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The Apostles’ Fast (This year June 16-29)

In one of his sermons, St. Basil the Great says, “Do not limit fasting to abstaining from food only, for real fasting lies in abstaining from evil acts, and to untie the bonds of injustice (Isaiah 58 :6 ).

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During the fast, you do not eat meat, but unfortunately, you do eat the flesh of your brother. You do not drink wine, but you can’t control your tongue in order not to curse anyone. Despite the fact you spend the whole day without eating anything; yet, you spend your day judging others.

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Thus, fasting is not a religious obligation or rule- it is a spiritual privilege, and a tool for us to control our passions-and thus strengthen our prayers. It is obedience to Christ through His Church.  Therefore if for some reason (e.g. age, illness) we cannot fast from food then let us still fast from sin.  

 

The Fast of the Apostles:

It has existed ever since the apostolic times. The apostles themselves exercised it while ministering the Lord (Acts 13:2). The church, in turn, has observed this fast and preserved it because it is included in her holy tradition and faith

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This fast starts one week after Pentecost. It consists of fasting from all meat and dairy products. 

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We read in the Apostolic Canons: “And you after celebrating Pentecost, feast one week, then start fasting, because it is necessary that we rejoice with the gift granted to us from God (the Holy Spirit), to fast after rejoicing.

This canon recalls the prophets who fasted like Moses and Elijah, and the three-week fast that Daniel the prophet exercised, the fast of Hannah the prophetess, the fast of the inhabitants of Nineveh, of Esther, Judith, and Prophet David. In the manner those people fasted, Christians have to fast. That is why the apostles wrote: “When you fast, ask for your needs from God.”

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After venerating the holy apostles in the First Ecumenical Council (325), for being the teachers of true worship and the pastors of the whole world (oikoumeni), the holy fathers of the council called it “the fast of the Apostles”. They said that, a week after Pentecost, all Christians should abstain from meat, cheese, and all their derivatives all the days that follow that week (except Sat. and Sun.) till June 29 (the feast of the Apostles).

This apostolic decree has been well preserved by the community of St Saba’s monastery, St. John Damascene, St. Theodore the Studite, and other ancient fathers. Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom teach enough of this fast, and ardently adhere to it.

St. John Chrysostom in one of his sermons on the Holy Spirit reminds the Antiochian parishioners of this fast that is attributed to the holy apostles, and urges them to preserve it and observe it too.

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