Fasting

This was last updates 2026.09.18 by Fr. Peter Runyon

What is fasting?

Fasting is when a person modifies their eating habits to support their prayer life. Fasting above all is a tool to help with prayer. Fasting without increased prayer is the fast of the demons, because the demons do not eat at all but they also don’t pray. Fasting should also accompany almsgiving. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the “three legged stool” upon which rests our spiritual life. If you neglect one of the “legs,” you will fall over.

When should I fast?

The Church has rules for fasting and periods of fasting that we observe together throughout the year. Nearly all Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days. We also have four fasting periods throughout the year: Great Lent with Holy Week, the Apostles Fast, the Dormition Fast, and the Nativity fast. These fasting periods are different lengths and vary in their strictness. For example, there are many fish, wine, and oil days during the Nativity fast on the OCA calendar. Fasting during Holy Week is often more strict with Great and Holy Friday being a complete fast (no food or water all day).

We fast together. This is important to remember. We fast together on a schedule as the Body of Christ. We do not go off and do our own special fast. Talk to me before you try a custom personal fast.

We also observe a complete fast, no food or water, prior to receiving the Eucharist. This fasting is again to support our prayer, and our prayer is to prepare us to receive Christ in the Eucharist. In some cases, a person cannot completely fast prior to Communion. If you cannot do that due to health or other reasons, please talk to me and we will see what you can do.

How do I fast?

The church’s rules are that the faithful abstain from animal byproducts, wine, and oil during most fasting periods. On strict fasting days, we abstain from all food and drink from midnight until Vespers. There is some strong evidence that the Church abstained from wine and oil because they were stored in animal skins (oil was stored in clay jars for long term storage and in skins for every day use). The wine and oil would have some animal byproduct in them, so injecting wine and oil would break the fast. Some traditions do not see beer as being in the same category as wine, and so they drink beer on days where wine and oil are not permitted.

The spiritual goal of abstaining from wine during fasting periods is again to support our prayer. It is more difficult to focus our prayers after drinking when the mind is clouded. We also are more susceptible to temptation when we’ve had too much to drink.

However, one’s fasting rule is based on several conditions including health, age, and finances. Not everyone can abstain from animal byproducts for an extended period. The faithful should talk to their parish priest, spiritual father, or spiritual mother to get a fasting rule. This fasting rule will be for that person alone. Do not follow another person’s fasting rule or make up your own. A person can just follow the fasting guidelines of the Church, but any variation of that should be discussed with your priest.

Why do we fast?

The simple answer is that we were commanded to fast. Christ tells us in the Gospel according to Matthew, “When you fast…” not “if you fast…” He tells us in the Gospel according to Mark, “But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.” We fast now in hopeful anticipation of His return. When He returns, we will stop fasting entirely and only feast for the rest of eternity.

We also see Christ fasting for 40 days before He began His Earthly ministry. John the Forerunner fasted before he met Christ. Fasting prepares us to pray, and prayer is when we reach out to and work with God.

Fasting also weakens passions of the flesh. Several desert fathers identify the stomach as the source of all sinful passions. By fasting, we weaken those passions and make room for prayer.

How do we fast?

As mentioned before, the Church offers us guidelines for fasting. We fast when we abstain form certain foods and other things that distract us from prayer. It is the practice of many Orthodox Christians to give up something they are attached to during fasting periods. For example, a person might give up social media, video games, certain TV shows, or other worldly pleasure. They might give up a food that fits into the Church’s fasting guidelines and technically be “okay,”  but they give is up to make room for Christ in prayer.

How do I know if I am fasting correctly?

One could lean on the fasting guidelines of the Church and say, “Well, I am abstaining from the foods I should abstain from, so I must be fasting correctly.” But just abstaining from animal byproducts isn’t true fasting.

Fasting is when we are intentionally physically hungry. It is when our bodies want something and we don’t give it to them. We turn our worldly desires and hunger into spiritual hunger. We are hungry for food but we feed our soul with prayer. Christ tells us in the Gospel of John that, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” We are Christians and we follow Christ. We desire to follow His example and live a life like His. Our food is to do the will of God and to cooperate with the the work of salvation that the Christ has begun in us.

We know we are fasting when we feel hunger for something and continually say “no” to it. Instead of feeding our hunger for food and Earthly things, we feed our hunger with prayer and spiritual things.

The Church teaches that humanity fell into sin through eating, and God by His providence has given us fasting as a tool to escape from sin. So fasting is a way of doing the very opposite of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden.

But when I fast according to the guidelines of the Church, I gain a lot of weight. What do I do?

We are tempted to eat more food when we know we are being deprived of other foods. We may do it without even knowing it. There are many “fasting friendly” foods available today that can help a person gain weight. A person can eat an entire bag of “fast friendly” chips and not be fasting. But if we fast correctly and go hungry, then we won’t gain weight. If a person gains weight while fasting, you aren’t fasting correctly.