During the sad days of Lent: what you can and cannot eat. Everything you've always wanted to know about fast food

Today restaurants provide special Lenten menu for those who fast. However, how appropriate would such food be during Lent?

Indeed, in reality, the entire contents of such a menu are nothing more than quick food, albeit without the content of animal products. But where and why did this label come from?

Fast food is products of animal origin, such as meat, milk, cheese, eggs, for example - everything that is not allowed to be eaten during fasting. Fish and seafood are not included in the list of fast foods, but when the time of Lent begins, for example, these foods are not allowed.

However, all restrictions depend on what type of fast is currently being observed. So, on the eve of Christmas and in the first week after Trinity, it is forbidden to eat fish and vegetable oils on Wednesdays and Fridays, because this food is also considered modest. After the beginning of Lent, the consumption of fish and seafood is strictly prohibited, except for a few non-strict days.

Today, you can easily find a replacement for almost any animal product. However, the point of abstinence is not to avoid eating fast foods, but to grow spiritually and improve.

How to eat fast food?

Returning to the question of “meat” food prepared from products plant origin, as well as about the so-called Lenten sweets, you need to find out whether it is possible to eat such dishes during Lent and when exactly? By and large, such food cannot be allowed during fasting.

Fasting is a period during which it is necessary not only to forbid oneself from eating savory food, but also to renounce all kinds of temptations. By the way, food that tastes similar to meat, although its content is not such, is also prohibited during abstinence. So, if you have decided to refuse fast food based on religious views, it means that such food will be taboo for you.

In addition, the church says that in some cases, modest food can be consumed even during abstinence. Such eating is permitted for children under 14 years of age, pregnant women, people with serious illnesses, and the elderly. They can fish throughout the year.

About Lent and fast food

When refusing fast food, remember that you will not be able to eat dishes that contain animal products. So, if bread dough is made with the addition of milk and eggs, then you will not be able to eat such bread for the entire 40 days that precede Easter.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you are allowed to eat vegetables, fruits, lean bread and compote. On Tuesdays and Thursdays you can eat hot food without adding oil. In addition, while waiting for Easter, you will have Saturdays, Sundays, and also church holidays– days when you will be allowed to drink vegetable oil. But you have to give up any bad habits like smoking; such actions are considered modest.

A few words about lean nutrition

Despite the ban on eating food of animal origin, during Lent you are allowed to eat all kinds of hearty dishes prepared from various cereals, vegetables and fruits. As a first step, you can prepare cabbage soup from sauerkraut or nettles, as well as borscht or vegetable soup. After serving the liquid, you can eat squash caviar or stewed beans.

By the way, the range of dishes that are allowed during Lent is very extensive. You can cook dumplings, pilaf with mushrooms, and all kinds of porridges. While you are waiting for Easter, you are allowed to eat baked goods, but only after you make sure that the dough was prepared without adding eggs or milk.

In addition, such dishes have low calorie content, are healthy and very nutritious. Such food contains a lot of vitamins and antioxidants, micro- and macroelements - everything that our body needs for normal functioning.

It should be noted that in the first week of Lent, as well as in the last, when abstinence is the strictest, you will have to limit yourself as much as possible from all kinds of temptations. But in Maundy Thursday It is customary to completely abstain from food. On the first Friday after fasting begins, you can only eat boiled wheat with honey.

Well, when you finally wait for Easter, complete culinary freedom will be available to you. All Christians have tables filled with wonderful Easter cakes, colored eggs, honey gingerbread and various pastries.

A small disclaimer

By choosing plant-based foods, you lower cholesterol in your body, stimulate the elimination of toxins and improve intestinal health. That's why healthy person Fasting will improve your general condition.

But for those who suffer from diseases gastrointestinal tract, diabetes mellitus or is recovering from a serious illness, it is better to abandon the religious diet or, at a minimum, consult a doctor.

What product is alcohol considered?

Can alcohol be considered a lean product? Let's try to figure it out. It so happened historically that a real drinking culture was formed in Rus'. Therefore, most lovers, in order to wet their throats, are looking for all sorts of tricks to drink wine on a holiday or on Sundays.

