There is a fast in the Orthodox calendar that most people barely know exists and that few observe faithfully — a fast that falls in the middle of summer, between Pentecost and the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, when school is out, barbecues are lit and the social calendar is at its fullest. This fast is called the Apostles' Fast — and its relative obscurity is itself an invitation to rediscover it. Because this quiet, most variable of all fasts carries a spiritual meaning that the other three great fasts do not: it is the fast of mission, the fast of those who have received the fire of Pentecost and are preparing to carry it into the world.
For Orthodox Christians in the English-speaking world — whether lifelong faithful, recent converts, or those still inquiring — the Apostles' Fast is often the last of the four great fasts to be taken seriously. This guide presents it in full: its dates, its fasting rules, its theological meaning, its relationship to the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and the particular challenges and opportunities it presents for those living it in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Table of contents
- Dates of the Apostles' Fast 2025–2029
- Why is the Apostles' Fast so variable?
- The theological meaning: the fast of apostolic mission
- The feast of Saints Peter and Paul: the culmination of the fast
- The fasting rules of the Apostles' Fast
- The Apostles' Fast in the English-speaking world: fasting in summer
- FAQ — Frequently asked questions about the Apostles' Fast
Dates of the Apostles' Fast 2025–2029
The Apostles' Fast is the only one of the four great Orthodox fasts whose duration varies dramatically from year to year. Its start date is movable (it depends on the date of Orthodox Pascha), while its end date is fixed: the evening of June 28, the eve of the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29.
The fast begins on the Monday after All Saints Sunday — itself the first Sunday after Pentecost. The later Orthodox Pascha falls, the later Pentecost falls, the closer the start of the fast approaches its fixed end — and the shorter the fast becomes.
| Year | Orthodox Pascha | Pentecost | All Saints Sunday | Fast begins | Fast ends | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Apr. 20 | Jun. 8 | Jun. 15 | Jun. 16 | Jun. 28 | 13 days |
| 2026 | Apr. 12 | May 31 | Jun. 7 | Jun. 8 | Jun. 28 | 21 days |
| 2027 ← next | May 2 | Jun. 20 | Jun. 27 | Jun. 28 | Jun. 28 | 1 day only |
| 2028 | Apr. 16 | Jun. 3 | Jun. 10 | Jun. 11 | Jun. 28 | 18 days |
| 2029 | Apr. 8 | May 26 | Jun. 2 | Jun. 3 | Jun. 28 | 26 days |
Churches of the Julian calendar (Russian, Serbian, Georgian) celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul on July 12 in the Gregorian calendar (their Julian June 29), and their Apostles' Fast therefore ends on July 11.
Why is the Apostles' Fast so variable?
The dramatic variability of the Apostles' Fast is the direct consequence of the structure of the Orthodox liturgical calendar. To understand it, visualize the chain of dependencies:
Pascha → + 50 days → Pentecost → + 7 days → All Saints Sunday → + 1 day → Fast begins → June 29 → Feast of Peter and Paul
Orthodox Pascha can fall anywhere between April 4 and May 8 (Gregorian calendar). If it falls early (early April), the Apostles' Fast can last up to six weeks. If it falls late (early May), the fast can shrink to a single day. This variability is not a quirk of the calendar — it is a sign that the Apostles' Fast is deeply rooted in the Paschal cycle. It is the comet tail of Pascha: the continuation of the movement set in motion by the Resurrection and fully deployed by Pentecost. Years when Pascha falls late, the fast is almost nonexistent; years when Pascha falls early, it is substantial. The Church allows the nature of the lunar cycle to determine its intensity.
The theological meaning: the fast of apostolic mission
Among the four great Orthodox fasts, the Apostles' Fast is the one whose theological meaning is most precisely defined — and least often explained. It is the fast of mission.
After Pentecost: Paschal joy gives way to apostolic effort
The fifty days of the Paschal season — from Pascha Sunday to Pentecost — are a time of joy without fasting, without prostrations, without the usual rigors of ascetic life. It is the time of the presence of the Risen Christ, of the unceasing Alleluia. But at Pentecost, something changes. The Risen Christ is no longer present in the same way — He has ascended to heaven at the Ascension, and the Holy Spirit has descended upon the Apostles to send them into the world.
The Apostles' Fast begins precisely after this Pentecost — as if the Church were saying: the feast is over, the work begins. The Apostles had received the fire of the Holy Spirit, but they prepared for their mission through prayer and fasting — as Christ Himself had done before beginning His ministry (forty days in the desert, Lk 4:1–2) and as the book of Acts already prescribes: "After fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off." (Acts 13:3)
A fast for all, named after a few
The Apostles' Fast is sometimes misunderstood as a practice reserved for particular devotion to Peter and Paul. In reality it honors all the Apostles — the Twelve and the Seventy sent by Christ — and by extension all those who have carried the Gospel throughout the world. The feast of Saints Peter and Paul is only its most visible culmination, chosen because Peter and Paul are the two great apostolic figures of the Church — one the Prince of the Apostles, the other the Apostle of the Nations.
The fast and mission: a message for today
The theology of the Apostles' Fast is strikingly relevant for Orthodox Christians living in the diaspora — and particularly in the English-speaking world, where Orthodox Christianity is a minority faith largely unknown to the surrounding culture. Keeping the Apostles' Fast in summer is a way of taking seriously one's own missionary calling — not through street preaching, but through a different way of living. The fast is itself a form of quiet witness. For the thousands of converts who have entered Orthodoxy in America, Canada, the UK and Australia in recent decades, the apostolic dimension of this fast resonates with particular force: they too are, in a sense, apostles — carrying an ancient faith into a world that has largely forgotten it.
