www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Upcoming Fast

Hello,

I went to my first Divine Liturgy at a Byzantine (Ruthenian) church this past Sunday and I enjoyed it. It was certainly a change from the Mass I'm used to as a lifelong Roman Catholic.

The priest mentioned something at the end about a two week fast that begins this week, but I can't remember what it was called.

I am curious what feast the fast is for? I know there are different feast days in the East that I'm unfamiliar with.

Thank you!

Roamin'

Christ is in our midst!!

Welcome to the forum.

The Feast is that of the Dormition of the Mother of God--in the West it's referred to as the Assumption. It's one of four fasting periods in the Byzantine tradition. Some of our brethren will fill you in and there are other threads dealing with this as the Fast begins.

Bob
Moderator

Ah, that makes sense, thank you.

Roamin'

There are four fasting periods in the Byzantine liturgical cycle. One fasts during Philip's Fast--the six weeks prior to Nativity; Great Lent; the Apostles' Fast prior to the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul; and the Dormition Fast. Then there are the weekly Wednesday and Friday Fasts.

Bob

Your moniker is quite clever and cute!

So are you 'roaming' as well as 'Roman'?

Alice:

Yup, you got it. Just roaming to learn more about the fullness of our faith. I've only just started to look into the Eastern Church this past month and realize learning what it entails will take a long time. I look forward to learning more.

Because the Dormition of the Theotokos falls on a Thursday this year the number of fasting days is actually longer than two weeks.

Tomorrow is the ususal Wednesday Fast. Thursday begins the Dormition Fast...and on the tail end, a usual Friday Fast. Seventeen straight days.

Actually, we don't fast on the Feast day itself, Aug 15th.

Also, fish, wine, and oil is permitted on the 6th for the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Also wine and oil on Saturdays and Sundays (August 3-4 & 10-11)

Without intending to scandalize, I have to say that almost no one I know abides by the 'oil' rules for fasts in my tradition, other than monastics.

Besides fasting, in the Greek tradition, there are daily (in Greece)or three to four times a week Paraclisis (supplication) services to the Panaghia (All Holy One, as she is affectionately called by Greeks).

Indeed, as Jaya said, the 15th is not a fasting day, but a feast.

In Greece, after morning service and the bells tolling, it is a huge holiday..

Iper Agia Theotokos soson imas!
Most holy Theotokos intercede for us!

I've been reading about the fast now that I know what it's called. Wow! That's a serious discipline, at least from my perspective where almost everything I eat has cheese or butter, meat or olive oil in it. And here I've struggled just to keep the Latin "no meat on Fridays during Lent" discipline.

God bless

But Alice, as we all well know - fasting is under the guidance of our Spiritual Father .

Some are just more observant than others.

Roamin':

There's another aspect of fasting that we in the West often are unaware of because we get lost in rules. Fasting is a tool to strengthen the spiritual man, much like exercising strengthens the physical man. The goal of fasting is to deny the body's impulses and develop the type of discipline needed when major temptations come along or when we are asked to compromise our Faith in concrete situations. We keep the stomach's appetites in check and later hope to keep other appetites in check. And the ultimate goal is to become Christ-like in all that we do or say or think.

Bob

So true!

That is why if Roamin' decides to fast, he should either speak to a spiritual father, or if he chooses to try it on his own, do what that SF would probably tell him to do, which is to take it one step at a time.

It seems like just cutting meat out of the diet, while easy for someone like me, (who has gotten so used to it that I don't even eat much when not fasting) will be a HUGE step for Roamin'!

Controlling what enters the body is the easier discipline.

Controlling what comes forth from the body--our malicious thoughts, our ill chosen words, our sins of ommission and comission--is the harder discipline.

We fast the better to attempt to control that which is harder to control.