What days of fasting can you eat fish. When can you eat fish and seafood in Lent

The longest 40-day Advent fast of the year will begin on November 28th. The laity will observe it until January 6th. On such days it will not be possible to consume dairy products, eggs. Especially for those who will fast, we have compiled a food calendar by day.

The main goal of the Advent Lent 2018-2019 is to prepare the soul and body for the Nativity of Christ. A person who decides to fast must do it consciously, approach this issue consciously, understand the meaning of religious abstinence.

When can you eat fish in Advent 2018-2019

Eating fish is allowed on weekends and those on which church holidays fall (if it is Tuesday or Thursday). During Advent, you can eat it:

in November - the 29th;

in December - 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 29, 30 numbers.

Do's and Don'ts on Christmas Day

A few days before the Advent, you need to contact the clergyman for recommendations, learn how to fast. You also need to repent, pray, ask for a blessing.

It is impossible to allow negative thoughts, get angry, conflict, lose heart, envy during the Christmas post. It is better not to fast if you understand that you cannot help breaking all the prohibitions and rules. IN fast days entertainment events, holidays, festivities are prohibited. Also, you can not enter into intimate relationships - this will be a great sin in the Advent.

On fasting days, food of animal origin is prohibited. Butter with cottage cheese, eggs with cheese, milk, and other dairy products should be excluded from the menu. It is possible and necessary to eat a variety of cereals, soups in fasting, while sugaring and salting them cannot be. During the Advent, you should forget about a variety of seasonings and pickled vegetables. Every day a person who fasts should eat fresh fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins, nuts, honey.

It is impossible to woo, marry during the Nativity Fast, and the young are not crowned in the church. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed.

Be sure to read prayers on fasting days.

Publican's prayer: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." (Bow).

According to the Gospel of Luke, this is a prayer of repentance, which was said by the publican in the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. In this parable, Christ cited the publican's prayer as an example of repentance and forgiveness of God's mercy.

The preparatory prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, prayers for the sake of Your Most Pure Mother and all Saints, have mercy on us. Amen. Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee."

Observance of the Advent fast by day

Lenten menu should consist of raw, boiled, stewed, baked, salty dishes. They should be diversified with salads, pickles, casseroles, stews, pies. Tea, coffee should be replaced with juices, fruit drinks, jelly, teas.

Fasting by day:

November - 28 and 30, December - 3, 5, 7, 12, 14, 17, 21, 24, 31, January - 3: these days it is necessary to cook hot food, for example, buckwheat porridge, lean soups.
November - 29, December - 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 29, 30: mostly "fish" days. You need to find fish dishes in advance. The fish itself can be eaten in any form.
December - 10, 11, 19, 20, 25-28, January - 1, 5: food seasoned vegetable oil.
January - 2, 4, 6: dry eating. The menu should be made up of fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey, mushrooms.

In Great Lent, believers always fast, decide to eat only the most modest food, products, and strictly adhere to this decision.

IN Christian faith it is believed that in this way every fasting person gets the opportunity to purify his spirit and body, because this voluntary refusal from pleasure, a kind of humility.

And so that your efforts really do not go in vain, it is important before the start of the Fast and its observance, it is good to understand what food is allowed to be eaten and what is not during this period.

So many are often interested in whether it is possible to eat fish in Lent, seafood and fish caviar?

Basically, of course, it is impossible, and yet, there is certain days Lent (some church holidays), when concessions are provided.

Let's try to understand the issue in more detail and thoroughly.

Is it possible to eat fish in Lent?

In spite of great content in the fish of useful microelements, vitamins and minerals that are useful for your body, it is forbidden to eat it in Lent.

There are only a few days when the church allows this rule to be broken. Why? Fish products must be present in the human diet, because the vitamins and minerals contained in them help maintain the heart and nervous system OK. In addition, the proteins found in fish are much easier for the body to digest than those found in meat.

When can you eat fish in Lent?

Only twice, for two holidays: on Palm Sunday and on the Annunciation.

But every year it is necessary to carefully monitor the dates of the listed holidays, because sometimes they fall on the date of those events on which neither fish nor seafood is allowed.

