The Rule of Fasting in the Orthodox Church
By Father Seraphim (Rose) of Platina
In answer to numerous requests from readers, the rule
of fasting is given for each day of the year. Where no indication
of fast is given, and during "fast-free weeks," all
foods may be eaten (except during Cheese-fare Week,
when meat alone is forbidden every day). Where "fast
day" is indicated alone, the fast is a strict one, with no
meat, eggs, dairy products, fish, wine or oil to be eaten.
Where, underneath "fast day," is indicated "wine and oil
allowed," the fast is relaxed for the sake of a feast day or
vigil, to allow eating of these foods. Where "fish, wine
and oil allowed" is indicated, then all three of these foods
may be eaten.
The rule of fasting, which is dependent on the
Church's cycle of feasts and fasts, is contained in the
Church's Typicon, chiefly in chapters 32 and 33, and is
repeated in the appropriate places of the Divine service
books, the Menaia and Triodion. In general, fast days for
Orthodox Christians are all Wednesdays and Fridays
throughout the year (except for fast-free periods), the
four canonical fast periods of Great Lent, Nativity Fast,
Apostles' Fast, and Dormition Fast, and a few special
days: the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14th) and
the Beheading of the Forerunner (August 29th)—which,
even though they are feast days, are also fast days (with
wine and oil allowed) for the sake of the events commemorated
thereon.
There are some local variations in the allowances of
wine and oil, and sometimes of fish, and so the indications
in the present Calendar cannot be uniformly applied
everywhere. In particular, on the celebrations of the
patronal feast of a parish or monastery, fish is generally allowed,
and when a saint is honored with a service of Sung
Doxology or Polyeleos rank, wine and oil are allowed. In
the Russian Church, on the feast days of the more renowned
Russian saints, such as St. Sergius of Radonezh
and St. Seraphim of Sarov, and of wonderworking Icons
of the Mother of God such as the Kazan and Vladimir
Icons, of course, wine and oil are allowed (except during
Great Lent), although this is not mentioned in the present
Calendar because the Typicon leaves this to local
practice, indicating only the fasts and allowances that are
of general application. The meaning of the Typicon in its
allowances is simple: the more one labors for the glorification
of a saint or feast day, the more consolation one is
allowed in food. For one who has become accustomed to
the Orthodox fast, the allowance of oil on food, or fried
foods, together with a little wine, is indeed a consolation,
as well as a source of physical strength. Where the
Typicon itself indicates two variant practices (as for a few
of the weekdays of Great Lent), the present Calendar follows
the Typicon's preferred practice.
While most Orthodox Christians are perhaps aware
of the general rule of fasting for Great Lent and the
Dormition Fast (wine and oil allowed only on Saturdays
and Sundays, except for a few feast days and vigils),
many are probably not familiar with the precise rule
governing the less severe fast of the Nativity and Apostles'
Fast. Therefore, we shall quote this rule, from
Chapter 33 of the Typicon:
"It should be noted that in the Fast of the Holy
Apostles and of the Nativity of Christ, on Tuesday and
Thursday we do not eat fish, but only oil and wine. On
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we eat neither oil nor
wine... On Saturday and Sunday we eat fish. If there
occurs on Tuesday or Thursday a saint who has a Doxology,
we eat fish; if on Monday, the same; but if on
Wednesday or Friday, we allow only oil and wine. If it
be a saint who has a Vigil on Wednesday or Friday, or
the saint whose temple it is, we allow oil and wine and
fish... But from the 20th of December until the 25th,
even if it be Saturday or Sunday, we do not allow fish."
In these two fasts, the fast for laymen is the same as
that of many Orthodox monasteries, where Monday
throughout the year is kept as a fast day in honor of the
fleshless ones, the Angels.
This rule of fasting, to be sure, is not intended to be a
"straight-jacket" for Orthodox believers, nor a source of
pharisaical pride for anyone who keeps the letter of the
Church's law. It is rather the rule, the standard, against
which each is to measure his own practice, and towards
which one must always strive, according to one's strength
and circumstances. Whenever, for sickness or any other
reason, one falls short of the rule, he applies to himself the
spiritual medicine of self-reproach and strives to enter
more fully into the spirit and discipline of fasting, which
is indeed of great spiritual benefit to those who sincerely
strive to follow it.
Hieromonk Seraphim Rose
From the inside back cover of the Saint Herman Calendar, published
every year by Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery.
Posted on 3/8/2008 with the blessing of Abbot Gerasim.
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