Orthodox why fast

For those who live in households where not everyone is Orthodox, for example, modifications will need to be made for everyone to be able to eat as a family. In general, the words of St. And if you cannot fast until evening, then at least keep yourself from eating too much. Please consider donating needed church supplies from our Amazon Wish List. You can also help by using smile. You can also support our ministries with a one time or recurring donation via PayPal.

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Fasting throughout the year. Fasting through the year. Drunkenness and Gluttony Part of the purpose of having days and periods of fasting is to exercise the Spiritual fruit and virtue of Moderation and Temperance, and to avoid the sins of drunkenness and gluttony. Wednesdays and Fridays. If on certain weeks you are not able to fast according to these standards, still do something, including one of these options which have some basis in Church tradition: 1.

Fast from meat and alcohol for 24 hours on Wednesdays and Fridays 3. Great Lent and Holy Week. Fasting should always be accompanied by prayer. Abstain completely from some habit or pastime that has you in its grip or is not spiritually profitable video games, some form of social media, etc. Attend Church regularly, and when possible penitential midweek services , be engaged in the prayers at Liturgy and other services, praying from the heart, realizing we are working together with God offering the sacrificial Liturgy for the life of the world.

Monday-Friday say the Lenten prayer of St. Give, rather, the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to me, your servant. Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Accept my fast, increase in me the desire to do good and love for your commandments, help me entrust my life to you daily, and teach me how to love as I should.

We are to replace them with listening to spiritual music, reading or listening to Scripture and other edifying books, exchanging youtube videos on secular matters with matters of faith, etc.

Buy some new spiritual books to read. If you will not do this on all days, then do it at least on Wednesdays and Fridays when Christ was betrayed and when Christ was crucified. Prepare for and go to a meaningful and well-prepared Confession at least once during the 40 day fast of Great Lent i. Well prepared means doing a full examination of conscience, such as found in prayer books, or the following on our website holyorthodox. Why before Holy Week?

Great Lent and Holy Week are distinct from one another and have different purposes. Many want to fast, but cannot do the strictest levels of fasting for various reasons. The full fast prescribed in the Typikon of the Monastery of St. Accordingly, fasting finds its true meaning when the outward abstinence of food is connected with the inward struggle to intensify our longing for God through the dynamic of purity and repentance—the consummation of which is realized in Holy Communion.

Coupled with observing a balance between the material and spiritual aspects of true fasting, there is a third necessary dimension, namely, practical compassion towards neighbor. At the first Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts, the Idiomelon makes this explicit:. While fasting with the body, o brethren, let us also fast in spirit; let us loosen every connection with injustice… Let us give bread to the hungry and introduce into our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, that we may receive from Christ our God the great mercy.

True fasting requires not only fasting from foods but also practical works of compassion which, in this case, include working towards overcoming injustice and extending hospitality— philoxenia— especially to those in need.

Without this struggle to fix our eyes on God through beholding God in our neighbor and all of his creation, mere fasting from food has no value. On the other hand, when truly practiced, fasting becomes a positive action, nothing less than a true theophany opening us up to the beauty and splendor of the Risen Lord.

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At the first Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts, the Idiomelon makes this explicit: While fasting with the body, o brethren, let us also fast in spirit; let us loosen every connection with injustice… Let us give bread to the hungry and introduce into our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, that we may receive from Christ our God the great mercy.

Like this: Like Loading Loading Comments If you are new to fasting, ask your priest for guidance before you begin. Fasting related to foods has many different degrees. During Great Lent, Wednesdays, and Fridays, daily fasting is at its most strict, abstaining from:.

Additionally, during Great Lent, the size and number of meals, as well as the selection, are smaller. On many other feast or fast days, particular foods are avoided or permitted, in lesser degrees of fasting. Fasting also partners with prayer , almsgiving and confession , readying the whole person like an athlete, body, mind, and soul, for an upcoming feast , similar to the way in which Orthodox Christians would hope to be properly prepared for the Second Coming.

For this reason, during fasting seasons, no marriages should take place. Another important part of any fasting period is going to Confession. The Christians inherited the tradition of fasting from the Jews. Jesus, too, gave examples of fasting to his disciples , most notably preceding his forty days in the desert when he was tempted by the devil Matt That Wednesday and Friday fasting was general practice in early Christianity is attested by the first or early second century writing known as The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles; outside of the Eastern Church it was not generally recognized that this fasting tradition had been preserved unchanged from such an early date until the discovery of Greek and Latin mss.

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