What can be done on Lenten Wednesday. What is a fast day? What to eat and what not

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In addition to the usual traditional fasts, in the Orthodox Church, believers fast with one-day fasts on Wednesday and Friday. Are they required to be followed? - one of the most frequently asked questions to priests from ordinary laity. Basically, these are people who have just begun to join the church and church life.

But really, why do we need this one-day post? And if a person constantly follows multi-day fasts, does he need to keep one-day fasts with all rigor? How to fast on Wednesday and Friday? Why not traditional? To answer all these questions, let's look into the depths of history.

Fasting on Wednesday and Friday - why you need it

The two-day fast has been followed by people since ancient times. Even before the advent of Christianity. The first enlighteners were well aware that it would not be possible to eradicate this habit from the lives of new people who had just accepted the Christian faith. That is why the church decided not to fight Jewish traditions, but simply modify them to suit Orthodox faith.

This is how the fast on Wednesday and Friday for the laity appeared. It was dedicated to very tragic days in the history of Christianity.

People who fast on Wednesday pay tribute to the memory of the day when Saint Jesus was betrayed by Judas. But fasting on Friday, believers pay tribute to the day when Jesus was crucified and sentenced to death on the cross. But many people still have the question: “why does one fast so often”? In addition to the purpose of mourning, the fast day carries the year-round protection of the soul of a believer.

Only in this way can a peasant show the devil that he never loses his vigilance, always follows all the rules, remembers God and is ready for a spiritual struggle against unclean forces at any time. The Holy Fathers talk about this all the time. Also, people who constantly fast keep themselves and their bodies in a constant tone, because it can be compared with a regular workout.

Fasting on Friday and Wednesday: food for the Orthodox

If you follow church canons, every believer is obliged to fast on Wednesday and Friday. These one-day fasts are considered very strict. These days you must refuse:

Useful articles:

• from eggs;
• from meat;
• from fish;
• from milk and dairy products.

Such a fast day can also involve when a person does not eat food that has been cooked in a hot way. V modern world there is a similar way of feeding. It's called a raw food diet. When dry eating, believers are allowed to eat only nuts, honey, fruits and vegetables.

How can you determine the severity of abstinence during a one-day fast? It is determined by your confessor (any Orthodox priest) and directly by you. The degree of severity must necessarily be taken into account with the lifestyle of the believer and his state of health.

• lactating women;
• pregnant women;
• athletes in the period of preparation for competitions;
• workers who work very hard and harmful work(they are usually allowed fish and dairy products);
• children under 7 years old.

In addition, there are weeks throughout the year when you do not need to fast on Wednesday and Friday. This:

• Christmas time (the period from Christmas to Epiphany);
• Week after Easter;
• Week after Trinity;
• Two weeks before Lent;
• Week during Maslenitsa.

Fasting Wednesday and Friday, what can you eat? Best Recipes

Today, questions are often heard: how to fast on Wednesday and Friday, whether it is possible to eat fish, what and how to cook, what not to eat, and anything else about fasting days. In order to give complete answers to these questions, it is best to turn to authoritative Orthodox sources.

Also, people often have a question when it is necessary to start fasting. Many say that since the evening. But this is far from true. The fast day begins, like a normal day, after 24:00.

We will try to reveal all the secrets and provide the best meatless recipes to always eat hearty and tasty. We have prepared two recipes for Lenten Wednesday or Friday for you. They are very simple, but satisfying and nutritious.

Lenten gingerbread

• For cooking you need: a glass of sugar, jam, water, 1 tsp. soda quenched with vinegar, and 2.5 tbsp. flour.
• All ingredients must be mixed.
• Lubricate the form and spread the dough on it. We bake.
• On top, you can sprinkle a little powder or make some kind of glaze.
• Lenten gingerbread is advised to eat on Friday before.

lean salad

• For cooking, the following components are needed: lean mayonnaise, nuts, dried apricots, prunes, beets.
• The amount of ingredients can be taken as you like or as you like.
• Boil the beets and grind on a grater.
• Pour prunes and dried apricots with boiling water to soak a little.
• Next, drain the liquid, and cut the fruit into strips.
• We crush nuts. We mix all the ingredients and season with mayonnaise.

