When does fasting begin in the fall? Orthodox church calendar. On the eve of the feast of the Epiphany
Meat eater is simply a time when fast foods are allowed: milk and its derivatives, eggs, fish and, of course, meat.
Orthodox calendar 2017 (food)
| mon-nick | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Lent from 27.02 to 15.04 | ||||||
| xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot with butter | hot with butter |
| Spring meat eater | ||||||
| fish | fish | |||||
| Petrov post from 12.06 to 11.07 | ||||||
| hot without oil | fish | xerophagy | fish | xerophagy | fish | fish |
| Summer carnivore | ||||||
| xerophagy | xerophagy | |||||
| Dormition post from 14.08 to 27.08 | ||||||
| xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot with butter | hot with butter |
| Autumn meat eater | ||||||
| xerophagy | xerophagy | |||||
| Christmas post from 28.11 to 6.01 | ||||||
| until 19.12 | ||||||
| hot without oil | fish | xerophagy | fish | xerophagy | fish | fish |
| 20.12 - 1.01 | ||||||
| hot without oil | hot with butter | xerophagy | hot with butter | xerophagy | fish | fish |
| 2-6.01 | ||||||
| xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot without oil | xerophagy | hot with butter | hot with butter |
| Winter meat eater | ||||||
| fish | fish | |||||
The Church views fasting as a demonstration of the maturity of the spirit of a person who overcomes worldly addictions by faith. Therefore, the 2017 Orthodox fasting calendar indicates not only the dates of religious holidays that the average person is most often interested in, but also a list of those days when you need to limit yourself in food. The canons of the church prescribe fasting several times a year: four times in the form of multi-day fasts, three times for one day and almost every week on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Laymen have the right to a less strict fast
During Lent, monasteries practice complete abstinence from food on strict days, and on “lighter” days, dry eating and complete abstinence from any oils. Ordinary believers are allowed a gentler pacification of their flesh. It is enough to remove milk, meat and eggs from the diet, and on days of strict fasting, exclude fish.
Before fasting, it is recommended to receive the blessing of a priest, who can recommend the individual level of its severity. The Church believes that Orthodox fasting should not deprive the laity of the opportunity to work or pray. Therefore, a chronic illness or heavy physical work can become a reason to soften the fast. But a complete refusal to restrict the diet on fasting days is categorically not accepted.
Multi-day posts
Lent
The Great Orthodox Lent 2017 occupies the period from February 27 to April 15 and its greatest severity occurs in the first and last (passion) weeks. The suppression of appetite is dedicated to the firmness of the Savior, who resisted the temptation of the devil for forty days and to honor the suffering he accepted during the period of execution.
Petrov post
The Apostolic or Peter's Fast begins on June 12 and ends on July 11. In different years, the summer fast takes a different number of days. The fact is that its ending is always static - the day of Peter and Paul. But the beginning starts from the date of Easter Sunday. As a result, it can last from 8 days (minimum) to 42 (maximum). It is dedicated to the Holy Apostles, who practiced fasting in preparation for Gospel sermons.
Dormition post
3. A month after the end of Peter’s fast, the Assumption fast begins, occupying the period from August 14 to August 27. These two weeks of self-restraint are dedicated to the Mother of God, who fasted and prayed before her departure to heaven.
Christmas post
4. Fillipov or the Nativity fast begins in the fall of November 28 and ends forty days later in the winter of January 6. Winter Lent honors the Apostle Philip and prepares the spirit for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. This is thanksgiving to the Lord for the harvest and respect for the date of birth of the Savior.
One-day
One day long posts are set to:
- 18.01 (Epiphany Christmas Eve),
- 11.09 (in memory of John the Baptist)
- 27.09 (Exaltation of the Holy Cross).
