An Explanation of Byzantine Catholic Penitential Fasting and Abstinence

Penitential Fasting and Abstinence

To fast is to go without eating for a period of time; to abstain means to omit certain foods, generally ones we would otherwise prefer. Both kinds of self-discipline are practiced during the Church's penitential seasons:

• the Great Fast of forty days, leading up to the Great and Holy Week of the Lord's suffering and death
• The Apostles' Fast, from the Monday after All Saints Day to June 28, the eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul
• the Dormition Fast, from August 1 to August 14
• the Nativity Fast, from November 15 to December 24 (also called St. Philip's Fast, since November 14 is the feast of St. Philip)

Penitential fasting and abstinence are different in kind from the Eucharistic fast: they are more rigorous, and can be perceived as a real though temporary hardship. When undertaken in the proper spirit, they can instill self-discipline, perseverance, and a recognition of how dependent we are on God's gifts, and how easily we become disagreeable when we don't immediately get our way. But like the Eucharistic fast, each of the fasting seasons is aimed toward a feast-day which "completes" and ends the fast. 

During the Great Fast 

During the Great Fast, it is traditional to fast until evening on weekdays, and to abstain from meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, and foods cooked with oil, as well as from alcohol and sexual relations. This is called strict abstinence.

(Why do we abstain from these particular things? In doing so, we are imitating the life of paradise, before the fall of Adam and Eve, who refused to abstain appropriately. We make do with simpler things, and discipline ourselves to our needs rather than our desires.)

Even according to the strictest rules of fast, Saturday and Sunday are not observed in the same way as the weekdays of the Great Fast. Two meals may be taken, at midday and in the evening, and wine and oil are allowed. Wine and oil are also permitted on:

• the feast of the second and third findings of the head of John the Baptist (February 24)
• the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (March 9)
• the feast of the Annunciation, together with its prefestive and postfestive days (March 24-26)
• Wednesday and Thursday in the fifth week of the Fast, because of the rigors of the Great Canon
• the patronal feast of a church or monastery

Fish may be eaten on

• The feast of the Annunciation (March 25) is it falls during the Great Fast 
• Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Pascha)

Fasting during Great and Holy Week continues the pattern of the Great Fast. On Holy Saturday, alone among all the Saturdays of the year, foods may not be cooked in oil, since in monasteries, after the celebration of Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, the monks or nuns would remain in church for the reading of the Acts of the Apostles, and each was given some bread and a little dried fruit, together with a cup of wine, to sustain them during the Paschal vigil.

In practice, the Church only requires that the faithful abstain from meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products on the first day of the Great Fast and on Great and Holy Friday, and fast from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during the Great Fast and on Fridays through the year. Guidelines are posted annually for each eparchy; and as with fasting, the faithful are encouraged to keep the tradition more fully if they are able.

source: https://mci.archpitt.org/liturgy/Fasting.html

The Church currently requires the faithful to abstain from meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products on the first day of the Great Fast and on Great and Holy Friday, and to fast from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during the Great Fast and on Fridays throughout the year.

Fasting means going without eating for a period of time, while abstinence means omitting certain foods, generally ones we would otherwise prefer. Both are forms of self-discipline practiced during penitential seasons.

Strict abstinence, observed on weekdays during the Great Fast, involves abstaining from meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, foods cooked with oil, alcohol, and sexual relations.

Undertaken in the proper spirit, penitential fasting can instill self-discipline, perseverance, and a recognition of our dependence on God's gifts.

Abstaining from rich foods is likened to the life of paradise before the Fall, where Adam and Eve did not indulge in their desires but lived with simpler sustenance, highlighting the theme of self-control.

Each of the fasting seasons is ultimately aimed toward a feast-day that “completes” and ends the fast, highlighting the anticipation and celebration of a significant liturgical event.