 to the spiritual one, the "natural" to the "supernatural." Limitations in food are instrumental; they are not ends in themselves. Fasting thus is but a means of reaching a spiritual goal and, therefore, an integral part of a wide spiritual effort. Fasting, in the Orthodox understanding, includes more than abstinence from certain types of food. It implies prayer, silence, an internal disposition of mind, an attempt to be charitable, kind, and-in one word-spiritual. Brethren, while fasting bodily, let us also fast spiritually...
And because of this the Orthodox doctrine of fasting excludes the evaluation of fasting in terms of a "maximum" or "minimum." Every one must find his maximum, weigh his conscience and find in it his "pattern of fasting." But this pattern must necessarily include the spiritual as well as the "bodily" elements. The Typicon and the canons of the Church give the description of an ideal fast: no meat or dairy products, total abstinence on certain days. "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it" (Matt. 19:12). But, whatever is our measure-our fasting must be a total effort of our total being.
According to the rules of the Church the fast cannot be broken for the entire Lenten period of forty days: Saturdays and Sundays are no exception.
3. Spiritual Reading
4. Change of Life
"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." (John 14:23)Let us make this Lent a real Lent!
For a fuller treatment of the meaning of Lent, cf. the book GREAT LENT, also written by Rev. Alexander Schmemann.( ISBN 978-0-91383-604-0 )