Great Lent continues. Over the next 40 days, Orthodox Christians should not only abstain from food of animal origin and moderate entertainment, but also work on themselves, trying to cleanse their souls of all filth.

The spiritual component of Great Lent in the monasteries is put in the first place - the cult of food does not exist there. Maybe that's why the monks often call Lenten time blessed, and the laity - difficult.

And the main difficulty is gastronomic. On pasta, cereals and vegetables, excluding fish (except for a few days of church holidays, they don’t eat it either), it’s really not easy for many to hold out for almost two months ...

- Every day we get about 600 liters of milk and 600 - 700 eggs, - says Vladimir. – In non-fasting times, most of these products immediately go to the table - we send them to the Central Estate, to sketes, we make cottage cheese, sour cream, and cook cheese. During Lent, the picture changes: we send milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs, as usual, only to the local kindergarten, school and military unit stationed on Valaam, and also donate to needy local residents. Everything else goes to storage and processing - cheese preparation.

We start making cottage cheese and sour cream for the needs of the monastery two weeks before Easter.

The monastery has potato, beet, carrot fields, gardens, and its own fish farm. In addition, in summer and autumn, with the help of pilgrims who come to Valaam to work hard, we actively harvest forest gifts - mushrooms and berries. The monastery buys cereals and flour, squids allowed in fasting (they are neither fish nor meat) - too. From such a variety of products, you can cook a lot of delicious healthy food. Meat in the monastery is not eaten at all - neither on fasting days, nor on fast days. It is replaced by fish: in non-fasting times, fish soup is prepared from it, broth for vegetable soups, fried, steamed, boiled, smoked. But smoked fish is served on the table only on holidays ...

In the first three days of Great Lent, according to the charter, dry food is prescribed. Later, vegetable oil is consumed on all days except Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In order to somehow diversify the lenten menu, we add squid dishes - soup, salad, gravy or just fry it to vegetable dishes, cereals and everyone's favorite potato pancakes (a little flour and semolina are put in them instead of eggs). But, before you cook anything from squid meat, it must be properly processed.

I take carcasses slightly melted, but with ice, pour boiling water for half a minute, drain. I repeat this procedure twice, and then I wash the carcasses under running cold water. Then I boil water, add some salt and cook the squid for about two minutes. Now he is ready to make, for example, soup from it: I put potatoes, sautéed carrots with onions, salt, spices in a saucepan, and five minutes before the end - chopped squid. At the very last minute, I add chopped greens and just a little bit of garlic - for flavor.

It is easy to make a salad from squid by mixing cooled and chopped meat and boiled rice in equal proportions. I also cut fresh cucumber, greens into the salad, put olives and season with vegetable oil.

A tasty and nutritious dish is stuffed squid: I fry carrots and onions, add greens, rice or mashed potatoes, mix everything and stuff the carcass. It is better to stab the wide part with a toothpick so that the filling does not come out. I don’t use the passivated carrots with onions for the filling - I leave a little, put them in a saucepan, put the stuffed squids there, add spices and cook for five to seven minutes. Sprinkle with herbs before serving.

You can also cook zrazy with mushrooms. To do this, crush the boiled, well-drained potatoes (the mashed potatoes should turn out to be a bit dry), add about a tablespoon of semolina, flour to it and let the mixture cool slightly. Fry mushrooms with onions (thawed or soaked if dried), add herbs and also wait until the mixture cools down. Then small cakes are molded from the puree, and in the middle of each a small depression is made, into which the minced mushroom is placed. It needs to be completely covered with the edges of the cake - you get something like a potato cutlet, only with a filling. Roll the cutlet in breadcrumbs and fry in a pan on both sides.

We usually drink tea with honey, jam or mousse - this is useful. The mousse is prepared very simply: defrost the berries, pass through a blender and add a little sugar. For dessert, you can bake a sweet gingerbread: take about 150 g of water, 100 g of honey, 100 g of sugar, cinnamon and vanilla to taste and heat to a temperature of 75 degrees. On this basis, adding flour and vegetable oil, knead the dough in a consistency similar to pancake. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, cover a baking sheet with parchment, put the mass on it and bake for 40 minutes. It turns out very tasty.

By spring, the immune system in people usually weakens, so during Lent we make sure that there are always dried fruits, honey, and nuts on the table.

