Fast-free days are specific periods when we don’t fast at all, not even on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Church gives us several weeks throughout the year when fasting takes a break so we can fully celebrate the great feasts.
Here’s when we set aside the usual fasting rules. The week after Christmas through Theophany Eve (December 25 through January 4). The week following the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, which comes about three weeks before Great Lent starts. Bright Week, which is the entire week after Pascha through Thomas Sunday. And the week after Pentecost, called Trinity Week, which runs until the Saturday before All Saints Sunday.
Sundays are always fast-free too, but these special weeks extend that joy to every day of the week.
Why the Church Does This
The reasoning is simple. These periods celebrate the biggest events in our salvation. Pascha isn’t just a day, it’s a week-long party. Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death. You can’t fast during that. It would be like refusing cake at your own wedding reception.
Same with Christmas. We just spent forty days preparing for the Incarnation through the Nativity Fast. When God becomes man and lies in a manger, we feast. The Church knows we need time to let these realities sink in, and fasting would send the wrong message during these days.
The week after the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee has a different purpose. It’s a breather before the intensity of Great Lent. We’re about to enter the strictest fast of the year, and the Church in her wisdom gives us one last week of normal eating. It’s pastoral. It’s kind.
The Rhythm of Feasting and Fasting
If you’re coming from a Baptist or non-denominational background, this whole pattern might seem strange. Most Protestant churches don’t fast at all, or if they do, it’s an individual choice disconnected from the church calendar. But Orthodox Christianity has always worked with this rhythm, fast, then feast. Prepare, then celebrate. Die, then rise.
We’re not Gnostics who think the body is bad and the spirit is good. We’re not trying to escape physical reality. Fasting is medicine, not punishment. And like any medicine, you take it when you need it and stop when you don’t.
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes about this balance in “The Orthodox Church.” He points out that our calendar breathes, in and out, asceticism and celebration, discipline and joy. Fast-free weeks are the Church’s way of saying, “Now exhale. Now receive. Now let the feast fill you.”
What This Looks Like Practically
During fast-free weeks, you eat whatever you want. Meat on Wednesday. Cheese on Friday. No restrictions. If you’ve been fasting from something extra during a fasting season, say, coffee or sweets, those are back on the table too during fast-free periods.
This matters for those of you working offshore or at the plants with rotating schedules. If you’re on a rig during Bright Week, you don’t need to worry about what’s in the galley. Eat what they serve. The Church has declared these days free.
One note: your parish’s patronal feast day also gets special treatment. If it falls during a fasting period, fish, wine, and oil are allowed. St. Michael’s celebrates the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael on November 8, which falls during the Nativity Fast. That day we can have fish even though we’re technically fasting.
Talk to Your Priest
Fasting rules can feel complicated at first. They’re not meant to be a burden or a test you pass or fail. Father will help you figure out what’s appropriate for where you are spiritually and physically. Some people have health conditions that require adjustments. Some are just starting out and need to ease into the fasting discipline gradually.
But fast-free weeks? Those are straightforward. When the Church says feast, we feast. When she says fast, we fast. It’s not about our individual preferences or how spiritual we feel that day. We’re learning to live according to the Church’s calendar, which means learning to live in sync with the whole Body of Christ across time and space.
Next time Bright Week rolls around and someone offers you barbecue on a Friday, take it. Christ is risen, and the tomb is empty. That’s worth celebrating every single day for a week.
