Orthodox fasting. What is fasting in the Orthodox understanding?

I want mercy, not sacrifice.

(Mt 9:13).
By eating extensively, you become a carnal man, without a spirit, or soulless flesh; and by fasting, you attract the Holy Spirit to yourself and become spiritual,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. “The body tamed by fasting gives the human spirit freedom, strength, sobriety, purity, and subtlety,” notes Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
But with the wrong attitude towards fasting, without understanding its true meaning, it can, on the contrary, become harmful. As a result of unreasonable passage fast days(especially those lasting many days), irritability, anger, impatience, or vanity, conceit, and pride often appear. But the meaning of fasting lies precisely in the eradication of these sinful qualities. St. John Cassian the Roman says: “If, by fasting only physically, we are entangled in the disastrous vices of the soul, then the exhaustion of the flesh will not bring us any benefit in desecrating the most precious part, that is, the soul.” If the fasting person, instead of repentant prayer, love for others, doing good deeds and forgiving offenses through fasting, is dominated by sinful qualities of the soul, then fasting is not a true, spiritual fast, but turns out to be only a diet. “Bodily fasting alone cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and purity of the body unless spiritual fasting is combined with it,” says Rev. John Cassian. - For the soul also has its harmful food. Weighed down by it, the soul, even without an excess of bodily food, falls into voluptuousness. Backbiting is harmful food for the soul, and a pleasant one at that. Anger is also her food, although it is not at all light, for she often feeds her with unpleasant and poisonous food. Vanity is its food, which delights the soul for a while, then devastates it, deprives it of all virtue, leaves it fruitless, so that it not only destroys merits, but also incurs great punishment.” Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “Fasting has a reward in heaven when it is free from hypocrisy and vanity. Fasting works when it is accompanied by another great virtue - prayer." And in another place: “Fasting removes a person from carnal passions, and prayer fights spiritual passions and, having defeated them, penetrates the entire makeup of a person, cleanses him; she introduces God into the purified verbal temple.”

The purpose of fasting is the eradication of harmful manifestations of the soul and the acquisition of virtues, which is facilitated by prayer and frequent attendance at church services (according to St. Isaac the Syrian - “vigilance in the service of God”). Saint Ignatius also notes in this regard: “Just as in a field carefully cultivated with agricultural tools, but not sown with useful seeds, tares grow with special force, so in the heart of a fasting person, if he, being satisfied with one physical feat, does not protect his mind with a spiritual feat, then If you eat through prayer, the weeds of conceit and arrogance grow thick and strong.”
We must remember that demons are also great “fasters”: they do not eat anything at all. The life of St. Macarius the Great tells about his meeting with a demon, who confessed: “Everything that you do, I do too. You fast, but I don’t eat at all. You are awake, but I am not sleeping at all. You defeat me with only one thing - humility.” Saint Basil the Great warns: “Beware of measuring fasting by simple abstinence from food. Those who abstain from food and behave badly are like the devil, who, although he does not eat anything, nevertheless does not stop sinning.”
“Many Christians... consider it a sin to eat, even due to bodily weakness, something quick on a fast day and without a twinge of conscience they despise and condemn their neighbors, for example, acquaintances, offend or deceive, weigh, measure, indulge in carnal uncleanness,” writes the saint Righteous John of Kronstadt. - Oh, hypocrisy, hypocrisy! Oh, misunderstanding of the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Christian faith! Isn’t it inner purity, meekness and humility that the Lord our God demands from us first of all?” The feat of fasting is imputed to nothing by the Lord if we, as St. Basil the Great puts it, “do not eat meat, but eat our brother,” that is, we do not keep the Lord’s commandments about love, mercy, selfless service to our neighbors, in a word, everything that is asked from us per day Last Judgment(see: Matthew 25:31-46).
This is stated with exhaustive clarity in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The Jews cry out to God: Why do we fast, but You don’t see? We humble our souls, but You don’t know? The Lord, through the mouth of the prophet, answers them: Behold, on the day of your fast you do your will and demand hard work from others. Behold, you fast for quarrels and strife, and in order to strike others with a bold hand; you do not fast at this time so that your voice will be heard on high. Is this the fast that I have chosen, the day on which a man languishes his soul, when he bends his head like a reed and spreads rags and ashes under him? Can you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord? This is the fast that I have chosen: loose the chains of unrighteousness, untie the bonds of the yoke, and set the oppressed free, and break every yoke; divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the wandering poor into your home; When you see a naked person, clothe him, and do not hide from your half-blood. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly increase, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will follow you. Then you will call, and the Lord will hear; You will cry out, and He will say: “Here I am!” (Isa 58:3-9).
« If one limits fasting to one abstinence from food, he greatly dishonors it, instructs St. John Chrysostom. - Not only the mouth should fast - no, let the eye, and hearing, and hands, and our whole body fast... Fasting is removal from evil, curbing the tongue, putting aside anger, taming lusts, stopping slander, lies and perjury... Are you fasting? Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget those in prison, have pity on the tormented, comfort the mourning and crying; be merciful, meek, kind, quiet, long-suffering, compassionate, unforgiving, reverent and sedate, pious, so that God will accept your fasting and grant you the fruits of repentance in abundance.”
Thus, the meaning of fasting is also in improving love for God and neighbors, because it is on love that every virtue that constitutes fasting is based. The Monk John Cassian the Roman says that we “do not rely on fasting alone, but, preserving it, we want to achieve through it purity of heart and apostolic love.” Nothing is fasting, nothing is asceticism in the absence of love, because it is written: God is love (1 John 4:8).
Reverend John Cassian also says that for the sake of love for a person, sometimes one can postpone fasting. He writes: “The one who will maintain a strict fast even when his brother visits him, in whose person it is necessary to accept Christ,” should be considered more hard-hearted than a zealot of piety.”
O one desert dweller, answering the monk’s question: “Why do monks in Egypt cancel fasting for visitors?” - answered: “The post is mine; I can have it whenever I want. And by receiving brothers and fathers, we receive Christ, Who said: He who receives you receives Me (see: John 13:20) - and: the sons of the bridal chamber cannot fast as long as the Bridegroom is with them. When the Bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast (see: Mark 2:19-20).”
They say that when Saint Tikhon was living in retirement in the Zadonsk Monastery, one Friday in the sixth week of Great Lent he visited the monastery schema-monk Mitrofan. At that time the schema-monk had a guest, whom the saint also loved for his pious life. It happened that on this day a fisherman he knew brought Father Mitrofan for Palm Sunday live washer. Since the guest did not expect to stay at the monastery until Sunday, the schema-monk ordered to immediately prepare fish soup and cold soup from the heather. The saint found Father Mitrofan and his guest eating these dishes. The schema-monk, frightened by such an unexpected visit and considering himself guilty of breaking his fast, fell at the feet of Saint Tikhon and begged him for forgiveness. But the saint, knowing the strict life of both friends, said to them: “Sit down, I know you. Love is higher than fasting." At the same time, he sat down at the table and began to eat fish soup. Such condescension and kindness of the saint amazed his friends: they knew that Saint Tikhon was completely Lent on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I didn’t even eat oil, much less fish.
It is told about Saint Spyridon, the Wonderworker of Trimifunts, that during Great Lent, which the saint kept very strictly, a certain traveler came to see him. Seeing that the wanderer was very tired, Saint Spyridon ordered his daughter to bring him food. She replied that there was no bread or flour in the house, since on the eve of strict fasting they had not stocked up on food. Then the saint prayed, asked for forgiveness and ordered his daughter to fry the salted pork left over from the Meat Week. After it was made, Saint Spyridon, seating the wanderer with him, began to eat the meat and treat his guest to it. The wanderer began to refuse, citing the fact that he was a Christian. Then the saint said: “All the less must we refuse, for the Word of God has spoken: to the pure all things are pure (Tim 1:15).”
In addition, the Apostle Paul said: if one of the unbelievers calls you, and you want to go, then eat everything that is offered to you without any examination, for peace of conscience (1 Cor 10:27) - for the sake of the person who welcomed you cordially. But these are special cases. The main thing is that there is no guile in this, otherwise you can spend the entire fast this way: under the pretext of love for your neighbor, visiting friends or hosting them is not fasting.
The story of the Venerable Martyr Kronid (Lyubimov), abbot of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, is instructive. When he was still a young novice, the governor of the Lavra, Father Leonid (Kavelin), sent him to his parents every year. And so, “once passing through Moscow to my homeland,” says the Venerable Martyr Kronid, “I stopped with my uncle. The life that my uncle led was secular. He did not fast on Wednesday or Friday. Sitting down at their table and knowing that it was Wednesday or Friday, I still tasted milk or eggs. At that time, the thought usually flew through my mind: “What kind of person am I that food should be specially prepared for me?” That's why I ate everything that was offered to me. A year before I was tonsured a monk, I once had a dream that I was standing in some kind of temple. Behind the right choir I see an icon large sizes with the image of the Mother of God and the Eternal Child in Her arms. Mother of God depicted as tall as a man and wearing a crown... Seeing the wonderful face of the Mother of God and marveling at its beauty, I bowed my sinful knees before the holy image and began to ask for Her mercy and intercession before the Lord. To my horror, I see: the Mother of God is turning Her face away from me. Then I exclaimed in fear and trembling: “Mother of God! How have I offended You, that You turn Your divine face away from me, unworthy?” And I hear Her answer: “Breaking the fast! On Wednesday and Friday you allow yourself to eat fast food and do not honor the suffering of My Son. By doing this you insult Him and Me.” The vision ended there. But it was a lesson for my soul for the rest of my life.”
The other extreme is excessive fasting, which Christians who are unprepared for such a feat dare to undertake. Speaking about this, Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', writes: “Irrational people are jealous of the fasting and labors of saints with the wrong understanding and intention and think that they are passing through virtue. The devil, guarding them as his prey, plunges into them the seed of a joyful opinion about himself, from which the inner Pharisee is born and nurtured and betrays such people to complete pride.”
Speaking about the vain passage of the days of fasting, we can cite the following incident from the “Ancient Patericon”. When traveling monks came to one monastery and sat down to a common meal, boiled vegetables were prepared there for the occasion of the guests. And one of them said: “You know, we don’t eat boiled food, we fast.” Then the elder called him over and said: “It would be better for you to eat bloody meat than to say what you said.” This is how the elder spoke about the traveling monk because the latter showed his feat, which should be secret.
The danger of such fasting, according to the Venerable Abba Dorotheos, is as follows: “Whoever fasts out of vanity or believing that he is doing virtue fasts unreasonably and therefore begins to reproach his brother afterwards, considering himself to be someone significant. But whoever fasts wisely does not think that he is doing a good deed wisely, and does not want to be praised as a faster.” The Savior Himself ordered to perform virtues in secret and to hide fasting from others (see: Matthew 6: 16-18).
Excessive fasting may also result in irritability and anger instead of a feeling of love, which also indicates that it was not carried out correctly. Show...discretion in virtue (2 Pet 1:5), - calls the Apostle Peter. Everyone has their own measure of fasting: monks have one, laypeople may have another. For pregnant and lactating women, for the elderly and sick, as well as for children, with the blessing of the confessor, fasting can be significantly weakened. “One should be considered a suicide who does not change the strict rules of abstinence even when it is necessary to strengthen weakened strength by taking food,” says St. John Cassian the Roman.
“The law of fasting is this,” teaches St. Theophan the Recluse, “to remain in God with mind and heart with renunciation from everything, cutting off all pleasure for oneself, not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual, doing everything for the glory of God and the good of others, willingly bearing and with love the labors and deprivations of fasting, in food, sleep, rest, in the consolations of mutual communication - all in a modest measure, so that it does not catch your eye and does not deprive you of the strength to fulfill prayer rules».
And so, while we fast physically, we also fast spiritually. Let us combine external fasting with internal fasting, guided by humility. By cleansing the body through abstinence, we will cleanse the soul as well. repentant prayer to acquire virtues and love for others. This will be true fasting, pleasing to God, and therefore saving for us.

