In 2021, Lent begins on Monday, March 2 and ends on Saturday, April 18. Fasting is an ascetic practice that consists of abstaining the body from food of animal origin (also from oversaturation and indulgence in lean food) and voluptuousness, and the soul from evil thoughts, deeds and words; a time of deep repentance and sobriety.
Moreover, Lent is important in preparation for Easter, it begins seven weeks before this holiday. By itself, without the Easter context, it loses its meaning. Fasting is not a diet, and abstinence from certain types of food is not an end in itself, but one of the means of spiritual growth that the Church offers us.
A person needs fasting in order to reconcile with his soul, which constantly strives for God and a blissful state. And this is achieved through overcoming a sinful habit that a person has in himself and does not want to part with.
Features of Lent
Lent is the most important and strict fast in the church calendar. Its second name is Pentecost. The first Jewish Christians began to fast, but the duration of this fast lasted no more than 80 hours (40 daytime and 40 nighttime).
With the arrival of the pagans to the faith of Christ, this action began to last 40 days. The number was chosen for a reason. After all, Jesus himself fasted in the desert for 40 days.
The first purpose of fasting was to prepare Christians for baptism. This ritual was performed on Easter. The second purpose of this abstinence is to prepare believers for the celebration of Easter.
In total there are five weeks of Lent and 6 days of Holy Week - the most severe period of fasting. This is 48 days. This period includes 40 days of abstinence, the holidays of Lazarus Saturday and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Week, which tells about the torment of Christ and his death. This abstinence is temporary and does not have a start or end date.
Also read: When can you eat Easter cake and eggs for Easter?
Important! Lent 2021 from March 15th to May 1st.
Lent begins immediately after Maslenitsa and continues until Easter. Only on Sunday morning for Easter can you break your fast. Therefore, Christian believers need to know when Lent 2021 is, what can and cannot be done.
When does Petrov's fast begin and end in 2021?
Peter's fasting (abstinence) is connected by date with the day of the Holy Trinity: it begins on the eighth day after it and always on Monday. Bright Easter Sunday and Trinity are movable holidays, falling on different dates every year. Therefore, the beginning of the Apostolic Fast, unlike its end, is not tied to one date, which is why the duration of the fasting period is different. Depending on when Easter was celebrated in the current year, the duration of summer fasting ranges from 42 to 8 days.
The end of Petrovka is a fixed date, falling on the day before the feast of Peter and Paul. The Christian celebration in honor of the veneration of the holy apostles is celebrated on July 12 (June 29 according to the Julian calendar), the fast always ends on July 11.
In 2021, believers celebrated Easter on May 2, Trinity on June 20. Accordingly, Peter's fast will begin on June 28 and end exactly two weeks (weeks) later - on July 11.
The Importance of Lent
It was not for nothing that they made such a strict and long abstinence, which is a great rarity in the life of believers. Such a post gives a person the opportunity to review his life.
After all, Jesus became part of the human world, went through many trials, and by dying and being reborn he radically changed the world. Therefore, a believer must leave feedback on this action and come to something new and correct.
Prohibitions of Lent
If a person has made a conscious choice and wants to fast for a long time, but has never done so, he needs to consult with his confessor. After all, this is a burden on the body. Together you can determine the degree of possible abstinence.
Here is a list of what not to do during Lent:
- Consume meat and dairy products, eggs, fish.
- Eat seafood (mussels, octopus, squid), which are considered a delicacy. For example, monks in southern countries eat shrimp; this is not considered an excess.
- Drink alcoholic beverages. On some days you can drink wine diluted with water.
- Get married. Fasting places restrictions on marital intimacy. John Chrysostom himself said that not only the eyes and ears, but also the whole body should fast.
- Limiting fun and entertainment.
- You cannot read light literature, watch TV, or have long discussions on social networks.
- Be angry, aggressive, judge, offend others.
- Committing adultery on the side.
- Don't be lazy.
- You can't be discouraged. A person may think that a long period of 48 days without tasty food and entertainment is boring and gray. But it is precisely this kind of abstinence that makes it clear what is empty in our lives, without which we can live calmly.
Days of Lent when you can eat fish:
- Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
- Palm Sunday.
From Monday to Friday (unless there is a holiday) do not consume vegetable oil.
