from The Lenten Triodion by Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware, 1977, pp.13-37
The True Nature of Fasting:
Fast (nhsteiva)- a balance must be kept between the outward and the inward.
On the outward level fasting involves physical abstinence from food and
drink, and without such exterior abstinence, a full and true fast cannot
be kept. Yet, the rules about eating and drinking must never be treated
as an end in themselves. Neither should we over-emphasize the external rules
about food, nor should we scorn these rules as outdated. We are a unity
of body and soul. But some, because of their heretical attitude towards
human nature, create a false 'spiritualism' which rejects or ignores the
body and view man solely in terms of his reasoning brain. This has caused
a general decline in fasting. As to the argument that fasting rules are
to difficult to follow in today's world, it can be said that fasting traditionally
practiced in the Church has always been difficult and always involved hardship.
The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon
God. The purpose of its difficulty and hardship is to lead us into a sense
of inward brokeness and contrition. On the other hand, abstinence/fasting
leads us to a sense of lightness, wakefulness, freedom and joy. Even though
it might be debilitating at first, afterwards we find that it enables us
to sleep less, to think more clearly, and to work more decisively. As many
doctors acknowledge, periodical fasts contribute to bodily hygiene.
St. John Chrysostom says the fast is "abstinence not only from food
but from sins. The fast should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by
the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all members of the body."
Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are central to the Lenten season. Divorced
from prayer and from the reception of the holy sacraments, unaccompanied
by acts of compassion, our fasting becomes pharisaical or even demonic.
Fasting, then, is valueless or even harmful when not combined with prayer.
In the Gospels the devil is cast out, not by fasting alone, but by "prayer
and fasting" (Matt. 17.21; Mark 9.29). Prayer and fasting should in
turn be accompanied by almsgiving- the love for others expressed in practical
form, by works of compassion and forgiveness.
Always in our acts of abstinence we should keep in mind St. Paul's admonition
not to condemn others who fast less strictly.
Five misconceptions answered: 1) The Lenten fast is not intended only for
monks and nuns, but is enjoined by all Orthodox Christians. 2) The Triodion
should not be misconstrued in a Pelagian sense. Our progress in the fast
does not depend solely upon the exertion of our own will. On the contrary,
whatever we achieve is to be regarded as a free gift of God. 3) Our fasting
should not be self-willed but obedient. Do not try to invent special rules
for fasting, we should follow as faithfully as possible the accepted pattern
set before us by Holy Tradition. If our fasting becomes willful and proud,
it may assume a diabolical character, bringing us not closer to God, but
to Satan. This is because fasting renders us sensitive to the realities
of a spiritual world which can be dangerously ambivalent- for there are
evil spirits as well as good. 4) Lent is a time for joyfulness, not gloom.
John Climacus says it can bring us a "joy-creating sorrow." The
season of Lent falls not in midwinter when the countryside is frozen and
dead, but in spring when all things are returning to life. The English word
"Lent" originally had the meaning "springtime." 5) Lenten
abstinence does not imply a rejection of God's creation. During the fast
we deny our bodily impulses- for example, our spontaneous appetite for food
and drink- not because these impulses are in themselves evil, but because
they have been disordered by sin and require purification through self-discipline.
St. Paul's usage of the word "flesh" denotes the totality of man,
soul and body together.
The Historical Development of the Great Fast:
Three main components to the Great Fast- 1) Holy and Great Week- preceded
by the Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday. Started in the 2nd and 3rd centuries
by observing a brief fast of one or two days before Easter. By middle 3rd
cent. the Paschal fast had in many places extended to embrace the entire
week prior to Easter. The developed Holy Week ritual which we have today
is not found until the late 4th cent.
2) The Forty Days of the Great Fast- beginning on Monday in the first week.
No evidence of this in the pre-Nicean period. First evidence is from Canon
5 of the Council of Nicea (325) which probably recognized an existing practice.
By the end of the 4th cent. the 40 Day Fast had become standard practice.
