The Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast — the well-known Forty Days — is one of the most beautiful yet often misunderstood gifts the Church offers to the faithful. It is the second great and long fasting period after Great Lent. It also lasts forty days, but with a milder canonical strictness, and with a unique character of joyful sorrow: a preparation through repentance, yet also a sweet and calm anticipation of the birth of Christ.

Below follows an extended study (theological, patristic, and historical) about the when, why, and how of fasting during the Nativity Fast.

1. What is the Nativity Fast?

1.1. The Second Major Fasting Season

The Nativity Fast is the second long fasting period in the ecclesiastical year, after Great Lent. It lasts forty days and:

• Begins on November 15th

• Ends on December 24th (Christmas Eve)

• Among the Orthodox faithful, it is called the “Forty Days” just like Great Lent, but it is less strict in terms of food regulations. Nevertheless, it remains just as soteriologically significant as a spiritual journey.

1.2. Nature and Character of the Fast

The Church generally distinguishes fasts as:

• Penitential / Mourning fasts (e.g., Great Lent)

• Joyful / Festal preparatory fasts (e.g., the Nativity Fast, the Dormition Fast)

• The Nativity Fast belongs to the second category:

  • It is not a fast of mourning but of preparation.

  • The dominant tone is not the Cross, but the expectation of the Word becoming flesh.

  • It is not a “dark” season but a journey toward the “true Light” that comes into the world.

  • Thus, the Church allows fish more frequently, showing that the tone is more joyful, though repentance and spiritual vigilance remain essential.

2. Historical Foundation of the Nativity Fast

2.1. The Early Centuries

In the early Christian centuries, the central fasting period was the Paschal Fast in preparation for Easter. Gradually:

• The Church, recognizing the significance of Christ’s Nativity, introduced preparatory fasts for other great feasts.

• The fixing of Christmas on December 25th was accompanied by a timeframe for spiritual preparation.

By the 4th–5th century, Western Fathers such as St. Leo the Great spoke of fasting before Christmas, showing that both East and West were cultivating a liturgical and ascetical awareness of Christ’s Nativity.

2.2. Development into Forty Days

Over time, this fast evolved from a few days to forty days, imitating Great Lent, but with different spiritual content.

In the East, its current form — from November 15th to December 24th — was gradually established and confirmed by liturgical typika and later synodal decisions, especially in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine era.

Thus, the Church “sanctified” the time before Christmas not as a mere calendar interval, but as a sacred time of spiritual struggle and joyful anticipation.

3. Theological Meaning of the Nativity Fast

3.1. Preparation for Christ’s Birth

Fasting is never an end in itself. It is a means for:

• Repentance

• Purification of the heart

• Preparing the soul as a “manger” for Christ to be born within us

St. Gregory the Theologian says:

“Christ is born: glorify Him. Christ comes from heaven: go to meet Him…”

The Nativity Fast is precisely this “going to meet” the coming mystery — to rise from our spiritual sloth, to run toward the Christ being born, not with formality but existentially.

3.2. Fasting as a School of the Heart

St. John Chrysostom emphasizes:

“Do not tell me you fast, if your deeds contradict your fasting. True fasting is: abstaining from evil, controlling the tongue, restraining anger, cutting off desires, stopping slander, avoiding lies.”

If the Nativity Fast becomes purely dietary, it loses its purpose. The goal is to:

• Learn self-restraint in order to make room for Christ

• Empty ourselves of excess, so we may be filled with grace

• Cultivate silence, prayer, almsgiving, forgiveness

3.3. Fasting as Participation in the Mystery of the Incarnation

St. Maximus the Confessor teaches that Christ:

“Took on human nature without sin, to deify it.”

The Nativity Fast is an ascetical alignment with this event:

• We honor God who humbled Himself and became man

• We too humble ourselves, denying self-will, habits, passions

• We embrace voluntary deprivation to partake in divine fullness

St. Isaac the Syrian says:

“The road to the knowledge of God is the crucifixion of the body and the humility of the soul.”

Fasting is part of this road.

4. When We Fast – The Typikon of the Nativity Fast

4.1. Duration

As stated, the fast:

• Begins: November 15

• Ends: December 24

• Total: 40 days, echoing:

• Moses’ 40-day fast before receiving the Law

• The 40-day fast of Elijah

• Christ’s 40-day fast in the desert

• And, of course, Great Lent

4.2. Degrees of Strictness by Day

According to the tradition (especially in the Greek Orthodox context),

From November 15 to December 17:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: fasting with oil and wine (no animal products)

• Wednesday and Friday: stricter fasting, often without oil (depending on region and spiritual guidance)

• Saturday and Sunday: fish permitted, except in rare cases

• On major feast days (e.g., Entrance of the Theotokos on Nov. 21, St. Nicholas on Dec. 6), fish may be allowed, even if the day falls on Wednesday or Friday.

From December 18 to 24:

• The fast becomes stricter, more like Great Lent.

• Fish is no longer permitted; oil and wine are allowed primarily on weekends.

• Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) is a day of strict fasting — in earlier times, even dry fasting (xerophagy) was practiced.