These events include . On this day, almost complete fasting is prescribed, or rather, first dry eating (you do not boil, do not fry or brew food), and on Friday and Saturday you completely refuse any food.

During Great Lent, it is not allowed to eat meat and poultry, eggs, and various dairy products. On those days of Lent, when it is possible to eat fish, it is permissible to have a little wine. However, wine is also allowed for name days, if they also fall on Great Lent. Remember that even in the case of wine, it is important to observe the measure.

Palm Sunday and the Annunciation try to use with maximum benefit for your body. There are many simple, but tasty and healthy, while lean fish dishes. Look for recipes from friends, on the Internet, and then arrange a real fish day for yourself and your loved ones.

This product contains B vitamins that will positively affect your mood, give you more energy, make your hair and nails healthy, and help restore a healthy complexion. Vitamins A and E will slow down the aging process. As you can see, fish is a storehouse of useful vitamins.

In addition, if we compare lovers of such delicacies with those who prefer meat products, then fish lovers have better health.

What to cook from fish?

Simple yet delicious dishes: steamed cutlets, fish salads and soups. You can even bake it in the oven, but without adding oil. Also suitable for herring salty fish and many other dishes.

Who can eat fish in Lent?

Most fasting people during Lent are allowed to consume only cereals, fruits and vegetables, and only on certain days - fish.

So, in Lent, you can and should eat fish products for women who are expecting a child and nursing mothers, small children, elderly people engaged in hard physical or mental labor, and also for those who travel, are on the road.

People with various diseases (for example, with problems of the gastrointestinal tract) should also not refuse this product.

Since abstinence from protein foods can negatively affect the state of the body and health, sick people simply need to eat fish products at least once every 7 days.

What kind of fish can you eat in Lent?

Do you belong to a group of people who can eat fish in Lent or do you eat it only on Palm Sunday?

Well, it is advisable to abandon expensive varieties in favor of white lean fish. Suitable pollock, squid, cod, capelin. And even canned fish can be safely called good choice in Post.

From canned food tasty soup, you can add them to a salad with vegetables. classic dish home cooking is a salad with tomatoes and tuna, so you can safely cook it in Lent.

Please note that it is not recommended to fry seafood and fish - it is better to stew it without oil or boil it.

Leave aside various sauces, seasonings, dressings - all of them are not appropriate during this period, because you are preparing a lenten dish.

It is important to leave the selected fish product as natural as possible in taste, in addition, by adding the listed seasonings, you will only tease your taste buds, thereby only leading oneself astray.

During the Dormition Fast, it is allowed to eat fish on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and if we are talking about the Christmas Fast or Peter's, then the product is eaten on weekends (Saturday and Sunday).

It is strictly forbidden to consume alcohol during the Fast. The exception, as noted above, is wine, which, however, must be diluted plain water and drink only on weekends, in small quantities.

According to the religious concept, fasting is a period of spiritual purification of a person. In order to better tune in to prayer, to your inner world, you need to adhere to a certain diet - give up food of animal origin or, as vegetarians say, give up food that has eyes and a mouth (including the food that they produce, for example: cow and milk).

IN Soviet times a version was invented, according to which, fasting was invented to save food.

In contrast to these versions, I will say the following:

There was no famine during the adoption of Christianity. I'm not talking about enemy raids and the like. There was a lot of food, there were plenty of fish in the rivers, animals in the forests and fields, berries, mushrooms, etc. Not to mention the fact that the lands of our ancestors of the Slavs were very fat, the harvest was rich. Yes, in order to feed yourself and your family, you had to work hard, but this does not mean that people were in danger of starvation and that food had to be saved in order to survive.

Christianity took root among the Slavs only because it very organically fell on the pagan religion - certain traditions were preserved, people did not have to radically change their lives. We know very little about the religion of our ancestors. official history presents it to us as a rather primitive religion, which is contrary to reality. There is an opinion that our ancestors, the Slavs, even before the adoption of Christianity, practiced fasting as a way to cleanse the body - both spiritual and physical. The schedule of posts has a clear link to certain phenomena in nature and is the most optimal for the time of year.

That is why, at the time of fasting, you need to give up certain foods, including fish.