But in fact, for every Russian person, giving up alcohol will be a more serious sacrifice than giving up eating fish. It is for this reason that wine and other alcohol cannot be called a lean product; all of this is fast food.

So, taking into account the national love for alcohol, wine will have to be abandoned during Lent.

“Hunger is the best seasoning for food,” says Ms. Lyakhovskaya, author of the “Encyclopedia of Orthodox Ritual Cuisine.” But, despite the obvious benefits of fasting, forty-nine days of fasting from Maslenitsa to Easter many are horrified. And no wonder. Imagine, in the morning, instead of the usual breakfast, a prison awaits you - cold salted water with pieces of black bread and onions. Then you rush to work, where during your lunch break you take a raw radish, two carrots and a thermos of pea jelly out of a bag. And in the evening, “pie with nothing” and potatoes with vinegar await you.

The delicious Lenten food that has cheered up baptized people for centuries is difficult to prepare today. Well, how can you cook malt or vole, kulaga and oatmeal without a Russian oven with its fabulous capabilities, which cannot be reproduced by microwave monsters? Where can I get the stove on which the malt was brought to perfection? Or where, tell me, can I get a beater - this irreplaceable great-grandmother of the mixer? Finally, where do we get rye malt, buckwheat flour, and real oatmeal from on our farm? And yet, the rarity of “lenten” products and the lack of ancient utensils are not a reason to refuse fasting.

Lent will put its tail between its legs

Only the uninitiated believe Lent gastronomic punishment. In fact, the Lenten table is much more appetizing than it seems. AND Orthodox posts no worse than numerous fashionable diets. Finally, “it is not food that is evil, but gluttony,” stated St. Maximus the Confessor. Modern nutritionists unanimously join him, like a church choir to a deep-voiced deacon: many health-improving techniques are built on centuries-old church experience.

Of the four multi-day fasts, the Great Fast is the main and most strict. It lasts seven weeks.

At the dawn of Orthodoxy, fasting was harsh, especially for clergy: they ate nothing until three o’clock in the afternoon, and then satisfied their hunger with bread and vegetables. But over many centuries, monks invented a lot of ways to brighten up the meager and monotonous Lenten food. For this, various seasonings were used - gravies and infusions. Many mushroom dishes were skillfully prepared and stored in abundance in the monastery pantries. One of the traditional monastic dishes was beans cooked in different ways. And it’s impossible to count how many delicious dishes were prepared from potatoes! No wonder the monasteries are still famous for their wonderful culinary art.

The church charter allows:

• At a party, when refusal may embarrass or embarrass the hosts, breaking the fast is permitted. By refusing, you can unwittingly point out to the owners their “earthly filth” against the background of your own “holiness”.
• When receiving guests, it is better to offer them both lenten and fast dishes in order to avoid unnecessary demonstration of one’s beliefs. After all, for some people they are different. Observance of fasting implies, first of all, humility and meekness of mind.
• People engaged in heavy physical labor should abstain only from meat. To prevent fasting from leading to a sharp loss of strength, on some days, with the permission of the priest, it is allowed to eat vegetable oil, fish or dairy products.
• The same applies to pregnant women and patients, depending on the diagnosis and personal needs. These believers can even eat chicken; only red meat is strictly prohibited.
• Children over 3 years old can abstain from meat and dairy products on Wednesdays and Fridays without harm to their health. From 7 years old - limit sweets, give up red meat for the entire period of fasting, and consume fish and milk on weekends or on all days except Wednesday and Friday.
• Travelers were allowed not to fast, since previously any road was difficult. Today it is not difficult to choose a Lenten menu for the road, but an exception for travelers remains.
• Any person has the right to break the fast in cramped conditions when there is no choice in food (army, hospital, etc.). Under normal conditions, the lean food remaining at the beginning of fasting should be disposed of.

Dictionary

Maltweed or vole– liquid stew made from fermented rye dough, seasoned with onions, dried mushrooms, dried fish and smelts.

Oatmeal– flour from oat grains, which are pre-steamed, dried, fried and peeled. Previously, fish and cockerels were made from oatmeal.

Pripechek- a stove bench. Pieces of ice or snow were thrown into a pot of malt placed on the stove so that it would not overheat, then it was sent to a heated oven to boil, then to a warm oven to infuse, acquiring a bready sweet and sour taste, a honey aroma and a pink color.