What is the point of the post?

Everyone now knows about Lent, and even some non-church people try to observe it. But having heard about other fasts, especially summer fasts, many are perplexed: what is the meaning of such a frequent refusal of pleasure? Sometimes even for the Orthodox, fasting, which during the years of neophyte seemed something significant and deep, over time turns into a duty. Housewives have more trouble in the kitchen, more money is spent... So what is the point of fasting? How to fast for the benefit of the soul? Famous priests answer these questions.

During fasting, many advise not only to give up fast food, but also to generally pay less attention to culinary issues. In fact, it is fasting that becomes a test for the housewife. More money is spent (lenten products are more expensive), all thoughts are only about what to feed my husband and children. When there is no fasting, it’s easier, there’s more choice, you don’t have to think about it all the time. Is this right?

Archpriest Valerian KRECHETOV, rector of the Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God village of Akulovo, Moscow region, confessor of the Moscow diocese:

— Real plant-based nutrition is generally free. Of course, you can’t grow anything on concrete in the city, but in rural areas It is enough to have a patch of land to have everything you need. During the Dormition Fast, the cooks in the church rest: they go out to the garden, pick nettles, chives, onions, choose a few potatoes - and vegetable soup ready! Fast, tasty, healthy! We treat nettles and nettles like weeds, but Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky ate nothing but whining for two years! Nowadays everyone throws away beet tops, they forgot about this delicious dish, like botvinya. In fact, the tops from beets, but also from carrots and turnips are edible and useful.

And for the winter we need to prepare vegetables, mushrooms, and sorrel. Then during Great Lent you will always have delicious lean cabbage soup on your table. And for the second there is nothing better and healthier than porridge. Buckwheat, oatmeal, millet, pearl barley (by the way, the favorite porridge of Peter I and Suvorov). I wonder what savory dish is cheaper than porridge? But porridge does not require any special art. The problem is that we have completely lost our food culture. Give the children buckwheat, cottage cheese, milk at the holiday - they will not touch anything. But they will drink all the Coca-Cola and eat all the chips. They have early years the taste is spoiled. And housewives with the same spoiled taste prefer not to strain themselves; they buy semi-finished products from unknown materials in the supermarket.

The fable "The Dragonfly and the Ant" is still relevant. Some work, prepare for fasting, prepare pickles for the winter, freeze fresh vegetables In order to eat tasty and healthy food during Lent, others don’t bother themselves, don’t even want to show imagination, they themselves eat whatever they can and force their family to eat. But cooking is very interesting, I would love to cook it myself, but I don’t have enough time. I know that academician-surgeon Alexander Fedorovich Chernousov always prepares pepper himself in the fall; his wife does everything only under his command. And I know many men who cook better than their other halves.

Probably, meatless semi-finished products are expensive - I don’t know, I don’t eat them. There are even more important problem than expenses. We have forgotten the main purpose of food. Socrates said: many live to eat, but I eat to live. Food is given to us for life, to maintain bodily strength. And plant foods are, of course, more suitable for this, they are healthier, healthier. For example, scientists have calculated that porcini mushroom soup is seven times healthier than meat soup of the same calorie content. We are no smarter than our ancestors, who fasted and were much healthier than us.

I'm not even talking about the fact that meat (and sometimes, alas, fish) products that are sold in stores today, as a rule, simply cannot be eaten. What did you feed the same broiler? It’s better not to think, but to eat healthy plant foods from your garden. We once received a bishop during Great Lent. Porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, honey mushrooms, boletus, milk mushrooms, and saffron milk caps stood separately on the table. Tell me, has at least one millionaire seen such an assortment on his table? I doubt.

Is it necessary to eat something tasteless during Lent?

From lean products you can prepare delicious dishes. Isn't this a sin? Maybe it’s right to give up not only modest, but generally tasty food during Lent?

Archpriest Alexander BORISOV, rector of the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Shubin (Moscow):

“You can diversify your Lenten food so much that you won’t even want to break your fast.” Especially during the Dormition Fast - at the end of summer there are a lot of cheap vegetables and fruits. But such a post loses its meaning. After all, the essence of fasting is not simply the abstinence of animal food, but the limitation of pleasures. By consciously depriving ourselves of the comfort we get from delicious food and wine, we become more sensitive to spiritual life. If a person is concerned about how to eat more deliciously, he has no time for spiritual things. Although he refuses animal food, he does not receive the joy of life in the Lord. Everything has its time. Lent ends - a holiday comes, and we rejoice, cover festive table, we invite guests, treat them to delicious food, together we praise the Lord, including thanking him for the delicious meal, because this is also a gift from God. And while fasting, worrying about food should take a minimum of time. But artificially making food tasteless is not only unnecessary, but also sinful - we eat for the glory of God! Lenten foods should be simple, healthy and quick to prepare. And we must not forget about moderation - if you eat your fill of simple potatoes, you will also have no time for prayer, no time for reading the Gospel, no time for thinking about the eternal.

- We get pleasure from everything in life - from every flower, from the sun, from the singing of birds, the rustling of leaves. And from the fact that we just breathe. Why not live? It just takes discretion. It is normal to enjoy the reasonable satisfaction of needs. Sin - when this satisfaction turns into passion, we want to be more and more satisfied, to eat more and more sophisticatedly. The first is gluttony, the second is guttural madness.

Of course, fasting implies limiting pleasures, but only deep prayerists and ascetics can eat completely tasteless food and not notice it. For most people, especially the laity, it’s hard even during Lent without any consolation. Often people, especially beginners, having read about the exploits of saints, try to imitate them outwardly, including fasting very strictly, mercilessly towards themselves, and as a result they become despondent, some even bring themselves to nervous breakdowns. We need a measure, which is different for everyone. The food should be simple, but quite filling and tasty. A simple person cannot eat without pleasure.

Archpriest Valerian KRECHETOV:

— Priest confessor Afanasy (Sakharov) said: “Eat at least tasty, but lean food.” Eating tasteless is not our limit. On Monday of the first week of Great Lent, the stichera is sung: “We fast with a pleasant fast, pleasing to the Lord: true fasting is, alienation of the evil, abstinence of the tongue, putting aside rage, excommunication of lusts, speaking, lying and perjury. This impoverishment is a true and auspicious fast.” My father, Archpriest Michael, always said at meals during Great Lent: “Let us fast with a pleasant fast” - and stopped there.

