Orthodox fasting calendar: the rule for today and every day
This Orthodox fasting calendar shows the fasting rule for today and for every day of the year: strict fast, wine and oil, fish, wine and oil, no meat, or fast-free. It covers the weekly Wednesday and Friday fast, the four fasting seasons — Great Lent and Holy Week, the Apostles’ Fast, the Dormition Fast and the Nativity Fast — the fast-free weeks and the single fast days, and works for both the New (Revised Julian) and the Old (Julian) Calendar.
Everything is anchored on Orthodox Pascha, which is calculated with the Julian computus (see the Easter date calculator). The rules shown are the general rule of the Typikon as the Orthodox Church in America summarises it; your parish may be more or less strict.
How to use the Orthodox Fasting Calendar
- Choose the Year and the Calendar your church follows.
- Read today’s rule in the large box, with the season and the reason.
- Move through the months with the arrows; colours show the rule for each day. Tap a day to see its rule.
- Check the table of fasting seasons for the year.
Orthodox Fasting Calendar features
Every day
Five clear levels from fast-free to strict, with the reason for each day.
New and Old Calendar
Fixed feasts and fasts move 13 days later on the Old Calendar; Pascha is the same.
Seasons table
Great Lent, the Apostles’, Dormition and Nativity fasts, and the fast-free weeks, with dates.
Feast relaxations
Annunciation, Palm Sunday, the Transfiguration and great feasts on fast days, and the Lenten weekday feasts with wine and oil.
The rule used
- Wednesdays and Fridays are strict fast days all year, except in the fast-free periods: from Christmas to the eve of Theophany, the week after the Publican and Pharisee, Bright Week and Trinity Week.
- Cheesefare week before Lent: no meat, but dairy, eggs and fish every day.
- Great Lent: weekdays strict (xerophagy); Saturdays and Sundays wine and oil; Annunciation and Palm Sunday fish; Holy Thursday wine and oil; Great Friday and Holy Saturday strict.
- Apostles’ and Nativity fasts: Monday, Wednesday and Friday strict; Tuesday and Thursday wine and oil; Saturday and Sunday fish — but no fish from 20 to 24 December.
- Dormition Fast (1–14 August): strict, with wine and oil at weekends and fish on the Transfiguration.
- Single fast days: the eve of Theophany (5 January), the Beheading of St John (29 August) and the Elevation of the Cross (14 September).
How local practice differs
Many parishes relax the rule on the feast of a saint with a vigil or doxology, on the parish’s own patronal feast, or for national saints; others allow fish more often during the Apostles’ and Nativity fasts. Greek, Russian, Antiochian and other traditions also differ on Lazarus Saturday and some single fast days. Checked against the Holy Trinity Monastery’s Old Calendar for 2026, the page agrees on every fasting season and fast-free week; its remaining differences are saints’ days, on which that calendar allows oil or fish.
Russian practice also allows fish on the Wednesdays and Fridays between Thomas Sunday and Pentecost and in the days after Theophany, and fish roe on Lazarus Saturday; Greek parish calendars often allow fish on more weekends of the Apostles’ Fast. Where a day here is stricter than your parish calendar, the parish calendar takes precedence. The Coptic, Ethiopian and Armenian churches keep fasts of their own, with different lengths and rules.
Orthodox Fasting Calendar FAQ
Is today a fast day for Orthodox Christians?
The large box shows today’s rule for the calendar you chose. Wednesdays and Fridays are fast days unless they fall in a fast-free period.
When is Great Lent 2027 for the Orthodox?
Pascha 2027 is on 2 May, so Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, 15 March 2027, and ends with Holy Week on 1 May.
What does “wine and oil” mean?
Wine and olive oil are allowed, but not meat, dairy, eggs or fish. On a strict fast day these are also avoided.
Why is the Apostles’ Fast a different length each year?
It begins on the Monday after All Saints, eight days after Pentecost, and ends on 28 June; when Pascha is late it is short, and on the New Calendar it can disappear.
Should I follow this calendar exactly?
Fasting is a matter for guidance from your priest or spiritual father; illness, age, pregnancy and other needs bring dispensations.