For those who see fasting as some legalistic thing of the past whose only purpose is to "score points with God," I reprint the following from the website of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Church of North America. If you can find anything "legalistic" about what is here, please let me know, but I can't find it (and it's not because I'm biased towards this discipline).
The Purpose of Fasting
The purpose of fasting is to focus on the things that are above, the Kingdom of God. It is a means of putting on virtue in reality, here and now. Through it we are freed from dependence on worldly things. We fast faithfully and in secret, not judging others, and not holding ourselves up as an example.
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Fasting in itself is not a means of pleasing God. Fasting is not a punishment for our sins. Nor is fasting a means of suffering and pain to be undertaken as some kind of atonement. Christ already redeemed us on His Cross. Salvation is a gift from God that is not bought by our hunger or thirst.
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We fast to be delivered from carnal passions so that God’s gift of Salvation may bear fruit in us.
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We fast and turn our eyes toward God in His Holy Church. Fasting and prayer go together.
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Fasting is not irrelevant. Fasting is not obsolete, and it is not something for someone else. Fasting is from God, for us, right here and right now.
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Most of all, we should not devour each other. We ask God to “set a watch and keep the door of our lips.”
Do Not Fast
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between December 25 and January 5 (even on Wednesdays and Fridays);
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if you are pregnant or nursing a newborn;
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during serious illness;
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without prayer;
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without alms-giving;
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according to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father.
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