How to behave when visiting guests?

What to do if someone invites you to visit during Lent? It is not always possible to refuse without offending loved ones. Should you ask them in advance to have Lenten food on the table or be guided by the fact that love is higher than fasting? More often we choose the second, but is there any guile in this?

Archpriest Konstantin OSTROVSKY, rector of the Assumption Church in the city of Krasnogorsk, Moscow region, dean of churches in the Krasnogorsk region:

- To the meat slaughterhouse parent's Saturday there is an apostolic reading, which says: “If one of the unbelievers calls you and you want to go, then eat everything that is offered to you without any examination, for peace of conscience. But if anyone says to you, “This is sacrificed to idols,” then do not eat...” (1 Cor. 10: 27-28). We usually neglect this instruction of the Apostle Paul out of pride, lust and cowardice.

Here are two typical situations. We came to visit people who knew that we were observing fasts and who knew that it was a fast day, but the owners, despising church regulations, persuaded us: “Come on, you’re a guest, it’s okay if you break the fast once.” And we, partly out of voluptuousness, and partly out of cowardice, do not tire of temptation and, as a condemnation to ourselves, we eat food that in itself is pure, but our gluttony and man-pleasing make it “sacrificed to idols,” about which the Apostle Paul said: “Do not eat.”

And here is the second example. People who are completely unchurched treat us with all their hearts, not intending to seduce, but simply not knowing about our rules. But we puff out our cheeks out of arrogance or suck them in out of false humility and refuse to eat, thereby embarrassing our owners. Or maybe if they heard the gospel of Christ and saw sincere love and humility in us, they themselves would want to become Christians and then they would already observe fasts. But, seeing our pride and not wanting to become the same as us, won’t they involuntarily blaspheme the Church of God, which in fact is not to blame for the fact that during Lent we wander around among secular guests and neglect the instructions of the Holy Apostle Paul?

If, when we find ourselves visiting non-church people, we retreat from fasting so as not to embarrass them, this is a matter of humility, and if, when we come home, we continue to eat fast food, this is no longer a matter of humility, but of gluttony. We are, of course, talking about food, and not about drunkenness, which is always sinful: both during fasting and not during fasting.

What food is considered lean?

On what basis are products divided into more or less lean? On many days of the Nativity and Petrov fasts, eating fish is blessed. Why is it considered less lean than dairy products?

Hegumen HERMOGEN (Ananyev):

— The strictest fast is dry eating. The relaxations are in the following order: boiled food, sunflower oil, wine, fish, dairy products and eggs, meat. No wonder - mammals were created with humans on the same day. For the same reason, we consider dairy products to be a more frugal food than fish - they are also part of the flesh of mammals.

Archpriest Alexander BORISOV:

— During Lent, it is right to spend less money on food than usual, freeing up funds for charity. This is old church tradition, gradation is associated with it Lenten dishes. In places of early Christianity, fish and seafood were much cheaper than dairy products, and therefore were considered more lean. Nowadays, on the contrary, they are much more expensive and higher in calories - this is obvious to me as a biologist. Fish has much more protein than any dairy product. Perhaps it is worth reconsidering a tradition born in other climates and economic conditions, and swap fish and dairy products - that is, consider dairy products to be leaner. But this can only be decided collectively.

Does your relationship with God depend on meat?

Many non-church people do not understand when Orthodox friends refuse fast food during fasting. They say something like this: “What does it matter to God whether I eat meat? How might giving up meat affect my relationship with Him?”

Priest Sergiy PASHKOV, rector of the Epiphany Church in the village of Byki, Kurchatovsky district, Kurchatov region, head of the judo section for children and teenagers in the village of Makarovka, Kurchatovsky district:

“In one patericon I read about an old man who, when he fell ill in old age, began to eat meat on the advice of doctors. He was a monk, and monks, as you know, do not eat meat at all. And him brother, a layman, began to condemn the elder for this in his soul, thinking to himself: it would be better if he died of his illness than violated the monastic tradition. And one day he heard the voice of God: “Why do you condemn your brother? If you want to know what he was likened to for his inner life, look to the right." He turned and saw his brother crucified on the cross. That is, in his inner structure the elder was like Christ, and the meat he ate did not harm his spiritual life in the least. Food does not distance us from God and does not bring us closer to Him. The purpose of fasting is to abstain from passions, from judging one’s neighbor, and refusal of fasting food is only a means to achieve this goal.

Archpriest Alexy POTOKIN, assistant rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Spring” in Tsaritsyn (Moscow):

- If you have ever fallen in love, remember how much you were worried at that moment about what you would eat for lunch or dinner? I think not very much, because when a person is truly in love, the need for food weakens, he devotes a minimum of attention and time to it. And if I have love for God, His wisdom, beauty, holiness pleases me, I am glad that I have the opportunity to be alone with Him, putting aside all worries, forgetting bad habits. Abstinence is not an end in itself, but a way to restore a relationship with God as with an old friend. This is only possible if we control ourselves and our bad habits.

Before the Fall, man was pure; in his angelic form he listened to the Word of God and heard Him. And then he ate only plant foods. For us, such a condition is rare. We are cunning, selfish, irritable. Any doctor will tell you that when a person is irritated or angry with someone, he spends much more energy. Meat and other animal food were blessed by God to support the strength of fallen man, spiritually weak and passionate. But this food strengthens our bodily strength, and in order to restore our connection with God, we must at least temporarily humble our flesh so that it does not disturb us so much.

If I want to communicate more with God, I need to be at least a little distracted from the bustle of society, pay a little less attention to it. And giving up animal food helps this. The Gospel does not teach us to fight excesses, but calls us to look for treasure: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). If this treasure is in communication with another person, we naturally think less about satiety. Especially if our treasure is in communion with God. And after you have been alone with God, it is wonderful to sit down to a common holiday meal. The lost connection has been restored, love has returned to the heart, the world has sparkled with all its colors, and we celebrate and praise the Lord!

Over the past decades of our history, many traditions of holding Great Lent have been lost, including the understanding of its meaning and essence. For many people, Lent remains something of a diet. Some even spread the opinion that fasting should be done because it is beneficial to the body. However, in reality, Lent has very little to do with our bodies. Throughout his life, a person limits himself in one way or another, voluntarily or forcibly. In a sense, everything human life After the fall of Adam there is a difficult path, similar to fasting. But Lent is not a diet for the body, it is a diet for the soul. Because our soul that we forget about in usual time, needs special treatment. It is sometimes hidden under the physical shell: our passions, desires, the bustle of the days of our life prevent us from feeling our soul.

During Lent, a person gives up a number of foods and thanks to this he begins to feel better about his soul. But if you ask me what is more important in Lent - abstinence from food or participation in Lenten services, then I will answer that, of course, participation in services is more important.

There is a whole category of people whom priests allow to reduce their fast. These are seriously ill people, people who want to fast, but cannot. In my priestly practice, I often come across the fact that old women who have fasted all their lives cry because they can no longer fast. Even if they are blessed to weaken the fast, they still try to observe this fast literally with tears in their eyes, because this is the need of their soul. And these people, who even find it difficult to fast, still attend services. Participation in Lenten services, especially participation in the celebration of the canon of St. Andrew of Crete, the standing of Mary of Egypt, participation in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, divine services Holy Week- this participation cleanses the human soul, tunes it into the same mood in which the breath of the Church is tuned, and brings a person closer to God. And in order to experience this experience of meeting Christ in divine services and sacraments, it is necessary to prepare your soul and body. This is what Lent is for.

What is very important to understand to modern man? Many people who want to come to Church believe that fasting is a certain marker of Christian identification. If you fast, you are a Christian; if you don’t fast, you are no longer quite a Christian. It is not important. The main thing is faith in Christ, participation in the sacraments. This is the only way to feel Orthodox. Other people believe that fasting is a heavy duty for a person. But, believe me, this is not an obligation at all. This is a unique opportunity to step away from the bustle of the world, prepare for a meeting with God, and be with Christ in the silence of your soul. For church people, Lent is not at all a difficult test. This is joy, because during Great Lent we leave the bustle of the world, we come to ourselves and come to Christ. Fasting is a chance to heal the soul. Fasting is an opportunity to prepare for the eternal. Lent is an amazing time, which is called spiritual spring.

Hegumen Serapion (Mitko), Chairman of the Missionary Department of the Yaroslavl Diocese, answered

Fasting is not a diet in any way. What the statute prescribes regarding food shows us that fasting is always a feat. And in the word “feat” the root is “move”, that is, what moves a person somewhere. The man does not stand still.

The main meaning of fasting is our movement towards God.

And in this sense, physical fasting and our internal fasting, spiritual fasting - they go hand in hand, one is impossible without the other.

We all the time, in one way or another, strive to surround our lives with comfort and convenience. If it is done intelligently, there is nothing wrong with it. But when this becomes the purpose of existence, a person forgets about God, turns into a being generally only earthly, therefore our fast exists precisely so that we, first of all, once again realize our purpose: who we are, what is most important to us. This is the first.