Evidence strongly suggests that the 40 Day fast originated in the practice
of the final preparation of catechumens for the sacrament of Baptism or
'illumination.' Candidates underwent intensive training and instruction,
and existing members of the church community were encouraged to share in
their prayer and abstinence, thus renewing their own baptismal dedication
to Christ. Why choose Easter as the time for baptizing catechumens? This
sacrament is precisely an initiation into the Lord's Cross and His Resurrection
(see Rom. 6.3-4).
Biblical precedents for a 40 day fast: People of Israel in wilderness for
40 years (Ex. 16.35); Moses remained fasting forty days on Mt. Sinai (Ex.
34.28); Elijah abstained from all food for 40 days as he journeyed to Mt.
Horeb (3 Kings 19.8); Most important of all, Christ fasted for forty days
and forty nights in the wilderness tempted by the devil (Matt. 4.1).
Questions? Is Holy Week included in the 40 days, or treated as a distinct
and additional period? Is Saturday regarded as a day of fasting? How are
the 40 days calculated/reconciled? In the West, a six-week fast of six days
each week (Sunday excluded) gives 36 days, add four days to start on Ash
Wednesday. In the East, a seven-week fast of five days each week giving
35 days plus Holy Saturday = 36 days (Holy Week included). Or count continuously
40 days from Clean Monday to Friday of Sixth week, then Lazarus Saturday,
Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Significance of 36 days? Just as the Israelites
dedicated to God a tithe or tenth of their produce, so Christians dedicate
the season of Lent to God as a tithe or tenth of the year.
3) Pre-Lenten Period- During the 6th - 11th centuries, the season of Pre-Lenten
preparation was expanded to include three other Sundays (besides Cheese
Week- Sunday of Forgiveness). These preparatory Sundays are: Publican and
the Pharisee, Prodigal Son, and Last Judgment. They are followed by a preliminary
week of partial fasting, ending with the Sunday of Forgiveness.
The Rules of Fasting:
Most Orthodox authorities agree on the following rules-
I.) During the week between the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
and that of the Prodigal Son, there is a general dispensation from all fasting.
Meat and animal products may be eaten even on Wednesday and Friday.
II.) In the following week, often termed the 'Week of Carnival', the usual
fast is kept on Wed. and Fri. Otherwise there is no special fasting.
III.) In the Week before Lent, meat is forbidden, but eggs, cheese and other
dairy products may be eaten on all days, including Wed. and Fri.
IV.) On weekdays during the seven weeks of Lent, there are restrictions
both on the number of meals taken daily and on the types of food permitted;
but when a meal is allowed, there is no fixed limitation on the quantity
of food to be eaten.
a.) On weekdays of the first week, fasting is particularly severe. According
to the strict observance, in the course of the five initial days of Lent,
only two meals are eaten, one on Wednesday and the other on Friday, in both
cases after the Presanctified Liturgy. On the other three days, those who
have the strength are encouraged to keep an absolute fast; those for whom
this proves impracticable may eat on Tuesday and Thursday (but not, if possible,
on Monday), in the evening after Vespers, when they may take bread and water,
or perhaps tea or fruit-juice, but not a cooked meal. It should be added
at once that in practice today these rules are commonly relaxed. At the
meals on Wednesday and Friday xerophagy is prescribed. Literally this means
'dry eating'. Strictly interpreted, it signifies that we may eat only vegetables
cooked with water and salt, and also such things as fruit, nuts, bread and
honey. In practice, octopus and shell-fish are also allowed on days of xerophagy;
likewise vegetable margarine and corn or other vegetable oil, not made from
olives. but the following categories of food are definitely excluded: i)
meat; ii) animal products (cheese, milk, butter, eggs, lard, dripping);
iii) fish w/ backbones; iv) vegetable oil and wine (i.e. all alcoholic drinks).
b.) On weekdays in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth weeks, one
meal a day is permitted, to be taken in the afternoon following Vespers,
and at this one meal xerophagy is to be observed.
