What is fasting in the Orthodox understanding? Fasting and its meaning

Lent, which prepares Christians for a worthy celebration of the main holiday - the Bright Resurrection of Christ, begins on March 11 in 2019.

Lent, the strictest and longest, today consists of two parts - Holy Pentecost and Holy Week, and lasts a total of 48 days.

The first was established in memory of the forty-day fast of Jesus Christ in the desert and lasts six weeks, the second - the last days of earthly life and death on the cross of the Savior.

History of Lent

Lent was established in apostolic times and initially lasted from 24 to 40 hours. During this period, Christians refused food completely.

Six-day fast in some local churches appears in the middle of the 3rd century, as a memory of events last days earthly life and death on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Some Christians, in those distant times, considered such a feat excessive, and continued to fast for about 40 hours.

The Church considered Lent obligatory for all Christians already in the 4th-5th centuries. A Christian who did not observe Lent could be excommunicated from the Church for some time - a mention of this can be found in the rules Ecumenical Councils and in the texts of the Holy Fathers.

The duration of Lent has increased to 40 days since the 5th century - this is an imitation of the fast of Jesus Christ in the desert, as well as the standard fasting time for those who wanted to be baptized.

They were baptized in the ancient Church on Easter and the catechumens prepared for 40 days for this event, praying in the temple, learning the basics of faith and observing fasting.

For some time in the ancient Church there was debate about what one could eat during Lent. Some believed that eating eggs, dairy products and even poultry was acceptable, but in the end it was decided that weakening the fast could only consist of increasing the number of meals and a variety of plant foods on Saturday and Sunday.

Such strictness was associated with the basic idea of ​​fasting - in those distant times, Christians believed that food should be cheap and quick to prepare, and the freed up money and time should be used for acts of mercy and participation in worship. It was proposed to give the difference in cost between a regular and Lenten lunch to the poor.

The Church soon realized that all Christians could not bear such strict rules of fasting, therefore a certain minimum of fasting was established in the church canons, which must be observed by all believers. According to these rules, the maximum degree of leniency for human infirmities is fasting, which includes hot vegetable food in oil and fish.

Previously, fasting was observed very strictly, especially in the first week and on Passion Week - people even abstained from drinking water until nine o’clock in the morning. Kings and nobles also fasted, eating only mushrooms and vegetables these days, just like the common people.

Today, all questions related to the measure of food fasting Orthodox Christian should discuss it with your confessor.

Seriously ill people, military personnel, workers engaged in heavy physical labor, travelers, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children under seven years of age are exempt from fasting. From the age of seven, a child can fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. Having reached the age of 14, a teenager is free to choose whether to fast or not.

The essence of Lent

The essence of fasting is self-restraint, and not just a refusal of meat and dairy foods, that is, a voluntary refusal of everything that constitutes a noticeable part of our earthly life.

First of all, the essence of fasting is deep self-knowledge, repentance and the fight against passions.

Fasting helps you rethink a lot spiritually and gives you the opportunity to think about a lot. During the period of Lent, there is an opportunity to interrupt the endless daily run, look into our own soul and understand how far we are from the ideal to which God calls us.

The clergy explain that fasting without prayer is just a diet, since during fasting, first of all, you need to take care of cleansing your soul and thoughts, and for this, during the entire seven weeks of Lent, you need to pray daily at home and, if possible, attend church services.

At the same time, you need to get used to the restrictions gradually - those who enter into fasting for the first time should remember that if they start fasting abruptly, they will more likely ruin their health than get closer to holiness. In addition, he will become irritated and impatient.

You cannot get irritated during Lent, just like you cannot commit any other negative actions that destroy peace between people. Spiritual cleansing, renunciation certain products, harmful passions, evil words and affairs, bad mood and irritability - the main meaning of fasting.

Fasting is intended to make the bodily nature, which could obey the movements of the spirit and fulfill its demands, strong and light.

Therefore, the goal of Lent is to achieve internal qualitative changes, following the feat of Jesus Christ, who fasted for 40 days in the desert.

The clergy believe that each person must determine his own measure of fasting, how much food and drink he needs per day, gradually reducing the amount of food to the necessary minimum for life.

But the main rule remains that there is no need to burden yourself with drunkenness and gluttony. It is important to remember that the essence of fasting is primarily in limiting pleasure, and not in refusing animal food.

It is strictly not recommended for believers who observe fasting to take part in all kinds of entertainment events during fasting.

