Fasting is more than just a diet or a list of allowed and forbidden foods, so many people wonder where the rule of not eating meat while fasting comes from and what it means.
Fasting means more than dietary restrictions PHOTO: Freepick
Orthodox fasting has a centuries-old tradition and is built on a combination of dietary rules, spiritual exercise and religious symbols. Giving up meat is just one of the ways in which believers try to temper their desires and focus their attention on the spiritual life. Fasting days are moments of reflection, discipline and closeness to God, and the fast that precedes the great holidays has the role of preparing us for the great event marked at the end of the period: the Nativity of the Lord, the Resurrection of the Lord, etc.
Why we don't eat meat during the Orthodox fast
The fast before the Resurrection of the Lord is the longest Orthodox fast and is also considered the most severe of the year. It is known as Great Lent, Lent or Forty.
According to basilica.ro, in the first three centuries, the duration and type of fasting were not uniform everywhere. They fasted either a day or two before Easter, or three days, or a week, and the most zealous fasted even up to six weeks before the Lord's Resurrection. “The last of the seven weeks of full fasting, the Holy Passion Week, was not included in the Lent, but was considered separate. It was only in the 4th century, after the standardization of the date of Easter, decided at the First Ecumenical Council, that the Church of the East definitively adopted the old practice, of Antiochian origin, of the seven-week fast, the duration of which it still has today”the cited source shows.
The period of fasting has two clear boundaries: it is left dry in the evening of the Sunday of Adam's expulsion from Heaven (also called the Sunday of the Cheese Left Dry or Forgiveness Sunday) and it is fasted until the evening of Saturday of the week of the Passion, inclusive.
“The 40-day duration of Lent Easter is based on an Old Testament tradition, referring to the number forty when it comes to the research and preparation of the soul through divine measures: The flood lasted 40 days, the Jews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses stayed on the mountain for 40 days to receive the Law, etc., basilica.ro also shows.
Fasting is, therefore, an exercise in spiritual discipline, and giving up meat and animal products is part of this process, also representing a control of bodily desires.
Why not eat meat? Because there is a symbolic return to the state of Heaven, and according to some theologians, before the fall from Heaven, people had a plant-based diet.
“Plant food during fasting has deep meaning and rich benefit. Vegetable foods put the body in a certain disposition for prayer and watchfulness, while animal products, which are related to blood and fat, soften the body or arouse in it selfish passions. In addition, plant products gathered more light through photosynthesis. In this sense, when we eat vegetables we feed on sunlight assimilated in plants. And this light from the plants becomes a symbol of the grace light from the Scriptures and prayers, the light of fasting”it is stated in another article published by the news agency of the Romanian Patriarchate (basilica.ro).
Lent also has a social dimension, the Christian tradition encouraging the faithful to be more attentive to those in need during this period, and the savings made through the simpler diet can be transformed into acts of charity.
What are the seven steps of fasting
The degrees of the Orthodox fast refer to the intensity levels of the fast, these indicating the severity of dietary restrictions.
Detachment from dairy and eggs it represents the most permissive form of fasting, encountered in certain periods or special contexts.
This form of fasting is followed, in degree of permissiveness, by release to fish, allowed by the Orthodox Church during Lent, on important holidays (such as Palm Sunday, for example). On fish-free days, the consumption of fish is allowed.
The fast with oil and wine it is a lighter form of fasting, allowing vegetable dishes prepared with oil and sometimes wine.
Fasting without oil involves eating vegetable dishes cooked without oil.
Dry fastingeven more severe than fasting without oil, involves the consumption of very simple foods, usually eaten raw: fruits, vegetables, seeds.
The eve it is the form of fasting in which only one meal is allowed, in the evening.
The black post it is the highest step, assuming total fasting, i.e. the consumption of any food or any drink is prohibited, characterizing the days of great religious significance.
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The rules of the fast are adapted to the faithful according to their age, state of health and/or the priest's recommendation.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Bălan, a well-known clergyman of Romanian Orthodoxy and a great monk-scholar who spent most of his life as a monk at Sihăstria Neamț Monastery, explained in “Spiritual Conversations”, according to doxologia.ro, the positioning of believers on the seven steps of fasting as follows:
A. Carnivores, those who always eat meat. They are in the lowest step of fasting, even if they sometimes refrain from eating. They can never increase in prayer
B. Lacto-vegetarians, who never eat meat, but only milk, cheese, eggs and all kinds of boiled vegetables. They are in the second step of the post, which is usually held by monks from monasteries with communal life and very rarely by lay people.
C. Vegetarians, who only eat vegetables and cooked or uncooked (raw) vegetables. This order forms the third step of the fast and is held by the most devout monks in the public life. From here onwards, the harshest steps of fasting begin, which are usually walked by hermit monks and the most needy hermits.
D. Fruit trees, who eats bread and uncooked fruit once a day, without ever tasting other food. Whoever has reached this level of fasting, he can easily control his body and thoughts and can quickly increase on the path of prayer.
E. Cerealists forms the fifth step of the post. Monks reach this stage, especially hermits and hermits, who eat only black cereal bread and soaked grains of wheat, corn, millet, lentils, beans, peas, etc. once a day.
F. Dry food it is the sixth step of the monastic post, to which the most ardent hermits usually reach. Those who spend time in this severe need eat only breadcrumbs soaked in water, with salt or a little vinegar, once a day and in moderation. This is how the hermits of the Nile valley had to do.
G. Food or divine mannais the last and highest step of the monastic post, which very few of the ascetics reach, after a long effort, being strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit. They content themselves only with the Most Pure Mysteries, that is, with the Body and Blood of Christ, which they receive once or twice a week, without tasting anything but water.
Fasting in other religions
Fasting is not an exclusively Christian practice, many other religions impose a period of food abstinence or restrictions in the consumption of certain products.
Fasting in Islam. In Islam, fasting is practiced during the month of Ramadan. During this period, believers do not eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset, the role of fasting is to cultivate discipline, solidarity and closeness to God.
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“This thirty-day fast is obligatory for all Muslims, men and women who have passed the age of puberty and are mentally sound so that they can undertake it consciously. Throughout the day, the fasting Muslim is not allowed to consume any food or drink, including water. Also, they must not smoke, use perfumes or have sexual relations. In addition to observing these prohibitions, the Muslim believer tries to talk less, not to gossip, not to slander or offend, not to lie, and to banish envy and greed from his heart; instead, during the entire period of fasting, he seeks to live in a state of peace and tranquility of soul, meditating on the depth of the teachings of Islam, showing himself kind, friendly and merciful towards his fellow men”shows ziarullumina.ro.
Fasting in Judaism. In Judaism there are several fast days, the most important being Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On this day, believers fast completely for about 25 hours. There are other fast days of shorter duration, such as Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Fasting in Hinduism. In Hinduism, a very complex and diverse religious structure, practices are numerous, varying according to the Hindu's beliefs and local customs. One fasts on certain days of the month – followers of the god Vishnu fast every 11th day, for example, to propitiate the god and purify their mind – or one fasts on the day of the week dedicated to the god they believe in. Various types of abstinence are also practiced around pilgrimages. Another fasting day is Purnima, the full moon day of the Hindu calendar month, dedicated to the Great Goddess. There are also annual fast days, marking the days of the divinities.
A special form of fasting, found in Hinduism, is the fasting kept by wife for husband, mother for son, sister for brother.
Fasting in Buddhism. In Buddhism, fasting is associated with spiritual discipline and meditation. Although not obligatory, it is a method of discipline and a means of attaining detachment from worldly desires.