In addition, every week self-restraint in Wednesday dedicated to a reminder of the betrayal of Judas, and in Friday- the death of the Savior on the cross. Indicates the calendar of Orthodox fasts and those five weeks during which it is not necessary to observe one-day fasts. They are called continuous weeks and fall on Christmastide, the week of the Publican and the Pharisee, Maslenitsa, Easter and Trinity weeks.
A very important period begins for believers - on November 28, 2017, the Nativity Fast begins, which will last forty days and end on January 7, 2018 with one of the most important holidays - the Nativity of Christ.
This fast, which is classified as strict, is necessary for the purification and repentance of the soul, so that in the future, with a pure heart, we can celebrate the great holiday - the day of the Savior’s birth. About the history of the Nativity Fast, its rules and what food can be taken during this period, in the material FBA "Economy Today".
The history of the emergence of the Nativity (Filippov) Fast
Speaking about the essence of the Nativity Fast, it is worth listening to the words of the church song: “Fasting from food, my soul, and not being cleansed from passions, we are in vain consoled by non-eating: for if fasting does not bring you correction, then you will be hated by God as false, and will become like evil demons, never being poisoned.” During this period of time, people become stronger in their faith and let go of all grievances, cleansing themselves of filth.
Mention of the Nativity Fast, as a separate and multi-day fast, appeared in the 4th century. Historians have discovered it in the works of St. Augustine, St. Ambrose of Milan and Leo the Great. This fast became forty days (Four Days) after the council of 1166. And since the beginning of the fast falls on the day of remembrance of St. Apostle Philip (November 14, old style), who was one of Christ’s disciples, then he received the name Filippov.
However, the Nativity Fast also has other names: Kudelitsa, Zagovenye or Zapusty. Where did the name Kudelica come from? The fact is that in Rus', in the first week of Lent, women sat down to spin. They tugged, twisted, wound the yarn and said during the process: “A lazy spinner doesn’t even have a shirt.”
Every year the Nativity fast begins (November 28) and ends (January 7) at the same time and lasts 40 days.
What is possible and what is not allowed during the Nativity Fast
During any fast, believers must give up not only bad thoughts and bad deeds, but also some traditional foods. During the Nativity Fast, there are quite strict rules according to which believers refuse meat, eggs, milk, cow butter and many other products. Not everyone can withstand such a test. The Church makes concessions to sick people, children, the elderly and pregnant women, for whom refusal of necessary products can negatively affect their health. Those who intend to withstand this test will be helped by prayers before meals, which will set them up for spiritual cleansing and give them strength to withstand the fast until the very end.
Nutrition calendar for the Nativity Fast
In the first three weeks of fasting - from November 28 to December 19, 2017 - the fasting nutrition calendar will be as follows:
-Monday: any hot vegetable dishes, but without vegetable oil.
- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: boiled vegetable food with the addition of vegetable oil. Fish dishes are allowed.
On Sunday, in honor of the great holiday - the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary - those who are fasting are allowed to drink a little red wine.
In the next two weeks - from December 20, 2017 to January 1, 2018 - the nutrition calendar changes slightly:
- Monday: hot dishes from vegetables, but without vegetable oil.
- Tuesday and Thursday: hot vegetable dishes cooked with vegetable oil.
On certain days of the Nativity Fast you are allowed to drink wine and fish.
- Wednesday, Friday: exclusively dry eating.
- Saturday: vegetable dishes with added butter and fish.
- Sunday: You can include a small amount of red wine on your Sunday menu.
- Monday, Wednesday: exclusively dry eating.
- Tuesday and Thursday: vegetables without oil.
The strictest day of the entire fast is January 6, Christmas Eve, when believers abstain from eating until the evening. And only when the first stars appear in the sky can you sit down to the festive table. It should be noted that the main dish of the Christmas table should be sochivo, made from lentils, wheat or rice.
The fun ends Maslenitsa, and after it comes a very important time for Orthodox Christians - Lent, which is designed to help believers cleanse themselves spiritually and physically in order to be worthy of the most important holiday - Happy Easter.