You cannot get married throughout Lent, much less get married. Other celebrations should also be celebrated after the fast is completed. It is advisable to refrain from bad habits during the entire period of Lent, for example, smoking and alcoholic beverages.

Nursing mothers, pregnant women, seriously ill people, military personnel, travelers, workers engaged in heavy physical labor, as well as children under seven years of age are exempt from fasting. If they wish, they can fast, but not as strictly as written in the Charter.

During Lent, the lightest indulgence is considered to be permission for vegetable oil, and the more serious one is for fish, which, according to church charter, is usually allowed for the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday. Further relaxation goes to dairy products and eggs. All these issues must be agreed upon with the attending physician and confessor.

Fasting is very strong remedy in order to prepare for saving and great deeds - the clergy remind that all God-loving people felt that the Saints always fasted strictly and advised others.

The material was prepared based on open sources

The rules for observing Orthodox fasting are intended to ensure that believers go through necessary preparation to enter the Heavenly Kingdom. This tradition of abstaining from fast food and limiting sexual life is a special form of asceticism that exercises the spirit and leads to the salvation of individual consciousness. Directions for fasting vary depending on the age and health of people.

The meaning of fasting in Orthodoxy

Today, disdain for this tradition is common. Some people think that fasting is only an unpleasant monastic activity that can cause harm to the body. This consideration of the issue is completely wrong, since an Orthodox follower must think about own soul, and not about the earth's shell.

The meaning of fasting in Orthodoxy

He who raises his consciousness and faith in God rejoices in abstinence and easily endures conventional physical difficulties. The prudent parishioner should make the best use of this time. It is with this that it is customary for true Christians to congratulate on the onset of a period of cleansing from the material and vain.

Important! A simple change in the composition of food is not fasting if the desire to abstain and repent of inevitable sins through sincere prayer does not arise in the mind.

Spiritual limitation stands next to the physical, but rises above it. If a person surrenders completely to the first, the Lord instills the necessary strength to overcome the secondary difficulties of the physical shell. John Chrysostom authoritatively confirms: “Let all parts of your body be involved in fasting through reliance on a strong and persistent mind.”

Lenten cuisine recipes:

Today's life sometimes incorrectly considers the essence of tradition - many people see here only the deprivation of material reinforcement through punishment. Orthodox (and any) fasting is the greatest way to achieve the desired result in serving God. By exhausting his own body, the believer removes the dark veil from the soul and opens a mystical path that makes it easier to approach the Heavenly Kingdom.

Abstinence cannot be called hunger, to which all beings are subjected for certain offenses. This tradition acquires religious value only when combined with exercises for the soul (repentance, destruction of vices through prayer).

Fasting is the thinning of the physical flesh, which allows one to get closer to the effects higher powers and become filled with grace. The Church speaks of abstinence to remind us of the necessary healing of a seriously ill soul, mired in the bustle of everyday life. Certain days in the religious calendar are intended for such cleansing procedures. They are pure abstinence and balance between the shells, which should restore the primacy of the mind (soul) over the body.

Christ fasted for forty days in the desert

The apostles said that before the advent of fasting, man lost to passions and the devil. Christ set an example of 40 days of abstinence and received the power of the Holy Spirit. Every believer is obligated to follow the example of the Sinless Son and attack his own weaknesses. One who is in fasting has an unshakable mind and is capable of any accomplishment.

On a note! The rules for observing Orthodox fasting are described in the Typikon (book of the Divine Rule), Nomocanon (Byzantine collection of church instructions), Menaion and other similar works.

The practice of abstinence is incredibly developed in Christendom- the number of fasting days sometimes reaches 200. The severity of the fast described in these books differs for monks and lay people.

Features of godly abstinence

The feat of repentance and prayerful petition must be accompanied by thoughts about individual sinfulness. The believer must also abstain from pleasure trips, watching inappropriate programs, reading “light literature,” etc. If these categories do not let go of the mind, a person is obliged to make a mental effort and break the bonds of meaninglessness.

Depending on the preparedness of the body and health, abstinence differs into five degrees:

1. For the sick, elderly or beginners, the first type is suitable, avoiding only meat foods.
2. Next comes giving up dairy products.
3. Denial of fish.
4. In the penultimate position is a complete refusal of oil.
5. Fasting without consuming any food at all certain period- a step accessible to believers with unshakable faith and titanic health.

There is no fasting when the believer leaves the place of the meal with a burdened stomach and a feeling of satisfied satiety. There are practically no sacrifices or hardships, which alone give abstinence great value.

