Fasting is a complex and multifaceted process that requires serious preparation: you need to stock up on food for the winter and have time to think about your own soul.
Of course, it is better to start preparing for long-term abstinence in the summer - the time when we actively make twists and freeze vegetables and fruits. Pickles and tomato juice also always find their use during the fasting period.
Jams can be made not only from one type of fruit, but made assorted, and the addition of orange, lemon, grapefruit zest or mint, thyme gives them a special taste. In addition, it is very useful to eat berries simply ground with sugar: red and black currants, raspberries, sea buckthorn, viburnum, cranberries - they make an excellent delicacy and filling for baking. Then, from the ground berries, which retain all their beneficial qualities, you can make various vitamin drinks: both chilled fruit drinks and hot compotes and jelly.
It is good to freeze various vegetables, especially asparagus, as well as bell peppers, both chopped and whole pods ready for stuffing.
Greens can be dried for the winter: they always decorate dishes and give them an unusual taste, for example, basil will be an excellent seasoning for tomatoes and eggplants.
Having prepared a sufficient amount of food for the winter and decided to test yourself with abstinence, do not forget that strict fasting and the subsequent return to normal nutrition can lead to a serious deterioration in health if the rules are not followed. Of course, for unprepared people, following the instructions of the church will seem difficult, but it is necessary to learn how to fast and break the fast correctly.
First you need to get used to the absence of meat in your daily diet. The easiest way to do this is in the summer-autumn period, compensating for the lack of animal food with an abundance of vegetables and fruits. Those who find it difficult to give up meat completely should reduce its consumption to once a day, and subsequently replace it with fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products.
Orthodox fasts should not at all lead to exhaustion of the human body, therefore, to improve health, it is not enough to just give up heavy and fatty foods; it is necessary to eliminate the abuse of hot, salty, sour, sweet, fried and spices. During the fasting period, it is very important to strive for a balanced diet and consume the required amount of vitamins and nutrients.
Breaking the fast poses a particular health hazard. During abstinence, metabolism changes, so in no case should you overeat after fasting to avoid negative effects. If you suddenly return to eating animal products, the digestive system will malfunction, and this will lead to an exacerbation of gastritis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, colitis and ulcers. In addition, fasting is not observed in order to immediately forget about spiritual values and start sinning again.
After enduring a long period of abstinence, it is worth waiting a few more days to give the body the opportunity to adapt to the new diet. And people suffering from chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract need to return to eating fatty and heavy foods within two to three weeks.
You need to be especially patient in switching to the regular menu on the day of the great holiday of Easter.
If believers attend a night service, they can begin to break their fast immediately after it or in the morning. For breakfast, you need to try traditional holiday food, eating a couple of pieces of Easter cake and a colored egg. If the feeling of hunger has not passed, muesli with kefir, yogurt or a sandwich with boiled meat can correct this.
For lunch you can drink chicken broth, for the second - eat baked lean meat with vegetables. And dessert will be jelly with a piece of Easter cake.
For dinner, stewed fish with vegetables and fruits are best.
At first, it is not recommended to eat pancakes, pork, lamb, and fatty fish, because they are hard on the stomach. Side dishes should be boiled, stewed or baked. It is better to refuse dumplings, pasties and any other combinations of meat with dough and not to serve mushrooms, pasta and legumes with meat. You can and should often eat cabbage, zucchini, beets, carrots, herbs, as well as fermented milk products, but you will have to abstain from cheese, milk, cottage cheese, cream and mayonnaise for now.
So, the hardest part about preparing for fasting is getting started! And after trying to cook meatless dishes a little, you can invent new ones. And if, in addition, you go to church on holidays, then a surge of vigor and strength for strict observance of fasting is guaranteed to you.
The time of Great Lent is a spiritual exam, during which every Christian is tested for loyalty to His Savior. This is a difficult path to meeting the Risen Christ - the Sun of Truth. This is a time of intense spiritual warfare with the invisible “Egyptian Pharaoh” who does not want to just let us go free. Without preparation, it is very difficult to achieve good fruits in fasting. Therefore, our Holy Church established preparatory Sundays and weeks for our souls before Great Lent. During this period of preparation for the upcoming exploits, we must properly tune our soul, lay out the saving “route” of our repentant path on the spiritual map. The best way for us to do this is by following the important lessons that the Church offers during this period of worship based on readings from the Bible and special chants.1st lesson of repentance: prayer, humility and non-judgment
Preparation for fasting and repentance begins with the prayerful cry of the great sinner Mary of Egypt, who was unable to enter the Jerusalem Temple until she realized who she was and turned to the Mother of God for help through Her icon until she promised to change her sinful life. Repentant chant “Open the doors of repentance, O Life-Giver!” accompanies us not only on all preparation Sundays. It lasts until the 5th Sunday of Lent. And God opens the “door” of repentance for us, helping us to enter through it into a happy time of abstinence and a new “birth”.