When does Lent begin and end in 2017?
Lent begins immediately after Forgiveness Sunday(February 26), which ends Maslenitsa. Thus, in 2017, Lent begins on Monday, February 27, and ends on Sunday night, April 16, Happy Easter.
The most strict are the first week of Lent and the last, which is called Holy Week (week).
The meaning of Lent, who should not fast
Believers are instructed to limit themselves during Lent, observing the required regulations whenever possible. But bodily fasting is not an end in itself, and certainly not a diet. This is a time of spiritual revival and cleansing, so it is important not only not to eat fast food, but also to devote time to prayer, keep your mind clean, do charity work, etc. The Church also recommends during this period to abstain from carnal pleasures, not to attend entertainment events, to limit oneself to watching television programs and surfing the Internet.
But concerts of sacred music, visiting museums, reading books, walking and thinking, on the contrary, are strongly encouraged.
The strictness of nutrition during fasting, especially with regard to dairy products, does not apply to children, pregnant and nursing mothers, the elderly, the sick, travelers and prisoners. Nevertheless, spiritual work is required from them no less than from the strictest fasters.
Those who decide to fast for the first time throughout Lent are advised to consult a doctor and receive a blessing from a spiritual mentor.
Principles of nutrition during Lent
On Clean Monday (the first day of fasting) and Good Friday (before the removal of the shroud), complete abstinence from food is customary. The rest of the time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - according to the monastery, that is, the most strict charter, dry eating is prescribed (water, bread, fruits, dried fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey, fruit drinks and compotes); Tuesday, Thursday - hot food without oil; Saturday, Sunday - food with vegetable oil and a little wine.
It is allowed to eat fish on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (April 7) and on Palm Sunday (April 9). On Lazarus Saturday (April 8) you are allowed to eat fish caviar.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: first week (week)
Monday, February 27 - complete abstinence from food.
Tuesday, February 28 - dry eating.
Wednesday, March 1 - dry eating.
Thursday, March 2 - dry eating.
Friday, March 3 - dry eating.
Saturday, March 4 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Sunday, March 5 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: second week
Monday, March 6 - dry eating.
Tuesday, March 7 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Wednesday, March 8 - dry eating.
Thursday, March 9 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Friday, March 10 - dry eating.
Saturday, March 11 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Sunday, March 12 - boiled food with added vegetable oil, wine.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: third week
Monday, March 13 - dry eating.
Tuesday, March 14 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Wednesday, March 15 - dry eating.
Thursday, March 16 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Friday, March 17 - dry eating.
Saturday, March 18 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Sunday, March 19 - boiled food with added vegetable oil, wine.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: fourth week
Monday, March 20 - dry eating.
Tuesday, March 21 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Wednesday, March 22 - dry eating.
Thursday, March 23 - boiled vegetable food without oil and fish allowed.
Friday, March 24 - dry eating.
Saturday, March 25 - boiled food with added vegetable oil, wine.
Sunday, March 26 - boiled food with added vegetable oil, wine.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: fifth week
Monday, March 27 - dry eating.
Tuesday, March 28 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Wednesday, March 29 - dry eating.
Thursday, March 30 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Friday, March 31 - dry eating.
Saturday, April 1 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Sunday, April 2 - boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine.
Great Lent 2017, nutrition calendar by day: sixth week
Monday, April 3 - dry eating.
Tuesday, April 4 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Wednesday, April 5 - dry eating.
Thursday, April 6 - boiled vegetable food without oil.
Friday, April 7 - Annunciation
Saturday, April 8 - Lazarev Saturday, boiled food with added vegetable oil, wine. Fish is allowed.
Sunday, April 9 - Palm Sunday, boiled food with the addition of vegetable oil, wine, fish allowed.
Great Lent 2017: seventh (Holy) week
Monday, April 10 (Holy Monday) - dry eating.