Lenten dinner is ready! As you can see, you can eat deliciously, while observing the traditions of Orthodoxy.

The Lord is always with you!

A woman in a scarf and a long skirt has been tormenting the saleswoman of the confectionery department for a long time: “Please show me this box of chocolates. That's a pity, and they do not fit - they also have powdered milk. “Excuse me, do you have an intolerance to this component?” - tactfully asked a store employee. “No, I’m going to visit for my birthday, and today Wednesday is a fast day; after all, we, Orthodox, sacredly honor Wednesday and Friday, ”the woman proudly answered, deeply absorbed in the analysis chemical composition sweets...

Priest Vladimir Hulap, Candidate of Theology,
cleric of the church of St. equal to ap. Mary Magdalene, Pavlovsk,
assistant of the St. Petersburg branch of the DECR MP

Wednesday and Friday fasting is one of the traditions of the Orthodox Church, to which we are so accustomed that most believers simply never thought about how and when it arose.

Indeed, this practice is very ancient. Despite the fact that it is not mentioned in the New Testament, it is already evidenced by the early Christian monument "Didachi", or "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", which arose at the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd centuries. in Syria. In chapter 8 of this text we read an interesting injunction: “Let your fasts not be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth days of the week. But you fast on the fourth and sixth.”

Before us is the traditional Old Testament account of the days of the week, corresponding to the order of creation in chapter 1 of the book of Genesis, where Saturday ends each week.

If we translate the text into the language of calendar realities known to us (the first day of the week in the Didache is the Sunday following Saturday), then we will see a clear opposition of two practices: fasting on Monday and Thursday (“on the second and fifth day of the week”) versus Wednesday fasting and Fridays ("on the fourth and sixth"). Obviously, the second of them is our current Christian tradition.

But who are the "hypocrites" and why was it necessary to oppose their fasting at the very dawn of church history?

Fasting hypocrites

In the Gospel we repeatedly meet the word “hypocrites”, which sounds menacingly from the lips of Christ (etc.). He uses it, speaking of the religious leaders of the Israeli people of that era - the Pharisees and scribes: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" (). Moreover, Christ directly condemns their practice of fasting: “When you fast, do not be despondent, like hypocrites, for they take on gloomy faces in order to appear to people who are fasting” ().

In turn, the Didache is an ancient Judeo-Christian monument reflecting the liturgical practice of the early Christian communities, which consisted mainly of Jews who had converted to Christ. It opens with the popular Jewish "doctrine of two paths", polemicizes with Jewish prescriptions about the ritual qualities of water, uses Christian processing of traditional Jewish blessings as Eucharistic prayers, etc.

Obviously, there would be no need for the injunction “Your fasts should not be with hypocrites” if there were no Christians (and, apparently, a significant number) who adhered to the fasting practice of “hypocrites” - apparently continuing to follow the very tradition which they kept before their conversion to Christ. It is on her that the fire of Christian criticism is directed.

long awaited rain

Obligatory fasting day for the Jews in the 1st c. AD was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Four one-day fasts were added to it in remembrance national tragedies: the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (10 Tevet), the conquest of Jerusalem (17 Tammuz), the destruction of the Temple (9 Av) and the murder of Godaliah (3 Tishri). In the event of severe disasters - drought, the threat of crop failure, epidemics of deadly diseases, locust invasions, the threat of a military attack, etc. - special periods of fasting could be declared. At the same time, there were also voluntary fasts, which were considered as a matter of personal piety. The weekly fast of Monday and Thursday arose as a result of the combination of the last two categories.