Secondly, we must clear the way for God, our hearts. And this second component of fasting is the fight against sin, the fight against the fact that it makes us alienated from God. This is our selfhood, our pride, our constant attention to ourselves. This is our constant desire to do as I want, despite the fact that there are other people around us who, perhaps, need us to give way to them in our lives, so that we give them a way, help them in some way. then feel in this world that they are needed. Because, unfortunately, in Lately The ideas of individualism, that a person should rely only on himself, should not be a “loser”, should be successful all the time, control a lot of people. And this desire for success forces a person to be in some kind of race all the time, to push everyone with his elbows all the time in order to get ahead no matter by what means.

Fasting should help a person understand who he is and realize himself as a being who is capable of loving, sharing, compassion, who is capable of sacrificing something for the sake of another person. In this sense, fasting is a very important feat. This is an important movement in a person’s life, because then a person begins to fight with himself, to control his thoughts, intentions, actions, words that can cause damage to another person, cause him pain, inflict a wound with his harshness, his anger, and unfriendlyness. A person begins to struggle with himself and realizes that he is not at all as good as he would like to appear in the eyes of other people. And then a person has the opportunity for deep repentance, that is, a change in his life, which the Church gives to a person through the sacrament of confession, through the sacrament of Holy Communion. They are integral to fasting, because fasting ultimately means preparing a person for the celebration of Easter, and therefore for his meeting with Christ.

In a sense, a person's fasting resembles our life. As a person lives, so, in general, he fasts. And as a person fasts, so he ultimately lives, because fasting itself is a way of our life, because fasting ends with the resurrection of Christ from the dead, just as our life ends with our resurrection in Christ. The way we come to the Resurrection at the end of Lent, or the way we come to the end of our life, is the most important thing that we have gained or lost in life. What are we like? If we really could change something in ourselves for the better during fasting, if we could really see the main thing in ourselves and instead of ordinary food we suddenly wanted truly spiritual food, if we suddenly saw that without God’s help we would never become real people - that means our fast took place. In this sense, our life then took place.

Archpriest Alexy Uminsky, rector of the Moscow Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Khokhly, answered.

Why are there so many restrictions on pleasures, food, and sexual relations in Orthodoxy? It seems that no harm is caused to others, the commandment of love for one’s neighbor is not violated. Why is it necessary to “kill your body”, your desires? Why such lack of freedom?

Our body is killed not by restrictions on food and other pleasures, but by excess in them. Even if we do not harm others or violate the commandment to love our neighbor, we still need to love God. This is where some restrictions in pleasures come from, since love, when it exists, manifests itself in action, in our actions.

It’s easy to say, “I don’t love myself,” but our actions show that we love ourselves exactly as we should love God. And you can just as easily say: “I love God,” but nothing is easier than words—love is learned from deeds. And if we want to love God, then we will limit ourselves to what removes us from Him. There is no such goal - neither in worldly life nor in spiritual life - for the sake of which we would not sacrifice something else. Those who do not want to sacrifice anything are left with nothing. They do not gain anything worthwhile, and at the same time lose what they had.

Answered by priest Mikhail Nemnonov

How to understand that the fast is not in vain?

Like everything else in life, a tree is known by its fruits. Have you managed to shift the center of your life from “your beloved self”, expand your heart in order to love and serve your neighbor, and finally become a neighbor, as the Good Samaritan did in the famous parable? Have you been able to see in yourself what interferes with spiritual growth, subjugates, fetters, and bleeds our lives (for example, some kind of sinful addiction and dependence like drunkenness, smoking, or other kind of defeat of the will by evil)? Did you manage to understand that the Savior was incarnated precisely for this reason and died for us, to give us the opportunity to get rid of all this evil in ourselves? Did you finally manage to begin to follow Him not only in words, not only to resist and evade evil, but also to do good? Has gratitude to God, hope for His help, and determination to imitate Him in mercy, love, and patience appear in our souls? And many other questions of this kind are worth asking yourself during fasting, then there will be motivation for spiritual growth.

How does fasting time differ from ordinary time? I already try to lead a strict spiritual life... how and what should I change during Lent?

Fasting is a special time of recognizing one’s own weakness and overcoming one’s own self. Why does the Church designate special periods of fasting? In order for a person to consolidate what has been achieved during this special time in everyday realities: the environment of fasting mobilizes us. We realize something, we take the path of struggle against certain inclinations - we bring this awareness and struggle from fasting to daily life. The next post brings something of its own. That’s why the Fathers say that fasting is a ladder that leads us to Heaven. If you have a feeling that fasting is easy for you, consult your confessor or the priest with whom you constantly confess: they will help you understand what exactly is wrong, what is the reason for this relaxing ease. It happens that the pious exercises of fasting come easily to us due to natural inclinations - there are, for example, people who do not like meat or entertainment. But each of us has something that can become the subject of special care during the days of fasting - imperfection is not outside, it is inside us and fasting helps us see it.

Answered by priest Alexy Kolosov

If during fasting you feel completely irritated and tired, does this mean that you need to weaken your fast in some way?

When the soil in the garden is dug up, hitherto hidden and not always beautiful and pleasant-to-smell objects and creatures often come to the surface. Action generates reaction. Fatigue and irritation during fasting also occur from changes in usual food and routine, i.e. This side effects One of the goals of fasting is to abolish the “routine”, the flow of life along well-worn, “automatic” paths, many of which are dangerous for us. In addition, it has long been known that if we have any sins and we repent of them, begin to fight them, avoid repeating them, there is a great danger of replacing these “repentant” sins with others, sometimes more dangerous. For example, almost any sin can be “crushed” by pride or vanity, while sincerely believing that we are winning.

A very useful image of our soul can be the garden that we are given to cultivate. It has rich, fertile soil, a source of water, and the sun shines from above. If you plant nothing in this garden, it will itself become overgrown with weeds, powerful and, at best, fruitless or poisonous fruits. If you simply weed out the weeds, you may have temporary success, but it is impossible to win: their roots remain in the fertile soil, and the seeds are scattered everywhere.

The purpose of the existence of this “garden” is not at all to keep the gardener busy with weeding, but to give a rich harvest of fruits, as in the Savior’s famous parable about the vineyard. In other words, we need to plant a fertile plant in the place of the pulled out weed, and virtue in the place of sin, so that the forces of our soul do not feed the weed, but produce fruit.

So, irritation, melancholy and fatigue during fasting can also be signs that we are only pretending to change, we are “mowing down” our sins and shortcomings, but we are not planting anything in return, we are walking in circles, displacing some passions with others. The medicine here can be work, real work, real help and service to someone, the transition to cultivating virtue, strengthening one’s will in doing good, coordinating one’s will with the will of God. In this regard, it will be useful for some to weaken the fast, and for others to strengthen it; all people are different.

Answered by priest Alexy Chumakov (Los Angeles)

Why do relationships, both at work and personal, become so strained during Lent? Quarrels occur, from which it is then difficult to get out. How to avoid such situations or prevent them?

The main reason is that often we only care about physical fasting, sometimes very carefully reading the ingredients on packages (so as not to break the fast), but we forget that spiritual fasting is much more important. The elders said: “At least you eat meat during fasting, just don’t eat each other.” That is, despite the importance of bodily fasting, it is much more important to conduct fasting in such a way as not to exhaust yourself from hunger and fatigue (and this usually results in irritability) and because of this not to “exacerbate relations” with your neighbors.

You need to be very attentive to your inner mood, try to be calm and friendly with everyone, and pray regularly. Let’s say, every hour, devote 1-2 minutes to reading the Jesus Prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” If you have sinned by being irritable, immediately repent fervently before the Lord and ask for forgiveness from the one you offended. Ask the Lord to grant you humility, patience and meekness.

I. THE MEANING OF FAST

II. ABOUT NUTRITION DURING LENT

III. ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION OF SPIRITUAL PRAYER LIFE, ATTENDING DURING SERVICES AND RECEIVING COMMUNION DURING THE DAYS OF GREAT LENT

The brightest, most beautiful, instructive and touching time in Orthodox calendar is the period of Lent and Easter. Why and how should one fast, how often should one visit church and receive communion during Lent, what are the features of worship during this period?

The reader can find some answers to these and other questions about Lent below. This material is compiled on the basis of several publications devoted to different aspects of our lives during Lent.

I. THE MEANING OF FAST

Lent is the most important and oldest of the multi-day fasts; it is a time of preparation for the main thing Orthodox holiday- To the Bright Resurrection of Christ.

Most people no longer doubt beneficial influence fasting on the soul and body of a person. Fasting (albeit as a diet) is recommended even by secular doctors, noting the beneficial effects on the body of temporarily giving up animal proteins and fats. However, the point of fasting is not at all to lose weight or heal physically. Saint Theophan the Recluse calls fasting “a course of saving healing of souls, a bathhouse for washing everything that is dilapidated, nondescript, and dirty.”

But will our soul be cleansed if we do not eat, say, meat cutlet or a salad with sour cream on Wednesday or Friday? Or maybe we will immediately go to the Kingdom of Heaven just because we don’t eat meat at all? Hardly. Then it would have been too simple and easy to achieve that for which the Savior accepted a terrible death on Golgotha. No, fasting is, first of all, a spiritual exercise, it is an opportunity to be crucified with Christ, and in this sense, it is our small sacrifice to God.

