The Importance of Fasting and Its Observance for Tomorrow

Abstract

The article theologically examines the document on fasting adopted at the Crete Council in 2016. With respect to fasting, as an obligatory practice, we could notice negative consequences in Church life, more than positive ones. For example, Eucharist has been understood as a cult with less relation to the world. It became only a ritual on the periphery of the Church’s life. The emphasis on food as the most important value has a negative outcome for the relationship between our theology and our clergy. In most cases, obligatory fasting practice strips our Christian identity to an identity based merely around food. For all these reasons, the article advises that the Church should advocate fasting but no longer as an obligatory practice.