Lenten Fasting Regulations 2002
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Fathers and Faithful:
We must realize that without fasting, there is no Lent! To that end, the
Fathers of the Church established in ancient times through their collective
experience the guidelines for Lenten Fasting. Essentially, the rule of the
Church for Lent is to "Strict Fast" -abstaining from meat and dairy
products from the First Monday of Lent until Pascha. This time includes both
Saturdays and Sundays, which in the Orthodox reckoning are considered apart of
Lent, unlike the reckoning of the Western Churches. To those who are able, we
wholeheartedly recommend that they partake of this practice as much as they are
able.
On the other hand, the Fathers of the Church have also put forth that alight
and steady rule that is kept is preferable to a difficult one that is soon
broken and forgotten. With the realization that not everyone is able to strict
fast for the whole of Lent, I am setting forth the following lighter rule for
those who are unable for whatever reason to keep the maximum regulation of the
Church. This rule is intended as a guide that one can follow and still be able
to say that he or she is keeping the spirit of Lent.
Monday, March 18, the first day of Lent, is a day of strict fast, and both
meat and dairy products are to be excluded from one's diet. All the Wednesdays
and Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat, as is Holy Week April 29
-May 4.
Good Friday, May 3 and Holy Saturday, May 4 are days of strict fast, and
both meat and dairy products are to be excluded from one's diet.
It is hoped that everyone will examine his or her conscience and lifestyle,
and fast in a way that will be spiritually beneficial without passing judgment
on the fasting of another. We must recall the words of St. Paul to the Romans:
"He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks, and he who
does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For none of
us lives to himselj; and no one dies to himself For if we live, we live to the
Lord,. and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we
are the Lord's. (Romans 14:6-8)
With my Archpastoral prayer that all ofus will use the Lenten Season of
fasting and prayer wisely to renew our life in the Lord and give thanks to Him,
I remain
Most sincerely
yours in Christ,
+METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS
This Archpastoral Letter is to be read
together with the Lenten Pastoral Letter in lieu of the sermon in all churches
of the Diocese on Sunday, March 17, 2002
