p.s. is alcohol only prohibited during fast days or all of lent?
Wine is clearly prohibited in some standards. But as one Orthodox priest has pointed out with a smile “Beer is not wine!”
In some Orthodox monasteries, during the Great Fast, monks were restricted to 1 litre of beer. In one instance I vaguely recall, the saintly abbot put no such restriction on the laity who were helping to build an addition to the monastery… “Working men should not be deprived of this comfort!” was the reasoning.
But as a convert I much love who is one of the cantors at my church has noted “Fasting is like a fine garment - it is tailor made for the individual, not one size fits all.” Using the general prescriptions of the fast, speak with your pastor/confessor about what might be right for you.
Nowadays, one could eat VERY well throughout the Fast with little great effort in some places. I could attend the vegan restaraunt in the trendy neighborhood 5 nights a week, snack on pretzels & exotic nuts, eat teryaki shrimp and crab and lobster, and eat soy cheese, margarine and tofu hot dogs & boca burgers… and keep the strictest fast. At the end of 40 days, I could be self-satisfied and fat… But would I have kept the fast?
If I opted to eat some cheese, or kept the fast by eating cold cereal with milk for the better part of 40 days, would I then be “not fasting”? If I have health issues or a particular strenuous job and opt to take protein by eating a small portion of fish that I could afford rather than more expensive varieties of proteins that are allowed but (in my inland market!) luxurious (shrimp, lobster, crab) would I then be “not fasting”?
Technology being what it is, fasting from cable, the internet, some forms of recreation (maybe like going to movies) coupled with the addition of some charitable work, almsgiving, spiritual reading or addition to a personal prayer rule could demonstrate itself to be far more edifying than simply making sure what one is eating fits in with strictures set in another time and place.
I will keep you in my prayers, and ask you do the same for me.