Victoria Morozova

Let's talk about the attitude towards seafood in the context of the post. Is it possible to eat seafood in fasting? What exactly? And if possible, on which days of which fast you can eat seafood.

To begin with, consider the most popular seafood dish. Fish. Many priests are very categorical about it and about other seafood, saying that it is generally impossible to eat seafood during fasting, but it all depends on what kind of fast it is and what day it is.

Concerning great post, then in Palm Sunday, for example, it is permissible to regale yourself with fish. Same thing with Annunciation of the Mother of God, except when it coincides with Holy Week. There is no way to eat fish here.

AT Petrov post fish, like other seafood, are allowed every day, excluding the third and fifth days of each week.

During Dormition Fast fish and other seafood can be eaten on the same day - in the Transfiguration of the Lord.

AT Christmas post fish and seafood can be eaten daily, but on the third and fifth days of each week, as well as from the second to the sixth of January, fish is prohibited.

Is it possible to eat caviar in fasting?

With caviar, everything is not as strict as with fish, but there are still restrictions. Information about the permissibility of eating it on certain days of fasting has been preserved in old scriptures. For example, you can eat some game on Lazarus Saturday. This day comes before Palm Sunday. Also, during Great Lent, eating caviar is allowed in the Annunciation. Caviar can be eaten on all days allowed for seafood during fasts. Do not, however, abuse the goodies. This alienates a person from God and turns a good practice for enriching the soul into an ordinary formality, hiding under itself the most common gluttony. All fasting people should remember this.

Shrimp are known for their pleasant taste and for allowing you to fill up on them, eating just a little bit of them. This is a very dietary dish that will not be able to add extra pounds to you. However, the post is not about earthly food, but spiritual, and shrimps obviously do not go well with it. At least on the territory of our vast country with you. Fasting requires giving up delicacies and all sorts of excesses. In our country, shrimp is far from the most common product, while in Greece it is an everyday food, and therefore shrimp can be eaten even during Lent on days when oil can be eaten. Since shrimp is a specific product for us, it is worth consulting with a priest before eating them. If you ate shrimp daily and before fasting, then it is likely that they do not matter much to you. Then it is quite possible to eat them in fasting on the days allowed for seafood. However, if this food is a kind of special delicacy for you, then you should refrain from paying attention to simpler and more affordable food.

Crab sticks are a very interesting topic of conversation as part of the discussion of fasting rules. Firstly, it is worth noting that not a single crab suffers during the creation of this food product. Real crabs are too expensive to get for meat, so a kind of replacement was invented. Instead of crab meat, these sticks contain ordinary fish, which means they treat crab sticks during fasting in the same way as with any other seafood. You can eat crab sticks in fasting, but only on fish days.

Is it possible to eat shellfish in fasting?

When it comes to shellfish, they always remember their incredibly beneficial properties, and no one argues with that. They argue about whether these seafood can be consumed during fasting. Others say that since it is food of animal origin, then it is impossible to eat it in fasting, while someone classifies shellfish as fish. Even among the clergy there is no unambiguous point of view on this issue. All are based on different facts. One way or another, regardless of your decision, during fasting, you should not eat them all the time, but only occasionally on the days allowed for seafood.

Many believers, choosing their diet for the entire fast, are guided by one criterion. This criterion says that you can not eat meat food, but you can eat vegetable and bloodless. Based on this, squids seem to be a very acceptable food for fasting, because they belong to the class of chordates, which means they are bloodless. However, it is also impossible to eat squid in fasting every day. Fasting prohibits the consumption of any food of animal origin! And squids belong to it. They can be, like any other seafood, only on certain days of fasting. In ancient times, some parishes classified fish and other seafood as marine reptiles and did not consider them food of animal origin, but time has put everything in its place.

Is it possible to eat crayfish in fasting?

After reviewing the above information about when you can eat seafood in fasting, an Orthodox Christian may decide that if you fast and eat seafood only on the days allotted for them, then you can eat everything that our reservoirs give us by the will of the Lord. However, there are some problems associated with this. Let's talk about cancer. Crayfish are very nutritious and rich in vitamins along with the amino acids we need so much. What is not good? Question. whether it is possible to eat crayfish in fasting lies in the field of the laws of fasting. After all, crayfish are undoubtedly a delicacy, since few of us eat them very often. In addition to the fact that crayfish are a delicacy, they are also an appetizer for the most popular alcoholic drinks: vodka and beer. So, a small violation on the wrong day of fasting can lead to an even greater violation of it, and therefore the meaning of this important action will be lost. So be careful when eating crayfish in fasting, despite the fact that they, like other seafood, can be eaten in fasting on fish days.

