Fasting is not a diet but a discipline of the whole person. The Lord took it for granted that his disciples would fast (“when you fast,” Mat 6:16), and the Scriptures join fasting to prayer and almsgiving: “Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving and righteousness” (Tob 12:8). The Church at Antioch fasted and prayed before sending out Barnabas and Paul (Act 13:2\u20133).<\/p>\n
The Church has appointed four fasting seasons: Great Lent before Pascha, the fast of the Nativity (November 15 to December 24), the fast of the Apostles (from the Monday after All Saints to June 28) and the fast of the Dormition (August 1\u201314). Wednesdays and Fridays are also fast days, in memory of the betrayal and the crucifixion of the Lord, except in certain festal weeks. Traditionally, fasting means abstaining from meat, dairy and eggs, and on stricter days also from fish, wine and oil.<\/p>\n
These rules were written for monasteries, and there is no separate rule for lay people. Each of the faithful should determine the measure of the fast with the counsel of the spiritual father. Children, the sick, the elderly, women who are expecting or nursing, and those under heavy labor are given dispensations. The purpose is not the food but the heart: fasting from food is meant to be joined to fasting from sin, greater prayer and generosity toward the poor. The daily calendar on this site shows the fasting rule for each day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fasting has accompanied prayer among God’s people from the beginning. The Church appoints fasting seasons and days, and each believer keeps the fast with the counsel of a spiritual father, according to health and circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","audience":[],"liturgical_season":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1397","question","type-question","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/question"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1405,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1397\/revisions\/1405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"liturgical_season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/liturgical_season?post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/sq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}