www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Byzantine Lent

When does Lent start on the Byzantine Calendar? Further complicating the matter, what about the Julian calendar?

What devotions are performed during Lent?

Who really does the full fast- nothing with a backbone, no alcohol, no oil, no dairy, no sex, what else? Is it just the monks, the last one should be easy enough, or is every one expected to abstain from the list?

Dr Eric,

For the Orthodox who celebrate Pascha on April 23rd this year, our fast begins in two weeks on March 5th. I am assuming for the those that celebrate using the Gregorian calendar, they will begin on February 27th.

As far as fasting requirements, the optimum is the list you provided. Each follows the direction of their spiritual father and the requirements of his/her health in how to observe the fasting requirements.

As far as special devotions, The Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is read, Liturgy of the PreSanctified Gifts, The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, The Akathist Hymn, and the memorials of Soul Saurdays. I may have missed a few, but I am sure someone will add to the list.

I hope this helps.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Dr. Eric,

In case you were wondering, The Akathist Hymn which Father Anthony mentioned, is a most beautiful, poetic, hymn of praise and thanksgiving which was written for our blessed Mother of God in Constantinople before the fall to the Ottomans.

As for the last fasting requirement you inquired about, it is commonly assumed in the more traditional Orthodox circles, that such abstinence should be observed on all Fast days.

In Christ,
Alice

See and pray the beautiful Akathist Hymn yourself at: www.cin.org/akathis.html [cin.org]

Father Anthony and Alice,

Thanks for the information. I don't have a spiritual director per say. I don't know how much to take on at this time.

In the Western Church, much to our detriment I'm afraid, the fast days are pretty much all dried up and gone. Except Ash Wednesday and Good Friday which are the only fast days (no warm blooded meat, 1 full meal and 2 half meals only.) The only general guideline is that there is no warm blooded meat on Fridays of Lent. Fridays of the rest of the year are optional fast days; meat or no meat, fast or no fast, good work or no good work. It seems up to the individual, who in most cases has no spiritual director to guide him anyway! :rolleyes:

Dr. Eric

Dr Eric,

In most cases in the east, the parish priest is the spiritual father of the parish.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Eric a number of RC Hierarchs invite the faithful to do Lent together with them and abstain from meat on the Fridays in Lent and to attend Stations of the Cross in their parishes. Also to make the period different and give it a penitential aspect. It is interesting that a number of RCs are re-discovering the spirituality of fasting.

ICXC
NIKA

By the way, thanks for the link to the Akathist to Our Lady, Alice!!!

Dear Dr. Eric,

I once told my religion students about the Eastern tradition of abstaining even from sex during the Great Fast (or your "Lent" ).

One student asked me why this was so . . .

All I could say at the time was, "When the Church forbids meat, it forbids meat of ANY kind!"

Over to you, Dr Eric.

Alex

As I said before to some of my patients as we discussed fasting (60% of the County is Catholic, 30% Missouri Synod Lutheran [the Catholic kind] and probably the rest have been one or the other at one point in time) I bet that there are many Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Babies born at Christmastime!!!

What do you guys eat? PB&J? Lobster Thermadore? Crawfish etouffee (that one I could do!)? toufu and bean sprouts (Californians!) I know that there are recipes in another thread. But what do you usually eat? I remember that I was one of the few kids in school who kept the Catholic fast, during Lent it was PB&J on fridays.

Dr Eric,

There is a thread in Town Hall dealing with Lenten Recipes, and another thread in this section that deals with the norms of fasting, "Good bye to Meat"

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Do you (plural) fast from other things too or just food items. Ie. no TV, no candy, no smoking, or something like that? Honestly, I would say the best "fast" one could do is to give up his particular "sin" that he is fond of. We in the West always "give up" something for Lent. I think that Bart Simpson would take up smoking and give it up for Lent, to bne d the rules. I know of some who have done a similar thing.

On the OCA site it mentioned fish with backbones; sharks do not have backbones, in fact they have no bones at all! Can I eat shark if I follow the Eastern Fast?

Hehe, the question is would the shark be prepared in such a manner that made it gourmet per se

Let me begin by explaining that I am a Roman Catholic who is unfamiliar with most of the Byzantine Tradition, but I did find this on
http://www.byzantines.net/feasts/lent/greatfast.htm:

"Spiritual or Internal Fast, which is the abstinence from all evil�especially from serious sin�is the most essential part of fast. St. John Chrysostom taught that the 'value of fasting consists not so much in abstinence from food but rather in withdrawal from sinful practices.' (cf. Horn. on Statutes III, 11) St. Basil the Great explains: 'Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, supressing evil desires, and avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things�herein lies the true value of fast!' (cf. Horn. on Fast II, 7). This is in harmony with the Prophet�s cry: 'Return from your evil ways and reform your bad deeds!' (Jer. 18, 11) Hence St. John Chrysostom decries the folly of those Christians who 'abstain all day long from food but fail to abstain from sin.' (cf. Horn. on Gen. VI, 6)."

Abstaining from alcohol, meat, etc. is easy compared to abstaining from sin. I assume this is why prayer is such an important part of fasting.

JP

Dear John,
I agree with what you posted somewhere in the book of the Prophet Isaiah the Lord mentions the same sentiments, thanks for your post!!!


Pyrohy,

The shark is prepared by marinating it in equal parts of oil (I use olive, so for the Fast it would have to be sesame) and vinegar (especially rice wine vinegar to give it an asian touch with the sesame oil) with garlic and ginger. Marinate it long enough to get rid of the fishiness and then grill it. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! It is yummy!!!!
And I hate fish!!! (See earlier posts )

Pavel - this year we are doing a "two lungs" approach on Fridays of Great Lent - we will have Small Compline w/the Akathist and then the RC parish will have Stations next door afterwards with a small break in between.

I do enjoy Stations greatly in the Latin tradition, as it is a real devotional gem (but not in ours as we have too many neglected traditional gems for Lent, whether Great Compline, Presanctified, or Small Compline w/Akathist, etc.). This kind of approach seems a good way to share the riches.
FDD