The Apostles Fast is one of the four Canonical Fasting Seasons in the Church year. Like the Nativity fast, the Apostles fast is more lenient. The length of the fast varies from year to year, depending on the date of Pascha and the ensuing 40 day celebration of the resurrection. The Church does not abbreviate the 40 day celebration. The fast can be as short as 0 days, if Pascha falls on May 3 or later, or it can be as long as 29 days, if Pascha falls between April 4 and May 2. When Pascha is later in the year, the fast is shorter. When Pascha is earlier, the fast is longer. We observe the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine and oil) during the fast, which lasts from the Monday following All Saints Sunday through June 28th. Generally speaking, there is dispensation for wine and oil on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for fish, wine, and oil on Saturdays and Sundays. Here are the guidelines:
Meat |
Dairy |
Fish |
Wine |
Oil |
beef, chicken, pork, turkey, elk, veal, lamb, deer, rabbit, buffalo, and so forth |
milk, eggs, cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, and so forth |
fish with a backbone (not including shrimp, octopus, shellfish, squid, or other seafood. |
(some include all types of alcohol in this category) |
(some include all types of oil in this category) |
Abstain. |
Abstain. |
Permitted |
Permitted |
Permitted |
Abstinence includes refraining from the food and drink mentioned above as well as smoking. The Eucharistic Fast means abstaining from at least the previous midnight for communing at a morning Liturg .
The purpose of fasting is to focus on the things that are above, the Kingdom of God . It is a means of putting on virtue in reality, here and now. Through it we are freed from dependence on worldly things. We fast faithfully and in secret, not judging others, and not holding ourselves up as an example.
• Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.
• We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God's gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.
• We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.
• Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.
• Most of all, we should not devour each other. We ask God to “set a watch and keep the door of our lips.”
• if you are pregnant or nursing a newborn;
• during serious illness;
• without prayer;
• without alms-giving;
• according to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father.