It is important to hear in the post a call that requires our response and effort. For the sake of our child and people close to us, we could go hungry if we had a choice about who to give the last piece to. And for the sake of this love they are ready to make any sacrifice. Fasting is the same proof of our faith and love for God, commanded by Him Himself. So do we, true Christians, love God? Do we remember that He is at the head of our lives, or, becoming fussy, do we forget this?

And if we do not forget, then what is this small sacrifice to our Savior - fasting? A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit (Ps. 50:19). The essence of fasting is not to give up certain types of food or entertainment, or even daily affairs (as Catholics, Jews, and pagans understand sacrifice), but to give up that which completely absorbs us and removes us from God. In this sense, the Monk Isaiah the Hermit says: “Mental fasting consists in the rejection of cares.” Fasting is a time of serving God through prayer and repentance.

Fasting refines the soul for repentance. When passions are pacified, the spiritual mind is enlightened. A person begins to see his shortcomings better, he has a thirst to clear his conscience and repent before God. According to St. Basil the Great, fasting is done as if with wings raising prayer to God. Saint John Chrysostom writes that “prayers are performed with attention, especially during fasting, because then the soul is lighter, not burdened by anything and not suppressed by the disastrous burden of pleasures.” For such repentant prayer, fasting is the most grace-filled time.

“By abstaining from passions during fasting, as far as we have the strength, we will have a useful bodily fast,” teaches the Monk John Cassian. “Toil of the flesh, combined with contrition of the spirit, will constitute a pleasant sacrifice to God and a worthy abode of holiness.” And indeed, “can one call fasting only the observance of the rules about not eating meat on fasting days? - St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) poses a rhetorical question, “will fasting be fasting if, apart from some changes in the composition of food, we do not think about repentance, abstinence, or cleansing of the heart through intense prayer?”

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, as an example to us, fasted for forty days in the desert, from where he returned in the strength of spirit (Luke 4:14), having overcome all the temptations of the enemy. “Fasting is a weapon prepared by God,” writes St. Isaac the Syrian. - If the Lawmaker Himself fasted, then how could anyone who was obligated to keep the law not fast?.. Before fasting, the human race did not know victory and the devil never experienced defeat... Our Lord was the leader and firstborn of this victory... And how soon the devil sees this weapon on one of the people, this enemy and tormentor immediately comes into fear, thinking and remembering his defeat in the desert by the Savior, and his strength is crushed.”

Fasting is established for everyone: both monks and laity. It is not a duty or punishment. It should be understood as a life-saving remedy, a kind of treatment and medicine for every human soul. “Fasting does not push away either women, or old people, or young men, or even small children,” says St. John Chrysostom, “but it opens the door to everyone, it accepts everyone, in order to save everyone.”

“You see what fasting does,” writes St. Athanasius the Great: “it heals illnesses, drives away demons, removes evil thoughts and makes the heart pure.”

“By eating extensively, you become a carnal man, not having a spirit, or soulless flesh; and by fasting, you attract the Holy Spirit to yourself and become spiritual,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) notes that “the body tamed by fasting gives the human spirit freedom, strength, sobriety, purity, and subtlety.”

But with the wrong attitude towards fasting, without understanding its true meaning, it can, on the contrary, become harmful. As a result of unwise passage of fasting days (especially multi-day ones), irritability, anger, impatience, or vanity, conceit, and pride often appear. But the meaning of fasting lies precisely in the eradication of these sinful qualities.

“Bodily fasting alone cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and the purity of the body unless spiritual fasting is combined with it,” says St. John Cassian. “For the soul also has its own harmful food.” Weighed down by it, the soul, even without an excess of bodily food, falls into voluptuousness. Backbiting is harmful food for the soul, and a pleasant one at that. Anger is also her food, although it is not at all light, for she often feeds her with unpleasant and poisonous food. Vanity is its food, which delights the soul for a while, then devastates it, deprives it of all virtue, leaves it fruitless, so that it not only destroys merits, but also incurs great punishment.”

The purpose of fasting is the eradication of harmful manifestations of the soul and the acquisition of virtues, which is facilitated by prayer and frequent attendance at church services (according to St. Isaac the Syrian - “vigilance in the service of God”). Saint Ignatius also notes in this regard: “Just as in a field carefully cultivated with agricultural tools, but not sown with useful seeds, tares grow with special force, so in the heart of a fasting person, if he, being satisfied with one physical feat, does not protect his mind with a spiritual feat, then If you eat through prayer, the weeds of conceit and arrogance grow thick and strong.”

“Many Christians... consider it a sin to eat something modest on a fast day, even due to bodily weakness, and without a twinge of conscience they despise and condemn their neighbors, for example, acquaintances, offend or deceive, weigh, measure, indulge in carnal uncleanness,” writes the righteous saint John of Kronstadt. - Oh, hypocrisy, hypocrisy! Oh, misunderstanding of the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Christian faith! Isn’t it inner purity, meekness and humility that the Lord our God demands from us first of all?” The feat of fasting is imputed to nothing by the Lord if we, as St. Basil the Great puts it, “do not eat meat, but eat our brother,” that is, we do not keep the Lord’s commandments about love, mercy, selfless service to our neighbors, in a word, everything that is asked from us on the day of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46).

“Whoever limits fasting to one abstinence from food greatly dishonors him,” instructs St. John Chrysostom. “It’s not just the lips that should fast; no, let the eye, the ear, the hands, and our whole body fast... Fasting is the removal of evil, the curbing of the tongue, the putting aside of anger, the taming of lusts, the cessation of slander, lies and perjury. ..Are you fasting? Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget those in prison, have pity on the tormented, comfort the mourning and crying; be merciful, meek, kind, quiet, long-suffering, compassionate, unforgiving, reverent and sedate, pious, so that God will accept your fasting and grant you the fruits of repentance in abundance.”

The meaning of fasting is to improve love for God and neighbors, because it is on love that every virtue is based. The Monk John Cassian the Roman says that we “do not rely on fasting alone, but, preserving it, we want to achieve through it purity of heart and apostolic love.” Nothing is fasting, nothing is asceticism in the absence of love, because it is written: God is love (1 John 4:8).

They say that when Saint Tikhon was living in retirement in the Zadonsk Monastery, one Friday in the sixth week of Great Lent he visited the monastery schema-monk Mitrofan. At that time the schema-monk had a guest, whom the saint also loved for his pious life. It happened that on this day a fisherman he knew brought Father Mitrofan a live heather for Palm Sunday. Since the guest did not expect to stay at the monastery until Sunday, the schema-monk ordered to immediately prepare fish soup and cold soup from the heather. The saint found Father Mitrofan and his guest eating these dishes. The schema-monk, frightened by such an unexpected visit and considering himself guilty of breaking his fast, fell at the feet of Saint Tikhon and begged him for forgiveness. But the saint, knowing the strict life of both friends, said to them: “Sit down, I know you. Love is higher than fasting." At the same time, he sat down at the table and began to eat fish soup.

It is told about Saint Spyridon, the Wonderworker of Trimifunts, that during Great Lent, which the saint kept very strictly, a certain traveler came to see him. Seeing that the wanderer was very tired, Saint Spyridon ordered his daughter to bring him food. She replied that there was no bread or flour in the house, since on the eve of strict fasting they had not stocked up on food. Then the saint prayed, asked for forgiveness and ordered his daughter to fry the salted pork left over from the Meat Week. After it was made, Saint Spyridon, seating the wanderer with him, began to eat the meat and treat his guest to it. The wanderer began to refuse, citing the fact that he was a Christian. Then the saint said: “All the less must we refuse, for the Word of God has spoken: to the pure all things are pure (Tim. 1:15).”

In addition, the Apostle Paul said: if one of the unbelievers calls you and you want to go, then eat everything that is offered to you without any examination, for peace of conscience (1 Cor. 10:27) - for the sake of the person who welcomed you cordially. But these are special cases. The main thing is that there is no guile in this; Otherwise, this is how you can spend the entire fast: under the pretext of love for your neighbor, visiting friends or hosting them and eating non-fasting.

The other extreme is excessive fasting, which Christians who are unprepared for such a feat dare to undertake. Speaking about this, Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', writes: “Irrational people are jealous of the fasting and labors of saints with the wrong understanding and intention and think that they are passing through virtue. The devil, guarding them as his prey, plunges into them the seed of a joyful opinion about himself, from which the inner Pharisee is born and nurtured and betrays such people to complete pride.”

The danger of such fasting, according to the Venerable Abba Dorotheos, is as follows: “Whoever fasts out of vanity or believing that he is doing virtue fasts unreasonably and therefore begins to reproach his brother afterwards, considering himself to be someone significant. But whoever fasts wisely does not think that he is doing a good deed wisely, and does not want to be praised as a faster.” The Savior Himself ordered to perform virtues in secret and to hide fasting from others (Matthew 6:16-18).

