Fasting in Orthodox Christianity

Fasting in Orthodoxy is a spiritual discipline encompassing body, mind, and soul – not merely a dietary restriction. It is always practiced in conjunction with intensified prayer, repentance, and almsgiving. The ascetic tradition understands fasting as a training of the will, a cultivation of dependence on God, and a participation in the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (with notes on Russian Orthodox and ROCOR practice)

The Philosophy of Fasting

Fasting as Spiritual Warfare

The Orthodox understanding of fasting is rooted in the ascetic tradition of the Church Fathers. Fasting is not primarily about food – it is about the reordering of the human person’s relationship to the material world, to the passions, and to God.

St. John Chrysostom writes: “Fasting is a medicine… But medicine, however profitable, becomes useless if the one who takes it does not know the proper way to use it” (Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues, Homily III). The “proper way” is to fast not merely from food but from sin: from anger, gossip, judgment, lust, and every passion.

The purpose of bodily fasting is:

Training the will: Learning to say “no” to the body’s desires is the first step in learning to say “no” to disordered passions of every kind.
Cultivating dependence on God: By experiencing hunger and limitation, the Christian is reminded that “man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4).
Solidarity with the poor: Fasting creates an experiential link with those who go hungry not by choice but by necessity. The money saved by fasting should be given to the poor (Schmemann, Great Lent, ch. 2).
Preparation for Communion: Fasting prepares both body and soul for the reception of the Holy Mysteries.

Fasting and Prayer

Fasting without prayer is mere dieting. The two are inseparable in Orthodox practice. Christ Himself said that certain demons can only be cast out “by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 / Mark 9:29, the reading used in the Orthodox lectionary). The intensification of fasting during Great Lent, for example, is accompanied by a corresponding intensification of the prayer cycle: additional prostrations, the Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian, longer services, and more frequent reading of the Psalter.

Fasting and Almsgiving

St. Leo the Great’s principle, universally cited in Orthodox literature: “What we deny ourselves by fasting, let us give to the poor.” The three Lenten disciplines – fasting, prayer, and almsgiving – form an inseparable triad. Without charity, fasting is self-serving. Without prayer, it is mere asceticism. Without fasting, prayer and charity lack the embodied dimension that characterizes Orthodox spirituality.

The Danger of Prideful Fasting

The Lenten Triodion begins its cycle on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee – not by accident. The very first text of the pre-Lenten period warns against the Pharisaic attitude toward fasting: “Let us not pray like the Pharisee, O brethren, for he who exalteth himself shall be humbled. Let us humble ourselves before God, crying out like the publican at the time of the fast: God, be merciful to us sinners” (Lenten Triodion, trans. Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware, p. 97).

The week following the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee is fast-free – no fasting at all, even on Wednesday and Friday. This is a deliberate liturgical corrective: the Church forces the faithful to not fast as their first act of Lenten preparation, lest they begin the fast in a spirit of self-righteousness.

St. John Cassian warns that the demon of vainglory attacks those who fast rigorously, tempting them to judge those who fast less strictly (Cassian, Conferences, V.11-12). The proper attitude is to fast quietly, following one’s spiritual father’s guidance, without comparing oneself to others.

Pastoral Economy (Oikonomia)

The fasting rules of the Typikon represent the monastic ideal. They were developed in the context of healthy adult monastics living in a Mediterranean climate. The Church has always recognized that these rules must be applied with economy (oikonomia) – pastoral flexibility – to individual circumstances:

The sick are generally dispensed from strict fasting.
Pregnant and nursing women may need to modify their fast for the health of mother and child.
Children are gradually introduced to fasting according to their age and ability.
The elderly and infirm may be given lighter fasting rules.
Travelers in the ancient canons were given dispensation.
Those with eating disorders require particular pastoral sensitivity; fasting rules can be spiritually harmful for those struggling with anorexia or other disorders.

The spiritual father (dukhovnik) is the proper authority for setting individual fasting rules. It is considered improper to unilaterally decide to fast either more strictly or more leniently than one’s spiritual father has prescribed.

The General Fasting Rule

The baseline Orthodox fast involves abstinence from:

Meat (all animal flesh, including poultry)
Dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, eggs)
Fish (meaning fish with backbones; shellfish is treated differently – see Fasting Rules)
Wine (and by extension, alcohol generally)
Olive oil (and by extension, all vegetable oils in strict practice)

On the strictest fast days (the first week of Great Lent, Holy Week, and certain other days), the rule is xerophagy (sukhoyadenya): dry eating – raw fruits and vegetables, bread, water, nuts – with no cooked food at all.

Various levels of relaxation are applied depending on the day, the period, and the feast. For a detailed breakdown, see Fasting Rules.

The Fasting Periods

The Orthodox calendar includes four major fasting periods, weekly fast days (Wednesday and Friday), and several single-day fasts. For complete details, see:

Great Lent – The 40 days and Holy Week before Pascha
Fasting Periods – All four major fasts, weekly fasts, single-day fasts, and fast-free periods
Fasting Rules – Practical rules by strictness level

Fasting in ROCOR

ROCOR has generally maintained a stricter adherence to the Typikon fasting rules than some other Orthodox jurisdictions. In many ROCOR parishes:

The full Typikon fasting calendar is taught and expected as the norm (with economy applied individually by the spiritual father).
Pre-Communion fasting (typically three days of strict fasting before receiving Communion) is standard, in addition to the regular fasting periods.
There is less tendency to issue blanket dispensations or to reduce the fasting rules as a general parish policy.

This is not a matter of superiority or rigorism but reflects ROCOR’s self-understanding as a custodian of the received Russian Orthodox tradition during the period of persecution in Russia. As the Church in Russia has been renewed since 1991, fasting practices have also been revived there, though with considerable variation (Schmemann, Great Lent, passim; various ROCOR pastoral letters).

References

Schmemann, Alexander. Great Lent: Journey to Pascha. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1969.
The Lenten Triodion. Trans. Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware. London: Faber and Faber, 1978; South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press.
Chrysostom, John. Homilies on the Statues. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 9.
Cassian, John. Conferences. Trans. Boniface Ramsey. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1997.
Typikon (Ustav), chapters on fasting rules.
Bulgakov, Sergei V. Handbook for Church Servers (Nastolnaya Kniga). 2nd ed., 1900.