The first Sunday is given to us so that an attentive Christian will force himself to think about why he should not pray like a Pharisee, why pride reduces the value of our exploits, condemnation of the weak deprives us of God's grace, and humility gives a start to spiritual life during the period of fasting. The publican saw no one but himself, was aware of his sins, condemned only himself and, as a condemned man, needed a Savior and asked for mercy for himself. The conclusion that we must draw is the following: everyone who exalts himself, that is, who puts himself in the place of God in order to judge others, will be humiliated (more precisely, he removes himself from God), and he who humiliates himself, humbles himself, will exalt himself and draw closer to God ! We must do good deeds in such a way that we are not praised, but thank God!
Lesson 2: Chastity and Obedience
Reading the Gospel about the Prodigal Son of the Second Sunday calls us to “whole” repentance - to repentance not in words, but in deeds, with our whole lives. Christ shows us what disobedience and abandonment of the “Father’s house” - the Holy Church - lead to: the youngest son, through his sinful life, himself fell into the trap of shameful slavery and life with pigs. The Lord simultaneously warns us why we should not feel like the eldest son in the Church, who looks with amazement at how the younger brother humbly, with repentance, returns to his father, and he joyfully greets him with open arms.
Psalm 136 (sung at the evening service this Sunday and the next two) says that earthly life after the Fall is a captivity with which many have become accustomed. We are citizens of Heaven. To gain freedom, we must decisively smash the “babies” of sinful thoughts against the stone of faith. This is easy to do at the very beginning of the appearance of sinful thoughts, when they have not yet grown and bound us, like those apostates who, for the sins of spiritual fornication with false and foreign gods, were taken into distant captivity.
The Apostolic Letter (1 Cor. 6:12-20), containing the theology of the body, abstinence and service to God, speaks of the preciousness of every person to the Creator. Not everything that is allowed to us is useful. Abstaining from excesses, including food, helps us “come to our senses,” become a real person, and be in unity with God. The body of a Christian from the moment of Baptism is the temple of the Holy Spirit, part of the Body of Christ. And the task of a Christian is to glorify God with body and soul, which are God's. The Apostle Paul warns that a fornicator is his own enemy and destroys his body and ruins his life!
Lesson 3: good deeds and love
The Gospel reading of the third Sunday - the Week of the Last Judgment - talks about how God wisely combines love and justice, how Christ will judge, have mercy and save. The Heavenly Judge will condemn without condemning anyone, since each person writes for himself the law by which he will be convicted or acquitted. This judicial code is written throughout our lives. He who does not show mercy and love to another person rejects the Savior and does not want His mercy for himself. The gospel sheep are an image of humility and obedience, and the goats are an image of stubbornness. The main rule of God's Court: God will have mercy on us if we do good. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said in his sermon that Christ wants us to “become the hands and feet of God doing good.” Fasting is solidarity with the poor and wretched, deprived of their daily bread. This is a time of love and increased mercy. Let us try, especially during the days of Great Lent, to live and do good so that the Last Judgment becomes blessed, joyful and saving for us!
Lesson 4: Forgiveness and lamentation for sins
On the last Sunday before Lent, the Church teaches us forgiveness. This is a call not only to admit guilt, to acknowledge your guilt, and not to shift it onto other people and circumstances. The word “forgive” of Christ’s commandment “if you do not forgive people...” (Matthew 6:15) means: to make relations with God and neighbors “simple” again, that is, straight, even, the way they were with from the very beginning in heaven. Adam did not realize that he was guilty of sin before God and did not ask Him for forgiveness, did not forgive Eve, but he tried to put the blame on her and on God Himself, to shift his guilt, because it was He who gave him such a wife. Eve, in turn, pointed to the serpent. And because they, like little children, blamed each other, circumstances and even God Himself, because they did not repent, did not ask God for forgiveness, began to hide from Him and run away, hide from the All-Seeing One, they found themselves behind the gates Raya. God sent Adam beyond the gates of paradise so that he could see the destruction that sinful disobedience leads to, and learn repentance, abstinence, and fasting to protect the soul from sins and temptations; so that he learns to mourn sins, because tears, like water, wash the soul from sinful dirt. In other words, expulsion from paradise was also for a pedagogical purpose, somewhat similar to how a child is sent from his parents’ home to school.
