The integral fast of the 3 first days of Great Lent

[Jean-Serge]

so you should base your practice on what you observe in your own jurisdiction, not just what you read in a book.

Well, your jurisdiction might be a liberal one with very lax rules... The commentaries of Saint Nikodemos in the pedalion as described elsewhere by Father Henoch are globally the normative rules to reach at short-mid-long term, so they are a sure guide or goal. As for spiritual fathers, they are really scarce nowadays. Add to this, there are also bad confessors and "spiritual fathers", I doubt most people have the time to have long discussions with their confessors, when they have the opportunity to see him you are obliged to rely on many sources.

[Jean-Serge]

so you should base your practice on what you observe in your own jurisdiction, not just what you read in a book.

Well, a particular jurisdiction or parish might be a liberal one with very lax rules... For instance, in many world orthodox churches, fasting was the exception some years ago in the US due to secularisation. I do not know if this trend also hit in true orthodox churches. The commentaries of Saint Nikodemos in the pedalion as described elsewhere by Father Henoch are globally the normative rules to reach at short-mid-long term, so they are a sure guide or goal, to be compared with what is done practically where you are. If you hear that these rules are too harsh or only for monastics, it might mean there is a sort of liberal spirit in the place. As for spiritual fathers, they are really scarce nowadays. The recommandation had always been to choose a good and experienced confessor, not the first one claiming he can do the job or saying I am your "spiritual father". The problem is that many persons, in particular converts are excited in getting a spiritual father. When you know the background of many orthodox priests in France who had been through all sorts of jurisdiction and even strange groups, before landing in the orthodox church that recruited them for expansion purposes, you could not find easily someone fitting the requirements. Add to this, there are also bad confessors and bad "spiritual fathers", the fact that most people do not have the time to have long discussions with their confessors. So, books written by Saints are very reliable in particular in Western countries where the level of orthodoxy in terms of practice is far from being the best.

[jgress]

The canons are one thing, but St Nicodemus' commentaries on them don't hold the same authority. He claims a lot of things that are not the norm in any Orthodox church I've been to, whether Greek or Russian, True or World, e.g. he says you should not eat fish on Palm Sunday, and that you should keep the Wednesday and Friday fasts during the week after the Publican and the Pharisee.

But my real point is not that the Triimeron total fast is not authoritative; on the contrary, every source I've read confirms that the authentic practice is to observe a total fast from Clean Monday to Clean Wednesday and the Presanctified Liturgy. Rather, I'm saying that you should not attempt to observe the full strictness of the fast without some guidance. Really, this is orthopraxis 101. I suggest reading Fr Steven Allen's advice on how to develop a rule of prayer for related advice.

I think we're meaning different things by "spiritual father". I don't mean the old-style Elder who you could submit to totally as if you were a monastic; I simply mean the priest or bishop you confess to regularly, who knows your weaknesses and can give you appropriate rules. As Vladimir Moss notes in his article against false eldership, a characteristic of modern false elders, like Elder Ephraim, is in fact excessive strictness in the kind of rules they impose on the laymen who confess to them, as well as excessive demands of obedience, so that their spiritual children cannot make any decisions for themselves without consulting their "geronda".

Again, I strongly counsel readers against trying to go it alone when it comes to choosing a rule of prayer or fasting.

[Jean-Serge]

I simply mean the priest or bishop you confess to regularly, who knows your weaknesses and can give you appropriate rules.

This person seldom exists in Western world. You cannot know a person with a weekly 10 minutes chat, the way confession is mostly done in western countries. It is not confession, it is assembly chain.

[Jean-Serge]

. He claims a lot of things that are not the norm in any Orthodox church I've been to, whether Greek or Russian, True or World, e.g. he says you should not eat fish on Palm Sunday, and that you should keep the Wednesday and Friday fasts during the week after the Publican and the Pharisee.

The current practice is not necessary the good one; it should be necessary to see which sources Saint Nikodemos used. He indeed states that only the bright week should be a fast free week; a priest in Greece told me that this was preferable indeed, even nobody does this.

[Barbara]

That's funny, an assembly chain ! Jean-Serge probably means an assembly LINE, but the concept is clear.
It's TRUE that this can occur !
Interesting discussion and valuable for everyone to read, I think.

As for the questionable priests accepted in France after perhaps checkered ecclesiastical pasts, this is REALLY a problem !
Jean-Serge is right to not beat around the bush but openly state this weakness of probably ALL the jurisdictions did you mean,
Jean-Serge ? For, it is something that needs to be improved.

About the fasts, of course, yes it is for spiritual betterment. But to make it a little more appealing to people, I thought I would add that in. I meant to say, though, PRE-diabetic can be helped by strong fasting like this. Not actual diabetics, according to the study, though perhaps they might be helped too !

[jgress]

To me this discussion is like the discussion over whether one needs to fast for three days before receiving Communion. Opponents argue that there was never such a requirement in the early Church, which is true, but you really can't argue from that that therefore we should not fast for three days now. As we've seen, very few, if any, even in monasteries, fast as strictly today throughout the year as they did in the early days, so it makes sense that, as an unwritten tradition, we require a little extra fasting before receiving in order to compensate. And not even every spiritual father requires this; it depends on the spiritual needs of the one receiving. We should be wary of imposing the same kind of praxis on everybody.