Tuesday, April 11 (Holy Tuesday) - dry eating.
Wednesday, April 12 (Holy Wednesday) - dry eating.
Thursday, April 13 (Holy Thursday) - dry eating.
Friday, April 14 (Good Friday) - complete abstinence from food.
Saturday, April 15 (Holy Saturday) - dry eating.
Sunday, April 16 (Resurrection of Christ) - Easter, the end of Lent.
Lent is the main fast for Christians, regardless of denomination. Of course, the Russian reader is primarily interested in the Orthodox Lent and its features. Lent in 2017: what date does it start, what date does it end, what can be done on these days and what cannot be done.
Lent in 2017: what date does it start?
Lent lasts seven weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter. As you know, Easter is a moving date, the date of which is calculated separately for each year. Accordingly, the dates of Lent are different every year.
It should be recalled that the week that precedes Lent is traditionally given over to the celebration of Maslenitsa - in fact, a pagan holiday of the Slavs, which has found a place for itself in the official church calendar and feels great in such conditions. In 2017 it will be held from February 20 to 26.
The week before Maslenitsa is preparatory, meat and fish dishes alternate every other day.
In 2017, Lent will last from February 27 to April 15, Easter services will be held on the night of April 16, and Orthodox Christians will celebrate Sunday April 16.
Lent 2017: meals by day
Fasting is associated with abstinence from food and worldly passions; it is a time of prayer and reflection. Limiting yourself in food is not the most important attribute, it is just one of the most noticeable. Giving up food has a specific purpose - it helps cleanse the body and, as a result, the mind, mobilizes the body and makes thinking clearer. Refusal of food is only a means of achieving a certain religious enlightenment, a way of pacifying oneself and one’s natural urges, and developing the will. Abstaining from food should not be an end in itself; this is a limited and initially incorrect view of fasting.
Over the course of many centuries, a certain diet has been developed that everyone who fasts must adhere to. Fasting in the first and last of the seven weeks is particularly strict regarding food. So, on the very first day you cannot eat at all, on the second day only bread and clean water are allowed. Complete abstinence from food is also provided for the last Friday of Lent, which is called Holy.
During Lent there is a complete ban on eating meat and an almost complete ban on eating fish. The emphasis is on food of plant origin. It is permissible to eat fish only on Palm Sunday (a week before Easter), as well as on Annunciation, if it does not fall in the last week of Lent. In 2017, the Annunciation, which is always celebrated on April 7, falls on the penultimate week of Lent, so fish is acceptable on this day. On Lazarus Saturday (Saturday of the sixth week of fasting) a little fish caviar is allowed.
The main principle of the fasting diet is otherwise as follows: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the evening you can eat cold food without oil, on Tuesday and Thursday - hot food without oil, also in the evening. On Saturday and Sunday, in addition to hot food, wine is allowed, and you can eat twice a day.
The fasting diet in our country usually consists of dishes prepared on the basis of vegetable and fruit preparations from the previous summer, as well as carrots, cabbage, beets, canned green peas and other legumes, apples, oranges, nuts and dried fruits. There are a huge variety of dishes based on these products. However, you should not get too carried away with tasty and interesting dishes, since, again, this will be a departure from the very idea of fasting. Dishes should be simple and modest.
It is worth reminding those who are just joining the Christian faith and intend to observe the necessary fasts, including Great Lent, that first of all fasting should not be external, but internal. It is not enough to adhere to its external attributes, including refusal to eat. It is necessary to restructure your thoughts; it is especially important when fasting not to become proud of your righteousness and not to begin to feel better and superior to those who do not adhere to fasting. It is worth remembering this constantly and you need to catch yourself at the slightest manifestation of such pride and complacency, since such impulses are much worse and more sinful than failure to fast. The feeling of one’s own superiority is nothing more than pride, and it is one of the most terrible human sins that are described by the Christian religion.