Some Orthodox Christians exchange physical abstinence for “spiritual” abstinence, which is understood as restraining irritability, criticism of other people, and all sorts of quarrels. However, such an attitude does not advance the believer towards true righteousness, since goodwill is inherently implied at all times. Therefore, relaxation in food intake is only self-deception, devoid of benefit.

Lenten food

If a person is unable, for health reasons or financial insufficiency, to comply with the traditional rules of fasting, he must give up entertainment, sweets, and abstain at least on Wednesday and Friday. Communion begins with a small thing - the denial of meat.

Interesting! Previously, in Russian families, fasting was extremely revered and performed with a pure heart. Some princes observed the rules of abstinence better than many monks. The monks of Egypt echoed the 40th post of Moses and Christ. The monks of the Optina Hermitage in the Kaluga region ate only grass and were famous for their longevity.

Individual periods of abstinence

In Orthodoxy, there are one-day and multi-day fasts. Believers fast before church holidays or significant days for Orthodoxy.

One-day posts

Weekly fast days include Wednesday and Friday. Fast days have their own symbolic essence, which the Christian soul does not dare to pass by indifferently.

Relaxations exist during the following periods:

• week after Trinity;
• Christmastide period (from Christmas to Epiphany);
• on Maslenitsa (meat food is prohibited, dairy products are allowed)

There are also special one-day posts:

1. Day of the beheading of John the Baptist (September 11).
2. Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 27).

Multi-day posts

1. Church opinion

   Religion says there is fasting effective method transforming the Wrath of God into His mercy. Life in asceticism and asceticism is pleasing to the Lord; it is like a pure crystal that has thrown off the shackles of dirty sin and slavery to materiality.

   • Abstinence is practice for a great undertaking. It is easier to perform any action if you pacify your own flesh.
   • Reducing costs for yourself, Orthodox man has the opportunity to put more on the altar of mercy. The food will be more useful to the orphan, widow or homeless person who will pray for salvation.
   • Abstinence allows you to remain with the Church, to commune with the apostles, Christ and the Father. It opens best qualities and brings you closer to the deepest mysteries.
   • However, excessive abstinence is similar to satiety of the belly: there were examples when fanaticism acquired negative qualities and became gluttony. The believer must know own strength and be reasonable.
   • A person should eat as much food as is necessary to maintain bodily functioning. By starting from scratch and falling into fanaticism, the neophyte will harm himself excessively, and for a long time will not be able to realize the right direction.
   • The main condition is not to violate the rules of spiritual fasting if you have to give up the rules of consumption. There were examples when future saints ate modest foods, but their minds did not move away from the contemplation of the greatness of the Lord.
   • If a believer notices exhaustion in the body, an inability to offer prayer, this indicates an incorrect method. The guidance of experienced confessors who have experience in conducting Lent helps here.
   Important! Fasting in Orthodoxy is a means of healing from the ailments of sinfulness. It cleanses the mind from the effects of polluting thoughts, refines the body and brings it closer to the realms of supreme bliss.

   Watch a video about the meaning of fasting in Orthodoxy

Of the multi-day fasts, we should mention, first of all, Great Lent, consisting of two fasts: the Holy Pentecost, established in memory of the forty-day fast of the Savior in the Judean desert, and Holy Week, dedicated to the events of the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, His Crucifixion, Death and Burial . (Holy Week translated into Russian is a week of suffering.)

Monday and Tuesday of this week are dedicated to the memories of the Old Testament prototypes and prophecies about the Sacrifice of Christ the Savior on the Cross; Wednesday - the betrayal committed by the disciple and apostle of Christ, giving up his Teacher to death for 30 pieces of silver; Thursday - establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist (comunion); Friday - Crucifixion and death of Christ; Saturday - the stay of the Body of Christ in the tomb (in the burial cave, where, according to the custom of the Jews, they buried the dead). Holy Week contains the main soteriological dogmas (the doctrine of salvation) and is the pinnacle of Christian fasting, just as Easter is the most beautiful crown of all holidays.

The time of Lent depends on the moving holiday of Easter and therefore does not have stable calendar dates, but its duration, together with Holy Week, is always 49 days.

Petrov's fast (of the holy apostles Peter and Paul) begins a week after the feast of Holy Pentecost and lasts until June 29/July 12. This fast was established in honor of the preaching work and martyrdom of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Assumption Fast - from 1/14 to 15/28 August - established in honor Mother of God, earthly life Which was spiritual martyrdom and empathy for the suffering of Her Son.