Kolotovka– a wooden whisk, a whorl for churning cow butter. It is cut from a young, carefully planed pine tree, leaving fan-shaped thin knots 3–4 cm long.

Discussion

Comment on the article “During the sad days of Lent: what you can and cannot eat”

During the sad days of Lent: what you can and cannot eat. When receiving guests, it is better to offer them both lenten and fast dishes in order to avoid unnecessary demonstration of one’s beliefs.

During the sad days of Lent: what you can and cannot eat. Previously, they commemorated the dead during Lent (special Parents' Saturdays), and then after Easter - on Radonitsa (Tuesday of the second week after Easter).

Not being a classical believer, before fasting I go to church and go through all the necessary procedures - confession, communion, blessing. I honestly tell my father what in relation to Christianity During the sad days of Great Lent: what you can eat and what you cannot eat.

Lenten dishes. I’ve been fasting for several years, the couple forgot how many years it’s been.... It’s hard, but I eat squid, shrimp, and sea creatures on Sunday. Lenten recipes for a multicooker. What to cook for dinner quickly and tasty. Vegetarian Recipes: What can you eat during Lent?

Why can’t you have herring under a fur coat? Eating fish on Saturdays and Sundays in Figuring out what to eat during Advent and on Christmas Day, what to cook for New Year, the book “Christmas dishes of Orthodox cuisine” will help. During the sad days of Lent.

She will eat whatever she wants, this must be taken for granted. 29.11.2007 17:18:55, Darissima. Yes, the topic of spanking is a burning one. During the sad days of Lent. Discussion. This is what the priest says about fasting: “First of all, you cannot eat people during fasting.

Lenten dishes. Ideas, advice. Cooking. Please give me ideas for Lenten dishes, otherwise I don’t know what to cook anymore. I’ve been fasting for several years, the couple forgot how many years it’s been.... It’s hard, but I eat squid, shrimp, and sea creatures on Sunday.

KBJU during Lent?. Need some advice. Weight loss and diets. How to get rid of excess weight, lose weight after childbirth, choose Girls, is anyone fasting? Is it possible to eat a balanced diet while fasting? There are no problems with carbohydrates and fats, but proteins can be gained in...

guests - post what to cook?. Hot dishes. Cooking. Cooking recipes, help and advice on cooking, holiday menus and hosting Lenten guests. But I go to visit during Lent. In our family (a large family of relatives) there are a lot of important dates at this time.

During the sad days of Lent. This is what the priest says about fasting: “First of all, you cannot eat people during fasting. Everything else is secondary. If you have never fasted, you should not immediately take on the strictest monastic rules. Lenten menu - what are you preparing?

Lenten guests. Reception of guests. Cooking. But I go to visit during Lent. In our family (a large family of relatives) there are a lot of important dates at this time. And to show everyone how bad they are, that they celebrate during Lent (you don’t even have to go, I’m so right!), this is an anniversary.

what will you eat? Potatoes and sauerkraut? Pregnant women should not observe strict fasting; it is dangerous for the child. There are rules according to which small children during the sad days of Lent. Fasting without a stove is not fasting. Lent will put its tail between its legs.

The monastic “lenten dishes” are so delicious. But they should serve to maintain strength at the REQUIRED level, and not to “get fat from the belly.” Well, I repeat to you once again - monastery Lenten dishes are very tasty. And what is in the pre-revolutionary cookbook...

Lenten desserts - what? Sweet dishes. Cooking. Culinary recipes, help and advice on preparing dishes, holiday menus and entertaining guests. I myself am not religious; I have little idea what Lenten food is. Please advise what type of desserts can be eaten during Lent?

Comrades, help me, I want to hold out on duty for a week. Recommend verified delicious dishes made from vegetables, without meat, fish, eggs and milk If you read classical literature or special cookbooks on this topic, then the Lenten table does not exclude fish, as does caviar, by the way.

The deformity may not be physical, but spiritual, for example. This is no less sad. This year the fasts are as follows: 1. Lent from March 14 to April 30. How to choose the day to conceive a child. Print version. And if I get pregnant during POST, what should I do about an abortion?

