This post will provide you with the fasting guidelines for the Dormition Fast for this year, according to the general practice of All Saints parish and as approved for publication by Fr. Nicholas Sorensen.

The guidelines in this post are general. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that should be practiced with the oversight and direction of your spiritual father. If you have any specific questions about how the fasting discipline applies to you, you should consult your spiritual father. In the case of All Saints parishioners, your spiritual father is Fr. Nicholas.

The general guidelines for the Dormition Fast are as follows:

WEEKDAYS are Strict Fast Days. On these days we abstain from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, fowl, wine, and oil.

SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS are Wine and Oil Days. On these days the fast is relaxed to permit wine and oil, but we still abstain from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, and fowl.

The one exception to these general rules is that the Great Feast of the Holy Transfiguration of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ (August 6), which always falls during the Dormition Fast, is celebrated as a Fish, Wine, and Oil Day. On this great feastday, the fast is further relaxed to permit fish with backbones, in addition to wine and oil, but we still abstain from meat, dairy, and fowl.

Notes:

1. Meals for the fast should follow the dietary restrictions and be cooked simply. Portions should be smaller than usual.
2. If you have a medical condition that requires you to relax the fasting guidelines, then do so.
3. Generally speaking, children and elderly people are allowed to relax the fast under the guidance of their spiritual father.

This post will provide you with the fasting guidelines for the Apostles’ Fast for this year, according to the general practice of All Saints parish and as approved for publication by Fr. Nicholas Sorensen.

The guidelines in this post are general. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that should be practiced with the oversight and direction of your spiritual father. If you have any specific questions about how the fasting discipline applies to you, you should consult your spiritual father. In the case of All Saints parishioners, your spiritual father is Fr. Nicholas.

The general guidelines for the Apostles’ Fast are as follows:

MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, and FRIDAYS are Strict Fast Days. On these days we abstain from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, fowl, wine, and oil.

TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS are Wine and Oil Days. On these days the fast is relaxed to permit wine and oil, but we still abstain from meat, dairy, fish with backbones, and fowl.

SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS are Fish, Wine, and Oil Days. On these days the fast is further relaxed to permit fish with backbones in addition to wine and oil, but we still abstain from meat, dairy, and fowl.

This year there is one exception to these general rules: Friday, June 4, the feastday of St. Metrophanes, first patriarch of Constantinople. This commemoration is observed as a Wine and Oil Day even thought it falls on a Friday.

Notes:

1. Meals for the fast should follow the dietary restrictions and be cooked simply. Portions should be smaller than usual.
2. If you have a medical condition that requires you to relax the fasting guidelines, then do so.
3. Generally speaking, children and elderly people are allowed to relax the fast under the guidance of their spiritual father.

Because we always have so many new faces in our community, Fr. Nicholas has given me his blessing to post a brief description of the rubrics for the season. These guidelines are intended by our Holy Church to help us experience the joy of this feast and celebrate our Lord’s victory over death and sin more completely!

FASTING – There is a general dispensation from fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays from Pascha through its Leavetaking (this year, May 12) on the Eve of the Feast of the Ascension. Most Orthodox Churches throughout the world observe the Wednesdays and Fridays of the period following Bright Week as days of abstention and refrain from meat and dairy on those days (fish, wine, and oil are allowed); however, the Holy Synod of Antioch has directed that the entire 40-day period be completely fast-free. The Antiochian practice is actually the more ancient rule. So … feast!

KNEELING – We should not kneel or make prostrations in Church or in our private prayers at home from Pascha through Pentecost (this year, May 23).  Kneeling and prostrating are postures of repentance and sorrow for our sins.  The brilliant solemnity of the events that we are celebrating takes precedence over such external manifestations of penitence. For our Lord’s death and resurrection “blot[ted] out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us … nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:14,15) Accordingly, “[t]here is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus …” (Rom. 8:1) For these same reasons, we do not generally kneel on any Sunday of the year as each Sunday is a “mini-Pascha,” commemorating our Lord’s resurrection. We resume kneeling at appropriate times during the “Kneeling Vespers” celebrated after the Divine Liturgy for Holy Pentecost.

PASCHAL HOURS — During Bright Week, our normal prayer rules are altered. The standard Morning and Evening Prayers, the prayers of the Hours, Compline, the Midnight Office, and, according to some traditions, the prayers of thanksgiving after communion, should be replaced with the Paschal Hours. A copy of the Paschal Hours is posted on our website on the “Parish Hall” page (http://www.allsaintsnc.org/about/parish-hall). This office of prayer is brief, beautiful, and full of elements taken from the Paschal services. It is intended that praying the Paschal Hours are to give one a respite from the longer prayers he normally prays, so if one’s normal prayer rule is actually shorter than the Paschal Hours perhaps some adjustments are in order.  (Obviously, speak to Fr. Nicholas about adjustments.)

O HEAVENLY KING — From Pascha until Pentecost, the prayer “O Heavenly King,” wherein we invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit, is not said either in the Church or in our private prayers at home. Before His passion, Jesus taught His disciples that He must leave so that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can come. (John 16:7) The removal of this familiar prayer from the cycle of the services emphasizes the importance of the descent of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Holy Pentecost. “O Heavenly King” will be heard again at the Aposticha of the Festal Great Vespers for Pentecost and thereafter returned to our services and prayers.

Blessed Feast to all!

PASCHAL HOURS

(The following is sung during the entire Bright Week in place of the Hours, Compline, Midnight Office and Morning and Evening Prayers.)

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Amen.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling on death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. (Thrice)

Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us adore the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we praise and glorify; for Thou art our God, and we know no other than Thee; we call on Thy Name. O come all you faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection. For behold, through the Cross joy has come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, let us praise His Resurrection. By enduring the Cross for us He destroyed death by death. (Thrice)

Hypakoe: Forestalling the dawn, the women with Mary came and found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and heard from the Angel: Why seek among the dead, as if He were a man, Him Who lives in everlasting light? Behold the grave-clothes. Run and tell the world that the Lord is risen, and has slain death. For He is the Son of God Who saves mankind.

Kontakion: Though Thou didst descend into the grave, O Immortal One, yet didst Thou destroy the power of hell, and didst rise again as Conqueror, O Christ our God, saying to the myrrhbearing women, Rejoice! And giving peace to Thine Apostles, and offering to the fallen resurrection.

Troparion: In the grave bodily, in hell with the soul as God, in Paradise with the thief, and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit wast Thou Who fillest all things, O Christ the Infinite.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

How life-giving, how much more beautiful than Paradise, and truly more resplendent than any royal palace, proved Thy Tomb, O Christ, the Source of our resurrection.

Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Rejoice! Sacred and divine abode of the Most High. For through thee, O Mother of God, joy is given to those who cry: Blessed art thou among women, O spotless Lady.

Lord, have mercy. (40 times)

More honourable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim; thou who in virginity didst bear God the Word; thee, true Mother of God, we magnify.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling on death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. (Thrice)

Lord, have mercy. (Thrice)

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.  Amen.