Canon 115 §5 reminds: “On all fast days and dispensed weeks the faithful are obliged to refrain from organizing and participating in loud parties, celebratory [i.e. wedding] receptions, dances, entertainment and other similar events”.

Minimum Required Days of Fasting

According to the synod of bishops of the UGCC, the faithful are required to observe at least the following, and taught by the Stamford Eparchy between ages 14 to 60:

All Fridays:
(some exceptions indicated on the calendar) – no meat or meat products.

Great Lent:

First day of Great Lent – no meat, dairy and eggs, or foods that contain these ingredients.

First week of Great Lent – no meat or meat products.

Mondays, Wednesdays (encouraged), and Fridays of Great Lent – no meat or meat products.

Holy Week – no meat or meat products.

Great, and Holy Friday – no meat, dairy and eggs, and foods that contain these ingredients.

Note: The following are exempt from abstinence: 1. The poor who live on alms; 2. The sick and the frail; 3. Convalescents who are returning to their strength; 4. Pregnant women, and women who are nursing their children; and 5. Persons who perform hard labor.

Meat is to be understood as including not only the flesh, but also those parts of warm-blooded animals that cannot be rendered, i. e., melted down, e. g., the liver, lungs, blood, etc. meat gravy or soup made from meat is included in this prohibition.

Dairy products are to be understood as comprising products derived from mammals and birds, but not regarded as meat, e. g., cheese, lard, butter, milk, eggs, etc.

What about fish, oil and wine?

As stated above, Ukrainian Catholics are obligated to fast on two days of the year and abstain from meat on Fridays. Other Churches may oblige or reccommend their faithful to abstain from fish, oil and wine. Geared to a Mediteranean diet, these regulations do not pertain to our Church.

Food is a Gift

Food is a good gift from God. Often we forget that food is a gift we receive, that we reverence and do not waste, that we are thankful for. Food is not rejected; as gift we prepare our bodies to receive with the utmost grace and therefore fasting is not an expression of contempt for food or the body. On Holy Pascha, we bless the foods, which we shall share, and all of us should know from experience that nothing else ever tastes quite as good as our blessed Paschal meal after the fast! There is a time to fast, and a time to feast. If we fast well, then our feast will be all the more special, and satisfying. Both fasting and feasting in due season teach us to come to know God better through the gift of His creation.