Fasting in the Orthodox Church: Its Theological, Pastoral, and Social Implications

Publication Data: Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1996
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: vi + 91
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.3 cm × 13.8 cm × 0.7 cm
ISBN: 0‒911165‒16‒9

   
Second Edition

by Archimandrite Akakios

“[The]...forms of fasting in the Orthodox Church today reflect not only an historical development in fasting practice reaching back to the Early Church, but are also expressed in the authority of Scripture, Patristic teaching, and canonical regulations in the Orthodox Church. These elements of Tradition are inextricably bound not only to praxis, or practice, in the Orthodox Church’s understanding of fasting, but are related to one another at a conceptual level (eis ten theorian). [...]The foundations of the Orthodox Church’s fasting practices, therefore, are to be found in both Scripture and Tradition. Indeed, [...]one cannot attempt to understand these practices without first investigating their Scriptural and Traditional sources.”
—“Chapter One: Fasting in the Eastern Orthodox Church: The Legacy of the Early Church”

CONTENTS

Chapter One
   Fasting in the Eastern Orthodox Church: The Legacy of the Early Church
Chapter Two
   Asceticism and Eastern Christian Spirituality: A Theological Treatment of Fasting
Chapter Three
   Fasting and Contemporary Orthodoxy in the Americas
Chapter Four
   Fasting and Pastoral Concerns
Bibliography