Basic information about Jewish fasts is found in the Talmudic treatise Taanit (Fasting). Among other things, it describes one of the worst natural disasters for Palestine - drought. In the autumn, in the month of Marcheshvan (the beginning of the rainy season in Israel, October - November according to our solar calendar), a special fast was appointed to give rain: “If it doesn’t rain, some people begin to fast, and three fasts are fasted: on Monday, Thursday and the next Monday". If the situation did not change, then exactly the same fasting pattern was prescribed for the next two months of Kislev and Tebet (November - January), but now all Israelis had to observe it. Finally, if the drought continued, the strictness of the fast increased: over the next seven Mondays and Thursdays, "trade, construction and planting, the number of betrothals and marriages were reduced, and they did not greet each other - like people who were angry with the Omnipresent."

A model of piety

The Talmud says that the "individuals" mentioned at the beginning of these prescriptions are rabbis and scribes ("those who can be made leaders of the community"), or special ascetics and prayer books, whose lives were considered especially pleasing to God.

Some pious rabbis continued to observe the custom of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the year, regardless of the weather. This widespread custom is even mentioned in the Gospel, where in the parable of the publican and the Pharisee, the latter puts forward such a two-day fast as one of his distinguishing features from the rest of the people: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this publican: I fast twice a week ... "(). From this prayer it follows that such a fast was not a universally obligatory practice, which is why the Pharisee boasts of it before God.

Although the gospel text does not say what these days are, not only Jewish, but also Christian authors testify that they were exactly Monday and Thursday. For example, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus (+ 403) says that in his time the Pharisees "fasted for two days, on the second and fifth day on the Sabbath."

Two out of seven

Neither Talmudic nor early Christian sources tell us why the two weekly days of fasting were chosen. In Jewish texts we encounter attempts at later theological justification: the recollection of the ascent of Moses to Sinai on Thursday and the descent on Monday; fasting for the forgiveness of sins that caused the destruction of the Temple and to prevent a similar misfortune in the future; fasting for those who swim in the sea, travel in the desert, for the health of children, pregnant women and nursing mothers, etc.

The inner logic of such a scheme becomes clearer if we look at the distribution of these days within the framework of the Jewish week.

It goes without saying that fasting on Saturday was forbidden, since it was considered a day of joy about the completion of the creation of the world. Gradually, the holiness of Saturday began to be limited from two sides (Friday and Sunday): firstly, so that someone would not accidentally break the Shabbat joy fast without knowing the exact time of its onset and end (it varies depending on the geographical latitude and season); secondly, to separate periods of fasting and joy from each other for at least one day.

The Talmud clearly states this: “They do not fast on the eve of the Sabbath because of the honor due to the Sabbath, and they do not fast on the first day (that is, on Sunday), so as not to abruptly move from rest and joy to work and fasting.”

The Jewish fast of that era was very strict - it lasted either from the moment of awakening until evening, or from evening to evening, so its duration could reach 24 hours. During this time, any food was forbidden, and some refused to drink water. It is clear that two following friend another fast day would be too difficult, as another Talmudic text says: “These fasts ... do not follow each other in a row, every day, because such a prescription is not able to fulfill the majority of society.” Therefore, Monday and Thursday became fast days equidistant from each other, which, together with the Sabbath, were called to the weekly consecration of time.

Gradually, they also acquired liturgical significance, becoming, along with Saturday, the days of public worship: many pious Jews, even if they did not fast, tried to come to the synagogue on these days for a special service, during which the Torah was read and a sermon was delivered.

"We" and "they"

The question of the obligation of the Old Testament heritage was very acute in the early Church: to decide whether pagans accepting Christianity should be circumcised, it even required the convening of an Apostolic Council (). The apostle Paul repeatedly emphasized freedom from the Jewish ceremonial law, warning against false teachers "forbidding the eating of what God has created" (), as well as the dangers of "observing the days, months, times and years" ().

The confrontation with the weekly Jewish fast does not begin in the Didache - perhaps it is already mentioned in the Gospel, when others do not understand why the disciples of Christ do not fast: “why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” (). It can hardly be assumed that we are talking here about one of the obligatory annual Jewish fasts - we see that Christ fulfills the Law, opposing the later ritual rabbinic prescriptions, “the tradition of the elders” (). Therefore, we are talking here, apparently, about these weekly fasts, the observance of which was considered as an important component of a pious life.