The fixed part of the church calendar is the Julian calendar, which differs by 13 days from the Gregorian calendar. These holidays fall on the same day of the same month every year.
The moving part of the church calendar moves along with the date of Easter, which changes from year to year. The date of Easter celebration itself is determined according to the lunar calendar and a number of additional dogmatic factors (not to celebrate Easter with the Jews, to celebrate Easter only after the spring equinox, to celebrate Easter only after the first spring full moon). All holidays with variable dates are counted from Easter and move in time on the “secular” calendar along with it.
Thus, both parts of the Easter calendar (movable and fixed) together determine the calendar of Orthodox holidays.
The following are the most significant events for an Orthodox Christian - the so-called Twelfth Feasts and Great Holidays. Although the Orthodox Church celebrates holidays according to the “old style”, which differs by 13 days, the dates in the Calendar, for convenience, are indicated according to the generally accepted secular calendar of the new style.
Orthodox calendar for 2017:
Permanent holidays:07.01 - Nativity of Christ (twelfth)
14.01 - Circumcision of the Lord (great)
19.01 - Epiphany of the Lord (twelfth)
15.02 - Presentation of the Lord (twelfth)
07.04 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
21.05 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
22.05 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, wonderworker
07.07 - Nativity of John the Baptist (great)
12.07 - Holy First. apostles Peter and Paul (great)
19.08 - Transfiguration of the Lord (twelfth)
28.08 - Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
11.09 - Beheading of John the Baptist (great)
21.09 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
27.09 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross (twelfth)
09.10 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
14.10 - Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (great)
04.12 - Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
19.12 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, wonderworker
Days of special remembrance of the dead
02/18/2017 - Ecumenical Parents' Saturday (Saturday before the week of the Last Judgment)
03/11/2017 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent
03/18/2017 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent
03/25/2017 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 4th week of Lent
04/25/2017 - Radonitsa (Tuesday of the 2nd week of Easter)
05/09/2017 - Commemoration of deceased soldiers
06/03/2017 - Trinity Parents' Saturday (Saturday before Trinity)
10/28/2017 - Dmitrievskaya Parents' Saturday (Saturday before November 8)
ABOUT ORTHODOX HOLIDAYS:
TWELVETH HOLIDAYS
In worship Orthodox Church twelve great holidays of the annual liturgical circle (except Easter). Divided into The Lord's, dedicated to Jesus Christ, and the Theotokos, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
According to the time of celebration, the twelfth holidays are divided into motionless(non-transient) and movable(transitionable). The former are constantly celebrated on the same dates of the month, the latter fall on different dates every year, depending on the date of celebration Easter.
ABOUT MEAL ON HOLIDAYS:
According to the Church Charter on holidays Nativity of Christ And Epiphanies, happened on Wednesday and Friday, there is no post.
IN Christmas And Epiphany Christmas Eve and on holidays Exaltation of the Holy Cross And Beheading of John the Baptist Food with vegetable oil is allowed.
On the feasts of the Presentation, Transfiguration of the Lord, Dormition, Nativity and Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, John the Theologian, which occurred on Wednesday and Friday, as well as in the period from Easter before Trinity Fish is allowed on Wednesday and Friday.
ABOUT FASTS IN ORTHODOXY:
Fast- a form of religious asceticism, the exercise of spirit, soul and body on the path to salvation within the framework of religious views; voluntary self-restraint in food, entertainment, communication with the world. Corporal fasting- food restriction; sincere post- limitation of external impressions and pleasures (solitude, silence, prayerful concentration); spiritual fast- struggle with one’s “bodily lusts”, a period of especially intense prayer.
The most important thing is to realize that physical fasting without spiritual fasting brings nothing to the salvation of the soul. On the contrary, it can be spiritually harmful if a person, abstaining from food, becomes imbued with the consciousness of his own superiority and righteousness. “He who believes that fasting only means abstaining from food is mistaken. True fasting“, - teaches St. John Chrysostom, “is removal from evil, curbing the tongue, putting aside anger, taming lusts, stopping slander, lies and perjury.” Fast- not a goal, but a means to distract yourself from enjoying your body, concentrate and think about your soul; without all this, it becomes just a diet.
