The first universal precept is that of fasting. The Orthodox teaching
concerning fasting is different from the Roman Catholic doctrine and it
is essential to understand it. Roman Catholics identify =fasting= with
a "good deed," see in it a sacrifice which earns us a "merit." "What
shall I give up for Lent?"--this question is very typical of such an
attitude toward fasting. Fasting thus is a formal obligation, an act of
obedience to the Church, and its value comes precisely from obedience.
The Orthodox idea of fasting is first of all that of an =ascetical
effort=. It is the effort to subdue the physical, the fleshly man to
the spiritual one, the "natural" to the "supernatural." Limitations in
food are =instrumental=; they are not ends in themselves. Fasting thus
is but a means of reaching a spiritual goal and, therefore, an integral
part of a wide spiritual effort. Fasting, in the Orthodox understanding,
includes more than abstinence from certain types of food. It implies
prayer, silence, an internal disposition of mind, an attempt to be
charitable, kind, and--in one word--=spiritual=. "Brethren, while
fasting bodily, let us also fast spiritually...."
And because of this the Orthodox doctrine of fasting excludes the
evaluation of fasting in terms of a "maximum" or "minimum." Every one
must find =his= maximum, weigh his conscience and find in it his
"pattern of fasting." But this pattern must necessarily include the
spiritual as well as the "bodily" elements. The Typicon and the canons
of the Church give the description of an ideal fast: no dairy products,
total abstinence on certain days. "He that is able to receive it, let
him receive it" (Matt. 19:12). But, whatever is our measure--our fasting
must be a total effort of our total being.
According to the rules of the Church the fast cannot be broken for
the entire Lenten period of forty days: Saturdays and Sundays are no
exception.