The Savior clearly answers this question: “Can the sons of the bridal chamber fast when the bridegroom is with them? As long as the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast, but the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

It is possible that some Palestinian believers understood these words of Christ in such a way that after the Ascension it was time to observe traditional Jewish fasts. Since this tradition was popular among yesterday's Jews, its Christian modification seemed to be a more effective way of fighting. Therefore, not wanting to be inferior in the level of piety, the Christian communities established their weekly fast days: Wednesday and Friday. The Didache tells us nothing about why they were chosen, but the text clearly emphasizes the polemical anti-Jewish component: "hypocrites" fast two days a week, Christians do not abandon this practice, which, obviously, is not bad in itself, but establish their own days, regarded as characteristic and distinguishing feature Christianity versus Judaism.

In Christianity, Sunday becomes the highest point of the weekly cycle, so its internal structure naturally changes as well. On Sunday, as on Saturday, the early Church did not fast. Excluding the Jewish fast days, there were two possibilities: "Tuesday and Friday" or "Wednesday and Friday." Probably, in order to further separate themselves from the "hypocrites", the Christians not only moved both fasts forward by one day, but the first of them was shifted by two days.

Theology of tradition

Any tradition sooner or later requires a theological interpretation, especially if its origins are forgotten over the years. In the Didache, the fasting of Wednesday and Friday is justified exclusively within the framework of the opposition of “our” and “their” fasts. However, this interpretation, relevant and understandable to Christians living in the Jewish environment of the 1st century, required rethinking over time. We do not know when this process of reflection began, but we have the first evidence of its completion in early III v. The Syrian Didascalia puts into the mouth of the risen Christ addressing the apostles the following words: “Therefore, do not fast according to the custom former people, but according to the Covenant that I made with you… You must fast for them (i.e. for the Jews) on Wednesday, for on that day they began to destroy their souls and decided to seize Me… And again you must fast for them on Friday for on that day they crucified me."

This monument originated in the same geographical area, as the Didache, but a century later the theological perspective changes: Christians living next to the Jews fast “for them” weekly (obviously, combining fasting with a prayer for their conversion to Christ). As a motive for fasting, two sins are named: betrayal and the crucifixion of Christ. Where such contact was not so close, only the themes of the betrayal of Christ by Judas and Death on the Cross gradually crystallize. The traditional interpretation, which today can be found in any textbook of the Law of God, we meet in the “Apostolic Decrees” (4th century): “On Wednesday and Friday, He commanded us to fast - on that one, because He was then betrayed, because then He suffered.”

Church on duty

Tertullian († after 220) in his work "On Fasting" designates Wednesday and Friday with the Latin term "statio", literally meaning "military guard post". Such terminology is understandable throughout the theology of this North African author, who repeatedly describes Christianity in military terms, calling the believers "the army of Christ" (militia Christi). He says that this fast was an exclusively voluntary affair, lasted until 9 o'clock in the afternoon (until 15 o'clock according to our time), and special services took place on these days.

The choice of 9 o'clock is deeply justified from a theological point of view - this is the time of the death of the Savior on the Cross (), therefore, it was it that was considered as the most appropriate for the end of the fast. But if now our fasts are of a qualitative nature, that is, they consist in abstaining from one or another type of food, the fast of the Ancient Church was quantitative: believers completely refused food and even water. In the description of the martyrdom of the Spanish bishop Fructuosus († 259 in Tarragona), we find the following detail: “When some, out of brotherly love, offered him to take a cup of wine mixed with herbs for bodily relief, he said: “The hour of ending the fast has not yet come” ... For It was Friday, and he strove joyfully and confidently to complete the statio with the martyrs and prophets in the paradise that the Lord had prepared for them.

Indeed, in this perspective, fasting Christians were likened to soldiers on a combat post, who also did not eat anything, devoting all their strength and attention to the performance of their service. Tertullian uses Old Testament military stories (), saying that these days are a period of special intense spiritual struggle, when true warriors, of course, do not eat anything. We also meet with him a “military” perception of prayer, which in the Christian tradition has always been inextricably linked with fasting: “Prayer is the fortress of faith, our weapon against the enemy who besieges us from all sides.”