What if you want to eat meat during fasting? Video.

Nutritional value of squid, shrimp, mussels and octopuses

Squid, shrimp and mussels are lean types of seafood that are also low in calories. By consuming them, you can easily add proteins to your diet without adding fat. You can count about 140 calories per 85 grams of octopus and only 1.8 grams of fat. Squid is a very good source of iron. Iron deficiency can lead to weakness, fatigue, and anemia.

You will also find calcium, potassium, phosphorus and selenium in these seafood. It provides the body with many important vitamins, such as vitamin C, vitamin A, various types of vitamin B, and various omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 is an essential nutrient that reduces the chance of heart disease. It also reduces the risk of cancer and depression. It gives our immune system a big boost and helps brain development in children.

squid, shrimp, mussels and octopusalso contain taurine, which is an organic acid that acts as an antioxidant. Taurine protects the body from stress. This substance is also supposed to help prevent heart disease, although there are still no conclusive studies for it. Some studies have also shown that taurine improves blood sugar levels. Also, these seafood contain relatively little cholesterol (about 45 mg per 100 g), or about a third less than meat and even fish.

Please tell me if it is possible to eat seafood in the post: squid, shrimp and the like. I understand that fasting is not a diet, and the point of fasting is abstinence and keeping clean both bodily and spiritual. And yet, recently, from a conversation with a priest, I realized that you can eat chordless during fasting, that is, bloodless living creatures, which just include crabs, shrimps and squids. I have always considered these products a delicacy and now I don’t know if they can be eaten in fasting? Thank you in advance for your response.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

You are absolutely right. Fasting has spiritual purposes. However, bodily abstinence is a certain sacrifice that we bring to God. According to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, bodily fasting is an average virtue. Fasting should be done according to one's strength. He teaches us moderation, the ability to control our desires. If the food mentioned in your letter is a delicacy for you, then refuse it. And one more piece of advice: if you have not eaten this food during fasting before, if for years you have developed an image of fasting, then do not deviate from the usual. Otherwise, from time to time you will have the thought that you have weakened the feat.

If we approach the issue from the point of view of the charter, then we must recall that the criterion for fast food is clear - vegetable food. Systematics includes squid, shrimp, etc. to the animal kingdom. Fish, which the charter allows on holidays, is considered semi-lenten food. Also seafood (shrimp, etc.).

Great Lent is considered the most strict when compared with other fasts, and therefore some believers are wondering if it is possible to eat shrimp in Lent?

As you know, at this time you can not smoke, drink alcohol, animal products (fish, meat, milk, etc.), while it is allowed to eat plant foods.

But there are such days of Great Lent when you can eat both fish and seafood.

What days can you eat shrimp?

While Great Lent lasts, believers will celebrate Palm Sunday and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The first holiday in 2018 falls on the first of April, the second on the seventh, and it is on these days that both fish and seafood (squid, shrimp, and others) are allowed to be eaten.

However, you should be careful, because sometimes the Annunciation falls on Holy Week, and this year it even falls on Holy Saturday. If this happened, then you still have to observe the strict rules of Great Lent and give up seafood.

In addition to these Orthodox holidays, there is also Lazarus Saturday, which believers will celebrate on March 31. On this day, caviar can be served on the table. As for fish, it and seafood are semi-lenten foods. Thus, these products are allowed to be consumed on Lazarus Saturday.

Remember that strict fasting should be observed during the first and Holy Weeks of Great Lent: during this time, only vegetarian and plant-based foods and products can be eaten.

Believers who strictly adhere to all the rules and recommendations should also take into account that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in addition to cereals, vegetables and fruits can be on the table. Of course, shrimp are not plant foods, so these days you can’t eat them.

It is worth noting that different parishes sometimes have different attitudes towards eating shrimp during Lent. Some shepherds allow their use, but only on the fish days of Great Lent, while others categorically prohibit shrimp and other seafood, because they consider them a luxury designed to satisfy their own gluttony, and not to satisfy hunger.

If you cannot decide for yourself whether it is worth eating shrimp, consult with the priest of your parish - he will definitely tell you the correct answer.