The use of vegetable oils is permissible on such days: the forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Gregory the Double-Speaker. This custom existed in ancient times, because there were olives on the tables (for southern countries this is not a problem), and therefore the presence of oil was considered an excess. For the laity of central Russia, vegetable oil is an ordinary food that can be consumed during Lent.
On Lazarus Saturday (April 11, 2021) you can eat Lenten hot dishes, fish and seafood, and wine.
Complete food restriction on such days:
- first day of fasting; Clean Monday; Good Friday.
In the first week of fasting, on Wednesday and Friday you should eat food that has not been heat-treated. All gastronomic abuses are excluded: spicy, fatty, sour, salty, sweet, fried foods, spices.
Fasting and food restrictions
prot. Alexy Uminsky
What is Lent? How to tune in to it? Why does a post-modern person need the Great? Wikipedia says that fasting is “a religiously determined tradition of abstaining from certain foods and drinks (in whole or of a certain type), associated with other spiritual and ascetic practices.” The definition is essentially correct. The culture of fasting exists not only in Christianity and specifically in Orthodoxy. Fasting is an integral part of many religious systems, this is obvious. Wikipedia, as a reference, gives a general idea of fasting, which, in fact, begins with a certain ritual abstinence from any kind of food. In Old Testament times, before great events, before battles, during periods of deep repentance, before approaching a shrine or hearing the voice of God, people fasted, abstaining from food and marital relations, since the Old Testament prescribed the maintenance of bodily purity during fasting.
What is important, however, is the purpose for which such ritual abstinence occurs. Did fasting become different in meaning, content or form in New Testament times? Of course, a lot has changed, although something has remained the same - something deep, archetypal. Lately, a lot of attention has been paid to the fact that the main thing in fasting is not abstaining from food. As a result, the impression arises that food can be ignored. At the same time, the definition of fasting sounds like abstaining from food first of all, and this is the simplest, most accessible to people, the most obvious. How to fast? There is something missing. Why isn't there something? What's the point of this?
Ascetic teaching tells us that abstinence in food is a fight against gluttony. Many holy fathers write that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in paradise and now we need to fast. I couldn't understand this for a long time. But the holy fathers talk about passions and the fight against them. And St. John Cassian the Roman speaks about the eight main passions. Among them, he does not call pride the first; pride is the eighth, the last. The first among passions is gluttony.
What is terrible, super-sinful in gluttony, when there are, as it seems, much more dangerous and serious sins, when fatal passions are raging in the world? The man ate to his heart's content, what's wrong with that? Why is this a passion that leads a person to destruction? For a long time I could not understand. And at some point I realized that the word “gluttony” does not just mean the pleasure of a tasty, hearty meal, being filled beyond measure, but gluttony is the passion of devouring. And devouring is a property of hell. Hell devours, this is such a hellish property - to devour everything and leave nothing, to bite into and devour. Thus, gluttony does not simply mean a person's love for tasty food.
Further, the Monk John Cassian the Roman lists the passions in this order: the second is fornication, the third is the love of money, followed by anger, sadness and despondency. Each new passion grows from the previous one, they are interconnected like links in one chain. Because fornication is also real devouring - to consume, to use another for one’s own purposes. And the love of money is a type of devouring, acquiring. A person who indulges in anger destroys and incinerates everything around him. These hellish qualities come from gluttony.
We now live in a consumer society. Another way to put it is: we live in a society of gluttony. Because its characteristic feature is the constant feeling that I am missing something, and I don’t always need something, I need to constantly buy, acquire, and devour something with my eyes. When a person falls ill with this passion, then he begins to treat the world as a consumer, and hell is born in his soul.
As Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “Comrade Lenin, the hellish work will be done and is already being done.” And indeed it is. Accustoming a person to be a devouring machine is the desire of the modern world. Human nature, damaged by sin, gravitates towards such a position in life - to devour everything around itself. In the family one devours the other, at work the same thing happens, and in society a person becomes such a devourer. The world exists to be devoured. Such a person looks at where something can be grabbed, snatched, appropriated. “I”, “me”, “mine” - these are the devourer’s favorite words. This property of hell is born in the human soul, and it lives in each of us. We come to Church, and even here we look at what we could eat.
