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Topic: Nativity Fast

	Fasting - OrthodoxWiki
		The Nativity Fast (or Advent; also called St. Philip's Fast, coming immediately after his feast on November 14), is the period from November 15 to December 24 (forty days) in anticipation of Christmas, the Festival of the Nativity of the Savior.
		The Dormition Fast is the period of the first two weeks of August in anticipation of the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.
		Fasting also partners with prayer, almsgiving and confession, readying the whole person like an athlete, body, mind, and soul, for an upcoming feast, similar to the way in which Orthodox Christians would hope to be properly prepared for the Second Coming.
	www.orthodoxwiki.org /Fasting (667 words)

	The Nativity Fast: On the Preparation of the Soul (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		The Fast of the Nativity is the Church's wise solace and aid to human infirmity.
		The fast of the Nativity is our journey into something new and marvellous, which comes from God but to which we must approach of our own volition.
		The fast is an ascetic time, designed by the Church to strip away common stumbling blocks into sin, to provide us with the means of self-perception that we lack in our typical indulgence, and to begin to grow the seeds of virtue.
	www.monachos.net /liturgics/nativity_fast.shtml (2081 words)

	All Saints Orthodox Church - Nativity Fast
		This fast helps us prepare to properly celebrate our Lord's nativity in the flesh and it is to our benefit to observe it as fully as possible.
		At the end of this post are the guidelines for this fast, according to the general practice of All Saints parish and as approved for distribution by Fr.
		Fasting is a spiritual discipline that should be practiced with the oversight and direction of your spiritual father.
	www.allsaintsnc.org /nativityfast.html (689 words)

	OCA - Fasting & Fast-Free Seasons of the Church (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		These rules are dependent on the Church's cycle of feasts and fasts, and are contained in the Typikon, mainly in Chapters 32 and 33, repeated in appropriate places of the Menaion and Triodion.
		During the Apostles' Fast and the Nativity Fast, the general rules are as follows (from Chapter 33 of the Typikon):
		The rules of fasting, while they need to be taken seriously, are not to be interpreted with dour and pedantic legalism; 'for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Rom.
	www.oca.org /OCFasting.asp?SID=2 (1447 words)

	Church of the Nativity - Rules of Piety
		Fasting is a holy tradition passed down to the Orthodox Church from the Old Testament times, and is one of the means by which we partake of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
		Together with fasting and prayer, we should also strive whenever it is possible (particularly during the fasting periods) to give alms, to relieve the sick, the poor and the oppressed, and to do other good deeds from a pure and sincere heart.
		There are four canonical fast periods of the year, each having their own set of rules.
	www.churchofthenativity.net /rules.html (1204 words)

	Phillip's Fast / Advent in the Byzantine Church
		The fast was introduced to prepare the Church for a worthy celebration of the great and holy day of the Birth of Christ.
		Unlike the Great Fast before the Feast of the Resurrection (Pascha), the Phillipian fast is seldom known or practiced in the Byzantine Church.
		Yet the Phillipian Fast is an ancient practice in preparation for the Incarnation and Theophany of the Lord Jesus Christ.
	www.byzcath.org /faith/menaion/phillips_fast.htm (1486 words)

	Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center Great Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of Holy God the Son ...
		The fast begins at the beginning of the Vespers of 10 December, on the Feast of the Conception of Ancester of Christ Ann, December 9 evening.
		The Pre-Nativity Fast is a period of deepened prayer and penance by which we prepare for the coming Great Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ and Holy Theophany.
		Fasting is forbidden from The Great Feast of Nativity of Holy God the Son within the Holy Trinity / Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ until 5 January, the Paramony of the Great Feast of Holy Theophany of Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
	www.mliles.com /melkite/nativitypreparationfast.shtml (969 words)

	Lenten Recipes
		Fasting, by the way, does not mean we eat no food whatsoever, but that we try to lessen or limit our regular daily caloric intake and restrict the foods that we eat.
		The variable fasts all vary based upon the date of Easter, which is almost never celebrated on the same date as it is in the West.
		The main point is that fasting in parish practice is a pastoral matter; it should always be done in consultation with one's pastor or spiritual father.
	www.vegsource.com /lenten.htm (975 words)