Excessive fasting may also result in irritability and anger instead of a feeling of love, which also indicates that it was not carried out correctly. Everyone has their own measure of fasting: monks have one, laypeople may have another. For pregnant and lactating women, for the elderly and sick, as well as for children, with the blessing of the confessor, fasting can be significantly weakened. “One should be considered a suicide who does not change the strict rules of abstinence even when it is necessary to strengthen weakened strength by taking food,” says St. John Cassian the Roman.

“The law of fasting is this,” teaches St. Theophan the Recluse, “to remain in God with mind and heart with renunciation from everything, cutting off all pleasure for oneself, not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual, doing everything for the glory of God and the good of others, willingly and with love, the labors and deprivations of fasting, in food, sleep, rest, in the consolations of mutual communication - all in a modest measure, so that it does not catch the eye and does not deprive one of the strength to fulfill the prayer rules.”

So, while we fast physically, we also fast spiritually. Let us combine external fasting with internal fasting, guided by humility. Having cleansed the body with abstinence, let us cleanse the soul with repentant prayer in order to acquire virtues and love for our neighbors. This will be true fasting, pleasing to God, and therefore saving for us.

II. ABOUT NUTRITION DURING LENT

From the point of view of cooking, fasts are divided into 4 degrees established by the Church Charter:
∙ “dry eating” - that is, bread, fresh, dried and pickled vegetables and fruits;
∙ “boiling without oil” - boiled vegetables, without vegetable oil;
∙ “permission for wine and oil” - wine is drunk in moderation to strengthen the strength of those fasting;
∙ “fish permit.”

General rule: during Lent you cannot eat meat, fish, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, wine, or more than once a day.

On Saturdays and Sundays you can eat vegetable oil, wine, and two meals a day (except Saturday during Holy Week).

During Lent, fish can only be eaten on the Feast of the Annunciation (April 7) and on Palm Sunday (The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem).

On Lazarus Saturday (the eve of Palm Resurrection) you are allowed to eat fish caviar.

The first week (week) of Lent and the last, Holy Week, are the most strict times. For example, in the first two days of the first week of Lenten, the Church Charter prescribes complete abstinence from food. During Holy Week, dry eating is prescribed (food is not boiled or fried), and on Friday and Saturday - complete abstinence from food.

It is impossible to establish a single fast for monks, clergy and laity with various exceptions for the elderly, sick, children, etc. Therefore, in the Orthodox Church, the rules of fasting indicate only the most strict norms, which all believers should, if possible, strive to observe. There is no formal division in the rules for monks, clergy and laity. But you need to approach fasting wisely. We cannot take on what we cannot do. Those inexperienced in fasting should begin it gradually and wisely. Lay people often make their fast easier (this should be done with the blessing of the priest). Sick people and children can fast lightly, for example, only in the first week of Lent and in Holy Week.

The prayers say: “Fast with a pleasant fast.” This means that you need to adhere to a fast that will be spiritually pleasant. You need to measure your strength and not fast too diligently or, on the contrary, completely laxly. In the first case, following rules that are beyond our power can cause harm to both body and soul; in the second case, we will not achieve the necessary physical and spiritual tension. Each of us should determine our bodily and spiritual capabilities and impose upon ourselves all possible bodily abstinence, paying main attention to the cleansing of our soul.

III. ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION OF SPIRITUAL PRAYER LIFE, ATTENDING SERVICES AND COMMUNION IN GREAT LENT

For each person, the time of Great Lent is individually divided into many of his special small feats, small efforts. But nevertheless, we can highlight some common areas for our spiritual, ascetic and moral efforts during Lent. These should be efforts to organize our spiritual and prayer life, efforts to cut off certain external entertainments and worries. And, finally, these should be efforts aimed at making our relationships with our neighbors deeper and more meaningful. In the end, filled with love and sacrifice on our part.

The organization of our spiritual and prayer life during Lent is different in that it presupposes (both in the church charter and in our cell rule) a greater measure of our responsibility. If at other times we indulge ourselves, indulge ourselves, say that we are tired, that we work a lot or that we have household chores, we shorten the prayer rule, we do not go to the all-night vigil on Sunday, If we leave the service early - everyone will develop this kind of self-pity - then Great Lent should begin by stopping all these indulgences stemming from self-pity.

Anyone who already has the skill of reading the entire morning and evening prayers should try to do this every day, at least throughout Lent. It would be good for everyone to add the prayer of St. at home too. Ephraim the Syrian: “Lord and Master of my Life.” It is read many times in church on weekdays during Great Lent, but it would be natural for it to become part of the home prayer rule. For those who already have a large measure of churchliness and somehow wish for an even greater measure of involvement in the Lenten system of prayer, we can also recommend reading at home at least some parts from the daily sequences of the Lenten Triodion. For each day of Great Lent in the Lenten Triodion there are canons, three songs, two songs, four songs, which are consistent with the meaning and content of each week of Great Lent and, most importantly, dispose us to repentance.

For those who have such an opportunity and prayerful zeal, it is good to read at home in free time- together with morning or evening prayers or separately from them - canons from the Lenten Triodion or other canons and prayers. For example, if you were unable to attend the morning service, it is good to read the stichera that are sung at Vespers or Matins on the corresponding day of Lent.

It is very important during Lent to attend not only Saturday and Sunday services, but also to attend weekday services, because the peculiarities of the liturgical structure of Great Lent are learned only at weekday services. On Saturday the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is served, the same as at other times of the church year. On Sunday, the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated, but from the point of view of (at least the choir) sound it differs almost only in one hymn: instead of “It is worthy to eat”, “He rejoices in You” is sung. There are almost no other visible differences for parishioners. These differences are obvious primarily to the priest and those in the altar. But during the everyday service, the entire structure of the Lenten service is revealed to us. Multiple repetitions of the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian “Lord and Master of my life”, the touching singing of the troparia of the hour - the first, third, sixth and ninth hours with prostrations to the ground. Finally, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts itself, together with its most touching chants, crushing even the most stony heart: “May my prayer be corrected, as incense before You,” “Now the Heavenly Powers” ​​at the entrance of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts - without having prayed at such services, without joining With him, we will not understand what spiritual wealth is revealed to us in Lenten services.

Therefore, everyone should try at least several times during Lent to move away from their life circumstances - work, study, everyday worries - and get out to everyday Lenten services.

Fasting is a time of prayer and repentance, when each of us must ask the Lord for forgiveness of our sins (by fasting and confession) and worthily partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

During Great Lent, people confess and receive communion at least once, but one should try to speak and receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ three times: in the first week of Lent, in the fourth week and on Holy Thursday - on Maundy Thursday.

IV. HOLIDAYS, WEEKS AND FEATURES OF DURING SERVICES IN GREAT LENT

Lent includes Lent (the first forty days) and Holy Week (more precisely, 6 days before Easter). Between them is Lazarus Saturday (Palm Saturday) and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday). Thus, Lent lasts seven weeks (or rather 48 days).

The last Sunday before Lent is called Forgiven or “Cheese Empty” (on this day the consumption of cheese, butter and eggs ends). During the liturgy, the Gospel is read with a part from the Sermon on the Mount, which talks about forgiveness of offenses to our neighbors, without which we cannot receive forgiveness of sins from the Heavenly Father, about fasting, and about collecting heavenly treasures. In accordance with this Gospel reading, Christians have the pious custom of asking each other on this day for forgiveness of sins, known and unknown grievances. This is one of the most important preparatory steps on the path to Lent.

The first week of Lent, together with the last, is distinguished by its severity and the duration of the services.

Holy Pentecost, which reminds us of the forty days spent by Jesus Christ in the desert, begins on Monday, called clean. Not counting Palm Sunday, there are 5 Sunday days in the entire Lent, each of which is dedicated to a special memory. Each of the seven weeks is called in order of occurrence: first, second, etc. week of Great Lent. The service is distinguished by the fact that, during the entire continuation of the Holy Pentecost, there is no liturgy on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (unless there is a holiday on these days). In the morning, Matins, hours with some intercalary parts, and Vespers are performed. In the evening, instead of Vespers, Great Compline is celebrated. On Wednesdays and Fridays the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated, on the first five Sundays of Great Lent - the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, which is also celebrated on Maundy Thursday and on Great Saturday of Holy Week. On Saturdays during the Holy Pentecost, the usual liturgy of John Chrysostom is celebrated.

The first four days of Lent(Monday-Thursday) evening at Orthodox churches The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is being read - an inspired work poured out from the depths of the contrite heart of the holy man. Orthodox people They always try not to miss these services that have an amazing impact on the soul.

On the first Friday of Lent The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, scheduled for this day according to the rules, does not end quite normally. The canon of St. is read. to the Great Martyr Theodore Tiron, after which Kolivo is brought to the middle of the temple - a mixture of boiled wheat and honey, which the priest blesses with the reading of a special prayer, and then Kolivo is distributed to the believers.

On the first Sunday of Lent the so-called “Triumph of Orthodoxy” is celebrated, established under Queen Theodora in 842 about the victory of the Orthodox on the Seventh Ecumenical Council. During this holiday, temple icons are displayed in the middle of the temple in a semicircle on lecterns (high tables for icons). At the end of the liturgy, the clergy sing a prayer service in the middle of the church in front of the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, praying to the Lord for the confirmation of Orthodox Christians in the faith and the conversion of all those who have departed from the Church to the path of truth. The deacon then loudly reads the Creed and pronounces an anathema, that is, he announces the separation from the Church of all who dare to distort the truths of the Orthodox faith, and “eternal memory” to all deceased defenders of the Orthodox faith, and “for many years” to those living.

