In 2024, Orthodox Christians will hold Great Lent from March 18 to May 4 - dietary restrictions will vary slightly by day of the week. The Lenten period, in church words, the Holy Forty Day, precedes the main Christian holiday - the Bright Resurrection of Christ. Believers can focus on the calendar in order to correctly compose the menu and work physically and spiritually to celebrate Easter physically renewed and with a pure heart.
Dates and purpose of Lent
The annual liturgical cycle includes four long fasts.All of them are aimed at the spiritual purification of a person. The rules for eating food have different degrees of strictness for monastics, ordinary parishioners, sick children, engaged in intensive physical labor, children, but in any case it is recommended to adhere to the basic requirements.
A certain abstinence in meals and entertainment applies to multi-day Orthodox fasts:
- Great - in 2024 it will begin on March 18, and end on Saturday before Easter, May 4;
- Petrova - its duration varies in different years, in 2024 it will be very short - from July 1 to July 11;
- Uspensky - equal in severity to the Great, lasts from August 14 to 27;
- Christmas - will start on November 28 and end on January 6, 2025.
Great is the most rigorous and lengthy - it starts seven weeks before Easter. Holy Week is added directly to Forty Days, so the total duration of fasting days is 48. It is not blessed to consume animal products:
- milk in all forms, including cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, curdled milk, kefir;
- meat and meat products;
- eggs.
In addition, believers abstain from fish and seafood, and on certain days from vegetable oil and boiled foods. For those who can afford it, the church blesses them to refuse food (up to bread and water) on the first day of Great Lent and on Good Friday. The rest is recommended to get by with dry eating - give up boiled, stewed, fried foods.
Meals by day
Eating principles during Lent in 2024 differ by day. Particular severity is inherent in the first week. Monday is marked by total abstinence, the period from Tuesday to Friday involves the use of uncooked products:
- vegetables - both fresh and s alted, pickled, pickled;
- fruits, including dried ones;
- nuts - from walnuts and peanuts to pine and almonds;
- natural honey:
- berries.
Bread is also allowed, water can be drunk without restrictions. At first glance, such a diet is rather meager, but the menu can be diversified with more vegetables:
- cabbages;
- beets;
- carrots;
- radishes;
- bow;
- garlic.
It is permissible to drink kvass prepared in advance, add s alt to the meal. Dried seasonings and spices help out well - they allow you to cook interesting vegetable salads without adding sour cream or mayonnaise. Many believers prefer parsley with dill and ground pepper with cardamom, but other variations are not ruled out.
During the second - sixth week, dry eating remains only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On weekdays, you can eat boiled dishes without oil, and on weekends it is not forbidden to add it. Features of Orthodox fasts and important points regarding nutrition are reflected in the church calendar. In 2024, you can also eat fish, celebrating the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Palm Sunday. On Lazarus Saturday, you can treat yourself to fish caviar.
| Day of the week | Strict dietary abstinence |
| Monday | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | Hot food without oil |
| Wednesday | Dry eating |
| Thursday | Hot without oil |
| Friday | Dry eating |
| Saturday | Boiled dishes with oil (vegetable) |
| Sunday |
Excellent replacement for fast foods - cereals with legumes, fresh vegetables and fruits, especially avocados, mushrooms, fatty red fish on permitted days and a variety of vegetable oils: you can add olive, cedar, linseed, mustard, peanut to the usual sunflower .
Sample meal plan
Traditions to refrain from eating animal products on the eve of especially significant dates, Orthodox Christians are obliged to monastics. It was in the monasteries that such a custom originated, and behind their walls, regulations were developed regarding different meals during fasting on different days. The Church imposes less strict requirements on the laity than on the monks, but pious believers can be guided by the monastic Rule, correlating it with their state of he alth, work schedule and age.
1 week, the triumph of Orthodoxy, March 18-24.
| Day of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 18.03.24 | Total abstinence from food |
| Tuesday | 19.03.24 | Dry eating |
| Wednesday | 20.03.24 | |
| Thursday | 21.03.24 | |
| Friday | 22.03.24 | |
| Saturday | 23.03.24 | Hot with butter |
| Sunday | 24.03.24 |
2 week, St. Gregory Palamas, March 25-31.
| Day of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 25.03.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 26.03.24 | Hot without oil |
| Wednesday | 27.03.24 | Dry eating |
| Thursday | 28.03.24 | Hot without oil |
| Friday | 29.03.24 | Dry eating |
| Saturday | 30.03.24 | Hot with butter |
| Sunday | 31.03.24 |
3 week, Adoration of the Cross, April 1-7.
| Day of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 1.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 2.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Wednesday | 3.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Thursday | 4.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Friday | 5.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Saturday | 6.04.24 | Hot with butter |
| Sunday | 7.04.24, Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Hot with butter, you can eat fish |
4 week, St. John of the Ladder, April 8-14.
| Day of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 8.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 9.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Wednesday | 10.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Thursday | 11.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Friday | 12.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Saturday | 13.04.24 | Hot with butter |
| Sunday | 14.04.24 |
5th week of Saint Mary of Egypt, April 15-21.
| Days of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 15.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 16.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Wednesday | 17.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Thursday | 18.04.24 | Hot food without oil |
| Friday | 19.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Saturday | 20.04.24 | Hot with butter |
| Sunday | 21.04.24 |
6 week, Flower-bearing, Vaii, Palm, April 22-28.
| Days of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 22.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 23.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Wednesday | 24.04.24 | Dry |
| Thursday | 25.04.24 | Hot without oil |
| Friday | 26.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Saturday | 27.04.24, Lazarus Saturday | Hot with butter, you can use fish caviar |
| Sunday | 28.04.24, Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday | Hot with butter, fish |
7 Week, Holy, April 29 - May 5.
| Days of the week | Date | Mode |
| Monday | 29.04.24 | Dry eating |
| Tuesday | 30.04.24 | |
| Wednesday | 1.05.24 | |
| Thursday | 2.05.24 | |
| Friday | 3.05.24 | Total abstinence from food |
| Saturday | 4.05.24 | Hot without oil |
| Sunday | 5.05.24, Holy Sunday of Christ, Easter | No post |
If for good reasons it is impossible to give up animal products, close attention should be paid to the fight against existing bad habits. A good option is to stop drinking alcoholic beverages, stop smoking, or at least significantly limit smoking. Accompanying such a desire with sincere prayers, it is much easier to cope with negative addiction.
Another feat, quite accessible to the laity, is to reduce your “communication” with gadgets, hang out on social networks as little as possible, stop endlessly scrolling the news. Sitting aimlessly in front of the TV screen also does not contribute to the purification of the soul. It is better to read a good book: if the lives of the saints are still difficult to comprehend, Russian classical literature will certainly provide food for the mind and heart.
It is not recommended to attend entertainment and entertainment events that bring down the height of the spiritual mood.
It makes no sense to follow a strict diet while ignoring the spiritual life. The decision on how a person will behave must be made in advance, since an important event requires proper preparation and a certain mood. Only a conscious and sincere entry into such an important period will help to get the maximum benefit for both the soul and the body.