Fast. Section: Learn to cook! (how to make Lenten noodles for a funeral). Fast. I don’t observe the fasts myself, but we will remember them in the village, where the vast majority are pensioners, and in general... But it seems that the last week of fasting is strict, nothing comes to mind.

She and her husband observed fasting in all respects, and the child was conceived immediately after fasting. As they correctly wrote, it is impossible to conceive a child during fasting, therefore it will also not be possible to deduce how fasting affects conception. Great Lent - state of mind + many components...

Not allowed during Lent: meat, milk, eggs, cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, animal oil, sausages, fish, etc. It is necessary to fast especially diligently and zealously on the 1st, 5th and Holy Weeks, and on Good Friday - the day of general sorrow. First of all, people should not eat.

Lenten dishes. . Cooking. Culinary recipes, help and advice on preparing dishes, holiday menus and entertaining guests, food selection. Constitution Day of the Russian Federation. By the way, I have a cool book - T. Zlotnikova." Lenten table", a lot of interesting and simple...

What is the best way to fast?

A person who strictly observes church fasting receives enormous benefits for the soul. We must eat in such a way that the spirit is awake over the flesh, but not the flesh over the spirit. The Holy Fathers say that the body is a donkey on which we must ride to the Heavenly City of Jerusalem: if you underfeed it, it will fall, if you overfeed it, it will go berserk. Therefore, we must always stick to the golden mean, follow the royal path: if we start fasting without humility and prayer, we will harm ourselves. The devil will say: “Fast more, more...” And we will fast so much that we will not be able to pray and work, we will only become irritable, touchy: “Don’t come near us - we are fasting, we have already become saints.” Others, on the contrary, begin to eat a lot, repeating the thoughts of the evil one: “You work so hard, your health is weak, eat, eat, eat meat and sausage, support yourself.” And sometimes they eat so much that their whole body is clogged with waste and toxins: the pressure rises, the legs swell, there is shortness of breath, and it’s already difficult to walk.

How can you do heavy physical work during Lent if you can’t eat fast food?

When the Lord created animals and humans, he gave them herbs for food. And our body is not adapted to assimilate meat food, it only causes it to become polluted and diseases appear. And whoever eats meat often becomes angry, bloodthirsty, and aggressive. When we eat plant foods, we will be at peace, we will become calmer. Look: elephants, horses, bulls - they don’t eat meat or sausages and don’t lose strength. This means that grass and plant foods contain everything to support life in large organisms.

If we don’t want to fast voluntarily, we will fast forcibly. Previously, they did not take very good care of bread; waste was given to livestock, or even simply thrown into the trash. We're stuffed... Do you know how good people used to live? There are 280 days of fasting in a year! Huge savings in animal products: meat, milk, and eggs. Eggs were donated for the construction of temples and mixed into a solution for strength. And now... We don’t keep fasts - there is no health, and no food. Food eats a person. This causes headaches, blood pressure, swelling of the legs, and rapid heartbeat. The whole body is clogged with waste and toxins.

When a village stove is heated, it happens that the smoke does not go up the chimney, but comes out of the stove into the house. The ashpit is cleaned, the ash is removed, and air enters the stove, the wood burns. What should be done with the body when it is so poisoned that all organs fail: the kidneys, the liver, the pancreas, and the stomach? We must fast.

In the Church, everything is wisely thought out - there are 365 days in a year, 280 of them are fast days. Four long fasts, almost every week (except for continuous weeks) fasting on Wednesday and Friday. During this time, a person cleanses his body well, it feels easy and good. Is it difficult to get used to fasting? Yes, it is difficult - it is difficult for someone who does not deny himself anything. And as soon as we accustom ourselves to fasting, we will immediately see that it will become easy for us. Many people know how reluctant they are to stop fasting when the days of fasting pass. They get so used to lean food that they don’t want to eat anything lean.

Is it necessary for those who are on the road to fast?

There is an apostolic rule that fasting is relaxed for travelers. But they are allowed to eat no more than fish. If, for example, the fast of Peter and Paul is underway, during this fast everyone is allowed to eat fish except Wednesday and Friday. And if we are on the road, we can eat fish on all days.

Name the days of especially strict fasting throughout the year. How should they be carried out?