On the second Sunday of Lent Russian Orthodox Church recalls one of the great theologians - St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonites, who lived in the 14th century. According to Orthodox faith he taught that for the feat of fasting and prayer, the Lord illuminates believers with His gracious light, as the Lord shone on Tabor. For the reason that St. Gregory revealed the teaching about the power of fasting and prayer and it was established to commemorate him on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

On the third Sunday of Lent During the All-Night Vigil, after the Great Doxology, the Holy Cross is brought out and offered for veneration by the faithful. When venerating the Cross, the Church sings: We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection. This song is also sung at the liturgy instead of the Trisagion. In the middle of Lent, the Church exposes the Cross to believers in order to, with a reminder of the suffering and death of the Lord, inspire and strengthen those who fast to continue the feat of fasting. The Holy Cross remains for veneration during the week until Friday, when, after hours, before the Liturgy, it is brought back to the altar. Therefore, the third Sunday and fourth week of Great Lent are called Cross-worshipers.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of the Cross is called the “midnight” of the Holy Pentecost (in common parlance “sredokrestye”).

On the fourth Sunday I remember St. John Climacus, who wrote an essay in which he showed the ladder or order of good deeds that lead us to the Throne of God.

On Thursday in the fifth week the so-called “standing of St. Mary of Egypt” (or Mary’s standing - popular name Matins, performed on Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent, at which the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, the same one that is read in the first four days of Great Lent, and the life Venerable Mary Egyptian. The service on this day lasts 5-7 hours.). The life of St. Mary of Egypt, formerly a great sinner, should serve as an example of true repentance for everyone and convince everyone of the ineffable mercy of God.

In 2006 the day Annunciation falls on Friday of the fifth week of Lent. This is one of the most significant and soul-stirring holidays for a Christian, dedicated to the message brought to the Virgin Mary by Archangel Gabriel, that she will soon become the Mother of the Savior of Humanity. As a rule, this holiday falls during Lent. On this day, fasting is lightened, it is allowed to eat fish and vegetable oil. Annunciation Day sometimes coincides with Easter.

On Saturday in the fifth week"Praise to the Most Holy Theotokos" is performed. A solemn akathist to the Mother of God is read. This service was established in Greece in gratitude to the Mother of God for Her repeated deliverance of Constantinople from enemies. In our country, the akathist “Praise to the Mother of God” is performed to strengthen believers in the hope of the Heavenly Intercessor.

On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent the venerable Mary of Egypt is followed. The Church provides, in the person of the Venerable Mary of Egypt, an example of true repentance and, for the encouragement of those who labor spiritually, shows in her an example of God's ineffable mercy towards repentant sinners.

Sixth week is dedicated to preparing those who fast for a worthy meeting of the Lord with the branches of virtues and for the remembrance of the passion of the Lord.

Lazarev Saturday falls on the 6th week of Lent; between Lent and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. The service on Lazarus Saturday is distinguished by its extraordinary depth and significance; it remembers the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus Christ. At Matins on this day, the Sunday “troparions for the Immaculates” are sung: “Blessed art thou, Lord, teach me by Thy justification,” and at the liturgy, instead of “Holy God”, “Those who were baptized into Christ were baptized, they put on Christ.” Alleluia."

On the sixth Sunday of Lent the great twelfth holiday is celebrated - Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. This holiday is otherwise called Palm Sunday, Vaiya and Flower Week. At the All-Night Vigil, after reading the Gospel, “The Resurrection of Christ” is not sung..., but the 50th Psalm is read directly and consecrated with prayer and sprinkling of St. water, budding branches of willow (vaia) or other plants. Blessed branches are distributed to the worshipers, with whom, with lighted candles, believers stand until the end of the service, signifying the victory of life over death (Resurrection). From Vespers on Palm Sunday, the dismissal begins with the words: “The Lord comes to our free passion for the sake of salvation, Christ our true God,” etc.

Holy Week

This week is dedicated to remembering the suffering, death on the cross and burial of Jesus Christ. Christians should spend this entire week in fasting and prayer. This period is mourning and therefore the clothes in church are black. Due to the greatness of the events remembered, all days of Holy Week are called Great. The last three days are especially touching with memories, prayers and chants.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week are dedicated to remembering the last conversations of the Lord Jesus Christ with the people and disciples. The features of the service of the first three days of Holy Week are as follows: at Matins, after the Six Psalms and Alleluia, the troparion is sung: “Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight,” and after the canon the song is sung: “I see Thy palace. My Savior." All these three days the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated, with the reading of the Gospel. The Gospel is also read at matins.

On Great Wednesday Holy Week commemorates the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot.

On Maundy Thursday in the evening, during the all-night vigil (which is Good Friday matins), twelve parts of the Gospel about the suffering of Jesus Christ are read.

On Good Friday During Vespers (which is served at 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon), the shroud is taken out of the altar and placed in the middle of the temple, i.e. a sacred image of the Savior lying in the tomb; in this way it is performed in remembrance of the taking down of the body of Christ from the cross and His burial.

IN Holy Saturday at Matins, with the funeral bells ringing and with the singing of “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,” the shroud is carried around the temple in memory of the descent of Jesus Christ into hell, when His body was in the tomb, and His victory over hell and death.

In preparing the article, we used the publications “How to prepare for and spend Lent” by Metropolitan John (Snychev), “On how to spend the days of Lent” by Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, “Orthodox Lent” by D. Dementiev and other materials published on Internet resources “ Lent and Easter" Orthodox project“Diocese”, Zavet.ru, Pravoslavie.ru, “Radonezh”.

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The Nativity Fast begins on November 27 and will last until January 6. With this fast, believers prepare to meet the born Savior. How to prepare for a meeting with God? What is the most an important condition to meet God? – “Blessed are pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8) – says the Gospel.
Thus, the main objective fasting - purity of heart. Fasting is designed to help us cleanse our hearts so that we can see God in our lives, see His providence and care for us.
What is fasting Orthodox understanding? How to avoid harm from misunderstanding a post?

The meaning of the post

I want mercy, not sacrifice.
(Mt 9:13)