Great Lent, Holy Pentecost(Greek Tessarakoste; Lat. Quadragesima) - the period of the liturgical year preceding Holy Week And Easter holiday, the most important of the multi-day fasts. Easter Due to Lent may fall on different dates of the calendar, also each year starts on different days. It includes 6 weeks, or 40 days, which is why it is also called.
Fast St. Pentecostal for an Orthodox person this is a set of good deeds, sincere prayer, abstinence in everything, including food. Physical fasting is necessary to perform spiritual and mental fasting; all of them in their combination form the post is true, promoting the spiritual reunification of those who fast with God. IN days of fasting(days of fasting) the Church Charter prohibits modest food - meat and dairy products; Fish is allowed only on certain fasting days. IN
days of strict fasting installed as a sign that Christ was betrayed by Judas on Wednesday and crucified on Friday. Saint Athanasius the Great said: “By allowing meat to be eaten on Wednesday and Friday, this man crucifies the Lord.” During the summer and autumn meat-eaters (periods between the Petrov and Uspensky fasts and between the Uspensky and Rozhdestvensky fasts), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. During winter and spring meat-eaters (from Christmas to Lent and from Easter to Trinity), the Charter allows fish on Wednesday and Friday. Fish on Wednesday and Friday is also permitted when the holidays of the Presentation of the Lord, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Entry of the Virgin Mary into the Temple, the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Apostle John the Theologian fall on these days. If the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany fall on Wednesday and Friday, then fasting on these days is canceled. On the evening (eve, Christmas Eve) of the Nativity of Christ (usually a day of strict fasting), which happens on Saturday or Sunday, food with vegetable oil is allowed.
Solid weeks(in Church Slavonic, a week is called a week - days from Monday to Sunday) means the absence of fasting on Wednesday and Friday. Established by the Church as a relaxation before a multi-day fast or as a rest after it. The continuous weeks are as follows:
1. Christmas time - from January 7 to January 18 (11 days), from Christmas to Epiphany.
2. The Publican and the Pharisee - two weeks before Great Lent.
3. Cheese - the week before Lent (eggs, fish and dairy are allowed throughout the week, but without meat).
4. Easter (Light) - week after Easter.
5. Trinity - the week after Trinity (the week before Peter's Fast).
One-day posts except Wednesday and Friday (days of strict fasting, no fish, but food with vegetable oil is allowed):
1. Epiphany Eve (Epiphany Eve) January 18, the day before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day, believers prepare themselves to receive the great shrine - Agiasma - Epiphany Holy Water, for purification and consecration with it at the upcoming holiday.
2. Beheading of John the Baptist - September 11. On this day, a fast was established in memory of the abstinent life of the great prophet John and his lawless murder by Herod.
3. Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 27. This day reminds us of the sad event on Golgotha, when “for our salvation” the Savior of the human race suffered on the Cross. And therefore this day must be spent in prayer, fasting, contrition for sins, in a feeling of repentance.
MULTI-DAY POSTS:
1. Great Lent or Holy Pentecost.
It begins seven weeks before the holiday of Holy Easter and consists of Lent (forty days) and Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). Pentecost was established in honor of the forty-day fast of the Savior Himself, and Holy Week - in remembrance of the last days of earthly life, suffering, death and burial of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The total continuation of Great Lent along with Holy Week is 48 days.