Christmas post- from November 15/28 to December 25/January 7. This is the preparation of believers for the holiday of Christmas - the second Easter. IN symbolic meaning it indicates the state of the world before the coming of the Savior.

Special posts may be assigned Church hierarchy on the occasion of public disasters (epidemics, wars, etc.). There is a pious custom in the Church - to fast every time before the Sacrament of Communion.

In modern society, questions about the meaning and meaning of fasting cause a lot of confusion and disagreement. The teaching and mystical life of the Church, its Charter, rules and rituals still remain as unfamiliar and incomprehensible to some of our contemporaries as the history of pre-Columbian America. Temples with their mysterious, like hieroglyphs, symbolism, directed into eternity, frozen in a metaphysical flight upward, seem shrouded in impenetrable fog, like the icy mountains of Greenland. Only in last years society (or rather, some part of it) began to realize that without solving spiritual problems, without recognizing the primacy of moral values, without religious education, it is impossible to solve any other tasks and problems of a cultural, social, national, political and even economic nature, which suddenly turned out to be tied in a Gordian knot. Atheism retreats, leaving in its wake, as on a battlefield, destruction, the collapse of cultural traditions, the deformation of social relationships and, perhaps the worst thing - flat, soulless rationalism, which threatens to turn a person from an individual into a biomachine, into a monster made up of iron structures .

A person initially has a religious feeling - a feeling of eternity, as an emotional awareness of his immortality. This is the mysterious testimony of the soul about the realities spiritual world, located beyond sensory perception - gnosis (knowledge) of the human heart, its unknown powers and capabilities.

A person brought up in materialistic traditions is accustomed to consider the data of science and technology, literature and art to be the pinnacle of knowledge. Meanwhile, this is an insignificant part of knowledge compared to the enormous information that a person possesses as a living organism. Man owns the most complex system memory and thinking. In addition to the logical mind, it includes innate instincts, the subconscious, which records and stores all his mental activity; superconsciousness is the ability of intuitive comprehension and mystical contemplation. Religious intuition and synthetic thinking are the highest form of knowledge - the “crown” of gnosis.

IN human body there is a constant exchange of information, without which not a single living cell could exist.

The volume of this information in just one day is immeasurably greater than the content of books in all the libraries of the world. Plato called knowledge “remembering,” a reflection of divine gnosis.
Empirical reason, crawling over facts like a snake on the ground, cannot understand these facts, since, when analyzing, it decomposes the object into cells, crushes it and kills it. It kills a living phenomenon, but cannot revive it. Religious thinking is synthetic. This is an intuitive penetration into the spiritual realms. Religion is a person’s meeting with God, as well as a person’s meeting with himself. A person feels his soul as a special, living, invisible substance, and not as a function of the body and a complex of biocurrents; feels itself as a unity (monad) of the spiritual and physical, and not as a conglomerate of molecules and atoms. A person opens his spirit like a diamond in a medallion that he always wore on his chest, not knowing what was inside it; discovers himself like a navigator - the shores of an unknown, mysterious island. Religious thinking is an awareness of the purpose and meaning of life.

The goal of Christianity is to overcome one's human limitations through communion with the absolute Divine being. In contrast to Christianity, atheistic teaching is a cemetery religion, which, with the sarcasm and despair of Mephistopheles, says that the material world, having arisen from a certain point and scattered throughout the Universe, like drops of spilled mercury on glass, will be destroyed without a trace and senselessly, gathering again into the same point.

Religion is communication with God. Religion is not only the property of reason, or feelings, or will, it, like life itself, includes the whole person in his psychophysical unity.
And fasting is one of the means to help restore harmony between spirit and body, between mind and feeling.

Christian anthropology (the doctrine of man) is opposed by two tendencies - materialistic and extremely spiritualistic. Materialists try to explain fasting, depending on the circumstances, either as a product of religious fanaticism, or as an experience of traditional medicine and hygiene. On the other hand, spiritualists deny the influence of the body on the spirit, divide the human personality into two principles and consider it unworthy for religion to deal with issues of food.

Many people say: to communicate with God you need love. What is the significance of fasting? Isn't it humiliating to make your heart dependent on your stomach? Most often, those who would like to justify their dependence on the stomach, or rather, slavery to the stomach and unwillingness to curb or limit themselves in anything, say this. With pompous phrases about imaginary spirituality, they cover up the fear of rebelling against their tyrant - the womb.

