Questions and answers on orthodox fasting for someone who has tried it for three, count 'em three, weeks!

This post was actually composed quite some time ago: before my Chrismation, but I see I never published it. I decided to do so now.

Oh, and someone on the Glory2God blog mentioned The Communion of Love by Matthew the Poor and I discovered that someone has posted the PDF here: http://orthokairos.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/3/1/57311059/the_communion_of_love.pdf.  I plan to read the chapter on fasting! 

Post from probably last fall. 

Having read that "prayer and fasting" is a big part of the Orthodox life, Doc Bubbles always figured that made the whole deal a no-go for her. She may have once done Yom Kippur and been truly and  duly miserable. But it turns out that by fasting they don't actually mean going completely without food. They mean you don't eat certain foods. It's also called "Abstinence. (Gr. Nisteia). A penitential practice consisting of voluntary deprivation of certain foods for religious reasons. In the Orthodox Church, days of abstinence are observed on Wednesdays and Fridays, or during other specific periods, such as the Great Lent (see fasting)" http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8049.  The "certain foods" are primarily all animal foods, so it's basically being vegan two days a week. Lots of people are vegan around here! So Doc Bubbles has started to try it.


Even though Mr. Crackles is happily chomping on leftover chicken, he is appalled: "I get it: it keeps you going through withdrawal." Hmmm. Actually, Doc Bubbles is surprised that she is not finding the practice all that hard.  Unlike Mr. Crackles, applying the recovery model, she did not lose 50 pounds by making a complete turnaround with her diet. She's always aimed at moderation. Dr. Furhman's "nutritarian" diet, which she had read about and thought made sense, though it seemed impossible. But two days a week: possible. Fasting for health isn't really wrong, since the Orthodox view of salvation seems to be deeply connected to the idea of healing: soul, mostly, but body too.  But the main reason for fasting, according to the OCA is not only to avoid certain foods, but also to avoid the control we allow food to have over us. If we can’t discipline ourselves in terms of what goes into our mouths, we will hardly be in a position to discipline ourselves with regard to what comes out of our mouths." Ah, yes, breaking addiction the old fashioned way… .

Another surprising aspect of this discipline is making Doc Bubbles feel connected to the Church, even when she is alone in her house, with her meat eating cat and husband ("you're going to get sick: not enough protein!"--he's eating twice as much to compensate!). But that will be another post: the Communion of the Saints….