May Christ help us all to adequately prepare for Lent in order to be cleansed by repentance, washed with tears of repentance, defeat the devil - the main enemy of our salvation, free ourselves from passions, be born again spiritually in the Sacrament of Confession, be nourished with Heavenly Manna in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and joyfully achieve a spiritual new The Promised Land - blessed immortality and spiritual rejoicing on the bright holiday of the New Testament Easter!
Recorded by Natalya Goroshkova
This year Lent begins on March 18th. According to religious regulations, it is necessary to begin preparing for fasting three weeks before its onset. You need to prepare for fasting not only physically, but also spiritually - don’t forget about it.
What's happened lean food? These are grains (bread and cereals), legumes, fruits, vegetables, berries, mushrooms, nuts, honey. "frugal" food in turn includes meat, dairy products, animal fats, eggs, flour products.
General rules of fasting
You cannot eat meat, fish, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, or drink wine; in addition, you cannot eat more than once a day. On weekends (Saturday and Sunday) vegetable oil, wine and meals twice a day are allowed.
Lent is the most important time for any believer.
Before Lent there are three preparatory weeks. During these three weeks, a person must fully prepare his body for fasting. It is necessary to determine how much food you need per day, after which you need to gradually reduce the amount of food consumed. It is very important that fasting did not lead to exhaustion, exhaustion and loss of strength. You need to eat no earlier than noon.
The first preparatory week passes without fasting, which is why it is called “continuous week.” During the second week, Wednesday and Friday are considered fast days. The third preparatory week is known to us all as Maslenitsa. Wednesday and Friday are not yet fasting, but on these days it is no longer allowed to eat meat. During Shrovetide week, everyone has fun, bakes pancakes, sings and visits each other.
During the entire Lent, it is allowed to eat exclusively plant foods. Only on some days you can fish, and on one of the days you need to fast. Saturday and Sunday during Lent are freer days, because you can have vegetable oil and wine.
Try to eat as varied a diet as possible during fasting; include legumes, nuts, and grains in your diet. By giving up meat products even for a short period of time, you provide your body with a severe lack of protein, which must be replenished with other food. An unbalanced diet will subsequently lead to the fact that fat tissue remains unchanged, and muscle tissue begins to be lost. Make sure that your body gets fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the right quantities.
It is also necessary to note the process of breaking the fast - breaking the fast. This is important for the reason that overeating after several weeks of strictly abstaining from “fast” food can easily provoke an exacerbation of many chronic diseases.
Remember that the goal of fasting cannot be weight loss or food restriction. The main goal is spiritual improvement. Restrained flesh leads to lightness of the soul.
You need to approach fasting very consciously. Fasting should only be within the limits in which it does not cause harm to health. It is through fasting that people are given the opportunity to heal their spiritual illnesses.
During meat-eating week, Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin gives advice to those who are preparing to fast seriously.
Don't be afraid of "temptations"To someone who has decided to fast for the first time, everything often seems simple and clear; those who have decades of guard experience are modest in their expectations and taciturn in their promises. They only hope that God will help them celebrate Pentecost with dignity.
Where does this caution come from, which some take for spiritual inconsistency, or even pessimism?
Yes, because of the memories of past fasts, because no matter how much you live, no matter how much you pray, the famous “fasting temptation” will definitely happen, and something that you don’t expect, that is, something that has never happened before.
One’s own experience on duty is a good and good thing, but everyone’s opponent is by no means simple. No wonder they call him the evil one. He “improves” with you and clearly studies your weaknesses, and sometimes knows them better than you.
That is why, when they ask what books are recommended during Lent, so that you less often want to turn on the TV and look at everyone and everything that has penetrated the Internet, I, along with patristic and good classical fiction, always recommend re-reading “Letters of Screwtape” by the famous Christian apologist and writer . It doesn’t matter that Lewis was an Anglican - his religious affiliation did not prevent him from fully, vividly and figuratively revealing the cunning and versatile evil nature of the enemy of the human race.