	CHRISTIAN TEACHING
		Now, while the Church is reminding us of the necessity for fasting and prayer, it would be well to note that although the Nativity fast is not so strict in terms of external demands, it still requires a reasonable attitude towards it.
		This refers primarily to those devotees of fasting who wish to quickly ascend to a very high degree, exhibiting outward abstinence that is, however, not counter-balanced by their inner spiritual state.
		From year to year we are used to fasting too externally, too formally, often focusing only on keeping to a certain dietary regimen, without adding prayer and without delving deeper into a realization of our path to Christ, a realization of the mystery which is being revealed to us during this time.
	www.holy-transfiguration.org /library_en/ct_fast_nativity.html (946 words)

	TGOC Parish Life page: Priest's Corner: Preparing for the Birth of Christ: Nativity (Advent) Fast Guidelines by Fr. ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Reflections on the Nativity by Metropolitan Heirotheos (Dec., 2004)
		Intensified fasting, prayer and acts of charity are called for during this season.
		Traditionally speaking, we are called to fast strictly on the 15th of November (the first day) and December 24 (the last day of the fast).
	transfiguration.org /parish/priest_natfast.html (593 words)

	Eastern Orthodoxy : Eastern Orthodox (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Wednesday fasts are in remembrance of Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus Christ and of the prostitute who anointed Jesus with ointment, and Friday fasts are in remembrance of Christ's crucifixion and death.
		The exact number of fasting days often varies from year to year, as the dates of various feasts change, but usually more than half of the days in a year are spent in some form of fast.
		Fasting without prayer was often called the "fast of demons" by the Church fathers, since the demons neither eat nor pray.
	www.eurofreehost.com /ea/Eastern_Orthodox_5.html (571 words)

	- Fasting Rules
		The fasting rules, found for the most part in the Typikon (mainly Chapters 32 and 33), and repeated in appropriate places of the Menaion and Triodion, are dependent on the Church's cycle of feasts and fasts.
		This includes, as well, the four canonical fasting periods (Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Nativity Fast and the Dormition Fast), and certain other days, including the Eve of Theophany, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the elevation of the Cross.
		The fasting rules, while they do need to be taken seriously, are not to be interpreted with the strict legalism of the Pharisees of Holy Scripture, for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom.
	www.stots.edu /article.php?id=19 (721 words)

	Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Catholic Church,The Nativity Fast Part One
		The Fast period of the 40 days before the Great Feast of the Nativity reminds us of the necessity of wholeness of being which the life of the Kingdom demands.
		Fasting allows us to become ever more aware that what happens to any one part of ourselves (body, soul, spirit) affects all the other parts as well.
		Those who might not be able to fast from foods at all, should remember that there are other kinds of fasting: from sin (first of all!), but also from entertainments, etc. Additional prayer, both liturgical and private, are also appropriate during a Fast Season.
	www.byzantinecatholic.org /Feasts/FastNativity.html (507 words)

	ORLAPUBS P. R8: FASTING PRACTICES
		Exempt from fasting are children under seven as well as pregnant or nursing mothers; the infirm and the elderly are exempt from fasting to the degree that it would be harmful to their health.
		Fasting is less strict during the Advent Fast and the Fast preceding the Holy and Glorious Apostles Peter and Paul than the Great Fast and the Fast preceding the Dormition: Tuesdays and Thursdays are fish-wine-and-oil days, when olive oil and alcohol are permitted, but not fish with a backbone.
		While the traditional fast rules often lack appropriateness to the Western diet, it is allowed to substitute vegetable or seed oil for olive oil, margarine for butter, soy milk or rice milk for dairy milk, and "meat-like" products made up of soy beans or tofu or of other vegetable materials.
	www.orlapubs.com /AR/R8.html (2054 words)

