Phenomenon of Fasting in the Early Christian Anglo-Saxon Tradition

Abstract

: The Old English poem Seasons for Fasting was written in the X century and consists of 230 lines. This article describes it through the prism of fasting in the Old English tradition. Like any other Old English Christian sermon, Seasons for Fasting focused on the moral rules of Christian life. It represented the first procedures for seasonal fasts. The author translated the poem and performed an interdisciplinary study of the phenomenon of fasting against the background of the indisputable position of faith in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The Old and New Testaments, as well as the Indo-European myths, showed the deep cultural interconnection of archaic traditions. A detailed idea of divinely revealed truth was reflected already in the earliest Christian texts where references to commandments from the Old Testament intertwined with the moral principles of the New Testament. The goal of the study was to determine the complex nature of the traditional methods used for philological analysis of texts and the semiotic approach to texts. The view of food as sacred and profane was manifested already at the early stages of the religious consciousness development. Traditionally, fasting issues were considered as part of prayer appeals. Seasons for Fasting stressed the New Testament idea that sinners could not enter the Kingdom of God without repentance and awareness of their unrighteous life. The paper highlights the symbolism of fire, mountains, cosmos, sacrifice, submersion, burial, and the Kingdom of Heaven. The article also provides a list of variant addresses to God used in the poem: the Old English period saw a well-developed Christian tradition, which had no direct naming for the devil.