Theres something going on tomorrow .My coptic friends say they will be fasting tomorrow. I was just curious what is the Holy Lent ?Can you meat through out the week or is it just Saturday and sundays ?
hi, you are right, the lent fast starts tomorrow! :) those who are able (so not kids) abstain from all food and drink from midnight (or whenever people go to sleep if it's earlier) till 12 noon, or ideally 3pm (we aim for this, but a lot of people in regular jobs who have lunch breaks in the middle of the day abstain till lunch). then after that, we just eat vegan food. this is from tomorrow till easter (also called pascha), which is on 5th may. small kids and babies still have milk, of course, and kids from different families start going vegan for lent at different ages. this year the orthodox easter is on 5th may and catholic easter is on 31st march. so the catholics are already fasting, but their fasting is a lot less strict.
during the fasting time, we make sure we pray a lot and study the Bible and help the poor. many people go to church more than once a week during this time, and people also pray in families and on their own. our prayer consists of written prayers (www.agpeya.org) and spontaneous prayers. we pray to God in whatever language we are comfortable with (i do a little arabic and a lot of english) and we thank God, ask Him for help, confess our sins, and listen to Him guide us as well.
each orthodox Christian checks out how much they should fast with their priest. some people have medical conditions or other weaknesses which mean they can't fast fully. the priest gives personal advice (He is like an advisor, a father and a friend, so knows people personally). the main point is for each person to thank God and ask Jesus, the Son of God for mercy, as we believe we can only obtain mercy from God because the Son of God came and died for us and rose from the dead. we rely and God's mercy, because we realise that our good deeds are very small and unworthy when compared with God's great love for us.
if we are able to keep the fast, we are not allowed to be proud about it, as pride is one of the biggest sins. because the devil (shaytan) was proud, he was thrown out of heaven and became the devil. so we are not supposed to judge anyone else who is not fasting, but we encourage each other by only having vegan food when we invite people over for dinner. we can also pray together and help each other in this special spiritual time.
lent is our biggest fast (there are others!), so even though this is a lot of writing, it is only a small introduction! ;)
in Islam God said that women who are going through their menstruation cycle are exempted from fasting, is it the same in christianity ?
lastly
My friend shared this from an FB coptic group
The fast for the Holy Lent will begin tomorrow, Monday. The first 7 days will be a preparatory week of fasting. The next 40 days will commemorate the Lord's fast in the wilderness and His victory over Satan, which we will likewise receive as a result of the fast. The last 7 days will be the Holy Week, followed by the Resurrection. To many, this is the best period of the year!"
Can you talk to me about the "wilderness" and the victory over satan ?
The fast is 55 days. This year it is from March 11 to May 4. People who are exempt from fasting are usually pregnant women, not menstruating women but this is determined by the priest.
The "wilderness" and victory over Satan is from Luke 4. Immediately after Christ was baptized, he was led to the wilderness where he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. The narrative in Luke 4 speaks of Satan's temptation on Christ and how Christ defeated Satan by teaching us how to use fasting and solitude and God's words in the Scriptures as weapons against Satan.
[quote author=Altair91 link=topic=14323.msg163729#msg163729 date=1362969115] So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
Vegan all the way and in most days we are to abstain from food totally. The norm is to have liturgies in the morning. In weekdays lent, liturgies are celebrated later in the day. Many churches begin from Noon. My church begin from 4 pm.
[quote author=Altair91 link=topic=14323.msg163729#msg163729 date=1362969115] So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
For the whole 55 days of Great Lent we abstain from eating from the time we sleep until a certain time in the evening. And once we decide to eat, we eat only vegan (no meat, no dairy). The time to break your fast is determined by your priest and depends on some factors such as age, situation, etc, so everyone is different.
The purpose of the Great Lent is to discipline your body not to focus on food for ability and energy, but to focus and rely on God, the Creator and Giver of Life.
[quote author=Altair91 link=topic=14323.msg163729#msg163729 date=1362969115] So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
Technically speaking, fasting is complete abstinence from food. We are supposed to break the fast with the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Nowadays, we can't attend the liturgy every day because of work obligations, so we break the fast with vegan food and stay that way when we are not completely abstaining from food the next day. This cycle repeats for the entire duration of the fasting period.
[quote author=Altair91 link=topic=14323.msg163750#msg163750 date=1363047090] do you guys loose a lot of weight in the process ?