The days from the Nativity of Christ to Lent (until Maslenitsa) are called Christmas or winter meat-eater. This period contains three continuous weeks - Christmastide, Publican and Pharisee, Maslenitsa. After Christmastide, fish is allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays, until the whole week (when you can eat meat on all days of the week), which comes after the “Week of the Publican and the Pharisee” (“week” in Church Slavonic means “Sunday”). In the next week, after the full week, fish is no longer allowed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but vegetable oil is still allowed. Monday - food with butter, Wednesday, Friday - cold food without butter. This establishment has the purpose of gradual preparation for Great Lent. The last time before Lent, meat is allowed on the “Meat Eating Week” - the Sunday before Maslenitsa.
It is customary to observe the first and Holy Weeks of Great Lent with particular strictness. On Monday of the first week of Lent (Clean Monday), the highest degree of fasting is established - complete abstinence from food (pious laymen with ascetic experience abstain from food on Tuesday as well). During the remaining weeks of fasting: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday, Thursday - hot food without oil (vegetables, cereals, mushrooms), on Saturday and Sunday vegetable oil is allowed and, if necessary for health, a little pure grape wine (but in no case vodka). If the memory of a great saint occurs (with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before), then on Tuesday and Thursday - food with vegetable oil, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without oil. You can find out about the holidays in the Typikon or the Followed Psalter. Fish is allowed twice during the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (if the holiday does not fall on Holy Week) and on Palm Sunday, on Lazarus Saturday (the Saturday before Palm Sunday) fish caviar is allowed, on Friday of Holy Week it is customary not to eat any food until it is taken out shrouds (our ancestors did not eat food at all on Good Friday).
Bright Week (the week after Easter) is continuous - fasting is allowed on all days of the week. Starting from the next week after the continuous week until Trinity (spring meat-eater), fish is allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays. The week between Trinity and Peter's Fast is continuous.
2. Petrov or Apostolic Fast.
Lent begins a week after the feast of the Holy Trinity and ends on July 12, the day of the celebration of the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Established in honor of the holy apostles and in remembrance of the fact that the holy apostles, after the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, dispersed to all countries with the good news, always being in the feat of fasting and prayer.
In the period from the end of Peter's fast to the beginning of the Assumption fast (summer meat-eater), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. But if these days fall on the feasts of a great saint with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before, then food with vegetable oil is allowed. If temple holidays occur on Wednesday and Friday, then fish is also allowed.
3. Assumption Fast (from August 14 to August 27).
Erected in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mother of God herself, preparing to depart into eternal life, constantly fasted and prayed. We, the spiritually infirm and weak, should all the more resort to fasting as often as possible, turning to the Most Holy Virgin for help in every need and sorrow.
This fast lasts only two weeks, but its severity is consistent with the Great One.
Fish is allowed only on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), and if the end of the fast (Assumption) falls on Wednesday or Friday, then this day is also a fish day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday and Thursday - hot food without oil, Saturday and Sunday - food with vegetable oil. Wine is prohibited on all days. If the memory of a great saint happens, then on Tuesday and Thursday - hot food with butter, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without butter.
This fast was established on the day of the Nativity of Christ, so that we could cleanse ourselves at this time with repentance, prayer and fasting and with a pure heart we would meet the Savior who appeared in the world. Sometimes this fast is called Philippov, as a sign that it begins after the day of celebration of the memory of the Apostle Philip (November 27). The regulations on food during this Lent coincide with the regulations of Peter's Fast until St. Nicholas Day (December 19). If the feasts of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 4) and St. Nicholas fall on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, then fish is allowed. From the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas until the pre-festival of Christmas, which begins on January 2, fish is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On the pre-celebration of the Nativity of Christ, fasting is observed in the same way as during the days of Great Lent: fish is prohibited on all days, food with butter is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve), January 6, pious custom requires not to eat food until the appearance of the first evening star, after which it is customary to eat kolivo or sochivo - wheat grains boiled in honey or boiled rice with raisins; in some areas sochivo is called boiled dry fruits with sugar. The name of this day comes from the word “sochivo” - Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is also before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day (January 18), it is also customary not to eat food until taking Agiasma - Epiphany holy water, which begins to be blessed on the very day of Christmas Eve.