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Orthodox fasting calendar

The Orthodox fasting calendar

What to eat and when, day by day, on the New and Old Calendars — explained plainly, from the same engine as the Prosfora app.

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Choose a year

20262027

Choose a month

2026

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

2027

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

The levels of fasting

Strict fastNo meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil — vegetables, grains and fruit. Simplicity as prayer.Wine & oil permittedWine and olive oil are permitted today. No meat, dairy, eggs or fish.Fish permittedFish is allowed today, with wine, oil, shellfish and all foods of the earth. No meat, dairy or eggs.Cheesefare — dairy permittedNo meat this week, but dairy, eggs and fish are welcome every day — even Wednesday and Friday.Fast-freeA fast-free period: the Church is feasting. All foods with gratitude.No fast todayAn ordinary day — eat with thanksgiving.

The four fasting seasons

  • Great Lent and Holy Week — the seven weeks before Pascha, beginning on Clean Monday.
  • The Apostles’ Fast — from the Monday after All Saints until the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29). Its length changes with the date of Pascha.
  • The Dormition Fast — August 1–14, before the Dormition of the Theotokos.
  • The Nativity Fast — November 15 to December 24, before Christmas.

Most Wednesdays and Fridays are also fast days, remembering the betrayal and the Cross. The fast is relaxed in the fast-free weeks: after the Publican and the Pharisee, Bright Week after Pascha, the week after Pentecost, and the Twelve Days of Christmas.

New Calendar (Revised Julian) churches — most Greek, Antiochian, OCA, Romanian and Bulgarian parishes — keep fixed feasts on the civil date. Old Calendar (Julian) churches — Russian, Serbian, Georgian and others — keep them 13 days later on the civil calendar. Pascha and the feasts that depend on it fall on the same day for both.

Follow your parish

These are the general fasting rules of the Orthodox Church, computed for both calendars. Local custom, age, health, pregnancy and your priest’s guidance come first — when in doubt, ask your priest.