55 days without proteins or vitamin D sounds very hard
I think we can go straight to the bible for this one! If we read the Holy Book of Daniel Chapter 1, it's a story about Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The King wanted to make fit servants for himself, and he ordered that they all be trained over 3 years eating from the King's delicacies and drinking of the king's wine. But Daniel and the three youth didn't want to defile themselves with these delicacies, so he asked that they be tested for 10 days. They would be given vegetables and water for 10 days and then be compared with all the other servants who got the delicacies. And at the end of the 10 days, the youth and Daniel were in much better shape and healthier than the others.
there is enough protein in beans, lentils, rice and cereals (bread, porridge, rice etc.) in fact there are some people who are vegan all year around because they think it is not nice to use animal products (in rich countries). and some people are vegan in poor countries because they don't have enough money for m**t and m*lk. (words censored during fast!) ;) (seriously, we don't have to censor them, but when i first started fasting, i could not bear to read these words, and now i can, but maybe there are others weak like i was!)
there is vitamin d in a lot of food, and sesame seeds (tahina) are rich in calcium (we eat a lot of hummus!) it is possible to loose too much weight in lent (not all egyptians are fat!) :P but if someone has medical problems, the priest will advise them to fast less.
i used to loose weight during fasts, but now i loose hardly any because i got used to eating more when i eat vegan food, and i think my body got more efficient with the calories. it sometimes does that if someone fasts. some people are happy to loose weight during the fast; they have to try not to put it back on when they are eating fitari (non fasting) food again.
do you guys loose a lot of weight in the process ?
55 days without proteins or vitamin D sounds very hard
Any weight, protein, and vitamin D lost during the fast is definitely regained during the Holy 50 Days :D . The Holy 50 days begin from the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord until the Feast of Pentecost. Fasting during this period is strictly prohibited because it is a period of joy and even the hymns are sung in the "festive tune".
am eating veg with fried peanuts (groundnuts) added at the end of cooking. yum! yesterday i prayed more, today am on the computer wasting time... oops! :-[
God Help you all in your spiritual struggle and may He make your Fasts easy!
Thanks for your find words. Actually we shouldn't want the fast be easy, but we would rather that God grant us the strength to grow in a true relationship with Him.
Comments
you are right, the lent fast starts tomorrow!
:)
those who are able (so not kids) abstain from all food and drink from midnight (or whenever people go to sleep if it's earlier) till 12 noon, or ideally 3pm (we aim for this, but a lot of people in regular jobs who have lunch breaks in the middle of the day abstain till lunch).
then after that, we just eat vegan food. this is from tomorrow till easter (also called pascha), which is on 5th may.
small kids and babies still have milk, of course, and kids from different families start going vegan for lent at different ages.
this year the orthodox easter is on 5th may and catholic easter is on 31st march.
so the catholics are already fasting, but their fasting is a lot less strict.
during the fasting time, we make sure we pray a lot and study the Bible and help the poor. many people go to church more than once a week during this time, and people also pray in families and on their own.
our prayer consists of written prayers (www.agpeya.org) and spontaneous prayers.
we pray to God in whatever language we are comfortable with (i do a little arabic and a lot of english) and we thank God, ask Him for help, confess our sins, and listen to Him guide us as well.
each orthodox Christian checks out how much they should fast with their priest.
some people have medical conditions or other weaknesses which mean they can't fast fully. the priest gives personal advice (He is like an advisor, a father and a friend, so knows people personally).
the main point is for each person to thank God and ask Jesus, the Son of God for mercy, as we believe we can only obtain mercy from God because the Son of God came and died for us and rose from the dead.
we rely and God's mercy, because we realise that our good deeds are very small and unworthy when compared with God's great love for us.
if we are able to keep the fast, we are not allowed to be proud about it, as pride is one of the biggest sins.
because the devil (shaytan) was proud, he was thrown out of heaven and became the devil.
so we are not supposed to judge anyone else who is not fasting, but we encourage each other by only having vegan food when we invite people over for dinner. we can also pray together and help each other in this special spiritual time.
lent is our biggest fast (there are others!), so even though this is a lot of writing, it is only a small introduction!
;)
so you guys fast until the 31st right ?
in Islam God said that women who are going through their menstruation cycle are exempted from fasting, is it the same in christianity ?
lastly
My friend shared this from an FB coptic group
The fast for the Holy Lent will begin tomorrow, Monday. The first 7 days will be a preparatory week of fasting. The next 40 days will commemorate the Lord's fast in the wilderness and His victory over Satan, which we will likewise receive as a result of the fast. The last 7 days will be the Holy Week, followed by the Resurrection. To many, this is the best period of the year!"