It is important that this fast was not only a personal affair of the believer, but included a diaconal component: that meal (breakfast and lunch) that believers did not eat on a fast day was brought to the church meeting by the primate, and he distributed these products among the needy poor, widows and orphans.

Tertullian says that "the statio must be terminated by the acceptance of the Body of Christ", that is, either by the celebration of the Eucharist, or by the communion of the Gifts, which believers in ancient times kept at home for daily communion. Therefore, Wednesday and Friday gradually become special liturgical days, as testified, for example, by St. Basil the Great, saying that in his time in Cappadocia there was a custom to take communion four times a week: on Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, i.e. obviously to celebrate the Eucharist on these days. Although in other areas there was another practice of non-Eucharistic meetings, about which Eusebius of Caesarea (+ 339) speaks: “In Alexandria, on Wednesday and Friday, the Scriptures are read and the teachers interpret it, and here everything that relates to the meeting takes place, with the exception of the offering Secret."

From voluntary to mandatory

In the Didache we do not find any indication of whether fasting Wednesday and Friday was at that time obligatory for all believers or a voluntary pious custom observed by only a few Christians.

We have seen that the fasting of the Pharisees was a personal choice of the individual, and probably the same attitude prevailed in the early Church. Thus, in North Africa, Tertullian says that "you can observe it (fasting) at your own discretion." Moreover, the Montanist heretics were accused of making it obligatory.

However, gradually, primarily in the East, the degree of obligation of this custom gradually begins to increase. In the “Canons of Hippolytus” (4th century) we read the following injunction about fasting: “The fasts include Wednesday, Friday and Forty. Whoever also observes other days will receive a reward. Who, with the exception of illness or need, deviates from them, transgresses the rule and opposes God, who fasted for us. The last point in this process was put by the "Apostolic Rules" (late IV - early V century):

“If a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or a subdeacon, or a reader, or a singer, does not fast on Holy Fortecost before Easter, or on Wednesday, or on Friday, except for the impediment of bodily weakness, let him be deposed, but if a layman: let him be excommunicated ".

From the words of St. Epiphanius of Cyprus shows that Wednesday and Friday fasting was not observed during Pentecost, as contrary to the festive nature of these days: “Throughout the year, fasting is observed in the holy catholic Church, namely on Wednesday and Friday until the ninth hour, with the exception of only the whole of Pentecost, during which neither kneeling nor fasting is prescribed. However, monastic practice gradually changed this tradition, leaving only a few "solid" weeks during the year.

So, the long process of the reception of Jewish practice and its transformation into a new Christian tradition ended with a theological reflection and, finally, with the canonization of Wednesday and Friday.

Means or purpose?

Looking at the fast of Wednesday and Friday in today's church life, the words of St. Ephraim the Syrian: “It is necessary for a Christian to fast in order to clarify the mind, to arouse and develop feelings, to move the will to good activity. We overshadow and suppress these three abilities of a person most of all by overeating, drunkenness and worldly cares, and through this we fall away from the source of life - God and fall into decay and vanity, perverting and defiling the image of God in ourselves.

Indeed, on Wednesday and Friday you can eat lenten potatoes, get drunk on lean vodka and once again spend the whole evening in front of lenten TV - after all, our Typicon does not prohibit any of this! Formally, the prescriptions of the fast will be fulfilled, but its purpose will not be achieved.

Remembrance in Christianity is not a sheet of a calendar with a particular anniversary, but involvement in the events of sacred history that God once created and which should be updated in our lives.

Every seven days we are offered a deep theological scheme for the consecration of everyday life, leading us to the highest point of sacred history - the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.

And if they are not reflected in our souls, in our "small Churches" - families, in our relationships with others, then there is no fundamental difference between us, who do not eat "non-kosher" meat and dairy products on Wednesday and Friday, and those who eat a lot centuries ago, in distant Palestine, he spent every Monday and Thursday in complete abstinence from food.

