Great Post In 2019: How To Fast

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to Fast: What You Need to Know About Lent in 2019

Lent is a major event for all Christians. If you are unsure of how to fast properly, you should rely on the advice of the clergy.

What is Great Lent

Lent is a kind of cleansing timed to coincide with the Easter holiday. It arose from the custom of fasting before being baptized, which was widespread at the beginning of the development of Christianity. Fasting in 2019 begins on March 11 and ends on April 27.

How to fast

Lent presupposes the purification of both the body and soul of a person. The main idea is to consciously limit oneself in worldly joys for the sake of gaining spiritual experience. And the restrictions are not only related to food.

Food

In Orthodox culture, Great Lent is observed according to the Typikon book. In a nutshell, her nutritional rules are as follows:

• the first two days of fasting, you must completely abstain from food (drinking water is allowed);
• you need to completely abandon meat, dairy, fish and egg products;
• on weekdays, you should also give up vegetable oil;
• on Good Friday (April 26, 2019), you should also starve completely and drink only water.

If the fast was broken (the day was missed or the fast did not start from the beginning), there is no need to despair. It is enough to bring repentance and continue with renewed strength.

The Church allows and even calls for abandoning these dietary restrictions:

• pregnant women;
• sick people;
• travelers;
• workers of heavy physical labor.

If you doubt that you are fasting correctly, talk to your church father.

Fasting meals for children

The Typicon does not stipulate age limits, therefore, according to this book, children should fast along with adults. However, the church understands very well that this is not only almost impossible, but also simply harmful to the child's body, and therefore, children under 14 are allowed to relax. For example, Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko is quite loyal to school nutrition, because a hungry child simply cannot cope with the curriculum. Almost all clergy offer to allow the child vegetable oil and seafood.

If a teenager independently expresses a conscious desire to fast, then the parents' task is to set a good example for him, and not demand the perfect fulfillment of the rules of Great Lent.

It should be borne in mind that for a child's body and psyche, 40 days of food abstinence is difficult and dangerous. Therefore, let it be better for the child to improve spiritually with the help of other "tools" that Great Lent offers - for example, good deeds and helping elders.

Many priests suggest not to deny food to the child during fasting, but to teach him to do useful deeds - this way the idea of Lent will be preserved.

What should or should not be done during Lent

The clergy emphasize that the non-food requirements of fasting must be observed by all Christians. Among the duties of a good Christian is to do good deeds, to help people whenever possible, to pray daily. It is also advisable to visit the Lenten services.

But the following is prohibited:

• cultivate resentment or anger;
• do evil deeds;
• succumb to bad habits (smoking, alcohol). The only exception is the cup of wine on Sundays. But it is better to refuse it for those who suffer from alcoholism.

Matters of marriage are discussed separately. The Church calls to abstain from marital relations. Moreover, marriage is not encouraged during Lent. The sacrament of the wedding is not performed on these days.

Of course, not every person, no matter how decent and kind he may be, will be able to perfectly maintain Great Lent. But the main idea of this tradition is the desire for improvement, the purification of the soul, and not the perfect adherence to the diet and rules of behavior.