In the Catholic Church there is a spiritual principle that states you should “fast before you feast.” This is most evident in the season of Lent, when Catholics are asked to observe two days of fasting and to abstain from meat on Fridays.
While that is the most well-known season of fasting, the Church has historically designated a variety of other times when Catholics are encouraged to prepare for a feast with fasting.
Eastern Catholics (as well as Eastern Orthodox) maintain these traditions to the present day as part of their culture.
One example is the “Dormition fast,” which occurs two weeks before the feast of the Dormition of Mary on August 15 (Roman Catholics celebrate the Assumption of Mary on the same day).
Dormition fast
First of all, when contemplating the mystery of the Virgin Mary’s departure from this world, many early Christians referred to it as the “Sleep of Mary,” or “Dormition of Mary” (from the Latin domire, meaning to sleep). Eastern Catholics celebrate this mysterious event in the life of the Virgin Mary each year on August 15.
Since it is a very high ranking feast (one of the 12 Great Feasts of the liturgical year), early Christians observed a fast prior to it.
This fast lasts from August 1 until August 14 and generally includes abstaining from meat and dairy products. The precise type of fasting varies according to the local tradition.
Interestingly, according to the Melkite Eparchy of Newton, this fast was originally directed towards the Dormition of Mary, and was simply one of the regular fasts proscribed throughout the year:
At first not all these fasts were connected to a feast day, as they are today. Pope St Leo the Great in c. 450 explained these fasts as seasonal ascetical exercises: “The Church fasts are situated in the year in such a way that a special abstinence is prescribed for each season. Thus, for spring there is the spring fast – the Forty Days; for summer there is the summer fast… ; for autumn there is the autumn fast, in the seventh month; for winter there is the winter fast.” The Christian is called to practice at least part of the time the ascetical struggle which monastics observe every day.
The point of the fast is to purify our hearts by restraining our natural impulses. It can help us prepare spiritually for the upcoming feast, opening our heart to God.
It’s not meant to be a killjoy, but an opportunity to draw closer in friendship with Jesus Christ.