Strict fasts - Great (the first and last weeks are especially strict) and Assumption. During the first week of Lent, food is eaten only on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Wednesday and Friday, a glass of water and a piece of bread are allowed. On Saturday and Sunday you can eat boiled food. This is how they fast in the last week - on Good Friday, on Saturday - strict fasting. On the eve of the Nativity of Christ - on Christmas Eve - there is a strict fast, food begins to be eaten with the appearance of the first star, at 4 pm. On the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist, they also fast and eat food without vegetable oil. These days they abstain not only from food, but also from all feelings. They hold back their tongue and gaze. Spouses must refrain from intimacy. Fasting for everything - for the soul and for the flesh.

Do pregnant and breastfeeding women observe fasting and fasting days?

There is an apostolic rule that says that if a woman gives birth during Lent, then there is no fasting for her. She can eat everything for 40 days to restore her body. And when 40 days have passed, the nursing woman, like everyone else, must fast. Pregnant women must fast; they need to fast even more, and then childbirth will be easy.

My mom is sick. I cook her food, which means she is forced to fast. She doesn’t want to fast, because of this there are often quarrels. Maybe she doesn’t need to fast?

Righteous John of Kronstadt’s mother once fell ill, and severely. Doctors offered her chicken broth for her diet. And this was during Lent. She answered them: “In my life I have never broken my fast. If the Lord does not help me, then food will not help me.” According to her faith, the Lord helped her. There is no need to break the fast. Health will not be given by simple food, but by the Lord. Let your mother fast too.

Is it possible to drink alcohol during fasting?

Alcohol is not a fast product, but a lean one. There are no animal fats.

All of Russia drowned in a glass. Usually holy people say: “Even though you are Orthodox, don’t drink!” We don’t know the norm: today – “for appetite”, tomorrow – “for appetite” and... we got drunk. It's very hard to get behind this. As soon as the desire to drink appears, you must stop immediately. You can drink on holiday, but only for those who do not have a passion for wine. And whoever has this passion is better off not touching it.

I remember I was taught to drink back in 1956, when we went to the collective farm. On the train we go, they say: “Well, come on, have a drink.” Pour 100 grams. I say: “I don’t drink so little, I drink once, but then I drink a mug at once. I don’t want to waste time on trifles.” But no one gave me a mug - it was a pity. Then they get drunk on the way, there is no money for wine, so they let them drink tooth powder. Mix it with water in a glass and drink it.

One day we arrived at a collective farm in the Kemerovo region. They gave us a barracks. The mattresses were filled with hay, they took their seats, and everyone went around the station to “hunt their trade.” Who's getting what: some went shopping to look for vodka, but I went looking for believers. I think there must be a church somewhere nearby. Several adults asked, they said: “There is a church - you have to travel 40 km on a work train.” They pointed out: “Here, Ivan Chernov lives nearby. He’s a beekeeper. He’s a believer, he goes to church.” I went to him. They went with him to another wise old man of very high spiritual life. This is how friends appeared, and I began to go to them. And even spent the night with them. And our guys lived for a few days and got to know each other; In the evening we got tipsy, went to a dance, and there they started picking on the guys and pestering the girls. When they all went to the barracks, all the station guys gathered, and at about 3 o’clock in the morning about 30 people attacked the barracks with sticks. The doors in the barracks were not locked, they opened them and said: “Let’s go!” They lined everyone up and beat them with sticks. I come in the morning, and they are all so beautiful; They say to me: “Well, God saved you!” All with bruises, eyes swollen. “We got it at night, but the Lord saved you.” You can find your own people everywhere. The Lord is not without mercy... But vodka will not bring you any good. It's better to abstain and not drink...

How to fast in the family? How to celebrate the New Year in a family where I am the only believer?

A week before Christmas we no longer eat fish. From the second of January, fasting for the Orthodox gets worse and becomes more strict. The fast must be observed. If only the wife is a believer in the family, she should set an example for everyone.

