Askesis / Wednesday and Friday fast
Two days of every week are fast days through the year, outside the fast-free weeks. Why, when, and what is set aside.
Besides the four fasting seasons, the Church fasts on Wednesday and Friday all year: Wednesday in memory of the betrayal of Christ, Friday in memory of his crucifixion, as Saint Peter of Alexandria wrote in his canonical epistle. The practice is older still: the Didache, a Christian teaching of the first or second century, already appoints Wednesday and Friday, and the Apostolic Canons (canon 69) bind clergy and people to them, with an exception for clergy hindered by bodily infirmity. A newcomer begins with what the priest gives and grows into the fast.
Wednesday and Friday are not fasted in the fast-free weeks of the year:
Your church’s calendar, or Askesis set to your church, gives the exact days.
On most Wednesdays and Fridays, meat, dairy products and eggs are set aside. A few weeks of the year relax this, and so do some great feasts that fall on a Wednesday or a Friday. Whether fish, wine and oil are allowed depends on the day and on your church’s practice. Your church’s calendar, or Askesis set to your church, gives each day.
A few days are kept as fast days whatever the weekday: the Elevation of the Cross (14 September), the Beheading of the Forerunner (29 August) and the Eve of Theophany (5 January). These are church dates; on the old calendar they fall on 27 September, 11 September and 18 January.
Your priest’s guidance for you personally always comes first. This page states the general discipline of the Church.
Calendars that show only the seasons miss many of the year’s fast days. Askesis marks every fasting Wednesday and Friday in the month grid, outside the fast-free weeks, and shows the day’s fast in food words.
Wednesday recalls the betrayal of Christ and Friday his crucifixion. Fasting on these two days is already found in the Didache, a Christian teaching of the first or second century.
The days from the Nativity up to the Eve of Theophany (25 December to 4 January, church date), the week after the Publican and the Pharisee, Bright Week and the week after Pentecost.
On most of them, meat, dairy products and eggs are set aside; a few weeks relax this. Fish, wine and oil depend on the day and on your church’s practice; ask your priest.
Why do Orthodox Christians fast? and How is Askesis checked?