	The Nazorean Way Monastery (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		This is because the discipline of fasting forms our souls, unites us to the spiritual life in a very direct and compelling way, and constitutes, as countless spiritual writings attest, a path to salvation.
		Incidentally, in addition to the uncertain reference to the Dormition Fast in the "Third Question" posed to St. Nikephoros the Confessor and the Synod of Constantinople, St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite attaches a note on its antiquity to his "Explanation" or "Interpretation" of the third canon of the Council of Neoceasarea (Pedalion [Thessaloniki, 1982], p.
		One might wish, incidentally, that with regard to the general issue of fasting, modernist Orthodox Christians, especially, were more zealous to keep the Church's fasts and less assiduous in their efforts to dismiss them on the basis of fanciful technicalities.
	essenes.net /modfast.html (1340 words)

	1944 Fast and Abstinence
		An attempt to discover the fasting practices among the older members of the Church is rather difficult, and sometimes the priest is a bit too busy to discuss a fasting practice when he has to attend to three baptisms and two funerals that day.
		It is not easy to follow fasts perfectly, and understandably, one should check his spirituality with a priest, lest his fasting become an object of pride and self-love, which we must all avoid.
		A last note: Fasting in the Eastern Catholic Churches is, to a large degree, what Romans view as "abstinence." Because of this, I am retaining the use of the word abstinence for clarity.
	www.stanne-byzcath.org /fasting.html (820 words)

	Nativity Fast (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		It is also called the fast of St. Philip because it immediately follows the feast of this apostle.
		Fasting is integrally related to prayer and acts of charity.
		The body's participation in the spiritual exercise (ascesis) is sought not through suffering and affliction, but in endurance through abstention and resistance to distractions.
	www.stgeorgegreenville.org /topics/Articles/Nativity_fast.html (508 words)

	Untitled
		In the Nativity fast, fish is allowed on most weekends, and also on some weekdays, and there are more days when wine and oil are allowed.
		The Nativity fast begins on the feast of St Philip, and the Nativity fast is thus sometimes called the Fast of St Philip.
		Whatever the original reason for the separate celebration of the Nativity on 25 December, however, the Church now understands it as the celebration of the incarnation of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that is one point at which differences with Jehovah's Witnesses are irreconcilable.
	www.suite101.com /print_article.cfm/8061/53479 (728 words)

	Notes on Tradition (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		This is the last Lenten meal of the Nativity Fast consisting of twelve meatless dishes served on a table with straw underneath it to symbolize the fact that our Saviour was born in a manger.
		It is the Tradition of the Orthodox Church to fast for 40 days before the Feast of the Nativity (Christmas) and to observe a time of feasting and celebration between December 25, and the Feast of the Theophany on January 6.
		To fast is to face and to embrace our fundamental poverty, to recognize that in the end we came into this world with nothing and will leave it the same way--that we have no ultimate claim of ownership upon anything in this world.
	www.sspeterpaul.org /notestrd.htm (13272 words)

	[No title]
		The Christian season of the Nativity Fast (East) or Advent (West) is, pardon the expression, "fast" approaching.
		Fasting Ramadhan for a Christian is the same as giving Chanukuh gifts or fasting for Yawn Kippur to pay respects to his Jewish friends.
		It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul.
	www.beliefnet.com /boards_mini/index.asp?boardID=28346 (801 words)

	Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Catholic Church,The Nativity Fast Part Two
		During the Christmas Fast, from December 13 to December 24 inclusive, the Fast becomes stricter, and olive oil and wine are permitted only on Saturdays and Sundays.
		In the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches, the period from November 15 through December 24 is a period of Fasting, Abstinence, and Preparation for the Great-Feast of the Nativity of Christ.
		One of the four major fasts of the year, it is variously called the Nativity Fast, the Christmas Lent, or the Philipine Fast (since it begins the day after the feast of St. Philip).
	www.byzantinecatholic.org /Feasts/FastNativity1.html (1186 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Fasting has a primarily spiritual meaning and is intrinsically linked to our whole spiritual life.
		All ascetics also used fasting as a means of helping them embark on the journey of the Cross to serve the Lord.
		There are also fasting days during the year – every Wednesday and Friday (except during Bright Week and the week after Nativity) and on certain feastdays: the day before Theophany, the Beheading of John the Baptist and on the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross.
	www.sv-luka.org /articles/fastingarticles.htm (730 words)

