The Church’s fasts, calendar and prayers belong to the Church, not to an app. Your priest guides you in them, and his guidance for you personally always comes first. Askesis only shows the general discipline of the Church for each day. This page says how that is worked out, how it is tested, and what is not tested. It is no substitute for the Church herself. Orthodoxy is lived in a parish, at the Divine Liturgy and around the chalice, with a priest who knows you. This page, like the app, is meant to send you there.
Who makes Askesis?
Askesis is made by one developer, Handful Apps. You can write to the developer at the address on the Support page.
How is a day’s fast worked out?
One engine works out the fast for every day. Fast levels come only from that engine and the data that ships with it. No screen, widget, reminder or label scan works out, adjusts or overrides a level. The mark on every fasting Wednesday and Friday comes from the engine’s result for that same day. All of it is bundled in the app, so it works offline and nothing about a day is fetched from a server.
How is the engine tested?
- Every day of 2026 and 2027, three ways. A test suite that runs on a Mac, with no phone and no network, compares the engine with a fixture for each day of the two years on three pairings of calendar and practice: Greek practice on the new calendar, Slavic practice on the old calendar, and Slavic practice on the new. That is 2,190 days. Each fixture was built from its source (see below) and, where printed sources disagree, corrected by a ruling recorded with its reason. The engine matches the fixtures on all 2,190 days.
- Each church’s own fixture where it differs. Where a church’s printed grades differ from the general discipline, that church has a fixture of its own for the same two years, and the suite runs on it too. So far these are the OCA, the Bulgarian Church and the Romanian Church.
- A wrong level is fixed in the data. The fix is first shown to turn exactly the affected days red, and only then to turn them green. A change to the data does not go in until the whole suite passes. A fixture is changed only when its own row is shown wrong against a source or a recorded ruling, never to fit the engine, and every change is entered in a written ledger.
- The dates on this website are tested too. This site prints the dates of Pascha for 2026 to 2035 and of the fasting seasons for 2026 to 2030. A second test compares them with the engine. It checks Pascha (and Western Easter against a published table); the first day of the forty days, Cheesefare Sunday, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday; Great Lent as the site and the engine each define it; and the Apostles’ Fast, the Dormition Fast and the Nativity Fast day by day on the same three pairings. It also checks that five churches’ own calendars differ from the general dates only where the pages say so. The dates of Pentecost and Meatfare Sunday are not part of that test. A mismatch means the website is wrong, and it is corrected on the website. Two known differences are stated on the pages themselves: some churches keep their own dates for the Apostles’ Fast and for the fast-free week after Pentecost, and the site prints the general dates.
Where do the dates and texts come from?
- Greek practice, new calendar. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s official Planner, published through August 2027. The last four months of 2027 are rebuilt from the Planner’s earlier years until it publishes them.
- Slavic practice, old calendar. orthocal.info’s Julian calendar, a private project that follows the OCA’s rubrics, with each disputed day checked against the text of the Typikon and against other printed calendars, among them that of a parish of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- Slavic practice, new calendar. orthocal.info’s new-calendar data, kept to the OCA’s rubrics in the same way, with each disputed day checked against the text of the Typikon.
- Each church’s own names and red letters. The Serbian Church’s pocket calendar for 2026, the Moscow Patriarchate’s liturgical directions for 2026, the OCA’s 2026 Desk Calendar, the Romanian Patriarchate’s calendar and the Bulgarian Holy Synod’s calendar. For the OCA, the Bulgarian Church and the Romanian Church, the fasting grades each prints are applied where they differ.
- Readings. The Epistle and Gospel of the Liturgy come from the Archdiocese’s Planner for Greek practice and from orthocal.info for Slavic. Every day of 2026 and 2027 is covered in Slavic practice, and in Greek practice through August 2027.
- Scripture. The Old Testament is Brenton’s Septuagint of 1851. The New Testament is the World English Bible, adapted to Orthodox usage.
- Prayers. In modern English, with three sections from Isabel Hapgood’s Service Book of 1906.
- Lives of the saints. Texts prepared for Askesis from the Church’s own record of each saint, not copied from a published translation.
- Recipes. These are cooking suggestions, not liturgical content. Each is matched to the day’s fast by the same food table the label scanner uses.
What happens when two sources disagree?
Where two printed calendars disagree, or a source is silent, the app follows a written ruling that is recorded with its reason, and some contested days were settled that way. The rulings are the developer’s responsibility. A ruling can be reopened when a church’s own publication shows it wrong, and then the data is fixed and the fix is tested as described above.
How does the site itself get checked?