Christian love is a feeling of the unity of the human race, respect for the human person as a phenomenon of eternity, as an immortal spirit clothed in flesh. This is the ability to emotionally experience in oneself the joy and grief of another, that is, a way out of one’s limitations and selfishness - this is how a prisoner breaks out into the light from a gloomy and dark dungeon. Christian love expands the boundaries of the human personality, makes life deeper and more rich in inner content. The love of a Christian is selfless, like the light of the sun, it does not require anything in return and does not consider anything to be its own. She does not become a slave to others and does not look for slaves for herself, she loves God and man as the image of God, and looks at the world as at a picture painted by the Creator, where she sees traces and shadows Divine beauty. Christian love requires a constant struggle against egoism, as against a many-faced monster; to fight selfishness - fight passions, both wild animals; to combat passions - the subordination of the body to the soul, the rebellious “dark, night slave,” as St. Gregory the Theologian called the body, to its immortal queen. Then spiritual love opens in the heart of the winner - like a spring in a rock.

Extreme spiritualists deny effects on the spirit physical factors, although this contradicts everyday experience. For them, the body is only a shell of the soul, something external and temporary for a person.

Materialists, on the contrary, emphasizing this influence, want to present the soul as a function of the body - the brain.

The ancient Christian apologist Athenagoras, in response to a question from his pagan opponent about how a bodily illness can affect the activity of a disembodied soul, gives the following example. The soul is a musician, and the body is an instrument. If the instrument is damaged, the musician is unable to extract harmonious sounds from it. On the other hand, if a musician is sick, then the instrument is silent. But this is just an image. In fact, the connection between body and spirit is immeasurably greater. Body and soul constitute a single human personality.

Thanks to fasting, the body becomes a sophisticated instrument, capable of capturing every movement of the musician - the soul. Figuratively speaking, the body of an African drum turns into a Stradivarius violin. Fasting helps restore the hierarchy of mental forces and subordinate the complex mental organization of a person to higher spiritual goals. Fasting helps the soul overcome passions, extracts the soul, like a pearl from a shell, from the captivity of everything grossly sensual and vicious. Fasting frees the human spirit from amorous attachment to material things, from constant recourse to earthly things.

The hierarchy of human psychophysical nature is like a pyramid, with its top turned down, where the body presses on the soul, and the soul absorbs the spirit. Fasting subjugates the body to the soul, and subjugates the soul to the spirit. The post is important factor preserving and restoring the unity of soul and body.

Conscious self-restraint serves as a means of achieving spiritual freedom; ancient philosophers taught this: “A person must eat to live, but not live to eat,” said Socrates. Fasting increases the spiritual potential of freedom: it makes a person more independent from the outside and helps to minimize his lower needs. This frees up energy, opportunity and time for the life of the spirit.

Fasting is an act of will, and religion is largely a matter of will. Anyone who cannot limit himself in food will not be able to overcome stronger and more refined passions. Promiscuity in food leads to promiscuity in other areas of human life.

Christ said: The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away(Matt. 11:12). Without constant tension and feat of will, the Gospel commandments will remain only ideals, shining in an unattainable height, like distant stars, and not the real content of human life.

Christian love is a special, sacrificial love. Lent teaches us to sacrifice small things first, but “great things begin with small things.” The egoist, on the other hand, demands sacrifices from others - for himself, and most often identifies himself with his body.

Ancient Christians combined the commandment of fasting with the commandment of mercy. They had a custom: money saved on food was put into a special piggy bank and distributed to the poor on holidays.

We touched on the personal aspect of fasting, but there is also another, no less important - the church aspect. Through fasting, a person becomes involved in the rhythms of temple worship and becomes able to truly experience sacred symbols and images of the event biblical history.

The Church is a spiritual living organism, and, like any organism, it cannot exist outside of certain rhythms.

Fasting precedes great Christian holidays. Fasting is one of the conditions for repentance. Without repentance and purification, it is impossible for a person to experience the joy of the holiday. More precisely, he can experience aesthetic satisfaction, an increase in strength, exaltation, etc. But this is only a surrogate for spirituality. True, renewing joy, like the action of grace in the heart, will remain inaccessible to him.

Christianity requires us to continually improve. The Gospel reveals to man the abyss of his fall, like a flash of light - a dark abyss opening up under his feet, and at the same time, the Gospel reveals to man a Divine mercy as infinite as the sky. Repentance is a vision of hell in one’s soul and the love of God embodied in the face of Christ the Savior. Between the two poles - sadness and hope - lies the path of spiritual rebirth.