Can you talk to me about the "wilderness" and the victory over satan ?
Thanks
The fast is 55 days. This year it is from March 11 to May 4. People who are exempt from fasting are usually pregnant women, not menstruating women but this is determined by the priest.
The "wilderness" and victory over Satan is from Luke 4. Immediately after Christ was baptized, he was led to the wilderness where he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. The narrative in Luke 4 speaks of Satan's temptation on Christ and how Christ defeated Satan by teaching us how to use fasting and solitude and God's words in the Scriptures as weapons against Satan.
So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
Vegan all the way and in most days we are to abstain from food totally. The norm is to have liturgies in the morning. In weekdays lent, liturgies are celebrated later in the day. Many churches begin from Noon. My church begin from 4 pm.
So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
For the whole 55 days of Great Lent we abstain from eating from the time we sleep until a certain time in the evening. And once we decide to eat, we eat only vegan (no meat, no dairy). The time to break your fast is determined by your priest and depends on some factors such as age, situation, etc, so everyone is different.
The purpose of the Great Lent is to discipline your body not to focus on food for ability and energy, but to focus and rely on God, the Creator and Giver of Life.
So in these 55 days you have to stay vegan ? So can you eat meat after 12 PM or 3 PM and before 12 AM ?
Technically speaking, fasting is complete abstinence from food. We are supposed to break the fast with the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Nowadays, we can't attend the liturgy every day because of work obligations, so we break the fast with vegan food and stay that way when we are not completely abstaining from food the next day. This cycle repeats for the entire duration of the fasting period.
do you guys loose a lot of weight in the process ?
55 days without proteins or vitamin D sounds very hard
do you guys loose a lot of weight in the process ?
55 days without proteins or vitamin D sounds very hard
I think we can go straight to the bible for this one! If we read the Holy Book of Daniel Chapter 1, it's a story about Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The King wanted to make fit servants for himself, and he ordered that they all be trained over 3 years eating from the King's delicacies and drinking of the king's wine. But Daniel and the three youth didn't want to defile themselves with these delicacies, so he asked that they be tested for 10 days. They would be given vegetables and water for 10 days and then be compared with all the other servants who got the delicacies. And at the end of the 10 days, the youth and Daniel were in much better shape and healthier than the others.
:)
Godspeed!
in fact there are some people who are vegan all year around because they think it is not nice to use animal products (in rich countries). and some people are vegan in poor countries because they don't have enough money for m**t and m*lk.
(words censored during fast!)
;)
(seriously, we don't have to censor them, but when i first started fasting, i could not bear to read these words, and now i can, but maybe there are others weak like i was!)
there is vitamin d in a lot of food, and sesame seeds (tahina) are rich in calcium (we eat a lot of hummus!)
it is possible to loose too much weight in lent (not all egyptians are fat!)
:P
but if someone has medical problems, the priest will advise them to fast less.
i used to loose weight during fasts, but now i loose hardly any because i got used to eating more when i eat vegan food, and i think my body got more efficient with the calories. it sometimes does that if someone fasts.
some people are happy to loose weight during the fast; they have to try not to put it back on when they are eating fitari (non fasting) food again.
Thanks Guys
do you guys loose a lot of weight in the process ?
55 days without proteins or vitamin D sounds very hard
Any weight, protein, and vitamin D lost during the fast is definitely regained during the Holy 50 Days :D . The Holy 50 days begin from the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord until the Feast of Pentecost. Fasting during this period is strictly prohibited because it is a period of joy and even the hymns are sung in the "festive tune".
All is well on my end :D
Ray
How is your fast going guys ? All is well I hope haha
haha so far so good, somehow I feel more energetic, thank God. :)
and i lost a couple pounds too! :D lol
thanks for asking!
yum!
yesterday i prayed more, today am on the computer wasting time...
oops!
:-[
There has been temptations and I've fallen a couple of times, only lightly. I will use the time because I have a war to fight. Please pray for me.
:)
God Help you all in your spiritual struggle and may He make your Fasts easy!
I pray God keeps you in all your ways Mabsoota and that you are continually blessed in His grace.
I pray for you too Altair9 that you overcome our common enermy satan and like wise blessed by God's
love.
God Help you all in your spiritual struggle and may He make your Fasts easy!
Thanks for your find words. Actually we shouldn't want the fast be easy, but we would rather that God grant us the strength to grow in a true relationship with Him.
The best to you as well!:)