Philip Lent

As Nativity Fast or Christmas Lent called (fasting before Christmas) to the 40-day (six-week) the old Western Advent fasting appropriate Lent as preparation time before Christmas in the Eastern Churches , named after the Apostle Philip , because the day after the Memorial Day on 14th November begins. It corresponds to the four-week Advent in the western churches . The concept of Christmas Lent is more common in the Orthodox churches than that of Advent. In the churches that have adopted the Gregorian calendar (such as the Greek Orthodox Church ), the so-called new calendars , it lasts from November 15th to December 24th, in the churches that hold festivals according to the Julian calendar celebrate (such as the Russian Orthodox Church ), the old calendars , from November 28th to January 6th of the modern calendar (which corresponds to November 15 and December 24 of the Julian calendar). Lent ends on Christmas Day or with the night service on Christmas Eve . It is also said that it ends with the first star of Christmas Eve. The name of Lent is derived from the Apostle's feast day, which the Eastern Churches remember on November 14th and 27th. The Philip fast has been mentioned in church books since the 4th century, in its current form it dates from the 12th century.

Fasting rules

The Orthodox Church still follows the rules of the Church Fathers of the first centuries in its fasting rules , based on the ancient eating habits of the Mediterranean countries. Meat, dairy products and eggs are therefore generally forbidden in the Orthodox churches during Lent. Fish, wine and oil are allowed on Saturdays and Sundays during Philip Lent, and wine and oil are allowed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wine and oil are not allowed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means that the menu on these days consists practically only of vegetables that are cooked or steamed without oil, potatoes and bread, whereby cereals, buckwheat, mushrooms, nuts or legumes are usually of particular importance. Wine and oil are also permitted on these days if a memorial day for an important saint falls on this day. Fish is allowed if the community celebrates its patronage festival on one of these days. The period from 20.-24. December or from 2. – 6. January are stricter - even on Saturdays and Sundays no fish are allowed here. The day before Christmas (Christmas Eve) is a strict fasting day. There is disagreement about how to treat seafood during Lent. Nowadays they are an expensive delicacy, but in antiquity they were of inferior quality. Some traditionally consider seafood on a strict and therefore more frequent level such as oil and wine, while others on a less strict and therefore rarer level such as fish. The question of whether the rules of fasting should be adapted to the needs of today must first be clarified at a large pan-Orthodox council towards which the autocephalous (independent) Orthodox churches are working towards the future.

Special memorial days and Sundays

The following days of remembrance fall during this Lent: Evangelist and Apostle Matthew (November 16 and 29), Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple (November 21 and December 4), Andrew (Apostle) (November 30 and December 13, respectively ) December), Great Martyr Barbara (December 4th and 17th), Saint Nicholas (December 6th and 19th respectively), Saint Spyridon and Hermann of Alaska (December 12th and 25th respectively) and the martyrs Eustratios, Auxentios, Eugen, Mardarios and Orestes (December 13th and 26th, respectively).

During the course of Lent there are also several days of remembrance, on which one remembers the prophets of the Old Testament who foretell the incarnation of God: Obadja (November 19 and December 2), Nahum (December 1 and 14), Habakuk (December 2nd and 15th), Zefanja (December 3rd and 16th), Haggai (December 16th and 29th), Daniel and the three young men Ananias, Azarias and Misael in the furnace (17th and 29th December). 30th of December).

The last two Sundays before Christmas have a special name: the second Sunday before Christmas is the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers , on which the ancestors of Christ up to Adam are remembered. The Sunday before Christmas is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers , on which the 318 Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council of the year 325 AD is commemorated.

The goal and purpose of the fast

By fasting, the believer is duly preparing for a great festival. Fasting should serve to purify body, mind and soul and to concentrate fully on God or the important event. Therefore, Lent is not just a time to give up food, but a time of purification and spiritual maturation. During this time, the believer tries to go to church more often, to go to confession, to communion, to pray the rule of prayer every day or to pray more than usual and to read spiritual literature (Bible, books of saints, etc.). Repentance, prayer, good virtue and abstinence are important. The deeper meaning of Lent is based on improving life by changing one's thoughts, words and deeds for the better.

Fasting and Right Belief

From the beginning, the Orthodox faith was strongly influenced by monasticism and monastic life. Therefore, ascetic elements such as fasting can also be found in Orthodoxy. Fasting has always been an integral part of orthodox religious life - stronger than in the West. Without fasting, as without the daily prayer of the rule of prayer, a major facet of the Orthodox faith would be missing. In the weakening of the fasting rules in the Western Church over the centuries (shortening of the Advent fasting period from six to four weeks, admission of milk, etc.), orthodoxy has been seen to be watered down and thus deviated from the former (uniform) (original) faith . A fact that has led to the fact that the Eastern Churches still see themselves today as keepers of the right faith, i.e. orthodox.

See also

• Marian fasting time

Web links

• Fasting . In: Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon 1894–1896, Volume 6, pp. 593–594 (here page 594).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andrej Lorgus: Orthodoxes Glaubensbuch , Verlag Der Christliche Osten, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-927894-33-8 , p. 185.
2. ↑ Anastasios Kallis: I would have liked to know - 100 questions to an orthodox theologian . Theophano, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-9808184-1-1 , p. 230.
3. ↑ Orthodox Church Calendar 2008 . Monastery of St. Job von Pocaev, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-935217-25-0 , p. 3.
4. ↑ Anastasios Kallis: I would have liked to know - 100 questions to an orthodox theologian . Theophano, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-9808184-1-1 , p. 230, p. 233.
5. Jump up ↑ Joachim Schäfer: Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugen, Mardarius and Orestes. In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. September 4, 2015, accessed March 17, 2017 . 
6. ↑ December 17th: In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. November 8, 2016, accessed March 17, 2017 . 
7. ↑ russische-kirche-l.de ( Memento of the original dated 7 April 2010 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.