For Christians, fasting is a time of restraint and humility, a period of spiritual preparation for a certain church event. In the Christian tradition, there are several fasts at once, which can last more than a month.
Why post is needed
Christianity invites a person to improve in various virtues. The main ones are love for neighbors, alms, kindness, humility, keeping thoughts. A special place is given to prayer as communication with God and, of course, observance of fasts. The Holy Fathers say that fasting and prayer are two wings thanks to which the soul ascends to the sky like a bird, leaving everything earthly and material. Many people are afraid of fasting, considering abstaining from animal products a very difficult feat.
What posts are there
There are several types of posts. Multi-day, one-day, and those that a person imposes on himself in preparation for Holy Communion. Throughout the year, Wednesday and Friday are considered fast days. The semantic load of these very days lies in the event of the betrayal of Christ and His death (on Wednesday they betrayed, and on Friday they crucified). However, there are several weeks of the year when Wednesday and Friday are canceled as fast days. These are Christmastide, Bright Week, Maslenitsa, Trinity Week. If Christmas falls on a Wednesday or Friday, then the fast is also canceled.
There are also fasts for many days. The oldest in the Christian tradition is Great Lent, which lasts 7 weeks. It ends with the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ. This post is rolling, it can begin at the end of February or as early as March. It all depends on Easter.
After the end of this fast, it is allowed to eat meat for almost two months. Then comes the Petrov post. Its duration depends on Easter and the time of its celebration. If Easter is early, then the fast is long, late - short. It begins on Monday of the week of All Saints, and always ends on the day of remembrance of the chief apostles Peter and Paul, that is, July 12.
There are two more long fasts - Rozhdestvensky and Uspensky. The first runs from November 28 to January 6, the second from August 14 to 28. Thus, there are four days of fasting, Wednesday and Friday, as well as three days of abstinence before partaking of Holy Communion.
In addition to Wednesdays and Fridays, there are one-day fasts. Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 27), Beheading of John the Baptist (September 11). It turns out that there are more fast days per year than the usual days when it is allowed to eat meat.
The meaning of the post and its correct understanding
The main point of keeping the fast is not abstaining from meat, but the desire of a person to become at least a little better. Refusal from specific products will be useless if the person does not care about his soul. In this case, fasting is reduced to a normal diet and does not benefit the person. The time of fasting is the spiritual spring of the soul. At this time, a person seeks to cleanse his soul, tries to understand his life, recalls his main purpose - the desire for union with God.
Fasting is the most favorable time for the spiritual improvement of the human person, the growth of a person as the image of God, and striving to achieve Divine likeness. It turns out that abstinence from food is just a diet, and if we are talking specifically about fasting, then we need to keep in mind certain things, without which abstinence not only does not make sense, but is not so!
