I have recently moved into a more regular observance of church disciplines. The message from various quarters seems to be that we should do fasting during the season of Advent. I'd like to but does anyone here have more information about that?
What information are you looking for? Specifically how to fast? I intend to abstain from eating from sunrise to sunset. Is the historic approach more austere? Did they abstain from eating entirely?
yeah,I too intend to make an effort. It's all about minimizing the fleshy needs and trying to magnify God in your life, I get that, and nevertheless a month of full-on fasting is too high a step for me at present. Some patterns or devotionals from our divines would give me the jolt I need.
I'm learning in this forum. The only season of fasting I was aware of is Lent, as well as Fridays for some kind of abstinence. Looking forward to hear more
Great question. I've wondered this myself. I'm hoping others will add to this thread. I'm unable to fast for extended times due to medical related issues and the need to eat with medication. I do abstain on Fridays.
i've always wondered... is there a spiritual mystery in fasting? does the deprivation of the body create a spiritual reality?
When I was Orthodox, the fasting period was 40 days for the Nativity Fast, yet I always felt this was the result of monastic influence and overly strict; the earlier fasting period in Constantinople was only seven days (the week of Christmas): "...unlike the Lenten fast, which was soon regulated by the Church in terms of its severity and duration, the Advent fast's severity and duration were for many centuries governed by local custom and tradition. It was not until 1166 that a church council meeting in Constantinople fixed the length of the fast at forty days. However, the famous Canonist and Patriarch, Theodore Balsamon of the Great Church of Constantinople (1185-1204), noted in interpreting this council that only monastics were obligated to keep the forty days and that lay people might shorten it to only seven days." http://www.acrod.org/readingroom/spirituallife/7161 The fasting rules listed in Vernon Staley's The Catholic Religion (1893) do not mention any specific Nativity fast: https://archive.org/details/catholicreligio00staluoft nor does Archibald Campbell Knowles' The Practice of Religion (1908): https://archive.org/details/practiceofreligi00know It would seem that there is no specifically Anglican fasting rule for the Nativity, other than the normal Friday fast, unless Christmas falls on a Friday. It seems that the Roman Catholics have a Christmas Vigil fast, and according to Wikipedia: "From the 4th century the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as in Lent (commencing in some localities on 11 November; this being the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, the fast became known as "St. Martin's Lent", "St. Martin's Fast" or the "forty days of St. Martin"). The feast day was in many countries a time of frolic and heavy eating, since the 40-day fast began the next day. In the Anglican and Lutheran churches this fasting rule was later relaxed. The Roman Catholic Church later abolished the precept of fasting (at an unknown date at the latest in 1917), later, but kept Advent as a season of penitence. In addition to fasting, dancing and similar festivities were forbidden in these traditions. On Rose Sunday, relaxation of the fast was permitted. Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches still hold the tradition of fasting for 40 days before Christmas." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent#Fasting