The Purpose of Fasting
In the Orthodox Church, fasting is not a diet. It is a spiritual discipline — a way of training the body and soul together to depend on God rather than on comfort. When we fast, we practice saying "no" to our appetites so that we can say "yes" to God.
"Fasting is the change of every part of our life. True fasting is alienation from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood, and perjury. The denial of these is true fasting."
Fasting is always joined to prayer, almsgiving, and repentance. A fast without prayer is merely hunger. A fast without charity is spiritual vanity. The three together form the ancient triad of Christian asceticism.
The Fasting Calendar
The Orthodox fasting calendar is extensive — Orthodox Christians fast for roughly 180–200 days per year. The major fasting periods are:
The Four Great Fasts
- Great Lent — 40 days before Holy Week, plus Holy Week itself (the strictest fast)
- Apostles' Fast — from the Monday after All Saints' Sunday to the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul (June 29)
- Dormition Fast — August 1–14, before the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
- Nativity Fast — November 15–December 24, before Christmas
Regular Fasting Days
- Wednesday — commemorating the betrayal of Christ
- Friday — commemorating the Crucifixion
These weekly fasts are observed almost every week of the year, with certain "fast-free" weeks as exceptions.
What Does Fasting Look Like?
The traditional Orthodox fast involves abstaining from animal products: meat, dairy, eggs, and (on stricter days) fish, wine, and oil. On the strictest days of Great Lent, only bread, water, fruits, vegetables, and grains are consumed.
Levels of Fasting
- Strict fast — no animal products, no oil, no wine (weekdays of Great Lent)
- Wine and oil permitted — Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent
- Fish permitted — Annunciation (March 25) and Palm Sunday
- Dairy and eggs permitted — Cheesefare Week (the week before Lent)
The fasting rules described here are the monastic standard. Your priest will help you determine a fasting rule that is appropriate for your health, circumstances, and spiritual maturity. Fasting should be undertaken with a spirit of joy, not legalism.
The Spiritual Life of Prayer
Prayer is the breath of the soul. The Orthodox tradition offers a rich treasury of prayer practices:
The Jesus Prayer
The most distinctive Orthodox prayer practice is the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This short prayer is repeated continuously — on a prayer rope, during work, while walking — as a way of cultivating unceasing prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
"The principal thing is to stand before God with the intellect in the heart, and to go on standing before Him unceasingly day and night until the end of life."
Morning and Evening Prayers
Orthodox Christians pray a set of morning prayers upon rising and evening prayers before sleep. These prayers, found in every Orthodox prayer book, include psalms, the Creed, prayers to the Theotokos, and prayers of repentance and thanksgiving.
The Prayer Rule
A prayer rule is the daily discipline of prayer agreed upon between a Christian and their spiritual father. It may include morning and evening prayers, the Jesus Prayer on a rope, scripture reading, and the daily psalms. The rule is not rigid — it grows and adapts as the person grows.