, do whatever you like, as long as you
observe Fasting"... Because not a single arrow of the Evil One can reach
you when you fast. Never.'
— Ascetic of Love, the biography of Mother Gavrilia, pub. Series Talanto. pg. 200.
— Ascetic of Love, the biography of Mother Gavrilia, pub. Series Talanto. pg. 200.
St Seraphim of Sarov on Fasting: 'Once there came to
him a mother who was concerned about how she might arrange the best possible
marriage for her young daughter. When she came to Saint Seraphim for advice, he
said to her: "Before all else, ensure that he, whom your daughter chooses
as her companion for life, keeps the fasts. If he does not, then he is not a
Christian, whatever he may consider himself to be."'
— From a sermon of Metropolitan Philaret, quoted in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, pub. Holy Trinity Monastery, pg.xxxiii.
— From a sermon of Metropolitan Philaret, quoted in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, pub. Holy Trinity Monastery, pg.xxxiii.
Abba Daniel of Sketis: 'In proportion as the body
grows fat, so does the soul wither away.'
http://www.abbamoses.com/fasting.html
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