A number of posts are dedicated to sorrowful events in biblical history: on Wednesday, Christ was betrayed by His disciple, Judas; on Friday suffered Crucifixion and death. Anyone who does not fast on Wednesday and Friday and says that he loves God is deceiving himself. True love will not satiate his belly at the tomb of his beloved. Those who fast on Wednesday and Friday receive as a gift the ability to more deeply empathize with the Passion of Christ.

The saints say: “Give blood, receive spirit.” Submit your body to the spirit - this will be good for the body itself, just as it is for a horse to obey the rider, otherwise both will fly into the abyss. The glutton exchanges his spirit for his belly and gains fat.

Fasting is a universal phenomenon that has existed among all peoples and at all times. But Christian fasting cannot be compared with the fasting of a Buddhist or a Manichaean. Christian fasting is based on other religious principles and ideas. For a Buddhist, there is no fundamental difference between a person and an insect. Therefore, eating meat for him is carrion eating, close to cannibalism. In some pagan religious schools eating meat was prohibited, since the theory of reincarnation of souls (metamppsychosis) led to fears that the goose or goat contained the soul of an ancestor who got there according to the law of karma (retribution).

According to the teachings of the Zoroastrians, Manichaeans and other religious dualists, demonic force took part in the creation of the world. Therefore, some creatures were considered the product of an evil principle. In a number of religions, fasting was based on the false idea of ​​the human body as the prison of the soul and the focus of all evil. This gave rise to self-torture and fanaticism. Christianity believes that such fasting leads to even greater disorder and disintegration of the “trimers of man” - spirit, soul and body.

Modern vegetarianism, which preaches ideas of compassion for living beings, is based on materialistic ideas that blur the line between humans and animals. If you are a consistent evolutionist, then you should recognize all forms of organic life as living beings, including trees and grass, that is, doom yourself to death by starvation. Vegetarians teach that plant food itself mechanically changes a person's character. But, for example, Hitler was a vegetarian.

By what principle is food selected for Christian fasting? For a Christian there is no clean or unclean food. The experience of the impact of food on the human body is taken into account here, so creatures such as fish and sea animals are lean foods. At the same time, lean food, in addition to meat, also includes eggs and dairy products. Any plant food is considered lean.
Christian fasting has several types, depending on the degree of severity. The post includes:

- complete abstinence from food(according to the Charter of the Church, such strict abstinence is recommended to be observed on the first two days of Holy Pentecost, on the Friday of Holy Week, on the first day of the fast of the Holy Apostles);

Raw food diet - food not cooked over fire;

Dry eating - food prepared without vegetable oil;

Strict fasting - no fish;

Simple fasting - eating fish, vegetable oil and all types of plant foods.

In addition, during fasting it is recommended to limit the number of meals (for example, up to two times a day); reduce the amount of food (to approximately two-thirds of the usual amount). The food should be simple, not fancy. During fasting, you should eat food later than at usual time- in the afternoon, if, of course, the circumstances of life and work allow.

It must be borne in mind that violation of Christian fasting includes not only eating a modest meal, but also haste in eating, empty conversations and jokes at the table, etc. Fasting must be strictly proportionate to the health and strength of a person. Saint Basil the Great writes that it is unfair to prescribe the same measure of fasting for the strong and for the weak in body: “some have a body like iron, while others have a body like straw.”

Fasting is made easier: for pregnant women, women in labor and breastfeeding mothers; for those on the move and caught in extreme conditions; for children and the elderly, if old age is accompanied by infirmity and weakness. Fasting is canceled in conditions where it is physically impossible to obtain lean food and a person faces illness or starvation.
In case of some severe gastric diseases, a certain type of fasting food may be included in the diet of the fasting person, which is necessary for this illness, but it is best to first discuss this with the confessor.

In the press and other media, doctors often spoke out against the fast - with intimidating statements. They painted, in the spirit of Hoffmann and Edgar Poe, a gloomy picture of anemia, vitamin deficiency and dystrophy, which, like the ghosts of vengeance, await those who trust the Church Charter more than the manual on Pevsner’s “Nutrition Hygiene”. Most often, these doctors confused fasting with the so-called “old vegetarianism,” which excluded all animal products from food. They did not take the trouble to understand the elementary issues of Christian fasting. Many of them did not even know that fish is a lean food. They ignored the facts recorded by statistics: many peoples and tribes that eat predominantly plant foods are distinguished by their endurance and longevity; the first places in terms of life expectancy are occupied by beekeepers and monks.