But for each post there is a certain diet.

In Great Lent, Pre-Easter, fish can be eaten 1-2 times for all 48-49 days.
In other posts, they are not so strict, you can eat fish more often.

The method of its preparation in this case does not play a role. There are special church calendars, in which it is clearly written what food can be eaten on which day of fasting.

The use of fish in church fasting is a topic of constant disputes and bickering. Both on the Internet and in Orthodox publications, information about whether you can eat fish in fasting or not is full of contradictions. Some argue that the use of this seafood during fasting is unacceptable, others - that fish is allowed for laymen during Christian fasting. In fact, everything is both simple and complex at the same time, and depends on what fasting is for you and what you are fasting for. Why did I focus on this? Because, depending on the purpose of the fast, one should also determine the measure of its fulfillment for oneself. I think it's no secret to anyone that most of does not realize why he is doing this: someone wants to get healthier, someone else wants to lose weight, and still others simply set up an experiment - they say, do I have willpower or not? Yes, it’s really important to decide on the purpose of the post, and here’s why. The fact is that the meaning of abstaining from food during fasting is not to prove something to God, to yourself, and to people, but to help the soul be cleansed of the burden of sins.

By by and large it doesn't matter if you eat fish in Lent or not, as long as your chosen and approved Orthodox priest the diet helps you to move away from passions and find the strength in yourself for prayer and other spiritual feats. After all, believers refuse fast food for the sake of this, and not for show.

Should Orthodox believers eat fish during Lent?

And yet, no one forbids Orthodox Christian strictly adhere to fasting, if he feels such a need in himself. This is especially true for Great Lent - it is this that believers most often strive to observe in accordance with all the rules. According to the monastic charter, fish is allowed twice during Great Lent: on the feast of the Annunciation Holy Mother of God(April 7) and on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (or Palm Sunday, celebrated a week before Easter). the day before Palm Sunday- Lazarus Saturday, on which you can eat fish caviar.

During the Assumption (August 14–28) fast, fish is also prohibited, the only relief is made on the feast of the Ascension of the Lord (August 19).

Much softer are Christmas (November 28 - January 7) and Petrov (Monday after All Saints' Day - July 12) fasts. During the Advent fast, fish can be eaten on Saturdays and Sundays from November 28 to December 19, after which the fast becomes stricter, and eating fish and fish products is prohibited until its very end. During the Petrov fast, fish can also be eaten on Saturdays and Sundays, but until its very end.

Who is shown the obligatory use of fish in fasting?

As you know, fish is an invaluable source of Omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, protein, iron, and a number of B vitamins. The exclusion of fish in Orthodox fasting on long time from the diet, especially for residents of regions far from the sea, is very harmful.

Therefore, doctors insist on the use of fish in fasting (especially Great, since it is the longest and falls on the poorest time of the year in vitamins) by children, adolescents, students, pregnant and lactating women, people who have problems with thyroid gland, as well as employed in hazardous industries.

In addition to fish, during Christian fasting, these people should also eat dairy products that are a source of calcium: cheeses, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt. One of the apostles once said that when he eats, he does it for God, and when he does not eat, he also does not eat for God's sake. So those who are contraindicated in strict fasting should not lose heart: pray more, go to church, give up bad habits(smoking, alcohol), devote more time to your family - and God will accept your feasible sacrifice. And you can refuse fish on the most strict days - Wednesday and Friday - for most modern lay people this is more than enough.

Fasting and fish Are concepts compatible? It is known that during fasting it is forbidden to eat food of animal origin. However, fish can be consumed strictly set days. If you want to know if fish is eaten in fasting, and when it can be cooked, this article will suit you perfectly, because it women's magazine Charla collected the most reliable and useful information that will be useful to a believer.

What is a post?

Before we talk about whether Great Lent and fish are compatible, let's dwell on the very essence of such a phenomenon as spiritual and physical cleansing while limiting the consumption of certain foods. Scientists have found that fasting is one of the most rational and natural ways cleansing the body of accumulated toxins. Interestingly, each type of fasting affects one of the systems of the human body:

Great Lent Promotes Cleansing circulatory system and intestines;

Dormition fast cleanses the intestines, bladder and kidneys;

Petrov post has a beneficial effect on gallbladder, liver and intestines;

Advent cleans the intestines and lungs.

