Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness (Jésus tenté dans le désert), James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum

A Black Fast, also known as a strict fast, is an ancient form of early Christian fasting.[1] Those undertaking a Black Fast consume no food or water during the day and then break the fast after sunset with prayer, the meal often but not necessarily being devoid of meat, eggs, dairy, and alcohol.[2][3][4][5] Historically, most Christians fasted in this way during Lent. Many monastics still retain this practice, which is optional for laymen.

Description and practice

Traditionally, the Black Fast is undertaken during Lent; it is the early Christian form of fasting consisting of fasting until sunset, and then consuming one meal afterwards (with food and water being allowed only at this time).[4][3] This was the normative way of Christian fasting prior to the 8th century A.D. and in some localities, such as in India and Pakistan, many Christians continue observing the Black Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent.[4][6][7] After attending a worship service (often on Wednesday or Friday evenings), it is common for Christians of various denominations to break that day's Lenten fast together through a communal Lenten supper, which is held in the church's parish hall in the public setting; in the home setting Lenten Suppers take place in the context of a family meal everyday during Lent (except on the Lord's Day).[8] Throughout the entire Christian year, many Christians keep the Black Fast on Wednesdays (in memory of Jesus' betrayal) and on Fridays (to mourn the crucifixion of Jesus).[9]

The details of the Black Fast are as follows:[10][2]

  • No more than one meal per day is permitted.[2][10]
  • Flesh meat, eggs, and white meats (lacticinia: milk, butter, and cheese) are forbidden.[10]
  • Alcohol is forbidden.[10]
  • The meal is not allowed until after sunset.[2][11][12]
  • A mealtime prayer is offered at the time the Black Fast is broken.
  • During Holy Week (the final week of Lent), the Lenten supper meal consists exclusively of bread, salt, herbs, and water.[2]

Roman Catholicism

The Black Fast was widely practiced by the faithful during the Lenten season by "kings and princes, clergy and laity, rich and poor".[13] In addition, the Black Fast was kept on the days preceding one's ordination.[13] When fasting today, Roman Catholics have the liberty to fast in this manner, or in the modern fashion in which a collation is permitted. Fasting rules were liberalised to avoid accidents due to weakness or lack of concentration in modern industrial jobs. For the same reason some soldiers in military orders like the Hospitaliers were historically exempt from the strict rule.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism

Some Eastern Catholics perform the Black Fast on Fridays during Lent, especially on Good Friday.

The Black Fast is observed by the devout Eastern Orthodox laity or monks throughout Great Lent, as well as the three other fasting periods of the year (the Dormition Fast, Nativity Fast, and the Apostles' Fast) and occasionally on the weekly fast days of Wednesday and Friday.[14][15]

Romanian Orthodox Church

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation within the Romanian Orthodox Church, which defines it somewhat similar to the definition given by those within the realms of the Classical Pentecostal movement (see below).

Anglican Communion

In Anglican Communion, the faithful have observed the Black Fast on "the two great Prayer Book fast days, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday".[16] The Black Fast was especially popular during the 19th century as it sought to imitate "the fasting of the ancient church."[16]

Pentecostal movement

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation with writers within Classical Pentecostalism. A Black Fast is complete abstinence from food or water and nothing is consumed in its duration. Curtis Ward teaches that the Black Fast should never extend beyond three days because of ketosis, possible kidney damage, and dehydration.[17] He further states that nothing in the New Testament says that they extended this type of fast beyond that limitation and that Christ's fast included water because "he was afterward an hungred" and was offered bread.[18] If he had abstained from water he would have obviously craved water first and foremost.

Ward states that the terms "Black Fast," "Hebrew Fast," and "Absolute Fast" are synonymous. British evangelical Arthur Wallis coined the term "Absolute Fast" in his book God's Chosen Fast (1968).[19]

A Normal Fast or "Complete Fast" consists of eating nothing but drinking pure water. A Partial Fast (or Daniel Fast) consists of eliminating all but one type of food or eliminating just one type of food. The Black Fast is observed on rare occasions in Pentecostal circles while the Normal Fast is most usually undertaken.

References

  1. ↑ Chambers's Journal. W & R Chambers. 1926. p. 745. In Lent the clergy kept strict fast; a 'black fast,' as they call it in Ireland.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Cain, Áine (4 March 2018). "I tried to follow an intense medieval fast for Lent — and realized it's much harder to do in the modern world". Business Insider. Retrieved 5 April 2021. The Black Fast is a medieval religious fast meant to be practiced during Lent that bars meat, alcohol, and dairy, and limits you to one meal a day, eaten after sundown.
  3. 1 2 Butler, Alban (1774). The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church. C. Kiernan. p. 257. It is undoubted, that anciently to drink on fasting days was no less forbid than to eat, only in the refection after sunset.
  4. 1 2 3 Weiser, Francis Xavier (1963). Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs: The Year of the Lord in Liturgy and Folklore. Paulist Press. p. 105.
  5. ↑ The Black Fast - Catholic Encyclopedia article
  6. ↑ Addis, Richard (26 February 2020). "Goodbye to tasty treats as Lent begins". The Day. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Some Christians observe Lenten fast the Islamic way". Union of Catholic Asian News. 27 February 2002. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "The Lighthouse" (PDF). Christ the Savior Orthodox Church. 2018. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  9. ↑ "How To Fast For Lent". The Table. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Stravinskas, Peter M. J.; Shaw, Russell B. (1 September 1998). Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia. Our Sunday Visitor. ISBN 9780879736699. The so-called black fast refers to a day or days of penance on which only one meal is allowed, and that in the evening. The prescription of this type of fast not only forbids the partaking of meats but also of all dairy products, such as eggs, butter, cheese and milk. Wine and other alcoholic beverages are forbidden as well. In short, only bread, water and vegetables form part of the diet for one following such a fast.
  11. ↑ Cléir, Síle de (5 October 2017). Popular Catholicism in 20th-Century Ireland: Locality, Identity and Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 101. ISBN 9781350020603. Catherine Bell outlines the details of fasting and abstinence in a historical context, stating that the Advent fast was usually less severe than that carried out in Lent, which originally involved just one meal a day, not to be eaten until after sunset.
  12. ↑ Guéranger, Prosper; Fromage, Lucien (1912). The Liturgical Year: Lent. Burns, Oates & Washbourne. p. 8. St. Benedict's rule prescribed a great many fasts, over and above the ecclesiastical fast of Lent; but it made this great distinction between the two: that whilst Lent obliged the monks, as well as the rest of the faithful, to abstain from food till sunset, these monastic fasts allowed the repast to be taken at the hour of None.
  13. 1 2 Herbermann, Charles George (1913). The Catholic Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Press. p. 590.
  14. ↑ "Great Lent".
  15. ↑ "Calendar of Eating during Great Lent". Argumenty i Fakty. 7 February 2018.
  16. 1 2 Armentrout, Don S. (1 January 2000). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 139. ISBN 9780898697018.
  17. ↑ Johnson, William, The Fasting Movement, Bethesda Books, 2003
  18. ↑ Matthew 4:3
  19. ↑ Arthur Wallis. God's Chosen Fast. Christian Literature Crusade.
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