CONCERNING FASTING
On the Calendar will be found notations concerning Fasting days and seasons. Where there is no indication of a fast given, this means that all foods may be eaten (except during Cheesefare Week, when meat is forbidden for every day). where the notation Fast Day is found, this means that a strict fast is observed, in which no meat, eggs, dairy products, fish, wine or oil are to be eaten.

These rules are dependent on the Church's cycle of feasts and fasts, and are contained in the Typikon, mainly in Chapters 32 and 33, repeated in appropriate places of the Menaion and Triodion. In general, except where otherwise noted, all Wednesdays and Fridays (Mondays also, in some monasteries) are kept as days of fasting (an exception being during the Fast Free periods), as well as the four canonical fasting periods (Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Nativity Fast and the Dormition Fast), and certain other days, including the Eve of Theophany, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the Elevation of the Cross. We note here that there are many local variations in the allowances of wine and oil (and sometimes fish), such as on patronal feast days of a parish or monastery, or when the feast of a great Saint (or Saints) is celebrated which has particular local or national significance.

FASTING SEASONS
Nativity (St. Philip's Fast) - Nov. 15 through Dec. 24
Meatfast - Monday after the Sunday of Last Judgment through Cheesefare Sunday
Great Lent & Holy Week - 1st Monday of Great Lent through Great and Holy Saturday
Apostles' (Peter & Paul) Fast – (See each year’s calendar)
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast - Aug. 1 through Aug. 14

FAST-FREE WEEKS
Afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ to Theophany Eve - Dec. 25 through Jan. 4
The week following the Sunday of the Publican & Pharisee - 2nd Week of the Lenten     Triodion
Bright Week - The week after Pascha until St Thomas Sunday
Trinity Week - The week after Pentecost until the Saturday before All Saints Sunday

FAST DAYS
The Wednesdays and Fridays of the Year, except for Fast-Free Weeks
The Eve of Theophany - January 5
The Beheading of St. John the Baptist - August 29
The Elevation of the Cross - September 14