Regardless of whether you decide to combine fasting and fish or try to adhere to strict dietary restrictions, we note the basic rules for observing Great Lent and other fasts that are established by the church:

1. The main task is to fight sin by restricting food. But it is important that in this case it is precisely abstinence from food that is meant, and not a mockery of the body. Therefore, if necessary, you can choose the severity of the post at your discretion.

2. Before you start fasting, it is advisable to talk to an experienced confessor and ask for a blessing.

3. Sick people must necessarily agree on fasting with the doctor. Children, pregnant and lactating women, the sick and travelers can partially adhere to the fast.

4. After many days of fasting, you need to break the fast gradually.

There are 6 main levels of fasting severity:

1. Maslenitsa - you can eat everything except meat.

2. Eating fish.

3. Eating hot food with vegetable oil.

4. Eating hot food without oil.

5. Dry eating - eating cold food without oil and cold drinks.

6. Complete abstinence from food - practiced in the first and last week of Lent.

Fish and fasting

Now he invites you to smoothly move on to the main topic: do they eat fish in fasting. Depending on the type of fasting, fish may be excluded or allowed on holidays and weekends:

1. Lent lasts 7 weeks until Easter. He is also the most strict. However, on the feast of the Annunciation and during Palm Sunday, you can afford to eat fish.

2. Peter's fast - it begins the day after the Trinity (the so-called Spirits Day) and continues until the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul. Do they eat fish in fasting? In this case, it is not strict, and therefore, fish dishes are allowed.

3. The Assumption fast is the shortest and lasts only 2 weeks after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, this is one of the most strict posts. Fish can only be eaten on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

4. Advent begins on November 28 and continues until the Nativity of Christ (January 7). Fasting and fish are compatible in this case - you can cook fish dishes on all days except Wednesday and Friday.

It should also be remembered that on Lazarus Saturday you can eat fish caviar. And here, in Good Friday can't eat at all.

Fasting Fish Recipes

We have already found out that you can combine fish and Lent (or another type of fast, taking into account the days when this product can be eaten). Naturally, the question arises: what to cook from fish and products that are allowed during the period of food restriction.

Fish baked in cabbage

Thanks to this dish, you can always combine fasting and fish. You will need:

400 grams of fish;

100 grams of onion;

400 grams of cabbage;

50 grams of vegetable oil;

30 grams of tomato paste;

Salt and pepper.

Clean fresh fish from the husk and rinse it. Divide into portions, season each piece with salt and pepper. Shred the cabbage. If there is no fresh cabbage, then you can use sauerkraut. Next, you need to peel the onion and chop it, and then place it in a medium-sized saucepan. Simmer the onion in vegetable oil for about 5-7 minutes and then add the cabbage. Simmer food until the cabbage is soft. 2-3 minutes before readiness, add tomato paste.

Lubricate the baking dish with vegetable oil, put the cabbage and fish in layers. Cover the dish with foil. Bake in a well-heated oven for about 20 minutes. Such a dish is suitable for fasting, and for those days when you just want to surprise guests with an unusual dish.

Salad "Kamchatsky"

It is not necessary to give up salads during the fasting period. By preparing this dish, you can combine fish and without experiencing the difficulties that arose after the restriction in food.

To prepare the salad you will need:

150 grams of cod or other fish;

1-2 potatoes;

1 boiled carrot;

1-2 salted or fresh tomatoes;

2 tablespoons of green peas;

1 tablespoon of cranberries or lingonberries;

A bunch of green onions or lettuce;

100 grams of sunflower oil;

1 teaspoon of sugar;

Vinegar, salt and pepper.

We cut the vegetables (the potatoes must first be boiled) and mix with pieces of boiled fish, berries. Drizzle with oil, sugar, salt and pepper dressing. Salad ready! Fast and delicious!

Now you not only know do they eat fish in fasting, but you can also cook fish dishes without violating church traditions. As you can see, fasting without feeling hungry is not at all difficult!