Calendar of Orthodox Fasts in 2020

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 00:05

Orthodox fasts in 2020 for true believers are a way of bodily and spiritual cleansing, limitation in carnal needs and satisfaction of spiritual ones - communication with God, the ascension of sincere prayers, and participation in church services and commandments. It is no coincidence that the Church compiles an annual calendar by months, indicating all the Feasts.

Some necessary theory

Orthodox fasts in the understanding of ordinary people are nothing more than restrictions on food intake, the exclusion of certain components from the daily diet. This limited approach to considering the important ceremonial in human faith and the daily observance of church traditions allows us to view fasting as a kind of diet on a religious basis.

In 2020, such an interpretation of the essence of fasting in Christianity is very common, although fundamentally wrong.

If you carefully study the Church calendar, and the history of religious beliefs, you can find interesting patterns:

• the first post in the history of mankind was the prohibition against Adam not to eat the fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The violation of the ban by the first person brought trials and troubles on all of humanity;
• fasts are not only long-term, but also one-day, on Wednesdays and Fridays, and these fasting days have a deep ideological justification Wednesday is the day of the betrayal of Judas, and Friday is the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ;
• compliance with one-day restrictions is recommended in any week, except for Continuous Weeks, they are called continuous because fasting is not observed during the week;
• besides Wednesday and Friday in any week, there are three more great Feasts on which they fast - Epiphany Christmas Eve, Exaltation of the Cross, Beheading of John the Baptist;
• there are four long fasts recommended by church traditions and the food calendar in each of them is determined by the days of the week and religious holidays.

In 2020, there are Orthodox fasts observed by true believers, not only for the purpose of limiting bodily temptations. They are also observed in order for a certain number of days to engage in spiritual cleansing, communion with the divine, paying tribute to the great events that established the Orthodox faith for people.

The Orthodox church calendar by month not only indicates the days on which restrictions should be carried out, but also focuses on the permissible indulgences.

The fasting schedule in 2020, distributed monthly, looks like this in the Church Calendar:

Month in 2020	The name of the Orthodox post	Start and end date, 2020
January	Christmas post Epiphany eve Friday and Wednesday - weekly	end date January 6, before Christmas January 18, one day
February	Great post	February 2 (beginning)
March	Great post	within a month
April	Great post	April 18 (end of Lent)
May	Friday and Wednesday - weekly
June	Peter fast (Apostolic)	June 15 (beginning)
July	Petrov post	July 11 (end of Petrov Lent)
August	Assumption Fast	August 14-27
September	Beheading of John the Baptist Exaltation of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord Friday and Wednesday - weekly	September 11 one day September 27 one day
October	Friday and Wednesday - weekly
November	Christmas post	November 28 (beginning of fasting)
December	throughout the month

A characteristic feature is the absence in the schedule of weekly posts in Continuous (Great) Weeks. These weeks imply the absence of restrictions even on the usual Wednesday and Friday - for the people, holidays mean not only spiritual, but also carnal joys.

This proves that Orthodox fasts and significant holidays take into account the close relationship between the physical and the spiritual, and establish invariably joyful associations.

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In 2020, the Church Calendar sets the following dates for the Great Weeks: Christmastide begins from the Nativity of Christ and continues until January 18, until the time of Baptism comes.

The publican and the Pharisee begin on February 10 and end on 16 February. From February 24 to March 1, the merry Pancake Week will start spinning, and Bright Week starts on April 20 and ends on 26.

Trinity Week 2020 for believers will begin on June 8 and end on June 14. These are short periods in which even the austere Church calendar does not contain any mention of the need to observe restrictions on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Multi-day fasting

The Orthodox calendar of fasts in 2020 invariably includes four multi-day dietary restrictions - Petrov, Rozhdestvensky, Veliky and Uspensky.

All of them are devoted to different events, but the prescribed rules are approximately the same:

• exclusion of meat;
• stricter restriction on Wednesdays and Fridays;
• hot food is not allowed on some days;
• there are also holidays in which you can eat fish and drink some wine.

Orthodox fasts can add additional days of severe restrictions - for example, Monday, and on Tuesday and Thursday they allow the use of hot food in the evening.

In 2020, the church is forced to meet believers halfway and allow some steps that were not allowed earlier. For example, if a person does not have time due to work to attend church, they may pray at the workplace.

However, all true believers believe that fasts must be accompanied by attendance at church services, as previously prescribed.

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Briefly, you can describe each of the multi-day fasts in 2020, which are indicated in the Orthodox calendar:

1. Great Lent, or Holy Forty Day, annually changes the date of passage, since it depends on the date of Easter. It begins exactly 40 days before the Bright Resurrection and is dedicated to the 40-day wanderings of the Lord in the wilderness, without food and food, in continuous temptations from the devil. The requirements for ordinary people to observe Great Lent are more humane. But they are mandatory. There is a specific food calendar, a list of prohibitions on certain types of food and a list of what is allowed, but restrictions must be observed not only in food, but also in amusements, empty conversations, carnal pleasures and watching TV.
2. Petrov, or Apostolic Lent, is shorter. It is dedicated to true adherents of the true faith who fasted in order to carry the teachings of Christ to people. It tightens requirements for Wednesdays and Fridays, but fish is allowed on other days. Apostolic fasting is considered a great time to comprehend church commandments and canons.
3. Rozhdestvensky is dedicated to preparing for the great date of the birth of our Lord. The conditions for its passage are similar to Peter's fast, they become tougher only in the last two weeks and end with a hungry Christmas Eve, without food in the morning and until the first star in the night sky.
4. The Assumption Fast is very short, especially when compared with others, many days long - it lasts only 2 weeks and ends on the Day of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos. Hence its common name.

Is it possible to play a wedding in posts

Any fast, like Cheese, Light weeks is considered an unfavorable time for a wedding. This is quite understandable even from an everyday point of view - wedding feasts imply alcoholic drinks, feasts and carnal pleasures of newlyweds, and all this is categorically not recommended for observing any fast.

Big church holidays are also not very good for weddings - there is no ban on weddings, but there is no particular approval either.

On significant holidays, priests have many other responsibilities for conducting special services for many believers, and this should be borne in mind when planning your own celebration.

In 2020, according to folk signs and church traditions, the most favorable weddings will be those concluded in:

• February, if they want complete mutual understanding of harmony in the family, along with inner confidence;
• in June, July and August - the summer months not only guarantee abundance on the table, but also an enviable strength of conjugal bonds;
• in 2020, September and November are considered favorable for weddings, and the December wedding will be crowned with a particularly successful result.

Of course, even in favorable months, you need to choose those days when fasts are not observed (one-day and many-day), there are no big church holidays, and for the most favorable result it is better to consult with a clergyman.

Having a church calendar by months, you can prepare your body and thoughts in advance for Orthodox fasts in 2020.

Conclusion

Orthodox fasts are an important part of religious beliefs, which contributes to the purification of the body and spirit, and is dedicated to significant dates in the history of Christianity:

1. Fasting observance in 2020 begins on a calendar or variable date.
2. Each period has its own characteristics, and they must be carefully monitored.
3. On Wednesday and Friday, it is also advisable to observe some restrictions on food and drink.
4. In the modern world, the church allows some indulgences for its flock.