Drawing upon the witness of Christ and many saints, St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite sets forth the standard (akrevia) for the Orthodox Church's weekly fasts on Wednesday and Friday. Even if the ideal is beyond our abilities or beyond what our spiritual father has blessed, we must know the standard and humbly be aware of how we measure up, repenting and striving to offer more and more of ourselves to our gracious King, Jesus Christ. This podcast is a reading from "Exomologetarion: A Manual of Confession" by St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, pp. 209-212 -BUY "Exomologetarion: A Manual of Confession" by St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, published by Uncut Mountain Press: https://uncutmountainpress.com/shop/product/exomologetarion-a-manual-of-confession/ -FIND an Orthodox parish and monastery near you: https://orthodoxyinamerica.org/ Not sure what all this fasting is about? First, talk with your spiritual father or parish priest and ask for guidance. Additionally, read the wealth of resources on the meaning of fasting from a variety of authors here: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/pr_fasting.aspx A helpful word from Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou regarding penances, canons, and not "throwing the baby out with the bath water": “Here in the West [versus Greece], though, because of the circumstances of life, and the difficulty of the conditions in which people live and the world that surrounds them, we have to be more indulgent and patient. But it is good to know the rules of the Church, for example, that a certain sin is punished by a two-year exclusion from Holy Communion. Nobody can apply these rules literally anymore, but it is very important that we know them, because they reflect the magnitude of the soul's deadening when certain kinds of sin have been committed. The time can, of course, be shortened in any case, depending on the repentance of the person, and on the disposition and willingness of the priest to co-operate with that person. Everything can be accelerated if the priest works together with the penitent and prays for him. I now realize that when we priests pray for ourselves, God does not listen to us, He can be as deaf as I am, but when we pray for other people He responds very quickly, which shows that this is the true nature of our ministry.” -The Hidden Man of the Heart, p. 58 _______ St. Nikodemos teaches: Canon 69 of the Holy Apostles designates that any hierarch or priest or deacon or subdeacon or reader or chanter who does not fast during Great Lent and Wednesday and Friday is to be deposed. If a layperson does not fast during these times (unless he cannot fast on account of bodily illness), he is to be excommunicated. Do you see how the Apostles numbered the Wednesday and Friday fast together with the fast of Great Lent? Therefore, just as the fast of Great Lent consists in the eating of dry foods, namely, to eat but once a day, at the ninth hour, without consuming oil or wine, likewise, the fast of Wednesday and Friday is to be conducted in the exact same manner. ...the Apostles in their Canons number this fast together with that of Great Lent, and in the Apostolic Constitutions they number it together with the fast of Holy Week, saying: "One must fast during Holy Week and Wednesday and Friday."279 But why should I say that this regulation is only of the Apostles? It is a regulation of Christ Himself, for this is what the Apostles say in Book V, ch. 14 of the Constitutions: "He (that is, Christ) commanded us to fast on Wednesday and Friday." We must also note the following, that just as there must be a fast from food on Wednesday, Friday, and Great Lent, there must also be a fast from pleasures of the flesh. For this reason weddings cannot take place on these days, because the divine Paul commands that married couples are not to come together during a time of prayer and fasting: "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer" (1 Cor