Guidelines for the Nativity Fast

AOCNA ^ | Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese

[NRx]

Guidelines for the Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast

(November 15 through December 24)

The Nativity Fast is one of the four Canonical Fasting Seasons in the Church year. This is a joyous fast in anticipation of the Nativity of Christ. That is the reason it is less strict than other fasting periods. The fast is divided into two periods. The 1st period is November 15th through December 19th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, fish, wine, and oil) is observed. There is dispensation given for wine and oil on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Similarly, fish, wine, and oil are permitted on Saturdays and Sundays. The 2nd period is December 20th through 24th when the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, dairy, fish, wine, and oil) is observed. There is dispensation given for wine and oil only on Saturday and Sunday during this period. Here are the guidelines:

Meat	Dairy	Fish	Wine	Oil
beef, chicken, pork, turkey, elk, veal, lamb, deer, rabbit, buffalo, and so forth	milk, eggs, cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, and so forth	fish with a backbone (not including shrimp, octopus, shellfish, squid, or other seafood.	(some include all types of alcohol in this category)	(some include all types of oil in this category)
Abstain.	Abstain.	Permitted only on Saturdays and Sundays before December 20. (some permit fish Tuesdays and Thursdays also)	Permitted only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, & Sundays before December 20.	Permitted only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, & Sundays before December 20.

Abstinence includes refraining from the food and drink mentioned above, as well as from smoking. The Eucharistic Fast means abstaining from at least the previous midnight for communing at a morning Liturgy.

The Purpose of Fasting

The purpose of fasting is to focus on the things that are above, the Kingdom of God. It is a means of putting on virtue in reality, here and now. Through it we are freed from dependence on worldly things. We fast faithfully and in secret, not judging others, and not holding ourselves up as an example.

• Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.
• We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God’s gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.
• We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.
• Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.
• Most of all, we should not devour each other. We ask God to “set a watch and keep the door of our lips.”

Do Not Fast

• between December 25 and January 5 (even on Wednesdays and Fridays);
• if you are pregnant or nursing a newborn;
• during serious illness;
• without prayer;
• without alms-giving;
• according to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father.

[ealgeone]

Why no fasting between Dec 25 and Jan 5?

[faithhopecharity]

its neato that you can drink wine all the time

[NRx]

That’s the 11 (or 12 depending) days of the Christmas Feast. Starting on the Feast of the Nativity (Dec 25) we do not fast for the next 11 days. It’s a time when relatives call on one another, neighbors drop by, Christmas parties are held and in more elegant times balls were held among the well off. Food and tasty treats are kept out for visitors. After the foorty days of fasting... we rejoice in the birth of the Savior. And we eat!

[Don W]

The twelve days of Christmas. Holy days for celebrating the birth of Our Lord.

[NRx]

Wine is occasionally allowed before the 20th of December. After that it’s only permitted if there is a Sunday intervening before Christmas. And of course we drink during the Feast.

[faithhopecharity]

i see.thanks!

[ChicagahAl]

Please allow me some dumb questions.

So, even though it’s a fast, you’re allowed to consume things are not in the excluded categories?

You could eat fruits and vegetables and bread?

And you could consume beverages such as tea and coffee and soft drinks? Sugar, also?

Thanks for your response.

[Biggirl]

Is the Christmas fast done by both Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics?

Thank-you for your response.

[NRx]

Yes. Although a point they did not make is that ideally we are also expected to limit ourselves to one meal per day with a single small snack allowed somewhere on the side. The guidelines are not an exercise in dietary legalism and those with special circumstances can usually get a blessing from the spiritual father/confessor to modify their fast.

[NRx]

As far as I am aware pretty much all of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches have abandoned the traditional guidelines in favor of the current discipline of the Latin (Roman) Rite.

[Zionist Conspirator]

So you're new calendar?

I would expect otherwise of a partisan of the "dark enlightenment."

[NRx]

Hah! I prefer the traditional church calendar. However I am new calendar by necessity. The only Orthodox parishes within reasonable distance from where I live are NC. :-(

Of course the calendar issue is not a matter of doctrine but of church discipline. The Old Calendarist schismatics are wrong on this point.