The period of Pre-Lenten Sundays in the Orthodox Church prepare us for the coming of Great Lent.

Raise your hand if you’re starting to feel those physical effects of fasting...hungry, a little tired, maybe even irritable? We call it being snippy in our household. When we strip away the excess comforts of life, fasting from food and other pleasures, feasting on prayer and silence, our latent sinful tendencies start to bubble up. There’s a reason “hanger” is a thing!

In the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, fasting is a spiritual discipline that has been passed down through Holy Tradition and includes limiting certain types of food and the amount of food eaten for a designated period of time. 

According to Fr. Schmemann (in his book Great Lent: Journey to Pascha), the Orthodox faith teaches two different modes of fasting rooted in Scripture and Tradition: total fast and ascetical fast.