Let us remember the Gospel parable about those invited to the wedding feast (Matthew 22:1–14). What does it mean in this case for a person not wearing wedding clothes? The fact is that in the Ancient East, feast managers prepared special outfits for guests and each invitee received light and joyful clothes as a gift from the bride and groom as a sign of his participation in the general celebration. But then someone came who did not need these wedding clothes at all. He was not at all interested in the bride and groom, he did not need their joy, he only wanted to eat and drink sweetly, and snatch something for himself.
But here is another image, much more terrible, because in this case we are not dealing with a parable, not with an allegory, but with an event that actually happened. These are Ananias and Sapphira in the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 5:1-10), who sell their property and bring a donation to the Christian community. Then, as we read in Acts, Christians had everything in common, no one considered anything theirs, everything that Christians brought to the feet of the apostles, they distributed to others according to their needs. Christians not only sacrificed their property, but also sacrificed themselves. The property of heaven, in contrast to the properties of hell, is to share all the time, to give all the time, to open up, to sacrifice oneself. This is a sign of the Church, the Kingdom of Heaven, and heavenly life. And so it was in the first Christian communities - no one considered anything theirs. But Ananias and Sapphira planned to give part of their property to the Church, and to hide part, although they were free to give or not give, to give exactly what they wanted to give. Having brought some, they pretended that they had given everything. For what? To seem like you belong. They wanted to use everything that others had, but also keep something else that belonged only to them. It turns out that the couple tried to acquire something for themselves where there is love, trust and openness. This is the darkness of the soul, a consequence of the damage to human nature inherent in each of us.
If we want to somehow overcome this property of hell - devouring - in ourselves, then we must start with the simplest thing, namely abstaining from food. If you look at it this way, then restrictions on food take on a deep spiritual meaning - we are not fighting food, we are not rejecting it as such, but we want to destroy in ourselves this craving for devouring, for everything that we see around us. , somehow assign.
The original, ancient, deep meaning of fasting is, of course, bodily abstinence, food restriction. Because the whole chain of passions that the holy fathers talk about begins with gluttony. It may seem somewhat schematic, but we are called to cultivate in ourselves a different attitude towards the material world, not the one that Esau had, who sold his birthright for the opportunity to fill his belly with the simplest stew (see: Gen. 25:27–24 ), Esau did not care whether the food was tasty or not, elegantly prepared or not. It was important for him to eat, so he easily parted with his birthright.
The next passion is fornication, because whoever looks at a person of the opposite sex with unclean eyes seems to devour him. The next link in the chain is devouring through the love of money. The acquisitive person always lacks something, he constantly needs to acquire something, save something. “What is beyond my control?” - exclaims the stingy knight from A.S.’s little tragedy. Pushkin. And then a person who imagines himself powerful, when faced with something that has not become his property, shows extreme anger. Everything that is not according to his will, desire or opinion causes indignation. That is why we get angry - something does not belong to us, does not obey us, is beyond our control. An angry person cannot be in joy; he is a sad person, living aimlessly, he is constantly overcome by sadness. He is satisfied only with a new acquisition, another moment of devouring. The rest of the time is melancholy and numbness: where is the next object to be devoured?
When Lent begins, it makes sense to seriously think about what we expect from this time? What goals do we set for ourselves? What do we want to get rid of? One of the very important goals of Lent is to free ourselves from the addiction to devouring, which enters us through the simplest sin of gluttony. Therefore, abstinence from food during Lent is spiritually significant and fundamental. This does not mean that only changing your diet should be important. Of course, and we all know this, the most important thing is the spiritual side of fasting. But the material, bodily side of fasting is not so separated from the spiritual as to not attach serious importance to it. And those who understand why, when we fast, we deny ourselves food, understand what we are struggling with, fast strictly.
Fasting strictly is very good. Fasting strictly is right. But don't be proud of your post. My post should not be a burden to anyone. I fast strictly, but at the same time I do not offend a person who does not fast, so for his sake I would rather break something in terms of food. But my desire remains to strictly observe fasting, to be extremely abstinent. A strict fast is a fast during which you are ready to sacrifice yourself, ready to limit yourself. Lent is a time of sacrifice, when we need to go hungry, even if it deprives us of strength.
Already from childhood, one can become accustomed to fasting precisely as a period of internal growth. It seems to me that it is very important that children determine for themselves the measure of fasting at the moment when they are already beginning to be capable of this. Let's say, at five or six years old, a child can already limit himself to something, at least for a short time. It is not necessary to observe the entire fast at an early age, but it is quite possible to spend Holy Week fasting, for example.
