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→History and Tradition
===Extended fasting periods===
There are four main periods of extended fasting:
#The [[Great Lent]] is the period of six weeks preceding [[Holy Week]] in anticipation of the Feast of [[Great Feasts|Feasts]], [[Pascha]], followed by the fasting of [[Holy Week]]. Great Lent is preceded by the ''Meatfast'', that starts on the Monday after the [[Sunday of the Last Judgment]] through [[Cheesefare Sunday]].
#The [[Nativity]] Fast (or Advent; also called St. [[Apostle Philip (of the Twelve)|Philip]]'s Fast, coming immediately after his feast on [[November 14]]), is the period from [[November 15]] to [[December 24]] (forty days) in anticipation of [[Christmas]], the Festival of the Nativity of the Savior.
#The [[Apostles]]' Fast is the period from the week following Monday after [[PentecostAll Saints]] (a variable feast) to the [[feast day]] of StsSs. [[Apostle Peter|Peter]] and [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] on [[June 29]].
#The [[Dormition]] Fast is the period of the first two weeks of August in anticipation of the feast of the [[Dormition]] of the [[Theotokos]].
==History and Tradition==
The Christians inherited the tradition of fasting from the [[Judaism|Jews]]. Jesus, too, gave examples of fasting to his [[disciple]]s, most notably preceding his forty days in the desert when he was tempted by the [[devil]] ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matt]] 4:1-11).
"...you fast on Wednesdays and Fridays" (Didache 8:1). That Wednesday and Friday fasting was general practice in early Christianity is attested by the first or early second century writing known as The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles; outside of the Eastern Church it was not generally recognized that this fasting tradition had been preserved unchanged from such an early date until the discovery of Greek and Latin mss. of The Didache in 1873 and 1900 respectively.
==See also==
[[Category:Church Life]]
[[fr:Jeûne]]
[[ro:Postul]]
[[el:Νηστεία]]