Some say: "But in Holy Scripture It is said that you do not need to show that you are fasting. When you go on a visit, what they give you is what you should eat." Imagine, for example, Fr. Ambrose went on a fast to visit non-church people. They do not observe fasting, they put everything modest on the table. And so as not to tempt them, not to upset them , I ate everything offered with them. And then they will say: “Oh. Ambrose considers himself a believer, but does not observe the Apostolic rules and violates them. He ate everything modest during fasting." This is what worldly people usually say: “We had a priest, so he ate meat during fasting, and at home he eats it.” Believers should be believers everywhere: both at a party and at home. There will always be Lenten foods on the table. Well, if you are afraid of tempting and upsetting your neighbors, it is better not to visit people during Lent, especially to non-church people.

How to celebrate the New Year in your family? The Orthodox are preparing not for the New Year, but for the Nativity of Christ. We celebrate the Church New Year on September 1, according to the old style, and we celebrate the civil New Year on January 1, according to the old style, that is, on January 14. And if, out of love for your neighbors, you still plan to celebrate the New Year in your family on January 1, then there is no need to break your fast. Try to please the Lord more, not your husband, not your children. And you need to be able to do all this. There are such reasonable wives who solve everything peacefully, they do not create scandals.

If your family does not want to read the akathist with you, thanksgiving prayers, then retire, pray yourself, thank God for last year, ask for grace-filled help in the future.

And believers and non-believers can sit together at the table. Place non-frugal food on the table: bread, pickles, potatoes, onions. As they say: “Eat everything without breaking your fast.”

When I lived in the parish, we celebrated the New Year this way. A prayer service was served and a thanksgiving akathist was read. Envelopes were hung on the tree, with pious sayings of the holy fathers written on pieces of paper. Let's all pray together, and everyone cut off an envelope for themselves. He read out in front of everyone what he got there. Interestingly, these thoughts instructed the person and indicated how to behave throughout the next year.

We must repent before the New Year, so as not to enter into it with old sins, but to live in a new way, in Christ. It will be godly, it will bring joy.

Is it possible to watch TV while fasting?

There are such people - ascetics, their heartfelt prayer continues unceasingly; no matter where they are placed, they never lose their prayers. Such people, even if they are in the middle of a noisy city, bustle, do not see or hear anything bad. If you have such a prayer, then TV will not bother you. But if you live spiritually, then you will never watch TV. Take care of your soul.

How to eat properly while fasting? Is it possible to eat gingerbread, cookies, vegetable oil?

Some people argue like this: you can eat lard during Lent, it’s vegetable because it grows on pigs, you can also have cottage cheese - it’s lean, low-fat...

There is fast food, there is lean food, and there is “sort of lean food.” When a food seems to be lean, it is better not to eat it.

Is it possible to take food while a church service is going on, if for some reason I stayed at home?

All Orthodox Christians know that Christ was crucified at 12 noon; they do not eat until lunch. But for those who physically work hard to maintain strength, not passions, but physical strength, they can taste it earlier. You should always eat in such a way that there is room for prayer.

But at the same time, you shouldn’t rely on your own strengths or be self-confident. Only the Lord saves us. One is the judgment of God, the other is the judgment of man, and we do not know whether we are being saved or not. The Holy Fathers, when they lived, wept day and night, although they had achieved perfection, they were not sure of salvation. There was no pride, there was only hope in the Lord. I tonsured my mother into the schema when she was lying in bed motionless, did not complain, thanked the Lord for her illness, she herself begged to lie down before death, to be cleansed. I tempted her: “Well, will you get through the ordeal?” - She answered: “Like the Lord, I am nothing.”

One day a saint was going through an ordeal, and the demons shouted after him: “That’s it, you’ve already been saved.” “No,” answered the ascetic, “I still need salvation.” When he was already at the Royal Doors, they shouted to him: “Now you have already been saved.” “Yes, by the grace of God,” he answered; he did not rely on himself.

Is it possible to watch fairy tale films during Lent with Baba Yaga and Koschey the Immortal?

Oh, how scary it is... We are accustomed to the torments of hell in advance, introduced to demons. The child's soul easily imprints these images in the consciousness, and then suffers. Many people say in confession: “I am tormented by nightmares, ghouls.”

We must try to live among the beautiful. Especially in Lent.

The Lord created us for beauty, for eternal blissful life. You need to tell the child about it, prepare his soul for a meeting with God.