Every guide and teaching page of this site is checked by a script before it goes live. The script flags every sentence that joins a day, week or season with a food word, and a flagged sentence stays only if it agrees with the app’s data on every pairing. The site names no fast level for a particular date. Every quotation names the printed edition it was read in. Each page carries the line about your priest, and nothing is loaded from another website. Each release is saved as a dated copy, so a page that proves wrong can be put back.
What has not been checked?
- Tests show that the app agrees with its sources. They do not show that every parish agrees. Parish custom, a bishop’s local dispensation and your own circumstances belong to your priest.
- Fast levels are compared day by day for 2026 and 2027 only. Later years follow the same rules, but no church’s printed calendar has been compared with them day by day.
- Greek practice for September to December 2027 is rebuilt from earlier years until the Archdiocese publishes it.
- The label scanner can miss an ingredient. When it matters, read the label yourself.
Which churches does Askesis cover?
Askesis covers the Orthodox Church. A reader chooses a church, and Askesis then keeps that church’s calendar, old or new, and the fasting practice it follows, Greek or Slavic. Where Askesis has that church’s own printed calendar, it also applies that church’s own differences (the OCA, the Bulgarian Church and the Romanian Church so far). A reader who names no church gets Greek practice on the new calendar, or Slavic practice if they choose the old calendar. Askesis takes no side between jurisdictions, or in any dispute between them.
The Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac Orthodox and Malankara churches are a separate family of churches, not in communion with the Orthodox Church, and Askesis does not cover their calendars or fasts.
How do I report an error?
If a date, a fast or a line of text is wrong, write to the address on the Support page. Send the date, your jurisdiction, and what your own church’s calendar says. That is enough to reproduce it. The mail goes to one person who reads it. There is no ticket system and no chatbot.
A verified error is corrected and entered in the log below. The log never names who reported it.
What should I do when Askesis and my parish differ?
Follow your priest. A calendar app cannot know your parish’s custom or what your priest has told you. If you have no parish yet, or you are new to the Church, visit one near you, be present at the Divine Liturgy, and ask to speak with the priest. Askesis is a help for the days between Liturgies. The Church herself, with her prayer, her fasts and her feasts, is found in the parish. To read why the Church fasts, see Why do Orthodox Christians fast?
What has been corrected?
Corrections to published text, newest first. This log begins on the date below; nothing earlier is recorded in it.
16 October 2026
- Fasting calendar: the 2027 Apostles’ Fast read "28 June to 28 June 2027". It now reads "28 June 2027 only", because the new-calendar fast is a single day that year.
- Fasting calendar: the Great Lent row is now labelled "the forty days", and the page says the fast continues through Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week to Pascha. The old label read as if the fast ended on the Friday before Lazarus Saturday.
- Fasting calendar and Great Lent 2027: these pages no longer say that Holy Week is kept more strictly; they now say that Holy Week has "its own order for each day", because the pages should not grade the days of Holy Week.
- Fasting calendar: added that some churches keep their own dates for the Apostles’ Fast and for the fast-free week after Pentecost, because the table printed one set of dates for every church.
- Great Lent 2027: the table row "Great Lent ends" now reads "The forty days end (the fast continues through Holy Week)", and the answer to "How long is Great Lent?" says the same.
- Great Lent 2027: a sentence saying Greek and Slavic practice differ on the weekdays of Lent was replaced with "Churches and parishes differ on some days, especially when a feast falls in the fast", because the general weekday rule is the same in both and the differences fall on particular days.
- Great Lent 2027: a sentence saying the first week of Lent carries a heavier fast than the other weeks was replaced with "Many keep the first days of Lent with particular care; your priest will tell you how much to take on", because the earlier sentence went beyond what Askesis can show for those days and how they are kept is for your priest.
- Great Lent 2027: wine and oil are now said to be allowed on "most Saturdays and Sundays and on some feast days", not on "weekends", because not every Saturday of the fast is the same.
- Great Lent 2027: the page now says that the scanner for food labels is part of Askesis Pro, and which parts of the app are free.
- Great Lent 2027: the section "What the fast asks" listed only foods. It now opens with repentance, prayer and almsgiving.
- Great Lent 2027: "both keep Pascha on the same day" now says "almost every Orthodox church", because a few churches keep Pascha with the Western churches.
- Wednesday and Friday: the page described one and the same fast for every ordinary Wednesday and Friday. A few weeks of the year relax that, so it now says "on most" and sends the reader to their church’s calendar.
- Wednesday and Friday: the three fixed fast days are now given as church dates with their old-calendar days beside them, and the days from the Nativity up to, but not including, the Eve of Theophany are marked as church dates, because the old calendar keeps them thirteen days later.
