Dietary Rules

1.2. Little Lent of the Dormition

Before the feast of the Dormition, Eastern Churches suggest a fasting of two weeks (from 1st to 14th August) to the observance of the faithful, which strictly follows that of the Great Lent. The historical-liturgical sources tell us about the relatively late diffusion of this fasting, and still Teodoro Studita (9th century) and Athanasius the Athonite (10th century) do not talk about this dietary rule, which appears for the first time in the Italian area, in Otranto, after the Eastern Schism (12th century). On the basis of all the historical, liturgical and canonical data, we can say that the duration of the fast was officially determined only in the 12th century, and has spread in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Nowadays the faithful of the Eastern rite observe a strict fast from Monday to Friday, from 1st to 14th August, while they consume oil and wine only on Saturdays and Sundays; the only exception is for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ, on 6th August, when fish can also be consumed. The Fast of the Dormition is nowadays little observed, especially by the Eastern faithful living outside their own religious context.

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