Orthodox fasts are of great importance in the lives of believers. This is a time of spiritual and physical cleansing. It is important to understand that Orthodox parishioners refuse not only fast food, but also other earthly goods. When the Nativity fast begins, it is forbidden to visit any entertainment establishments, conduct intimate life, spend days in idleness. During this period, a Christian must analyze his actions, repent of sins, pray a lot for himself, his loved ones and the whole world, give alms and help those who need it. Forgiveness of any offenses and renunciation of sinful thoughts is considered important. Diet during fasting excludes any animal food, including fish.

Time of Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast always begins and ends on the same dates. Every year on November 27, the church celebrates the Feast of St. Philip the Apostle. Immediately after this, abstinence begins for forty days. That is why the Nativity Fast is also called Filippov. From November 28, Orthodox Christians must stop eating fast food. The post ends on January 6, with the appearance of the first star. Until the 12th century, abstinence lasted only seven days, but at the sacred council of 1166, Patriarch Luke of Constantinople announced the will of the church to fast for 40 days. This period was considered sufficient to cleanse the soul and body from filth, so that one could celebrate the feast of the birth of Christ with pure thoughts and repentance. Since then, the Nativity Fast has lasted exactly forty days.

Foods that should not be eaten during fasting

The main forbidden foods are meat, eggs, dairy products, and strong alcoholic drinks. They cannot be eaten on any of the days of Philip's fast. Fish is allowed on Saturday and Sunday, as well as during Orthodox holidays, such as Entry into the Temple Holy Mother of God. We must remember that the New Year, celebrated from December 31 to January 1, is not a holiday according to the rules of the church. Therefore, believers observe fasting on this day as strictly as on ordinary days.

But simply avoiding animal foods is not enough. Orthodox calendar shows what kind of food should be eaten by day during fasting. In particular, Wednesday and Friday are dry eating days. These days you should not only eat fish and wine, but even food with vegetable oil. If great Orthodox holidays fall on Wednesday and Friday, then you are allowed to add a little wine to your diet. On Tuesday and Thursday, food with vegetable oil is allowed, and on Saturday and Sunday it can be varied fish dishes. If the holiday falls on Tuesday or Thursday, fish is allowed.

Hot meals and dry eating during the Nativity Fast

How the food is prepared also matters. There is such a thing in Orthodoxy as dry eating. This means that you can only eat food that has not undergone heat treatment. Usually these are vegetables, fruits, nuts, honey. Bread, oddly enough, also belongs to dry food. Hot drinks are strictly prohibited. You can only drink water. If a great holiday falls on Wednesday or Friday, it is permissible to add some church wine to your table.

Dry eating is observed on Wednesday and Friday throughout Lent. These days you can only eat uncooked food without vegetable oil. On Monday, hot food is allowed, but also without oil, but not in the very last week of fasting. In general, food during the Nativity Fast consists of any non-fast food. It must be consumed in limited quantities. To comply proper nutrition on days during fasting, you can purchase a special calendar and check the list of permitted products every day.

What did they eat in Rus' during the Nativity Fast?

In Rus', on fasting days they ate porridge, mushrooms, honey, berries, and vegetables. And in the southern regions there are also fruits. From these products you can prepare varied and satisfying dishes. On weekends and holidays, fish is added to them, so food during the Nativity Fast can be tasty and nutritious.

Cereals were in Rus' long before the appearance of potatoes. Therefore, the porridges were varied, tasty and healthy. In the old days they were saved from vitamin deficiency sauerkraut, which contains a large amount of vitamin C. Delicious thick jelly was made from oat starch and dried berries and fruits. Where there were dried fruits, compotes were prepared.

What to eat during the Nativity Fast

People who have never fasted and are just planning to do so for the first time do not know what to eat. They ask: “What do they eat on Nativity Fast?” Meat and dairy products are the basis of the average Russian diet. If you remove them, there isn't much food left. But it seems so only at first glance.

There is a lot more food choice now than there was 100 years ago. Fruits and vegetables available all year round, legumes such as lentils and beans appeared in large quantities. Beans are an excellent source of energy.

