Explore the biblical roots of fasting and its place in the Orthodox Church, from the Apostles’ fasting days to the Church’s annual fast
A first answer to the question is that a Christian fasts because Christ Himself fasted (Mt. 4:2), leaving us an example, “that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). He wishes, desires, and commands us to fast. In summary.
Monday and Thursday were optional fasting days for the Jews. The Pharisees, however, observed them: “I fast twice a week,” the Pharisee said in his prayer (Lk. 18:12). The disciples of John the Forerunner observed them too. By contrast, Christ’s disciples did not observe them.
The disciples of the Forerunner asked Christ: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, while Your disciples do not fast?” And Christ answered them: “Can the friends of the Bridegroom mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast too” (Mt. 9:14 to 15). In other words, it was Christ’s will that His faithful begin to fast after His Ascension.
And the Twelve Apostles, for Christ’s sake, established days of fasting. They replaced Monday with Wednesday, and Thursday with Friday. Wednesday, because on that day Judas promised the chief priests that he would help them seize Christ in secret, without the crowd (Lk. 22:2 to 6); and Friday, because on that day He was crucified. They fasted either by abstaining from both food and water all day, or by eating a little bread and drinking a little water in the afternoon, at the hour when Christ breathed His last.
In the course of time, as our Church continued on its way, other fasts were added, such as the fast before Easter, the fast before Christmas, the fast before the Dormition of the Theotokos, and the fast before the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
And we have reached the point where, in our Orthodox Church, half the days of the year are fasting days.
Is that a lot?
Even if every day of the year were a fasting day, we would not “repay” the great sacrifice that the Lord made for us. And as Saint John Climacus says, “Even if we were to endure countless deaths for Christ, we would still not pay off our debt, for the worth of God’s blood is one thing, and the worth of the blood of His servants another, in value, though not in essence” (Step 23, On Pride, §20)
Let us reflect on this.
Next in this series: Why Does Fasting Require Strength?
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