- Wednesday and Friday: the reasons for the fast are now credited to Saint Peter of Alexandria’s canonical epistle, and the practice to the Didache, with Apostolic Canon 69 named, so each claim has a source.
- Wednesday and Friday: "Calendars that show only the seasons miss most of the year’s fast days" now says "many", because the count was not shown. The statement that the practice dates to "the earliest Christian teaching" now names the Didache, a Christian teaching of the first or second century.
- Wednesday and Friday, the guides list, the home page and llms.txt: "the four fast-free weeks" now reads "the fast-free weeks", because the weeks are listed on the page and one of them differs by church.
- Easter dates: the sentence tying Pascha to the Jewish Passover was removed. The page now says that most Orthodox churches reckon the equinox and the full moon by the Julian tables and the Western churches by the Gregorian. The Orthodox Church of Finland is now called "the best-known exception".
- Old and new calendar: "two civil calendars" was corrected to "one of two calendars" for fixed feasts, and the page now says the Apostles’ Fast is the one season that is partly each.
- Nativity Fast 2026: the recipes were described as free, and they are part of Askesis Pro. "Correct for your own church" was reworded, "on many days fish, wine and oil are allowed" was narrowed to "on some days fish is allowed, and on others wine and oil", and the standard line about your priest was completed.
- Nativity Fast 2026: the headings "The feasts inside the fast" and "What the fast asks, day by day" now read "Feasts and holy days inside the fast" and "What the fast asks", because the page does not give the fast day by day.
- Home page: a screenshot description named a fast level for a feast day. It now names none.
- Home page and guides: "Know today’s fast. Correctly, for your parish." now reads "As your church’s calendar keeps it", because the app knows your church and its calendar but not your parish’s custom or what your priest has told you.
- Home page: "an icon for each" saint became "a portrait beside many of them", because not every life has one.
- Home page: "your name day" was listed among the free features, but name-day reminders are part of Askesis Pro. The free reminders are those the evening before a fast or a feast.
- Home page, support and llms.txt: "every Wednesday and Friday marked" now reads "every fasting Wednesday and Friday", because the weeks when the fasts are lifted are not marked.
- Home page and support: the text on how the app is checked now says the last four months of 2027 for Greek practice are rebuilt from earlier years, and that readings reach August 2027 in Greek practice. Slavic practice is now described as checked against a calendar kept to the OCA’s rubrics, not "kept to the Typikon", with each disputed day checked against the Typikon’s text.
- Home page: two answers were added, that Askesis does not cover the Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac Orthodox or Malankara churches, and that there is no Android version.
- Support: a line calling a wrong date "a bug worth fixing rather than an opinion" was reworded so that a difference may be a mistake in the app or something the reader’s own church keeps. "Every Wednesday and Friday" and "the single most common complaint" were softened, the subscription list was completed, and shellfish is now described as permitted in many parishes and not in all.
- Privacy: the list of what the app stores was completed (prayer-rule marks, the fast you chose to walk through, a name you type for a practice, and saints’ lives among favourites), and the network list was corrected from three Apple services to two.
- Guides and llms.txt: "computed from the same calendar as the app" was removed, because the site prints general dates and the app applies each church’s own. "87 prayers of the morning and evening rule" became "87 prayers, among them the morning and evening rule". The description of Askesis in llms.txt now reads "by the general discipline of their own church" instead of "correctly for their own church".
Your priest’s guidance for you personally always comes first. This page states the general discipline of the Church.
Askesis is an Orthodox calendar app for iPhone and iPad that shows today's fast in plain food words for your church's calendar.
What else do people ask?
Who makes Askesis?
Askesis is made by one developer, Handful Apps. You can write to the developer at the address on the Support page.
Where does Askesis get each day’s fast?
From one built-in calendar engine and the data that ships with it. No screen, widget, reminder or label scan works out, adjusts or overrides a level.
Which days of the fast calendar are tested?
Every day of 2026 and 2027, on three pairings of calendar and practice, against named reference calendars and recorded rulings where those calendars disagree. Later years follow the same rules but are not compared day by day.
How do I report a wrong date or fast?
Write to the address on the Support page with the date, your jurisdiction and what your own church’s calendar says. A verified error is corrected and entered in the public log on this page.
What should I do when Askesis and my parish differ?
Follow your priest, who knows your parish’s custom. If you have no parish yet, visit one near you, be present at the Divine Liturgy and ask to speak with the priest.
Does Askesis cover the Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac Orthodox or Malankara churches?
No. These churches are a separate family of churches, not in communion with the Orthodox Church, and Askesis does not cover their calendars or fasts.