This is where you should start. The parents’ task is to explain to their child why one must fast on Passion Day. He may well understand the meaning of the remembered events of Holy Week and, following the adults, want to be close to the crucified Christ. How can you be together with the crucified Christ if you continue to have fun, watch cartoons and eat candy? I think; when a child is raised in the Christian tradition, his parents and he are familiar with the Gospel, and together they come to at least one, the shortest, service of Holy Week - the removal of the Shroud, then the child will feel and experience the suffering of Christ in a way that is accessible to him. And even at an early age, fasting will be meaningful. The experience and impressions gained are remembered, and then the children themselves want to fast.
At different periods of your life you experience fasting differently. In youth it is very good to fast according to the Typikon. When I, as a young man of 22–23 years old, completely free and full of strength, came to Church, tried to strictly observe fasting, I really liked it. Why shouldn’t I then fast according to the Typikon? The Typikon was a great support for me. Through him, many people at one time learned to approach fasting correctly. Then a family appeared and other pressures made it impossible to live exactly according to the Typikon. In youth there is one fast, in marriage - another, in the priesthood - a third, in having many children - a fourth, in old age and illness it is a fifth. You experience Lent differently every time. This is his freedom. You just have to want to fast. When there is a desire to fast, a certain measure of fasting will come, you will feel your measure. Sometimes, when you start to overdo the fast, you get the feeling that you need to loosen it. You give yourself some relief, but then the opposite feeling appears - loss, some kind of annoyance. It is from these internal sensations that your measure of fasting is formed. She can only decide by gaining her own experience.
The typicon is the starting point. For example, we know that for the first three days of Lent there is no food at all. Some can bear it, some cannot. Each person decides for himself what he can and cannot do, what he can do and what he cannot. Honesty to yourself is important here. No more. This is determined only by the person himself before God. You can always take a blessing from the priest for any indulgence. But why? If you don't want to fast, don't fast, if you want to fast, fast. Why take a blessing if you are honest before God? If you cannot fast without eating dairy or even meat, fast with this, but in such a way that you feel that you are fasting. Decide for yourself what you will give up by fasting.
Christ himself fasted for forty days while starving in the desert (Matthew 4:1–2). And when Satan invites the Savior, tempting Him, to turn stones into bread, Christ replies that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). If a person refuses one type of food, simply replacing it with another type of food, then this, of course, is not fasting. For our spiritual state, it is not fundamentally important what food we eat. Why, say, don't we eat meat?
I do not know why. And I think that you don’t need to know this. There is a discipline of Orthodox fasting, which is formulated in this way. You can, of course, turn to the Old Testament and remember that initially the Lord blessed man with everything for food except meat. Everything that grows on earth has been blessed by God as food for man. The first chapters of the book of Genesis speak about this (Gen. 1:29; 2:15–16). Man did not eat animal food in paradise. We meet the first blessing of God for eating meat food after the Flood, namely after Noah makes a sacrifice to God and enters into a covenant with Him. Only then does the blessing on eating meat sound for the first time (Gen. 9:1-4). Thus, the Old Testament clearly shows us that living, moving, animate things were never heavenly food and were not originally intended for human food. This is one of the explanations why we do not eat animal foods during Lent. We strive to get closer to heavenly life, to the state of Adam before the Fall.
But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter why we don’t eat meat during Lent. During Lent, you can change your menu in such a way that it will be as satisfying and comfortable as outside Lent. Many people, they are called vegetarians, never eat any animal food and exist quietly and are very happy. You can radically change the kitchen, but you won’t see the point in fasting. The question is not how much, say, powdered egg is in white bread. And how much are you able to abstain? Therefore, I don’t think it makes sense to study in detail the content of any “non-fasting” ingredients in a particular product. It is more important to understand that fasting food should be simple, although not necessarily tasteless. There is no need to specially cook food that is tasteless or spoil food during Lent. It is not right. Sometimes we read stories about the lives of ascetics of piety and there is a story about how a monk mixed all the dishes in one plate, ate it and thus fought gluttony. It seems to me that for an ordinary person this is inapplicable and even strange. The food should be simple, but it cannot be completely monotonous; it is difficult to consciously eat the same thing throughout Lent. Let the food be somewhat varied. It’s better to change your attitude towards food - learn to limit yourself. Everyone knows what is more difficult for them to give up.