At the same time, while publicly rejecting religious fasting, official medicine introduced it into medical practice entitled " fasting days"and vegetarian diets. Vegetarian days in sanatoriums and the army were Monday and Thursday. Anything that could remind one of Christianity was excluded. Apparently, the ideologists of atheism did not know that Monday and Thursday were the days of fasting for the ancient Pharisees.

In most Protestant denominations, calendar fasts do not exist. Questions about fasting are resolved individually.

In modern Catholicism, fasting is reduced to a minimum; eggs and milk are considered lean foods. Eating is allowed one to two hours before communion.

Among the Monophysites and Nestorians - heretics - fasting is distinguished by its duration and severity. Perhaps common eastern regional traditions are at play here.

The most important fast of the Old Testament Church was the day of “Cleansing” (in the month of September). In addition, there were traditional fasts in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple.

A unique type of fasting was food prohibitions, which were of an educational and pedagogical nature. Unclean animals personified sins and vices that should be avoided (hare - timidity, camel - rancor, bear - rage, etc.). These prohibitions, adopted in Judaism, were partly transferred to Islam, where unclean animals are perceived as carriers of physical defilement.

In Georgia, the people carefully observed fasts, which is recorded in hagiographic literature. Evfimy Mtatsmindeli (Svyatogorets) compiled a valuable guide about fasting. And in the “Description of Colchis” by the Dominican monk A. Lamberti it is reported, in particular, that “the Mingrelians follow the Greek custom (that is, Orthodoxy - Ed.) - They observe Lent very strictly, they don’t even eat fish! And in general they eat only once a day at sunset. They so firmly observe the ritual of fasting that, no matter how sick or old or weakened they are, they will in no way eat meat at this time. Some people abstain from food altogether on Fridays: during the last week they do not drink wine, and during the last three days they do not take any food.”

According to the teachings of the Church, physical fasting must be combined with spiritual fasting: abstinence from shows, from empty, and even more so immodest conversations, from everything that excites sensuality and distracts the mind. Fasting should be accompanied by solitude and silence, reflection on one's life and judgment on oneself. According to Christian tradition, fasting begins with mutual forgiveness of offenses. Fasting with malice in the heart is like fasting a scorpion, which can remain without food longer than any creature on earth, but at the same time produces deadly poison. Fasting should be accompanied by mercy and help to the poor.

Faith is the soul's direct evidence of the existence of God and the spiritual world. Figuratively speaking, the heart of a believer is like a special locator that perceives information coming from the spiritual spheres. Fasting promotes a more subtle and sensitive perception of this information, these waves of spiritual light. Fasting must be combined with prayer. Prayer is the turning of the soul to God, a mystical conversation between creation and its Creator. Fasting and prayer are two wings that lift the soul to heaven.

If we compare Christian life with a temple under construction, then its cornerstones will be the struggle with passions and fasting, and the pinnacle, the crown - spiritual love, which reflects the light of Divine love, like the gold of church domes - the rays of the rising sun.

As Orthodox Lent approaches, we begin to work harder on ourselves. The meaning of church fasting is not only to severely limit your own. The main thing that makes fasting gracious is spiritual fasting. True fasting involves other thoughts, other sensations. During Lent you especially feel where you need to change, what you need to repent of. The essence of Christian fasting is to change us to a better state.

What does fasting mean in the life of Orthodox Christians?

The main meaning of fasting is not just to try not to sin, but to do everything to change your habits, your lifestyle, if it leads to sinfulness. Giving up meat and milk is not difficult, but not everyone can change for the better. And not everyone actually strives for this, if faith has not touched the depths of the soul. And yet Orthodox fasting also needs to be learned. Before Lent, for example, we are given time to prepare for it. Refusing food is not yet a Christian fast. Physical church fasting serves as a means for us to fulfill spiritual fasting, which requires complete dedication from us. It’s also worth doing good deeds, showing mercy, helping, if possible. In order to conduct fasting correctly, we need to be aware of its meaning and benefits for us.

The importance of Lent is difficult to overestimate. Of course, at any time they try to protect themselves from all sinful filth. But with the onset of Lent, we become especially vigilant in this regard. Real, active fasting for a Christian is always associated with repentance, which comes from the heart. At the same time, sincere repentance puts us one step higher on the ladder of spiritual virtues.

The great meaning of fasting for Christians

To fulfill the fast you must adhere to strict restrictions– do not eat meat, dairy products, eggs, and refuse entertainment. The point of strict fasting is that we go through it in a joyful mood. As for products, even during Lent you can always prepare goodies to please the kids sweet pastries. You can go on a pilgrimage or just go to the countryside, get away from the hustle and bustle. Of course, during this period of fasting it is important to attend as often as possible. church services, participate in the sacraments. For those who fast, there may be relaxations in restrictions. This applies to children, the sick, the infirm, pregnant and lactating women.

