great fast
meals
Due to a family health crisis, I've been on a whole-food, plant-based nutrition plan since 2017, which is a lot like our Eastern Christian fasting regimen! It wasn't easy but it's not as hard as you might think. Let me share some of what I've
learned along the way with you!
Next up:
The Nativity Fast
November 15-Christmas
What is True Fasting?
The Nativity Fast
On November 15, we will begin Philip's fast. It is a fast of 40 days (during which the faithful abstain from animal foods, as they do during Great Lent) that continues from the day after the feast of St. Philip until Christmas Eve to spiritually prepare for the coming of the Savior.
Many contend that the fast is attributed to the 40 days of prayer after the anniversary of the death of St.Philip and may have nothing to do with the feast of the Nativity. Nevertheless, it does take place forty days before this great feast and many eastern Christians use it to prepare themselves for its celebration. We can do this by fasting from meat and dairy, from sweets, from whatever we chose to be most meaningful to us, or we can prepare in other ways.
It isn't really known when such a fast was introduced. Some say it was observed as early as the sixth century, although some say later in the eighth. However, it was in the year 1166 AD that the Nativity Fast was first formally instituted at a synod at Constantinople to imitate the 40 days that Moses fasted before receiving the tablets of the law.
It is clear that the fast is designed to prepare us both physically and spiritually for the coming of the Savior at Christmas. We are asked to abstain from meat and dairy products, eggs, and oil, just as we do during the Great Fast, but the rules are a bit less strict. We may eat fish and are allowed oil and wine on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends, and on feast days such as the Presentation of the Theotokos and St. Nicholas day.
Watch ByziMom
Catherine Alexander from
Your Word From the Wise
as she interviews
Abouna Moses from
Holy Resurrection Monastery on how to observe the Fast
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See the Video HERE
Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate, Completed October 2020, from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University.
My book is out!...
As you may already know, my family has been advised by our cardiologist to adopt a perpetual fast in order to combat a family health crisis. We've adopted a whole-foods, plant-based, no oil diet...just like our Eastern Christian fast!...full time, and now that we've done it, I can help you get through 40 days of fasting too.
Here are a few of ByziMom's Great Fast Recipes:
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Middle Eastern Meze: falafel, tzadziki, tabbouleh & dolmades
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Fajita Night: sweet potato tortillas, unfried beans, oil-free vegetable stir fry, cashew nacho sauce, Mexican quinoa, etc.
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What's for dinner tonight?
A RECIPE fromByziMom.com
for November 14
St. Philip's Snakes
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​related to them what he had seen and heard from the angel. He begged them to spread the word among his brother disciples to pray and fast for his soul for forty days after his impending death. On the eve of St. Philip's feast day, we remember the pesky snakes that were the cause of his martyrdom, and bake a batch of St. Philip's Snakes to eat for a treat, in anticipation of the 40-day fast which will begin the next day.
​Ingredients
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3 eggs.
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1/4 tsp salt
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1/2 cup sugar.
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1-1/2 tsp vanilla
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3/4 cup butter.
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1/4 cup milk
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1Tbsp baking powder.
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4 cups flour
Preparation
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour along with the milk and mix gently just until a soft dough forms. Take a golf ball size piece of the dough and roll it between your palms to make a rope. Coil the rope to form the shape of a snake ( my children often tie the rope into a knot), and place it on a greased baking sheet. Press one end of the coil with your thumb and flatten to make the head of the snake.
Repeat until all of your snakes are made. If you wish, you can press 2 currants, or chocolate chips onto the head for eyes and use a bit of dough, or a strip of marachino cherry for his tongue. (Cutting a "fork" into the tongue makes our little serpents look very realistic, and so fun).
Bake these at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. When completely cooled, you can choose to glaze them with green-tinted powdered sugar glaze, or drizzle
St. Philip, it is said, traveled to Syria along with his sister, Miriamne and the apostle Bartholomew. There, in the city of Heliopolis, there was a pagan temple where many people who came to worship a certain serpent-god were bitten by venomous snakes. In Jesus name, the three healed many of those who were bitten, including the wife of the city magistrate, saving their lives and converting them to Christ. Upon hearing of the conversion of his wife, the magistrate ordered all three of the holy missionaries to be crucified and as they hung upon their crosses, a terrible earthquake befell the city. At first, Philip rejoiced at the misfortune of his persecutors to have provoked the wrath of God. At once, an angel appeared to him, telling him of God's displeasure with his attitude. Because he had rejoiced, he would not be allowed to enter paradise for forty days after his imminent death. Grief stricken and ashamed of himself, Philip began to entreat God for the safety of the people of the city and the earthquake stopped. Then he turned to his sister and to Bartholomew and