It is useful to diversify your fasting table with soy products, such as vegetable tofu cheese, it will compensate for the lack of protein in the body. It is also recommended to add sesame seeds to your diet. They compensate for the lack of calcium in the body that occurs due to the lack of dairy products. On days when hot food is allowed, it will be useful to cook cereals. The absence of milk in porridge can be easily replaced with fruits, vegetables and dried fruits. Yes, very tasty to serve buckwheat porridge with prunes, rice - with raisins, millet - with pumpkin and dried apricots. The strictest period in Orthodoxy is Lent. The diet at this time excludes fish food; there are much more dry days.

Last week of fasting

The food during the Nativity Fast in the last week is the strictest. Fish is completely excluded. On Monday the menu is the same as on Wednesday and Friday, that is, you cannot eat hot food and vegetable oil. On Christmas Eve, complete fasting is prescribed all day and evening until the first star appears in the sky. This is a sign of the birth of Christ. Now you can start celebrating Christmas. The main dish on the table on this day, or rather the evening, is succulently cooked grains of wheat, lentils, and other grains in honey. Nuts, raisins, and poppy seeds are added to the steamed porridge. They do not eat any other food that evening. The next morning, after the service and communion, it is allowed to eat dairy products, eggs, and vegetable oil. This is how the Nativity Fast ends.

Relaxations during fasting

Keeping fasts is an important duty of every Christian, but there are categories of people for whom breaking prohibitions is not considered sinful. If eating during the Nativity Fast is, according to all the rules, harmful to health, the daily diet should be changed. You cannot refuse necessary food. The decision to start or stop fasting should be discussed with your doctor. The consumption of forbidden foods is replenished with pure, sincere prayers addressed to God.

Pregnant women and small children should not fast. The only ban for them is on eating meat. Dairy products and eggs are allowed. Children become accustomed to fasting gradually. The first restrictions begin from the moment when the child already knows and understands why it is important to abstain from this or that food. Relaxations are also made for travelers on the road, people engaged in heavy physical labor, and those who suffer from certain diseases. But before you start eating fast food, it is strongly recommended to take the blessing of your spiritual father for this.

Fasting is not a diet!

Fasting times are often used to lose weight. Particularly popular in this sense is Lent, the menu of which consists only of plant foods. In fact, cutting out meat and dairy rarely results in weight loss. More often, some weight gain occurs due to the high carbohydrate content of food. Nutrition during fasting should be balanced to avoid health problems. It is very difficult for a person who fasts for the first time to fulfill all church instructions. Therefore, you need to prepare for fasting in advance, and not when the Nativity fast begins. The most important thing is to remember that spiritual cleansing is much more important than physical cleansing.

Continuous weeks in 2019 are weeks in which there are no fast days. During the year, in addition to multi-day fasts, there are also one-day fasts - on Wednesday (the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas) and on Friday (in memory of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ). On these days, it is prohibited to eat fast food: meat, eggs, milk and products containing animal proteins. Also, on fasting days, entertainment events are not allowed and there is a ban on intimacy between spouses. According to the teachings of the church, these rules exist to maintain active faith, not nominal.

Solid week - what is it?

The teachings of the church are not just prohibitions and restrictions. In addition to holidays, solemn days and blessed events, several times a year Orthodox people hold festivities for a whole week, which is called week (from the Church Slavonic “seven”, that is, seven days). Solid week, omnivorous week, bright week - all these names are used to designate a week in which there are no fast days. The whole church is celebrating - some changes in the service are noticeable, the vestments of the clergy and parishioners are festive, and, of course, eating a variety of food is allowed.

Days of continuous weeks

There are five continuous weeks in a year. As usual, these are joyful days after the Nativity of Christ - Christmastide from January 7 to 17.

To support Christians before the start of Lenten days, the church established Cheese Week - Maslenitsa, when it is allowed to eat any kind of fast food - butter, milk, eggs, fish, but without meat on March 4-10).

After the main event for Christians - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ - fasting is prohibited, because the joy is so great that people celebrate for several days - in 2019, Bright Easter Week from April 28 to May 4.

Fifty days after Easter Orthodox Church celebrates the Day of the Holy Trinity, or Pentecost (June 16), which is also followed by a continuous week. Trinity Week or Green Week - “rusal”, “wired” - the week before Peter’s Lent.

Having become familiar with the concepts of continuous weeks, it is easier to experience fasting time in anticipation of the great holidays of the Orthodox Church.