Everyone knows that our ancestors adhered to traditions and considered every Lenten day a joy. This time was special. Historically, fasting is a restriction of a religious person in something for the purpose of repentance. Some Christians use the metaphor "spring of the soul". It characterizes the inner state of a person who has set a goal to sacrifice himself to God. The Lord showed believers an example when he stayed in the wilderness for 40 days and did not eat anything. Spring in nature means awakening, new life Likewise, fasting is a time for self-examination, self-improvement, and prayer. Some people can independently, without external help, look for flaws, shortcomings, and correct them.

In Christianity, this is given a special time, called fasting days. During periods of fasting, active spiritual work is done, passions are eradicated, the soul is cleansed. To do this, it is necessary to go to the temple often, pray in the morning and evening, do good deeds, give alms, visit the weak, prisoners, learn humility.

What is a fast day for?

In the practice of Christianity, there are 4 multi-day fasts (the Great Fast takes place in the spring, Assumption and Petrov - in the summer, Christmas - in the winter) and separate fast days - Wednesday and Friday. During long fasts, the first and last weeks are the main ones. At this time, a person needs to be extremely attentive to himself and his loved ones. Important for a fasting person is the internal state, deeds, actions, spoken words.

What should abstinence be?

Many mistakenly believe that you need to limit yourself only in food. Self-control is a very complex action that requires considerable effort. It is to track these changes that the Lord created the state in which a person lives. If a Christian fully observes external conditions, but visits entertainment establishments, looks entertainment programs, behaves unworthily, it can be called an ordinary diet. In this case, the Lord will see the deceit, and spiritual development will not be. It happens the other way around, when a person consumes forbidden foods, but fasts in the shower. An example is a disease of the stomach or intestines, when a strict diet is needed. This desire and perseverance will be appreciated from above.

What to eat and what not

So, now let's figure out what kind of food you can eat in fasting and what not. There is a simple rule about nutrition. It is allowed to eat food of plant origin and it is forbidden to eat animal products.

Forbidden

• food, poultry.
• Fish (but on some days of fasting it is allowed).
• Eggs, as well as the products in which they are included.
• Dairy products, butter, dairy products, sour cream, cheeses.

Allowed

You can eat these foods:

• Vegetables in different form, pickles.
• Fruits, dried fruits, nuts.
• Kashi on the water.
• Legumes, soy products.
• Mushrooms.
• Bread, baked goods.
• Fish (only on permitted days).

During fasting, you need to diversify your diet to the maximum, as the body is used to proteins and fats. You need to eat everything, for example, juices, soy products, sweets, chocolate. In addition to basic ingredients such as vegetables and fruits, it is necessary to introduce a variety of modern products.

Be sure to try eggplant, celery, spinach, broccoli, arugula, chickpeas (from the legume family). Ordinary vegetables from the garden can be cooked in a special way, experimented, add various herbs and seasonings.

For any housewife, preparing a new dish is a special ritual during which a woman plunges into her element. To do this, you can create The Diary and enter each prescription. Fasting days will brighten up communication with loved ones, as a joint meal brings together. Ways of cooking that really turned out great, try to recommend to friends, share experiences. It is important to remember that the body must be supported by those products, which include protein and glucose, fats.

Recipes for every day

The most common ingredients in lean cuisine are vegetables, they are suitable for both side dishes and gourmet dishes. There are a lot of recipes. Let's say from common potato it is easy to make excellent meatballs, as well as a salad or casserole. From boiled vegetables - vinaigrette.

Recently, it has become fashionable to make puree soups. They are very nutritious, quickly and thoroughly digested. This method of cooking will appeal to young children, people of advanced age. The use of this product is not difficult. The recipe is very simple, because all the selected ingredients must first be boiled and then chopped with a blender. Next, the resulting mixture is added to the broth.

Depending on the components, the calorie content and nutritional value of the dish may vary. In some countries, this cooking method is the most common. Here is the recipe for this soup.

Soup puree with potatoes and white bread

To make the dish rich in vitamins and minerals, take parsley, celery and carrots, head onion. Let's wash them under running water, peel, cut into small pieces so that the cooking process takes less time. Put on the stove and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. Now we decant the broth into a separate container and set it aside.

