Great post is the most rigid and long post, from accepted in Christian churches, and also in some faiths. What you can eat during the Lent is prescribed in the canons of the Fourteen and the pre-Easter Passion Week. These recommendations determine not only the prohibitions in food, but also the behavior of the church flock during this period.
Great post and its rules
Lent is the harbinger of one of the favorite holidays of Christians - Holy Easter. In duration, it is 40 days - that's how much Jesus fasted in the desert. Next to the Pentecostal Passage comes the Holy Week, which symbolizes the last 7 days of Christ's human life. In Orthodoxy, Holy Week joins the Great Post, so it lasts 48 days.
Lent is not simply avoidance of animal and pleasure food (meat, eggs, milk, sweets), otherwise it would be a simple diet. To observe fasting means also the suppression of sinful thoughts, anger, bad habits and carnal desires. In the days of Lent we should pray more, study the sacred books, reflect on the divine. The goal of the post is to improve a person not only physiologically, but morally.
How to eat right in fasting?
And now in more detail.
Preparing for penance austerity is the Pancake week. This week, you can not eat meat, but all other products are allowed. In the 3 rd and 5 th days of the Shrovetide week, one is supposed to fast and eat only once a day.
Due to the fact that Lent falls on a meager period of the end of winter and early spring, the main lenten food is bread, vegetables, mushrooms, pickles, homemade canned fruits and berries, grains, beans, dried fruits, nuts, oranges and apples are also allowed. In the days of Lent you will find the dates when you can eat fish and add sunflower or linseed oil.
People who do not penetrate too deeply into the meaning of ecclesiastical prohibitions often believe that during the fasting period one can eat chocolate and drink coffee. These are truly non-animal products, except for some types of chocolate, which include dry milk and cream. However, lean food should be simple, unpretentious, without any frills and exotic ingredients.
The strictest days of Lent are the 1st and the 7th (Passionate) week. On weekdays of this period, you are supposed to starve, taking food only in the evening, at the weekend 2 meals are allowed. Friday Holy Week is held at full starvation.
On the 1 st, 3 rd and 5 th days of the fasting week, believers eat non-thermally processed food (cheese-making) without sunflower oil. On the 2nd and 4th days, the food is cooked on fire, however, still without oil. In the 6th and 7th days, it is prescribed rawness, but with butter.
Sometimes some relief is allowed: in the 6th and 7th days of Lent you can drink wine - a light grape. The exception is the 6th day of Holy Week, which, like the 5th day, many believers also lead in starvation . It is allowed to eat fish only during the Feasts of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (if it is not the 5th day of Holy Week) and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
In the memory dates of the most revered Orthodox saints, if they fall on the 1st, 2nd and 4th days of the week, you can eat thermally processed food with butter. And if they fall on the 3rd and 5th days - hot food with wine is allowed.
How can one of the fasting days look like:
Despite the fact that the church condemns the violation of Lent, it does not recommend such strict abstinence for children under 14, pregnant, sick, infirm and elderly. In addition, one should not be diligent in observing the strict canons of those who are on the way, the military, as well as people of heavy physical labor. Everyone must feel his own abilities and strength, since Lent should not become the beginning of exhaustion and illness. However, good deeds, reading prayers and spiritual literature are obligatory acts in the days of Lent for a true Christian.