Prayer for an Orthodox person is not just and not only a religious duty, it is, first of all, the moral need of the human soul in dialogue with God, the Mother of God, angels or saints. Prayer is the conversion of thoughts and feelings to eternity, one of the spiritual and moral deeds of an Orthodox Christian.
During the calendar year, the Orthodox Church determines special days on which a person should turn to God with great zeal and strive for spiritual improvement. These periods are called holy fasts. At the same time, fasting is not just abstaining from certain foods, but is the desire of a person to be better, the exercise of his personality in spiritual exploits, including prayer.
Currently, there is an opinion that the reading of akathists in fasting is unreasonable. Akathist refers to certain prayer works, consisting of 12 kontakion and ikos, in which there are prayer appeals to God, the Mother of God, this or that saint, expressed in a sublime joyful form. Akathist is one of the most joyful and solemn prayers in the Orthodox Church. It is no coincidence that it is in akathist works that a person turns, for example, to the Mother of God with an enthusiastic greeting: "Rejoice …".
The adherents of the opinion about the prohibition of reading akathists during fasting refer precisely to the fact that saving abstinence is a special strict time, in which even prayers should be ascetic. Some people believe that it is not permissible for a Christian to read prayers of such a "joyful character" during the fast of a Christian's soul. Instead, they believe, certain prayers of penitential content are laid. However, such a worldview is alien to the Orthodox tradition.
The Church pays special attention to the fact that fasting is a time of repentance. Therefore, penitential prayers, ascetic canons are quite appropriate. At the same time, following the gospel words of Christ, the Church does not impose on a person the obligation to walk with sad faces during abstinence, to be sad and to show with all kinds of how strictly a person is fasting. For an Orthodox person, the time of fasting (the time of repentance) is a special joyful period in life. Proceeding from this, if a person develops a prayer mood with a feeling of joyful thrill from reading the akathist, then this fact cannot be perceived negatively by Orthodoxy. Akathist is a prayer work that carries a deep spiritual meaning. Akathists help a person to focus on one of the important components of fasting - prayer.
Thus, the prohibition on reading akathists during fasting does not correspond to Orthodox practice and carries a somewhat incorrect understanding of salvific abstinence. In addition, the very liturgical practice of the Church, the church charter on certain days prescribes the reading of the akathist during fasting. In particular, this refers to the fifth Saturday of Great Lent - the time when the reading to the chant of the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos is performed in Orthodox churches. This day is called in the liturgical statutes the Sabbath of the Akathist (Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos). This order appeared in the Church more than a thousand years ago.
It is also necessary to mention the practice of reading the akathist to the Passion of the Lord. Beginning on the evening of the second Sunday of Great Lent, a special Lenten service commemorating the sufferings of Christ is performed in many Orthodox churches (there are only four such services). A special place in this service is occupied by the reading of the akathist to the Passion of Christ.