By eating extensively, you become a carnal man, without a spirit, or soulless flesh; and by fasting, you attract the Holy Spirit to yourself and become spiritual,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. “The body tamed by fasting gives the human spirit freedom, strength, sobriety, purity, and subtlety,” notes Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
But with the wrong attitude towards fasting, without understanding its true meaning, it can, on the contrary, become harmful. As a result of unwise passage of fasting days (especially multi-day ones), irritability, anger, impatience, or vanity, conceit, and pride often appear. But the meaning of fasting lies precisely in the eradication of these sinful qualities. St. John Cassian the Roman says: “If, by fasting only physically, we are entangled in the disastrous vices of the soul, then the exhaustion of the flesh will not bring us any benefit in desecrating the most precious part, that is, the soul.” If the fasting person, instead of repentant prayer, love for others, doing good deeds and forgiving offenses through fasting, is dominated by sinful qualities of the soul, then fasting is not a true, spiritual fast, but turns out to be only a diet. “Bodily fasting alone cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and the purity of the body unless spiritual fasting is combined with it,” says St. John Cassian. - For the soul also has its harmful food. Weighed down by it, the soul, even without an excess of bodily food, falls into voluptuousness. Backbiting is harmful food for the soul, and a pleasant one at that. Anger is also her food, although it is not at all light, for she often feeds her with unpleasant and poisonous food. Vanity is its food, which delights the soul for a while, then devastates it, deprives it of all virtue, leaves it fruitless, so that it not only destroys merits, but also incurs great punishment.” Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “Fasting has a reward in heaven when it is free from hypocrisy and vanity. Fasting works when it is accompanied by another great virtue - prayer." And in another place: “Fasting removes a person from carnal passions, and prayer fights spiritual passions and, having defeated them, penetrates the entire makeup of a person, cleanses him; she introduces God into the purified verbal temple.”
The purpose of fasting is the eradication of harmful manifestations of the soul and the acquisition of virtues, which is facilitated by prayer and frequent attendance at church services (according to St. Isaac the Syrian - “vigilance in the service of God”). Saint Ignatius also notes in this regard: “Just as in a field carefully cultivated with agricultural tools, but not sown with useful seeds, tares grow with special force, so in the heart of a fasting person, if he, being satisfied with one physical feat, does not protect his mind with a spiritual feat, then If you eat through prayer, the weeds of conceit and arrogance grow thick and strong.”
We must remember that demons are also great “fasters”: they do not eat anything at all. The life of St. Macarius the Great tells about his meeting with a demon, who confessed: “Everything that you do, I do too. You fast, but I don’t eat at all. You are awake, but I am not sleeping at all. You defeat me with only one thing - humility.” Saint Basil the Great warns: “Beware of measuring fasting by simple abstinence from food. Those who abstain from food and behave badly are like the devil, who, although he does not eat anything, nevertheless does not stop sinning.”
“Many Christians... consider it a sin to eat, even due to bodily weakness, something modest on a fast day and without a twinge of conscience they despise and condemn their neighbors, for example, acquaintances, offend or deceive, weigh, measure, indulge in carnal uncleanness,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt . - Oh, hypocrisy, hypocrisy! Oh, misunderstanding of the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Christian faith! Isn’t it inner purity, meekness and humility that the Lord our God demands from us first of all?” The feat of fasting is imputed to nothing by the Lord if we, as St. Basil the Great puts it, “do not eat meat, but eat our brother,” that is, we do not keep the Lord’s commandments about love, mercy, selfless service to our neighbors, in a word, everything that is asked from us on the day of the Last Judgment (see: Matthew 25, 31–46).
This is stated with complete clarity in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The Jews cry out to God: Why do we fast, but You don’t see? We humble our souls, but You don’t know? The Lord, through the mouth of the prophet, answers them: Behold, on the day of your fast you do your will and demand hard work from others. Behold, you fast for quarrels and strife, and in order to strike others with a bold hand; you do not fast at this time so that your voice will be heard on high. Is this the fast that I have chosen, the day on which a man languishes his soul, when he bends his head like a reed and spreads rags and ashes under him? Can you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord? This is the fast that I have chosen: loose the chains of unrighteousness, untie the bonds of the yoke, and set the oppressed free, and break every yoke; divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the wandering poor into your home; When you see a naked person, clothe him, and do not hide from your half-blood. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly increase, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will follow you. Then you will call, and the Lord will hear; You will cry out, and He will say: “Here I am!” (Isa 58:3-9).
“Whoever limits fasting to one abstinence from food greatly dishonors him,” instructs St. John Chrysostom. - Not only the mouth should fast - no, let the eye, and hearing, and hands, and our whole body fast... Fasting is a withdrawal from evil, curbing the tongue, putting aside anger, taming lusts, stopping slander, lies and perjury... Are you fasting? Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget those in prison, have pity on the tormented, comfort the mourning and crying; be merciful, meek, kind, quiet, long-suffering, compassionate, unforgiving, reverent and sedate, pious, so that God will accept your fasting and grant you the fruits of repentance in abundance.”
Thus, the meaning of fasting is also in improving love for God and neighbors, because it is on love that every virtue that makes up fasting is based. The Monk John Cassian the Roman says that we “do not rely on fasting alone, but, preserving it, we want to achieve through it purity of heart and apostolic love.” Nothing is fasting, nothing is asceticism in the absence of love, because it is written: God is love (1 John 4:8).
St. John Cassian also says that for the sake of love for a person, sometimes one can postpone fasting. He writes: “The one who will maintain a strict fast even when his brother visits him, in whose person it is necessary to accept Christ,” should be considered more hard-hearted than a zealot of piety.”
One desert dweller, answering the monk’s question: “Why do monks in Egypt cancel fasting for visitors?” - answered: “Fasting is mine; I can have it whenever I want. And by receiving brothers and fathers, we receive Christ, Who said: He who receives you receives Me (see: John 13:20) - and: the sons of the bridal chamber cannot fast as long as the Bridegroom is with them. When the Bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast (see: Mark 2:19-20).”
They say that when Saint Tikhon was living in retirement in the Zadonsk Monastery, one Friday in the sixth week of Great Lent he visited the monastery schema-monk Mitrofan. At that time the schema-monk had a guest, whom the saint also loved for his pious life. It happened that on this day a fisherman he knew brought Father Mitrofan a live heather for Palm Sunday. Since the guest did not expect to stay at the monastery until Sunday, the schema-monk ordered to immediately prepare fish soup and cold soup from the heather. The saint found Father Mitrofan and his guest eating these dishes. The schema-monk, frightened by such an unexpected visit and considering himself guilty of breaking his fast, fell at the feet of Saint Tikhon and begged him for forgiveness. But the saint, knowing the strict life of both friends, said to them: “Sit down, I know you. Love is higher than fasting." At the same time, he sat down at the table and began to eat fish soup. Such condescension and kindness of the saint amazed his friends: they knew that Saint Tikhon did not even consume butter, much less fish, during the entire Great Lent on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
It is told about Saint Spyridon, the Wonderworker of Trimifunts, that during Great Lent, which the saint kept very strictly, a certain traveler came to see him. Seeing that the wanderer was very tired, Saint Spyridon ordered his daughter to bring him food. She replied that there was no bread or flour in the house, since on the eve of strict fasting they had not stocked up on food. Then the saint prayed, asked for forgiveness and ordered his daughter to fry the salted pork left over from the Meat Week. After it was made, Saint Spyridon, seating the wanderer with him, began to eat the meat and treat his guest to it. The wanderer began to refuse, citing the fact that he was a Christian. Then the saint said: “All the less must we refuse, for the Word of God has spoken: to the pure all things are pure (Tim 1:15).”
In addition, the Apostle Paul said: if one of the unbelievers calls you, and you want to go, then eat everything that is offered to you without any examination, for peace of conscience (1 Cor 10:27) - for the sake of the person who welcomed you cordially. But these are special cases. The main thing is that there is no guile in this, otherwise you can spend the entire fast this way: under the pretext of love for your neighbor, visiting friends or hosting them is not fasting.
The story of the Venerable Martyr Kronid (Lyubimov), abbot of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, is instructive. When he was still a young novice, the governor of the Lavra, Father Leonid (Kavelin), sent him to his parents every year. And so, “once passing through Moscow to my homeland,” says the Venerable Martyr Kronid, “I stopped with my uncle. The life that my uncle led was secular. He did not fast on Wednesday or Friday. Sitting down at their table and knowing that it was Wednesday or Friday, I still tasted milk or eggs. At that time, the thought usually flew through my mind: “What kind of person am I that food should be specially prepared for me?” That's why I ate everything that was offered to me. A year before I was tonsured a monk, I once had a dream that I was standing in some kind of temple. Behind the right choir I see a large icon with the image of the Mother of God and the Eternal Child in Her arms. The Mother of God is depicted as tall as a man and wearing a crown... Seeing the wonderful face of the Mother of God and marveling at its beauty, I bowed my sinful knees before the holy image and began to ask for Her mercy and intercession before the Lord. To my horror, I see: the Mother of God is turning Her face away from me. Then I exclaimed in fear and trembling: “Mother of God! How have I offended You, that You turn Your divine face away from me, unworthy?” And I hear Her answer: “Breaking the fast! On Wednesday and Friday you allow yourself to eat fast food and do not honor the suffering of My Son. By doing this you insult Him and Me.” The vision ended there. But it was a lesson for my soul for the rest of my life.”
The other extreme is excessive fasting, which Christians who are unprepared for such a feat dare to undertake. Speaking about this, Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', writes: “Irrational people are jealous of the fasting and labors of saints with the wrong understanding and intention and think that they are passing through virtue. The devil, guarding them as his prey, plunges into them the seed of a joyful opinion about himself, from which the inner Pharisee is born and nurtured and betrays such people to complete pride.”
Speaking about the vain passage of the days of fasting, we can cite the following incident from the “Ancient Patericon”. When traveling monks came to one monastery and sat down to a common meal, boiled vegetables were prepared there for the occasion of the guests. And one of them said: “You know, we don’t eat boiled food, we fast.” Then the elder called him over and said: “It would be better for you to eat bloody meat than to say what you said.” This is how the elder spoke about the traveling monk because the latter showed his feat, which should be secret.
The danger of such fasting, according to the Venerable Abba Dorotheos, is as follows: “Whoever fasts out of vanity or considering that he is doing virtue, fasts unreasonably and therefore begins to reproach his brother afterwards, considering himself to be someone significant. But whoever fasts wisely does not think that he is doing a good deed wisely, and does not want to be praised as a faster.” The Savior Himself ordered to perform virtues in secret and to hide fasting from others (see: Matthew 6: 16–18).
Excessive fasting may also result in irritability and anger instead of a feeling of love, which also indicates that it was not carried out correctly. Show...discretion in virtue (2 Pet 1:5), - calls the Apostle Peter. Everyone has their own measure of fasting: monks have one, laypeople may have another. For pregnant and lactating women, for the elderly and sick, as well as for children, with the blessing of the confessor, fasting can be significantly weakened. “One should be considered a suicide who does not change the strict rules of abstinence even when it is necessary to strengthen weakened strength by taking food,” says St. John Cassian the Roman.
“The law of fasting is this,” teaches St. Theophan the Recluse, “to remain in God with mind and heart with renunciation from everything, cutting off all pleasure for oneself, not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual, doing everything for the glory of God and the good of others, willingly and with love, the labors and deprivations of fasting, in food, sleep, rest, in the consolations of mutual communication - all in a modest measure, so that it does not catch the eye and does not deprive one of the strength to fulfill the prayer rules.”
So, while we fast physically, we also fast spiritually. Let us combine external fasting with internal fasting, guided by humility. Having cleansed the body with abstinence, let us cleanse the soul with repentant prayer in order to acquire virtues and love for our neighbors. This will be true fasting, pleasing to God, and therefore saving for us.