Strict Eastern Lenten fast

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spyridon
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Maybe I’ll try it next year. If I can have the fish fry fridays off 🙂

It seems like a reasonable and interesting fast as there are still lots of things one can eat.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
seems like a reasonable and interesting fast as there are still lots of things one can eat.
Click to expand...
For someone who’s already a vegan I’d imagine it’d be really easy, since it’s essentially just a vegan diet with the added caveat of no oil or wine.

For most cheese and meat loving red blooded Americans like me though, it’d be a torturous feat requiring heroic dedication and virtue to uphold.
 
Last edited:
You do realise that in fact the strict fast means that the faithful who are really following it do not eat from Cheesefare Sunday after Vespers until after the Pre-sanctified Liturgy on Wednesday - and then again they abstain until after Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on the Friday. ?

What a person usually does is between them and, after discussion, with their priest/Spiritual Father.
 
No, I’ve NEVER heard that, ever. And I’ve studied a lot.

Where does the Orthodox Church teach fasting totally from all food for days at a time?
 
I know one person who fasts in that way - and my priest is also aware of it

Remember - what a person does is between him and his SF - no-one else should be able to tell what they are doing
 
I don’t doubt that, and I agree in the context of the Eastern Churches fasting is more of a personal matter between individual Christians and their spiritual father than an obligation imposed on entire Churches (though it is both, really)

What I never heard of was the Church in general binding Christians to fast totally from all food for days at a time.
 
Last edited:
Wow.

I did notice it says few laymen keep this fast… Which is why I never heard of this before.

So I should revise my OP and talk about the entire days of not eating at all during Clean Week and Holy Week…

The Eastern Orthodox have some hardcore fasting traditions… Which is why I find it amusing seeing my fellow Roman Catholics bemoan the paltry fasting and abstinence obligations we have.

The Eastern Orthodox tend to put a much heavier emphasis on ascetical practice than the Roman Catholic Church does - not only with fasting and abstinence but also with things like prostrations during prayer.
 
Last edited:
Spyridon said:
Which is why I find it amusing seeing my fellow Roman Catholics bemoan the paltry fasting and abstinence obligations we have.
Click to expand...
Who’s bemoaning?
I’ve said a number of times that the Catholic prescribed “fast” is not much of a fast, it’s more like “how I normally eat on many days out of the month”.

Edited to add, both Nineveh 90 and Elizabeth Kindelmann’s revelations have stricter fasts one can follow. Although compared to going 3 days without food, those aren’t too bad.
 
Last edited:
Well, a certain person to whom I am married and shall remain nameless, for one.

I also remind people: the fasting obligation is a MINIMUM Obligation. The Church still strongly encourages us to do more fasting and abstaining than the minimum requirement.
 
The Church also encourages us not to talk about it if we happen to be fasting, so one wouldn’t know if the guy in the next pew is going without food for a day or not.
 
In the US the Latin Church stopped the traditional Lenten fast in 1914!
 
Uliana988 said:
Strangely enough, shrimp, crab, clams, etc are permitted. You could also eat locust and other insects if you wanted to. 😬
Click to expand...
Those are the same thing–shrimp and stuff are basically “sea bugs” which no-one in the first or second century would have eaten if there were an alternative.

Also, Eastern Fasting is a goal to strive towards, rather than under penalty of sin as in the western notion.

hawk
 
I talked with an Russian Orthodox friend of mine and their first day is only water, then some days with only raw vegetables. After that they could cook vegetables. No meat or fish, no dairy, no oil just vegetables!
 
First Monday and Tuesday has been full fast - only bread and water in the evening.
On certain days for great Feasts that happen during the Lent and according to the local Patriarchs there are certain… un-bindings (? is this correct) - for oil and wine, or for fish (if fish is allowed then oil and wine are allowed too).
Nobody told us anything about beer. 😁 but I am supposing you’re not supposed to indulge during Lent so this must be very little too.
I managed to do Monday and Tuesday this year with full fast except for coffee in the morning and water during the day. I am not sure if those are breaking the rules but anyway since they’re not food but anyway.
Up until today I gave up oil easily I think. Because salad+lemon+ some little bread are enough for me.
My appetite does decrease but I do have strange dreams. Last night I dreamt someone tricked me into eating a burger (something I don’t even usually eat lol!) and I was so sad in my dream that they ruined my Lent .
The trick is to eat fresh things not vegetarian recipes, those can give your stomach problems on the long run. And avoid drinking too many soups. And to pray. Without prayer I couldn’t do it. I mean in my life I have dieted but a diet that strict I could never do on my own free will.
I don’t miss much right now.
I wonder if I will be able to do it. Problem is not my physical energy - that is up believe it or not, but my mental concentration at work. Anyway, if it is God’s will that I should do it then He will keep me to it.
Last year I could not keep it without oil. Or wine.
I don’t have a lot of challenges in my life and so I really want to try to do it. If I had babies to run around me then I don’t think I could but nobody expects mothers to do it either. Priests don’t force us to do it and say that if we brag about it or we don’t do our physical and spiritual charities and prayers then we achieved nothing.
 
Mary888 said:
except for coffee in the morning
Click to expand...
I’d be curious to know if coffee and tea actually count as eating during this type of fast.
Based on what I’ve seen in my own family and friends as well as with myself, you can pretty much go all day with no food on coffee or black tea, even if it doesn’t have any milk, cream, sugar etc in it. The caffeine will keep you going for a while. You’ll eventually crash but it’s a much easier couple of days than if you do it on water alone.

One reason I gave up the coffee for Lent was it makes the fasting harder.
 
Last edited:
Not for me really because I have a slightly arrhythmic heart by birth so to go without food and with coffee is too much for it and I start feeling dizzy easily.
 
Mary888 said:
Not for me really because I have a slightly arrhythmic heart by birth so to go without food and with coffee is too much for it and I start feeling dizzy easily.
Click to expand...
Not good at all.

Our Lord does NOT wish for you to endanger your health because of fasting.

The Catholic Church explicitly states that if health would be compromised the obligation does not apply.
 
Fasting is okay but drinking coffee to help with it is not ok for me. Because Tis said that coffee can help with dieting or fasting and I said it doesn’t help me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top