c.) Holy Week. On the first three days there is one meal each day, with
xerophagy; but some try to keep a complete fast on these days, or else they
eat only uncooked food, as on the opening days of the first week. On Holy
Thursday one meal is eaten, with wine and oil. On Great Friday those who
have the strength follow the practice of the early Church and keep the total
fast. Those unable to do this may eat bread, with a little water, tea or
fruit-juice, but not until sunset, or at any rate not until after the veneration
of the Epitaphion at Vespers. On Holy Saturday there is in principle no
meal, since according to the ancient practice after the end of the Liturgy
of St. Basil the faithful remained in church for the reading of the Acts
of the Apostles, and for their sustenance were given a little bread and
dried fruit, with a cup of wine. If, as usually happens now, they return
home for a meal, they may use wine but not oil; for on this one Saturday,
alone among the Saturdays of the year, olive oil is not permitted.
d.) The rule of xerophagy is relaxed on the following days: i) On Saturdays
and Sundays of Lent, with the exception of Holy Saturday, two main meals
may be taken in the usual way, around mid-day and in the evening, with wine
and olive oil; but meat, animal products and fish are not allowed. ii) On
the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) and Palm Sunday, fish is permitted
as well as wine and oil, but meat and animal products are not allowed. If
the Feast of the Annunciation falls on the first four days of Holy Week,
wine and oil are permitted but not fish. If it falls on Great Friday or
Holy Saturday, wine is permitted, but not fish or oil. iii) Wine and oil
are permitted on the following days, if they fall on a weekday in the second,
third, fourth, fifth or sixth week: First and Second Finding of the Head
of St. John the Baptist (February 24), Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (March
9), Forefeast of the Annunciation (March 24), Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel
(March 26), Patronal festival of the Church or Monastery. iv) Wine and oil
are also allowed on Wednesday and Thursday in the fifth week, because of
the vigil for the Great Canon. Wine is allowed - and, according to some
authorities, oil as well - on Friday in the same week, because of the vigil
for the Akathistos Hymn.
Conclusion:
It has always been held that these rules of fasting should be relaxed in
the case of anyone elderly or in poor health. In present-day practice, even
for those in good health, the full strictness of the fast is usually mitigated.
Only a few Orthodox today attempt to keep a total fast on Monday, Tuesday
and Thursday in the first week, or on the first three days of Holy Week.
On weekdays- except perhaps during the first week or Holy Week- it is now
common to eat two cooked meals daily instead of one. From the second until
the sixth week, many Orthodox use wine, and perhaps oil also, on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, and less commonly on Mondays as well. Permission is often
given to eat fish in these weeks. Personal factors need to be taken into
account, as for example the situation isolated Orthodox living in the same
household as non-Orthodox, or obliged to take factory or school canteen.
In cases of uncertainty each should seek the advice of his or her spiritual
father. At all times it is essential to bear in mind that 'you are not under
the law but under grace' (Rom. 6.14), and that 'the letter kills, but the
spirit gives life' (2Cor. 3.6) The rules of fasting, while they need to
be taken seriously, are not to be interpreted with dour and pedantic legalism;
'for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Rom. 14.17).
Resources:
• The Lenten Triodion translated by Mother Mary & Kallistos Ware,
FaberFaber, London, 1977, pp.699.
• The Lenten Spring- Readings For Great Lent, by Thomas Hopko, St.
Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1983, pp.162.
• Great Week And Pascha In The Greek Orthodox Church by Alkiviadis
C. Calivas, Holy Cross Press, Brookline, MA, 1992, pp.145.
• Great Lent- Journey To Pascha, by Alexander Schmemann, St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1974, pp.140.
• Fasting- What The Bible Teaches by Jerry Falwell, Tyndale House
Publ., Wheaton, IL, 1981, pp.55.
• Daily Lenten Meditations For Orthodox Christians, by Emily Harakas,
Light & Life Publ. Co., Minneapolis, MN, 1983, pp.75.
• Fasting And Science, by Constantine Cavarnos, CTOS, Etna, CA, 1988,
pp.21
• On Fasting by ?, Synaxis Press, Chilliwack, B.C., 1980, pp.27.