What food restrictions should you impose on yourself if you are on vacation during a fast? Do you have to keep a fast if you get sick? Should you ask for the priest’s blessing for relaxations during the fast if you have chronic diseases? Today, when the Orthodox have entered the Dormition Fast, we discussed this matter with Archpriest Alexander Nikolsky, the rector of the Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs in Ramenki, Moscow.
Archpriest Alexander Nikolsky
—Father Alexander, I notice more and more often that people tend to ignore summer fasts. There is Lent, which they try to observe, but the summer fasts seem to pass them by. Do you observe this tendency?
—Attitudes vary. But some people do have this opinion. I think it’s wrong. I have seen many times how by the end of the summer people come home from vacation unhappy because they had great inner temptations within their families. When I asked if they had prayed and observed fasts at that time, they, as a rule, replied that they had skipped prayer and had not observed fasts—they had relaxed. What can I say here? You relaxed, and that’s what you got. You see, you can’t take a vacation from God. So first we worked for God, and then went on vacation to have a respite. People believe that if they are on vacation, they need to “rest themselves to the full”. Prayer and fasting presuppose efforts, but they want to forget about everything, walking, eating and drinking for their pleasure. Of course, God won’t take offense, but the devil can take advantage of it.
—In this situation, is it right to try not to take a vacation during fasting days; or, if that is not possible, slightly slacken the prayer rule and the fasting restrictions?
—Actually, laypeople don’t have very long prayer rules. Fifteen minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening are not Vigils. The source of joy and love is God. You won’t find it anywhere else; you won’t find genuine rest in rissoles or wine. True, it’s a kind of psychological relaxation—on a festive occasion, you can drink a little wine and eat something tasty in moderation. But if you break away from spiritual life, you break away from God. And your passions are sure to flare up and they will not let you rest. Unless a diabetic gets insulin injections and takes medications, he may die. Similarly, we must necessarily take the “pills” of spiritual life regularly, otherwise our inner state will drop to zero. Is it really so hard to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays? True, the Dormition Fast is strict, as is Lent, but it lasts only two weeks. As for the Apostles’ Fast, it can last a month, but last year, for example, it was just eleven days. And fish is allowed during this fast.
You see, it’s very important not to forget about God. As the Apostle Paul says, But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse (1 Cor. 8:8). What brings us closer to God is our attitude towards food and our service to Him. Most of us don’t serve God very zealously. And then we wonder: “Why is everything so bad? What is my fault?” We do not immediately understand that we can live by God. We have a misconception that there is God, His high realm that we want to join, there is the devil, with whom we want no dealings, and there is our separate human life. But there is no life of our own! God created us—we didn’t create ourselves. And it it depends on us whose side we will be on—God’s or the devil’s. When we say that we want to take a break from God, we automatically turn to the devil—there are no other options. Our mistake is that we believe that there is middle ground here. We think that we can live a wonderful life without God, which is impossible by definition. Love comes from God, and joy also comes from God.
—When your parishioners say they are going on vacation and ask for relaxations in fasting, do you give them your blessing?
—My parishioners don’t tell me that. They usually ask for relaxations for health reasons. It is clear that there may be some food relaxations, depending on the treatment, for example. But you can make up for it by prayer, not so much quantitatively as qualitatively, so as not to break away from God. In our parish, there were cases when people prayed at night, read akathists and the Psalter while on vacation.
—In my opinion, earlier, when pilgrims walked from city to city, experiencing various hardships, they could be allowed relaxations. But if you go on a comfortable train or plane, you can hardly call yourself a “traveler” in this sense.
—It’s like the joke in the seminary that to eat sausage on Friday, you have to walk up to the second floor. It is clear that there are cases of force majeure, but you can take with you some fasting food without chemical additives even on a trip.
—A question about surrogates and substitutes arises. It is known that there is fasting sausage, fasting mayonnaise, etc. It seems to me that there is some deception in this.
—I agree. After all, fasting is not about abstaining from animal protein or a gluten-free diet. Fasting is about constricting our belly. Here we should at least formally abstain from this “fasting sausage” too. One day, parishioners offered me rissoles during Lent. As I was eating I couldn’t figure out what it was, even though I knew for sure that it couldn’t be meat. You can’t tell the difference by taste, but it turned out that they were soy. Yes, it’s a kind of deception, while we need to deny ourselves something.
—If one of your family members is against fasting and against the Church, and when you go on vacation together they tell you that you have to change your diet, should you eat non-fasting food to avoid conflicts in the family, or should you stand your ground?
—It depends on the intensity of the conflict. If you’ve been reproached a couple of times, it’s not a tragedy. Your loved ones can get used to it over time. At one time, I was the only believer in my family; I fasted alone and went to church alone. My parents became church-goers when I was already a priest. So I had no problems with it. But if there are terrible quarrels, then maybe it’s better not to provoke them and make concessions somewhere. Of course, arguments should be avoided during vacation. Love is higher, especially since we are not monastics who take the vows—we do not have such strict rules. Or you need to look for opportunities to pray, and then you will be pure before God, because you want to fast, but you cannot.
—Let’s talk about relaxations for health reasons. Once I heard an excellent piece of advice from Fr. Pavel Ostrovsky: If you’ve been prescribed meat on medical grounds, it does not mean that you should cut yourself a large, nice piece and make a delicious roast, but you should eat dry and empty boiled meat—it is your medicine and you get the necessary protein. Or is it better to eat plant products anyway? For many, this is an urgent issue. It seems that we are not quite healthy now and abstinence can sometimes affect our health.
—It happens when there are blood disorders, and then beef is prescribed, not even chicken or pork. Of course, boiled beef is better for your health than fried beef. The latter affects your stomach and liver. Some people are prescribed wine when their blood is not healthy. When a person has a serious illness, it replaces all fasts. Fasting can be observed or not, you can slacken it, but there are no relaxations from illness. St. John Chrysostom said that illness is the best form of fasting. In this situation, you must follow all the doctor’s prescriptions strictly, because many perceive illness as an excuse to eat whatever they please. Sometimes doctors prescribe such a diet that it is better to fast four times a year, rather than follow this diet every day for years.
An acquaintance of mine was prescribed a diet consisting of only fresh cottage cheese without additives and buckwheat porridge. Only two products on the daily basis all year round! How do you like this fasting? In some medical conditions, Orthodox fasts are good for health, because you eat very simple, low–fat and non-spicy food, and your health improves. Sometimes we use illness as a screen for our passions.
—In case of chronic diseases, should I approach the priest for his blessing for relaxations before every fast?
—No, only once unless you feel worse. I have sick parishioners who admit that their health has worsened. There were cases when during Lent they were blessed to eat meat and cottage cheese, if only it would help and improve their condition. Conversely, there are cases when people want to start fasting after feeling better. Food restrictions are not the main thing. The main thing is to serve God. If you’ve become more fervent in prayer during the fast or begun volunteering—that’s what you need. We must be with God. Fasting is a form of service to God, but it is not the only one. And in the broadest sense of the word, fasting from sins is never canceled—it is year-round.
—In any case, most people perceive fasting as dietary restrictions.
—People who are new to the Church or still integrating into Church life, yes. In fact, fasting is a path to God, abstinence from sin, and fulfillment of the commandments of Christ. It’s something you can’t live without, otherwise you’ll die spiritually and eventually physically. It is an essential need of every human being, like water. Otherwise, despondent thoughts will appear and sinful passions will develop that will kill the soul. As the Holy Scriptures say: For him who truly loves God there is no law. If you want to stand above all limitations, be holy.
