the orthodox calendar and fasting
I can safely say I’m not a religious person. I’m VERY spiritual, but when it comes to religion, I’m not really the kind of guy who follows things to the letter when it comes to my relationship with The Almighty. Yes, I do believe in God, and yes, I think anyone who believes in a religious Higher Power should be respected.
Belief in something bigger than us is, in my opinion, an enlightened view of the world around us. I’m not saying atheists are unenlightened, but the folks I’ve known who consider themselves an atheist tend to recount a jaded religious past that had little or nothing to do with their relationship with God and more to do with soured relationships with other people.
I tend to read between the lines when people talk openly about religion. It’s not the dogma they recite, but the way they recite it that speaks volumes. Fervent believers in God, no matter how they manifest their belief, impress me. That’s not to say I want to be like them, but lengths people will go to in worship are pretty spectacular.
If you know me, you know that music holds a very spiritual place in my world. Likewise, people who find themselves in prayer and praise through music really inspire me. More than anything else, that’s probably the reason I love Gospel music so much.
But back to my point and the subject of this post.
I regularly look at the Orthodox calendar on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. It’s fascinating to read, and being loosely of the Orthodox faith, I find some things to be truly inspiring. Plus, it’s a great place to look up some things that I never learned about the Orthodoxy or about God in general. Possibly not the correct answers to my questions, but consistent and congruent answers about religion are few and far between. I think of it like my own personal priest-in-a-box. With a search engine. And a calendar.
Ok, that sounds weird, but I think you get what I’m saying.
Anyway, the Great Fasting period of Lent is approaching. For folks of the Orthodox faith, our Lent begins on March 10th this year, unlike our Christian peeps, who are already into Lent. So, with that in mind, I think I’m going to try and adhere to some Lenten Strict Fasting rules, denoted by the crosses in the calendar I linked to earlier in this post.
- Strict Fasting means no meat, no dairy (including eggs), no oil, and no alcohol. Essentially, veggies and grains in moderation
- Some people abstain from food completely from Monday through Wednesday of the first week of Lent. I may.
- On weekends, wine and oil are allowed. In moderation.
- On the Annunciation of the Theotokos (the day The Virgin Mary found out she was to bear the son of God), and on Palm Sunday, you are allowed fish.
Basically, I’m going to go vegan for the next few weeks starting on the 10th. Or at least I’ll try to, partially out of a new interest in my religion, and partially to incorporate this into my normal master cleanse habits.