Of course, these are canonical guidelines. Personal application should be guided by one’s spiritual father, taking into account health, work, family, and spiritual maturity.

5. How We Fast – Bodily and Spiritual Dimensions

5.1. The Pitfall of “Dietary Legalism”

St. John Chrysostom warns:

“What good is it if you don’t eat meat, but devour your brother through judgment?”

The Church never sees fasting as a hollow ritual. She does not seek “Orthodox vegetarians,” but people who:

• Restrain their ego

• Humble themselves

• Show mercy

• Pray

• Reconcile

Thus, the Nativity Fast should:

• Be accompanied by more frequent Divine Liturgies and Holy Communion (with proper preparation)

• Be strengthened by Confession

• Include reading of Scripture and the Fathers

• Be expressed through charity — especially during this season — to the poor, lonely, sick

5.2. Fasting as an Exercise of Freedom

St. Basil the Great notes:

“Fasting is as ancient as paradise; the first command to Adam was a fast: ‘Do not eat from the tree of knowledge.’”

Therefore:

• Fasting is participation in pre-fall obedience

• It is an exercise in freedom: saying “no” to something permitted, for the sake of a higher good

• It is a cure for sensuality and the addiction to pleasure

In the consumerist frenzy of the “Christmas season” — lights, shopping, food, entertainment — the Church’s fast comes as a heavenly counter-movement: instead of indulgence, self-control; instead of noise, silence; instead of outward sparkle, inner repentance.

5.3. Fasting as Communion with the Other

St. John the Merciful said:

“The bread you hold back is for the hungry. The clothes you store are for the naked. The shoes are for the barefoot.”

The Nativity Fast should be:

• An opportunity to bridge the gap with our neighbor

• A transformation of personal frugality into generosity: what we withhold from ourselves, we give to others

• A path to fraternal love, not just religious obligation

6. Patristic Witnesses on Fasting

St. Basil the Great

“Fasting is the alienation from evil, restraint of the tongue, withdrawal from anger, separation from desires, rejection of slander, falsehood, and perjury.”

Fasting is holistic — not just about food, but about life.

St. John Chrysostom

“If your fasting ends with limiting food alone, then it’s not fasting but a diet.”

He warns against making fasting an empty formality.

St. Gregory Palamas

“Fasting is the weapon that helps man open the eyes of the heart and receive the light of divine grace.”

The Nativity Fast is an invitation to see the “Light shining in the darkness.”

St. Isaac the Syrian

“It is impossible to attain repentance without bodily effort. Fasting is the beginning of the spiritual path.”

Fasting marks the start of repentance — without some bodily effort, repentance remains theoretical.

7. Pastoral Dimensions for the Modern Person

7.1. Fasting in a Secular World

Modern man lives:

• In fast-paced rhythms

• In information overload

• In a culture of overconsumption

• In an atmosphere of “holidays without Christ”

The Nativity Fast thus becomes:

• A counter-cultural act in a world of pleasure

• A reminder that Christmas is not “family day,” but the Feast of the Incarnation

• A call to make our homes not party venues, but small churches — with icons, prayer, reading, and silence

7.2. Fasting as an Opportunity for Family Catechesis

For families, the Forty Days can become:

• A school of faith for children

• A chance to explain:

• What fasting is

• Why we abstain from certain foods

• What it means to “await Christ”

Families can:

• Create a shared fasting table

• Establish evening prayers and readings from the Fathers or the saints’ lives

• Participate more often in the Divine Liturgy, especially on feast days and weekends

7.3. Fasting Without Force, but with Freedom

The Church does not force human freedom. She offers the standard, calls, and encourages, but:

• Recognizes illness, weakness, work circumstances

• Urges the faithful to consult their spiritual father to determine a beneficial rule without extremes or pride

St. Porphyrios said:

“Fasting requires discernment. Don’t try to be a hero — obey the Church and your spiritual guide with humility.”

8. Conclusion – The Forty Days as a Journey to the “Winter Pascha”

The Nativity Fast is not:

• Just a “warm-up for the holidays”

• A custom we may ignore “because of the season”

• A “habit of the old folks”

It is:

• A God-given institution within the Church's tradition — The fruit of centuries of experience, synodal decrees, liturgical practice, and sanctified lives.

• A spiritual workshop of repentance and renewal — A chance to become a clean cave and humble manger for Christ.

• An antidote to consumerist and materialistic celebrations — A return to the essential: God becomes man so that man may become god by grace.

• A school of love and almsgiving — What we remove from our table, we offer to the table of the poor, the lonely, the stranger.

• A foretaste of heavenly joy — Because the Church’s fasting ends not in deprivation, but in the Divine Liturgy of December 25th, in communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, born in Bethlehem.

• As an ancient patristic saying goes: “He who fasts bodily but does not open his heart to Christ is like a manger without a Child.”

Let us live the Nativity Fast not as a burden, but as a blessing; not as a mere rule, but as a journey toward Life; not just as an abstention from food, but as the return of the heart to the One born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, Christ.