Don't overestimate your strength
Another reason why it is necessary to prepare very seriously for fasting is that we very often overestimate our capabilities, and when it turns out that the criteria we have set for ourselves are impossible to fulfill, disappointment follows, often ending in abandoning fasting altogether.
The fact is that there is no single measure of fasting abstinence. There are general rules and recommendations that you should try to follow according to your real capabilities, and not “exceed yourself.” The famous expression “fasting feat,” which we hear so often in sermons and advice, should not be taken literally and one should not set oneself tasks that are beyond the strength of the body and soul. It is imperative to take into account the age criterion.
Let me give as an example the following spring dialogue between a priest and a parishioner:
- Tell me, my dear, have you already pulled the potatoes out of the basement so that they can germinate a little before planting?
- Of course, father! There are drawers under the bed.
- And how will you plant ten acres this year?
- What are you talking about, father! There are no such strengths as before. May God grant the fortress to overcome at least five hundred square meters.
- You see, as always, I don’t have enough strength to plant potatoes, and the rules of the guard have imposed on myself such that even a young person cannot cope...
Similar dialogues arise in any parish - both rural and urban. Any priest can tell you how often it is necessary to explain to him that there is no need to impose on oneself “unbearable burdens,” that is, that rule for which physical strength is not enough. The soul is young at any age, but the body tends to age and, accordingly, weaken.
In order not to be mistaken in your plans for guard duty, consult with the priest to whom you are confessing and really assess your strength. Abstinence in food should not lead to illness and decline in health, but to a vision of one’s sins and the desire to get rid of them.
Don't imitate the fasting of others
Another problem is fasting according to someone else’s “method”, that is, projecting someone else’s bodily and prayer practices onto your soul and body. Fasting imposed from outside insults a person. The one that is accepted voluntarily and corresponds to your current spiritual state will always be favorable for the salvation of the soul.
There are many excellent tips, books and instructions on how to fast correctly, but it is imperative to take into account and distinguish at what time, to whom and under what circumstances these recommendations were given. It is impossible to take the rule for Athonite monks “as the basis” of their own fast: according to the relics - the myrrh, according to the century - the action.
You need to be especially careful with those tips and books that have the characteristic “very popular”. They sell in large quantities and are talked about a lot. Unfortunately, in most cases we are faced with yet another facet of outright occultism.
Pray and think
There is such well-known advice: “When entering the temple of God, you need to take off your hat, not your head,” - therefore, before putting on the guard “chains”, think, pray, ask the priest for advice, “so that your faith is not established on the wisdom of man, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).
We talk about the “joy of fasting” not because of the fact that the parishioners have lost weight and pray more often, but because their spiritual eyes have become more perceptive, that there is less passion, anger and misunderstanding around them.
For some, fasting is just a good reason to lose weight through restriction from fast food, giving up sweets and wine, but for a Christian, fasting abstinence is a way to move away from the secondary to the main, from the noise of the flesh to the silence of the spirit.
Have a nice post!
Bishop Job of Shumsky, rector of the Pochaev Theological Seminary, answers these and other questions.
Vladyka, on February 5, the preparatory weeks for Lent begin. How to conduct them correctly, what to pay attention to first of all during each week?
This year, soon after the feast of Epiphany, the preparatory weeks for Lent begin. Almost literally, as stated at the beginning of the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Christ was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was finally hungry.” Mark says it was “immediately” after His Baptism (1:12). Such an early fast and preparation for it is a great joy for true disciples of Christ. Moreover, in a year like the one that comes with an early Easter, the apostolic fast is longer.
The Holy Church precedes the time of Lent with preparatory weeks so that everyone begins to study the complex science of repentance - real repentance, without which no one will enter the Kingdom of God, as discussed in the short Gospel reading of the Week of Enlightenment (Matthew 4:12-17) .
Repentance is like changing citizenship to live in a better country; this is the opening of that door through which light penetrates into our soul and thereby expels darkness from it... For this to happen, so that we can enter the Kingdom of God, it is necessary that our new year begins with the study of the Word of God, the spiritual laws of the new Kingdom and changes yourself - repentance - in accordance with the Gospel law.