But in general meaning of the post The point is that fasting is not a burden, but a joy. You just don’t need to immediately demand great feats from yourself. For unchurched people, those who have just come to church and are trying to understand a lot here, following church rules, it is usually recommended to start small. You can start observing one-day fasts throughout the year. Gradually, fasting will become a habitual and integral part of life.

Text of the Orthodox prayer to the Reverend Grand Duchess Anna Kashinskaya

O reverend and blessed mother Anno! Humbly falling before the race of your honorable relics, we pray diligently with tears: do not forget your poor to the end, but always remember us in your holy and auspicious prayers to God. O blessed Grand Duchess Anno! Do not forget to visit your children: even though you passed away from us in body, you remain alive even after death, and do not depart from us in spirit, preserving us from the arrows of the enemy, all the charms of demons and the snares of the devil. Our zealous prayer book! Do not stop praying for us, our God: even if your relics are visible before our eyes, your holy soul, standing with the Angelic hosts at the Throne of the Almighty, will rejoice worthily. We fall down to you, we pray to you, we are dear to you: pray, most blessed Anno, to our All-Merciful God for the salvation of our souls, to ask us time for repentance and to pass from earth to Heaven without restraint, to be freed from bitter ordeals and eternal torment and to be the heir to the Kingdom of Heaven to be with all the saints, who from time immemorial have pleased our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him be glory, with His Beginningless Father, and with His Most Holy, and Good, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

I addressed this question to the rector of the Assumption parish in the village of Loskutovo, Tomsk, priest Mikhail Fast.

When I was about 22-23 years old, I decided to observe Lent. What did this mean to me? Do not eat meat or dairy. And everything would be wonderful, but my grandmother, God bless her and for long years, shattered these illusions by telling me that Fasting is not only a restriction on food.

So what is the point of this post? I addressed this question to the rector of the Assumption parish in the village of Loskutovo, Tomsk, priest Mikhail Fast.

- Fasting is not a diet, not just a food restriction. Fasting is a time of repentance, spiritual growth, preparation for holidays and especially significant events.

This is a time to focus on spiritual issues, prayer, and repentance. And restrictions on food, its quantity and quality, abstinence from pleasures are only tools for achieving spiritual benefit. Also, it is not out of vegetarian motives that one does not eat meat and dairy foods during fasting; rather, these are the heaviest foods that are excluded from the diet, since lighter foods are needed during fasting and in smaller quantities. Although not some believe that meat products stir up passions, but this is more likely from everyone’s personal experience. For example, monks in the Eastern Orthodox Church, as a rule, completely refuse meat food; they eat dairy outside of fasting, but not meat. So even without eating meat you can live a full life and do physical work.

The Orthodox Church has statutory instructions, statutory posts, but a person can determine some of his own regulations, within the framework of the church. Some people fast more strictly, some take it easier, others, out of weakness, allow themselves some relief in fasting. How does everyone define something for themselves? prayer rule- some may pray more, some less, just as some may fast more strictly, some more softly. During the first week, it is customary to fast more strictly. Then we give ourselves some indulgences, we eat more and more often, but after limiting ourselves in the first week, you get used to it and feel quite good without meat or dairy food.

Lent lasts 7 weeks and consists of two parts: Holy Pentecost- 40 days and Holy Week, to which they also add Palm Sunday And Lazarus Saturday. Pentecost is a remembrance of the fast of Christ, who did not eat anything for 40 days, fasted after baptism, before going out to his public service and set an example that before any great undertaking one must prepare oneself. Lent, apparently, was the only one at first. Then in the ascetic tradition they began to appear Christmas post(40 days before Christmas), Petrov post(floating from 11 to 50 days, begins a week after Trinity, and always ends on July 12), Assumption Fast (from August 14 to 28).
There are also holidays during Lent, for example, Palm Sunday - the entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. On this day there is a festive service, wine and fish are allowed. Wine is not compatible with fasting as drinking wine as a means of relaxation, but in small quantities on holidays it is allowed as a consolation - meat is not allowed, but not a lot of wine is allowed.

You can compare spiritual fasting with military fasting: a person stands at a post guarding an object so that the enemy does not penetrate, so that something bad does not happen. Likewise, during fasting, we must be on guard of our souls, so that sin does not enter our souls, focus on some spiritual problems, and protect ourselves from temptations.