So it's time for the potatoes. We clean it, wash it, divide each tuber into 4 parts and lower it into the broth. We do the same with white bread. Yes, it needs to be cut and boiled together with potatoes.

Then we take some wheat flour. Mix it with vegetable oil and place in a pan with potatoes and bread. Cook until cooked, then decant the broth. You can use a colander to separate the potatoes with bread from the broth.

The cooking process is coming to an end. Grind all the ingredients that were cooked earlier in a blender and send back to our broth. The highlight of the soup will be toasted croutons, which must be fried in advance in a frying pan with butter. If the dish turned out to be thick, it is necessary to dilute it with boiled water.

Diet variety

What else can you eat in fasting, besides vegetables and fruits? Of course, porridge boiled in water. Grains are very useful. In the first place is buckwheat, rich in vitamins and trace elements that can be absorbed by the body in as soon as possible. It can be cooked with fried onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach. The list of cereals is huge, we list some of them:

• rice;
• barley;
• millet;
• wheat;
• barley;
• corn;
• semolina.

Also, cereals can be combined with each other, for example, rice and millet. To make the taste not so bland, add margarine or spread. In the morning with honey and juice, you can eat or chocolate balls. Muesli during fasting days will be an excellent reinforcement during working days. The same can be said about dried fruits, which serve as a snack. In supermarkets, at any time of the year, a lot of frozen vegetable mixes, fruits, and berries are sold. These products make an excellent filling for lean pies, pancakes, dumplings.

Homemade pickles and marinades, compotes and jams will help diversify the diet. Sauerkraut or lecho will be a great addition to pasta, potatoes or buckwheat. Today in stores you can find many products, for example, mayonnaise, cookies, waffles, which are labeled "lean".

In modern Orthodox practice, many priests recommend that parishioners consult with their doctor beforehand. Here are some medical tips that will be helpful. For digestion in the first couple of days, it is better not to use chips, crackers, sweet nuts, carbonated drinks, strong coffee, tea. also in last days Orthodox should not abruptly switch to permitted products. Do not pounce on eggs, Easter cakes and smoked meats. It must be remembered that there is such a sin as gluttony. Sometimes we do not notice how we get pleasure from eating food, we eat with greed even during fasting. You have to control your feelings.

Fast days. Wednesday and Friday

It is known that in each calendar circle, the fasting time falls on different dates. The fast days of 2016 are a special time for the Orthodox. We also noted that Wednesday and Friday are no less important in this regard throughout the year. But there are also weeks without fasting, for example, before Maslenitsa, Maslenitsa itself, Trinity, Svetlaya, Svyatki. You can always look at the calendar of fasting days to get the information you need.

Wednesday became fast in connection with the memory that Judas betrayed Christ on the eve of His real sins people betray the Savior who suffered for us. A fasting Christian remembers this event and laments. To understand the seriousness historical date fast day is observed almost every week. Friday is a fast day, when Christ died for the sins of the world, He was publicly crucified on the cross as a robber. So that believers do not forget about the great event, on Friday it is necessary to especially abstain mentally and bodily. Orthodox fast days are called upon to take care of the spirituality of believers.

important goal

Skillfully and wisely built posts and fasting days. They alternate with idle time. Such a sequence calls us to renew our souls, to strive for repentance, compassion, and mercy. Then again it is allowed to have fun and rejoice. It was this way of life that helped our ancestors to remain in a good mood, to be healthy mentally and physically. Despite the restrictions and the rejection of the usual things, the result will not be long in coming. Harmony is always and in everything - the basis of the right way of life. To all Orthodox on Lenten Day - the most good wishes, strength, patience, joy.