The last thing to say is that eating shrimp during Lent is the same as eating meat or wine. But Orthodoxy does not require parishioners, but only recommends what to do.

Pregnant women, small children, people recovering from illness and hard workers have relief during Lent. In addition, if a person eats seafood not out of a whim, because he really wants it, but in order to maintain his strength, he is already fasting.

How to cook shrimp?

Shrimps with lemon

Have you decided to try shrimp during Lent on permitted days? Then it will not be superfluous to learn a few recipes for their proper preparation.

The first recipe is quite simple, but the shrimp are delicious.

Put the frozen product in a colander and pour boiling water over it, while making sure that there is enough boiling water, otherwise all the ice will not come off the shrimp.

It happens that there are quite a lot of shrimp and they all do not fit in a colander, so it is better to divide them into several portions.

After getting rid of the ice, transfer the shrimp to the pan and pour boiling water over it again (the shrimp should be completely poured). After 30 seconds, the water must be drained, then pour the shrimp with lemon juice, after which they are ready to eat.

This recipe is only suitable for ready-made shrimp (they are pink).

Shrimps with ginger

The next recipe is a little more interesting, because in addition to shrimp, it also has sauce. Type clean water into the pan (it should be more than shrimp, about twice) and put on the stove.

With the first signs of boiling water, juice of half a lemon, quite a bit of black pepper and cloves, as well as one bay leaf are added to the pan. Fans of different tastes are advised to add a piece of ginger or a head of garlic there as well.

If using pink, factory-cooked shrimp, dip them into boiling water, cover, and turn off heat. After a couple of minutes, take them out and put them on a plate.

Raw frozen shrimp (they will be grayish in color) will take longer to cook, so when you put them in the pan, do not turn off the heat, but simply reduce it and do not close the lid tightly so that the steam can escape. Stir the shrimp, but do it carefully, because they are quite fragile and you risk breaking them. Cooking time is five to seven minutes.

• Did the shrimp turn pinkish and float up?

So it's time to take it out. Take them out, put them on a suitable dish, pour the juice of the second half of the lemon, a tablespoon of oil (olive, sunflower is suitable) and garnish with herbs.

How to fry shrimp

The last dish is a little unusual, but it turns out to be really tasty - these are fried shrimp. They are consumed on their own, however, someone prefers to add them to various salads, pasta and other dishes. Yes, that's also possible.

The first step is to defrost the product. If you want, pour boiling water over the shrimp, but natural defrosting is also allowed. Then peel them, heat the pan well and fry the shrimp with a little oil and spices.

• Do you use ready-made, pink shrimp?

Then it will take a little time to fry them - a couple of minutes until they become golden. Such shrimps will be juicy, soft. Unboiled shrimp will need to be fried longer - about 5-10 minutes.

Fried shrimp can be supplemented with a wonderful sauce: mix three tablespoons of sour cream, a teaspoon of lemon juice and olive oil, and a tablespoon of ketchup.

• Do you like spicy food?

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It is of interest not only to new converts, but also to those who have been believing for many years and, it would seem, have studied church rules and regulations well. The fact is that many products, which until relatively recently could only be read in a historical novel, have become available, and it is not always clear whether they are lean or modest. For example, many believers are interested in the question of whether they eat shrimp in fasting.

Old Testament Rules

In principle, the prescriptions of the Old Testament concerned the Jews. However, it is also part of Christianity, and it would seem that its provisions should be observed by church-going Christians as well. So, in this regard, it is very categorical. Is it possible to have shrimp in the post? Yes, in no case, and on ordinary days they are prohibited. The main resolving feature for aquatic animals was the presence of scales. But shrimp don't have it. Therefore, they were considered unclean animals and were not eaten.

However, many Athos monasteries allow monks to eat sea reptiles during fasting. Some Russian monasteries act similarly. So, probably, it is not a sin for the laity to taste the “skullskins”. However, if you still doubt whether shrimp can be fasted, consult with the priest of your parish. Since you can’t solve this issue for yourself, follow his advice.

Finally, we can say that fasting shrimp is the same as fasting wine or meat at the same time. Orthodoxy does not put pressure on parishioners, but only recommends. Hard work, recovery from illness, the small age of children or women "in position" - all these nuances give relief during fasting. And if you eat the same ones, not because you really want to, but simply to maintain strength, you are already fasting.