	Xanthikos: As the Nativity Fast approaches (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		Coming from a Protestant background in which fasting was viewed as archaic and irrelevant -if not downright suspicious- Orthodoxy’s emphasis on fasting as a spiritual discipline was shocking to me, though any Protestant would have to admit that it’s scriptural.
		But perhaps fasting helps us to be realistic about our condition, to see more clearly our need for healing and wholeness, and our dependence upon God’s grace in everything.
		We must practice fasting, vigils, withdrawal and the meditation of scripture as activities which are subordinate to our main objective, purity of heart, that is to say, love, and we must never disturb this principle virtue for the sake of those others.
	xanthikos.blogspot.com /2004/11/as-nativity-fast-approaches.html (737 words)

	Saint Luke Orthodox Church - Ministries - Community
		The fasting rules of the Orthodox Church either in ancient times or in the modern era have never been in exact uniformity.
		The rules of fasting are to be taken seriously but they are not to be interpreted with rigid legalism.
		During the Nativity fast from Dec 13 to 24 the fast becomes stricter with oil and alcoholic beverages permitted only on Saturday and Sunday and fish removed on any day.
	www.stlukeorthodox.com /html/parishinfo/fasting.cfm (700 words)

	Nativity of Theotokos (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14)
		This is a time for increased prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and participation in sacramental confession which all culminates in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on December 25.
		The Nativity Fast is a remedy from the extreme consumerism of our culture which is in full swing this time of year.
		Remember that the Nativity Fast is a time of preparation and reflection on the Lord’s birth.
	www.holyvirgin.net /content/articles/nativity_fast.htm (517 words)

	Father Vladimir Demshuk - Advent - A Time for Reflection
		The eight weeks of the Nativity fast or Advent are a time of spiritual preparation for the Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.
		Thus, the Nativity of Christ is commonly known as the birth of Christ.
		On the contrary, we must endeavor during the Nativity fast or Advent--a holy season--to begin again with a zeal that is fresh and filled with courage.
	users.adelphia.net /~vlad1944/art-04.htm (750 words)

	Postcards from the Nanty Glo in my mind
		Furthermore, though fasts are discussed much among the laity during their observance, the church makes as many admonitions to not judge anyone else's fasting practices as it does to join the fast.
		Fasting, I was told, is always to be joined with enhanced prayer, and especially during Great Lent the fast is much oriented to repentance and spiritual renewal.
		The other extended (by which I mean more than a day at a time) fasts seem more oriented toward enhancing and preparing for the feast, and that especially is the case of the Nativity fast, Advent.
	www.nantyglo.com /jonal/nov0901.htm (723 words)

	Various Replies to Questions on Fasting
		I've been told that the Church recognizes that one fast Wednesday, Friday, and the Great Fast, but that the Apostles, Dormition, and Christmas Fasts are optional.
		As you have already discovered, prescriptions for most of the fasting days and periods of the year—Wednesdays, Fridays, Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Nativity Fast, and even the additional Monday fast for monastics—are clearly prescribed in the Church's canons.
		As for the computer forum nonsense to which you refer, these forums afford a platform for everyone with an opinion and usually demonstrate that contemporary Orthodox, clergy and laity alike, lack even a basic understanding of the Patristic witness and traditional Orthodox life, that is, orthopraxis.
	www.orthodoxinfo.com /praxis/fast_nons.aspx (1264 words)

	How can we identify the Alleluia days during, for example, the Nativity Fast?
		for theand#32; Nativity of Christ (20 to 24 December).
		During the Nativity Fast, the Typicon and/or Menaion indicate thatand#32; "Alleluia" applies to the following days:and#32;
		In the longer Fasts of the Apostles and the Nativity rather more days are indicated for this observance.
	www.orthodox.net /ustav/alleluia-days.html (448 words)

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