Fasting Guidelines for the Roman Ortohodox Church

Following are the fasting guidelines of the Roman Orthodox Church.
(Remember that for an Orthodox Christian, fasting without the spiritual component
 is merely going on a diet.)


Required Fast
ASH WEDNESDAY - moveable fast day - 46 days before Easter.

GOOD FRIDAY - moveable fast day - 2 days before Easter.

HOLY SATURDAY - moveable fast day (until noon) - 1 day before Easter.

FASTING GUIDELINES -
     Fasting (meaning, at the least, eat only one full meal daily and abstain from red meat) is strictly required by the Roman Orthodox Church on Ash Wednesday (the first Wednesday in Lent), Good Friday, and before noon on Holy Saturday, the three strictest fast days of the year. To willfully disregard these three strict fast days is seriously sinful; to willfully fail to observe all other fasts is a lesser abuse. The other fasts vary in the degree to which they are recommended or permitted to the faithful.

Fasting is most highly recommended on Ember Wednesday and Ember Friday of these four weeks:
    1. Week following Ash Wednesday and the 1st Sunday in Lent - Lent Ember Days.
    2. Week following Pentecost Sunday - Pentecost Ember Days.
    3. Week following Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 27th NS / 14th OS) - Holy Cross Ember       Days.
    4. Week following the 3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) - Advent Ember Days.

     Fasting is highly recommended on the Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent; and is recommended as a salutary practice on the Wednesdays and Fridays during Advent.

Fasting is permitted on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the year, as counseled in The Didache (except during the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and during Eastertide).

     We may choose to fast on Wednesdays in memory of the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ and/or on Fridays in memory of His suffering and death.

     Observation of various special fast days throughout the year is permitted.

     Never fast nor abstain on any Sunday - Lord's Day, nor on any Saturday - Sabbath (except on Holy Saturday before noon), nor during the "Twelve Days of Christmas," nor during Eastertide, nor on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday of Whitsuntide. 

     Regarding the Communion fast, one may as a matter of personal piety, before receiving Holy Communion, fast from the midnight before receiving, or even longer. However, anciently, the Eucharist followed immediately upon the Agape meal. Therefore, fasting before Communion, while a salutary practice and while very widely considered as necessary in this age, actually is not an apostolic practice. Thus, the observance of a Communion fast, while it is a highly commendable pious practice, is not actually binding on the faithful.

     If keeping a Communion fast would result in weakness, faintness, or otherwise cause the clergy and/or religious to poorly perform the sacred rites and mysteries, they would be ill-advised to keep such a fast. Do not let a good thing become an offense out of an exaggerated piety.

     Medicines and water never break a fast; they are always allowed. The aged, infirm, children, nursing mothers, and anyone whose health could be endangered, are excused from food and drink fasting rules. Those who are excused should all the more observe the spiritual fast from iniquities, giving themselves to prayer and meditation.

     Remember, fasting is not only abstaining from food, but even more importantly, it is also abstaining from iniquities - staying as holy and pure as possible, turning one's mind and soul continuously toward our merciful God, in prayer and in meditation. No one should ever dismiss fasting as an out-dated or needless discipline. Again and again, the Fathers of the Church exhort us to prayer and fasting in order to approach ever closer to God.