Why is Wednesday considered a fast day along with Friday? After all, the events of the crucifixion of the Savior and the betrayal of Judas are not comparable in scale. Our salvation took place on Golgotha, and Judas' pieces of silver are rather a case of a more particular nature. Wouldn't another way have been found to arrest Christ if Judas had not betrayed him?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

The betrayal of the Divine Teacher by one of the disciples is a grave sin. Therefore, fasting on Wednesday not only reminds us of this terrible fall, but also exposes us: with our sins, we again betray the Savior of the world, Who suffered for us. Wednesday and Friday were fast days already in the primordial Church. V Apostolic Canons written (rule 69): “If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or a subdeacon, or a reader, or a singer, does not fast on the holy forty days / forty days / before Easter, or on Wednesday, or on Friday, except for an obstacle from bodily infirmities: let him be cast out. If he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.” Saint Peter of Alexandria (accepted holy martyrdom in 311) Words for Easter says: “Let no one reproach us for observing Wednesday and the heel, on which we are blessedly commanded to fast according to Tradition. On Wednesday, because of the council drawn up by the Jews about the betrayal of the Lord, and on Friday, because He suffered for us. Let's pay attention to the words according to legend, i.e. from the beginning of the Church.

Any post is a kind of complex for the spiritual approach of a person to the divine essence. The ascetic practice of the Orthodox Church created a universal structure of food consumption so that the consciousness could more easily reach the Highest abode.

Fasting on Wednesday and Friday is a means of thinning the gross bodily shell through abstinence from food and sexual intercourse. Such a spiritual change allows one to move to the highest levels of communion with the Holy Spirit through repentance, mercy and the reading of prayers.

Meaning of fast days

Even before the advent of Christianity, people observed a two-day food abstinence. The Enlighteners clearly understood that it was impossible to eradicate a habit from the minds of those who had just accepted a new faith. Therefore, the Church agreed to modify the old traditions and introduce them into the Orthodox faith.

This ancient practice is already mentioned in the New Testament and in the early Christian manuscript of the Didache.

• These fasting days of the week in Orthodoxy were timed to coincide with the tragic moments in the history of Christianity. Believers who abstain from food and sexual relations pay tribute to the episode when the Son of God was betrayed by the disciple Judas, sentenced to martyrdom and crucified on the cross.
• Mourning is not unique. Fast days have absorbed the principles of year-round protection of the consciousness of a person immersed in the Orthodox faith. This is how a Christian shows God that he has not lost his mindfulness, strictly observes the principles of the Church and is always ready to fight against unclean creatures.
• The constant practice of fasting strengthens the physical shell, increases tone and drives away weak, baseless thoughts from the mind. Such abstinence is often compared to training the body, as a result of which it becomes stronger, stronger and more resilient.

Important! Any fast on Wednesday and Friday will become empty and useless if the Orthodox does not cultivate the basic virtues in himself through abstinence. The main purpose of the practice is the desire to love the Heavenly Father and all his children.

lean food

The practice of dry eating

The Orthodox believer is required to observe fasting every third and fifth day of the week, refusing eggs, meat products, fish and milk. Such abstinence, lasting 24 hours, involves dry eating - food (nuts, various fruits) prepared by the cold method.

The degree of severity is determined by the spiritual superior or personally by the person. However, when compiling a lean diet, it is necessary to take into account lifestyle and general state believer's health.

The priests do not have a single opinion on this matter. The clergy take one of two positions:

• Strict fasting is characterized by the use of bread, dried, raw vegetables without the use of vegetable oil. Only berry juices and water are suitable for drinking, wine is strictly prohibited.
• A less strict option allows you to eat baked food. Here, believers can drink instant teas and coffee.

On a note! In the chronicle "Didachy" there is no accentuated indication of whether fasting days are obligatory in Orthodoxy or whether they are a personal choice of everyone. The Pharisees and Romans in ancient times observed food abstinence at their own discretion. On a note! On Lenten Wednesday and Friday, fish is allowed for those who, for health reasons, cannot endure a strict fast without the use of animal proteins.

Orthodox Church determined weekly fasting days to improve the physical and spiritual condition of the laity. Through the practice of abstinence, a person becomes purer and approaches the realization of the power of the Creator. Fasting in the world is a voluntary matter for everyone, and does not carry mandatory principles.

Watch the video about posts on Wednesday and Friday