Fasting

Fasting

Fasting in Orthodox Christianity isn't really about the food itself, it's about what happens inside you when you step back from constantly satisfying your appetites.

When you fast, you're creating an intentional discomfort that makes you more aware of how much you rely on immediate gratification and how little you naturally turn to God throughout the day. That hunger or that craving for food becomes this reminder to pray, to check yourself, to redirect your attention toward something beyond your physical needs.

The Church sets these fasting periods not as arbitrary rules but as a communal rhythm that pulls everyone together in the same struggle, the same intentionality.

You're training yourself in self-control, but more than that, you're acknowledging that you're not just a body that needs to be fed, there's something deeper in you that needs attention.