Therefore, the question is not so much what foods we eat during fasting, but how we oppress ourselves, how we fight this quality of devouring that lives in us and deprives us of the likeness of God, does not allow us to be like Christ. That's what's important. The question is whether we make our fast a difficult path that we must go through, overcoming something in ourselves.
Notes:
See: Par. 20:1–4; And he. 3:1–10; Joel. 2:12:17; Drive 8:21–23, etc. John Cassian the Roman, colloquially Saint Cassian (c. 360–435) is a Christian monk and theologian, one of the founders of monasticism in Gaul, a prominent theorist of monastic life. Veneration by the Orthodox Church - in non-leap years on February 28. In leap years, February 29. Saint John Cassian the Roman. Review of spiritual warfare // Philokalia. T. 2. Week (Church Slavonic) - week. Typikon (Greek Typikon) (Typik, Charter) is a liturgical book of the Orthodox Church, containing practical guidance for church services, instructions for readings, fasts for monks and laity.
Chapter from the book: “Great Lent. Explanation of meaning, significance, content.” - M.: Nikea, 2021. - 192 p. ISBN 978–5‑91761–657‑5
What can you do during Lent?
It will be important to remind you that there are groups of people for whom food fasting is easier:
- pregnant and lactating women;
- children, teenagers;
- old men;
- sick;
- those who travel;
- are in prison;
- people with physical and mental stress.
Fasting is aimed not so much at limiting a person’s eating habits and having fun, but at understanding and evaluating one’s life, repenting for what was done wrong.
List of things to do during Lent:
- Prayer is the main task of fasting. Saturate your soul with prayers for the forgiveness of sins.
- Be kinder and more lenient towards others (children, parents). Reconsider communication with colleagues. But you need to become tougher on yourself.
- Visit the temple more often.
- Keep a fast (not fanatically, but prudently).
- Free yourself from addictions.
- Do good deeds: take things to an orphanage, become a volunteer, give alms to the poor.
- Manage your time wisely.
- Forgive offenses.
What is prohibited and allowed to be done during Apostolic Lent
The main thing in the fasting period is spiritual abstinence, and food restrictions play a secondary role. It is important to do good deeds, please the Savior, keep yourself in a state of meekness, humility, and love for others.
According to church canons, fervent prayers and reading spiritual books are prescribed. They work just as diligently, after which they always rest. Idle pastime, noisy gatherings, and watching television programs are condemned. It is advisable, if possible, to postpone visiting guests, concerts, and cinemas.
At any time, and especially during Lent, you should not discuss others, conflict with others, or quarrel with household members. We must try to protect ourselves from rumors, gossip, participation in showdowns and scandals.
At the same time, the time of abstinence should not be a burden. We must enjoy life, try to treat people peacefully and respectfully. Even if there were conflicts with someone, it is important to try to find ways to reconciliation, to compromise, because fasting is a period of mercy, peace and cordiality.
In everyday life in Petrovka it was forbidden to borrow money or do handicrafts (“you’ll sew up happiness”). The ban extended to smoking, fortune telling, and gluttony.
Prayers for Lent
Not a single fast is complete without prayer. On such days, you need to understand the whole essence of this ritual and approach its performance with repentance and a pure soul.
Here is a list of prayers that can be read during Lent:
- Ephraim the Syrian's prayer for repentance.
- Lenten chants for worship.
- Akathists can be given on certain dates. This is an Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos and Mother of God, and
- Akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ.
Important!
Akathist - a song of triumph or praise to a specific saint, the Mother of God, or Christ with a request for help. It is performed while standing, with the face directed towards the icon of the one to whom you are praying.
Special services at which it is important to attend the Passion, the canon of St. Andrew of Crete, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This Liturgy takes place without the Eucharist (the sacrament when wine and bread are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord).
During the days of Great Lent, unction takes place - all parishioners are anointed with a mixture of olive oil and wine.
Also read: What you can do on the day of the Ascension of the Lord
During Lent, any prayer is good, especially that which comes from a pure heart, which will pacify the soul, uplift the spirit, give new strength and expand the horizon of knowledge of the life of Christ. During Lent 2021, you need to not only pray, but also know what you can and cannot do.