The Gospel reading on the Saturday before Sunday about the publican about the Pharisee (Luke 18:2-8) contains a sad prediction of our Lord that, coming the second time, He is unlikely to find on earth such faith as that of the widow. Probably, on the day of His coming, there will be believers like the Pharisees, but there will no longer be real faith in God, the number of real believers will be small. But before this, Christ, saying that God will not abandon those who cry to Him day and night, gives great consolation. The parable of the unrighteous judge and the widow shows that we must always pray and not lose heart. Even if an unrighteous judge heeded the persistent requests of the widow, then the righteous God, the loving Father, will certainly protect His children, who cry out to Him day and night, although sometimes it seems to us that He is doing this slowly. So, we need to have a constant and living connection with God, and He will always be our Helper and Patron. And then neither the Antichrist, nor his servants, nor his seal will be afraid of us...
On the eve of Lent, at the very beginning of the preparatory weeks, we receive guidance from Christ regarding our prayer. She must be persistent, unrelenting, but at the same time humble and non-judgmental. Let us try, with God's help, to put this edifying teaching of Christ into practice.
On the first Sunday of these weeks, every Christian needs to think about why in spiritual life it is dangerous to be proud of imaginary or real successes, why one should not pray like a Pharisee. Repentance and humility are the basis of spiritual life, the basis of thinking about God is theology and prayers.
The Pharisee praised himself, condemned others, had no love, he was very far from the merciful God, and did not want to sacrifice anything for the salvation of the sinful publican. He is like a sick person who does not see his illness and considers himself healthy.
The publican saw no one but himself, was aware of his sins, condemned only himself and, as a condemned man, needed a Savior and asked for mercy for himself.
The conclusion is this: everyone who exalts himself, that is, who puts himself in the place of God in order to judge others, will be humiliated (he removes himself from God), and he who humiliates himself and humbles himself will be elevated and draw closer to God!
Christ’s denunciation of the Pharisees concerns us too. What prevented the Pharisee from being justified before the eyes of God while in the temple? Hypocrisy, i.e. the desire to look better than he really was! There is a deception of God, Who cannot be deceived. In words, thanking God, the Pharisee was not actually thanking God, but praising himself.
Good deeds must be done in such a way that people do not praise us, but thank God! After all, before you teach others, you yourself must learn well the first lesson of the Heavenly Teacher - the lesson of humility. For example, Rev. Silouan of Athos stated: “A humble man says nothing on his own.” The Holy Fathers did nothing for show, for the sake of glory and fame, but only for the sake of spiritual benefit.
It is interesting that after the Sunday about the publican and the Pharisee, fasting on Wednesday and Friday is canceled: for the purpose of shaming the proud Pharisee within himself, who exalted himself above others by fasting twice a week externally. The Church thereby shows us that the main thing for us is to acquire humility - peace with God and our neighbors, to learn the frequent, humble, short prayer of repentance: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Then the post will be more successful for us.
- The next week is about the prodigal son...
On Sunday about the Prodigal Son, we must learn not to feel like the eldest son in the Church, who looks with contempt at the younger son, a fornicator and embezzler, who returns to his father, and he welcomes him with open arms. The Gospel reading about the prodigal son also reminds us that that younger son, through his sinful prodigal life, himself fell into a trap, a trap of shameful slavery, and as a result, life with pigs. The Apostle Paul warns that a fornicator is his own enemy and destroys his body and ruins his life.
The singing of the Old Testament psalm “On the rivers of Babylon...” in the temple suggests that separation from the earthly homeland is not so terrible as separation from God, the visible sign of whose presence in ancient Israel was the Temple of Jerusalem...
Psalm 136 says that earthly life after the Fall is a captivity with which we have become accustomed. For the sins of spiritual fornication with false and foreign gods, the Jews were taken into distant captivity. This happened to our people after the 1917 revolution...
But we are citizens of Heaven. To gain freedom, we must resolutely smash the “babies” of sinful thoughts and pride against the stone of faith. This is easy to do at the very beginning of the appearance of sinful thoughts, when they have not yet grown and bound us.
Your Eminence, what practical advice can you give during the preparatory weeks from your life experience? What are the common mistakes when doing this?
Many people think that these preparatory weeks are not yet fasting. But, in my opinion, this is what it is - a real spiritual fast, tuning the soul for further fasting. Just as a singer is prepared for the performance part with the help of a tuning fork at the very beginning of singing, so the preparatory weeks determine our spiritual route. It is very unwise to neglect them and make of them a time of crazy fun and pleasing the flesh.
Let us make sure that during this Great Lent our souls, longing for the Heavenly Fatherland, are freed from sinful captivity.
Recorded by Sergey Geruk
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