Lent: when it begins, what you can and cannot eat

Lent begins on March 18th. It is considered the strictest multi-day fast of the year and will continue until Easter (May 5). What restrictions are observed during Lent – in the Kommersant material.

What is Lent

Lent is the term for fasting for many days before Easter. It is observed in memory of the forty-day abstinence of Jesus Christ from food in the desert.

Lent is divided into two parts. The first six weeks are called Holy Pentecost, the last week is Holy Week. Every week It has its religious meaning, name and traditions. For example, during Holy Week they remember the last days of the earthly life and death of Jesus Christ.

Lent as a tradition was formed gradually. In the 2nd century, Christians abstained from water and food for only 40 hours – from Good Friday until the end of the Easter liturgy. In the 5th century, fasting on the eve of Easter turned into a 40-day fast and became mandatory for parishioners. Today, Lent lasts 48 days – 1/10 of the year.

When does Lent 2024 begin?

Lent begins on different dates in different years. Its dates shift depending on what date Easter falls on. In 2024, Lent will begin on March 18 and continue until May 4 inclusive.

How to eat healthy during Lent

Lent is considered the most strict; for almost two months, vegetables, cereals, mushrooms, honey, nuts, fruits and other plant products become the basis of the believer’s diet. Specific lists of foods that are allowed or prohibited to eat during fasting depend on the day of the week. The strictest restrictions apply to Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, as a rule, hot food is allowed, on Saturdays and Sundays – hot food with vegetable oil.

Most often, believers give up alcohol, poultry and eggs, meat and dairy foods, fish and seafood. The most stringent restrictions apply to the first day, as well as the first, fourth and last week of Lent (Holy Week). On the first day, the so-called Clean Monday, monks are advised to abstain from any food and drink only water. Ordinary believers may be exempt from this prescription if their strength or health does not allow them.

All nutritional rules from church calendars written specifically for clergy and novices. Ordinary parishioners can receive relaxations depending on age, health status and the presence of complicating factors. Often the requirements are relaxed for the elderly and disabled, children and nursing mothers, schoolchildren and students, and believers who engage in heavy physical labor or are on the move.

If a believer decides to fast to the fullest extent, including periods of fasting, Orthodox publications recommend talk to your confessor first. Since food fasting should not harm health and the performance of daily duties.

Are fish and meat allowed during Lent?

Fish is allowed only twice during Lent – on the Feast of the Annunciation (April 7) and Palm Sunday (April 28). On Lazarus Saturday (April 27), fish itself is prohibited, but fish roe is not prohibited. Meat is not recommended throughout Lent.

What is necessary besides food restrictions

During Lent, it is customary to reflect on one’s actions and, if possible, give up holidays and special events. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh called it a time “when we shake off everything that has become dilapidated and dead in us.”

Throughout Lent, believers are encouraged to pray, confess and receive communion. Without prayer and repentance, fasting is considered just a diet. Increasingly, priests recommend refraining from excessive information: watching entertaining television, reading the media and visiting social networks.

Theologian and Archbishop of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia Basil the Great wrote that “a true faster abstains from anger, rage, malice and revenge. A true faster refrains his tongue from idle talk, foul language, idle talk, slander, condemnation, flattery, lies and all slander. In a word, a true faster is one who shuns all evil.”

How not to harm your health while fasting

Regional divisions of Rospotrebnadzor recommend Believers should give up animal food gradually and, if possible, diversify their diet:

do not give up seafood on the days when they are allowed (about 300–350 g per day);

prepare foods high in vegetable protein (for example, buckwheat, tofu or quinoa);

take vegetable fats – for example, 20-25 g of nuts per day, olives or four teaspoons of vegetable oil on the days when it is allowed;

do not give up plant fiber, such as cereals, bran, vegetables and fruits;

do not overeat sweets.