The feast of Saints Peter and Paul: the culmination of the fast
The Apostles' Fast culminates in the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29 (Gregorian calendar) — one of the great apostolic feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year.
Peter: the rock and the denial
Simon Peter — renamed Petros (Peter, the rock) by Christ — is the most paradoxical of the Apostles. He is at once the first confessor of the faith ("You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" — Mt 16:16), the one to whom Christ entrusts His sheep ("Feed my sheep" — Jn 21:17), and the one who denied his Lord three times on the night of the Passion. His journey — from enthusiastic faith to denial, then from Paschal reconciliation to universal mission — is the model of every Christian life. Peter is not honored because he was perfect, but because he was forgiven and continued.
Paul: the enemy turned ambassador
Paul of Tarsus is the second great apostolic figure — and his case is even more extraordinary than Peter's. Fierce persecutor of the nascent Church, struck down by a blinding light on the road to Damascus ("Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" — Acts 9:4), he becomes the Apostle of the Nations — the one who carries the name of Christ before Greeks, Romans and kings. His letters form the doctrinal foundation of Christianity. His martyrdom in Rome under Nero is commemorated on the same day as Peter's — a meaning-laden coincidence: the two great pillars of the Church shed their blood in the same city, in the service of the same faith.
Peter and Paul in the English-speaking Orthodox world
June 29 carries a particular resonance in English-speaking Orthodox communities. Peter and Paul are among the most common English names — and the feast of their apostolic witness falls on an ordinary working day in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, with no civil holiday to support it. This means that Orthodox Christians who wish to attend the festive Divine Liturgy on June 29 must make a deliberate choice: take annual leave, attend an early morning service, or find an evening Liturgy. In many American and British Orthodox parishes, the feast of Peter and Paul has become a touchstone of intentional practice — the faithful who show up on a Wednesday morning in late June to celebrate two first-century martyrs in a country that barely knows their names are making a quietly countercultural statement. In Greek Orthodox parishes across the US — from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles — the feast is often accompanied by a parish meal, one of the warmest community gatherings of the summer season.
The fasting rules of the Apostles' Fast
The Apostles' Fast is the most flexible of the four great Orthodox fasts. Its rules are considerably less strict than those of Great Lent or the Dormition Fast — particularly because fish is permitted on most days.
| Day of the week | Fasting rule |
|---|---|
| Monday, Tuesday, Thursday | Fish, oil and wine permitted. No meat or dairy |
| Wednesday, Friday | No fish. Legumes, grains, vegetables, bread. No oil according to some traditions |
| Saturday, Sunday | Fish, oil and wine permitted. No meat or dairy |
| June 29 (eve of the feast) | Strict fast on the eve in some traditions; the feast itself lifts all restrictions |
Forbidden throughout the entire Apostles' Fast: meat, poultry, dairy products (cheese, butter, milk, cream), eggs.
Always permitted: vegetables, legumes, grains, bread, fruit, nuts, mushrooms, oil (except Wednesday and Friday in some traditions), wine (except Wednesday and Friday), fish (except Wednesday and Friday), shellfish and seafood.
The relative flexibility of this fast makes it the most accessible of the four for those new to Orthodox fasting — a natural starting point for converts and inquirers who want to begin practicing the Orthodox fasting discipline without the full weight of Great Lent.
The Apostles' Fast in the English-speaking world: fasting in summer
Keeping the Apostles' Fast in the United States, Canada, the UK or Australia in June is a spiritually distinctive experience — and precisely that distinctiveness is what makes it valuable.
The challenge of summer in the English-speaking world
June is one of the most socially active months of the year across the English-speaking world. In the US: Memorial Day weekend has just passed, July Fourth is approaching, graduation parties, wedding season, summer cookouts and outdoor festivals fill the calendar. In the UK: Wimbledon, summer garden parties, the long evenings of the British summer. In Australia and New Zealand: the middle of winter, but still a season of social obligation. In all cases, the Apostles' Fast falls in a period when cultural pressure runs toward abundance and celebration, not restraint. Keeping the Apostles' Fast is countercultural not because it is dramatic, but because it is quiet — a small act of deliberate attention in a season designed to scatter it.
The Apostles' Fast and the convert experience
In North American and British Orthodox communities, the Apostles' Fast occupies a particular place in the convert experience. Many converts enter the Church during Great Lent — drawn by its liturgical richness, its depth of repentance, its total transformation of daily life. The Apostles' Fast, coming three months after Pascha, is often the first fast a new convert keeps largely on their own, without the scaffolding of Holy Week services and the community intensity of the Lenten season. It is quieter, more personal, more easily overlooked. And yet for many converts it becomes a defining test: will I fast when no one is watching, when there is no liturgical drama to sustain me, when it is just me and a sunny June Tuesday and the choice not to eat the chicken? The Apostles' Fast reveals whether the fasting discipline has become genuinely internalized or remains dependent on external pressure. In this sense it is one of the most spiritually honest fasts of the year.
Fasting in summer in the English-speaking world: practical notes
Practically, the Apostles' Fast is one of the easiest Orthodox fasts to keep in the English-speaking culinary context of June. Fish is permitted most days — and June is the season of fresh salmon, halibut, cod and shrimp at American and British fish counters. The growing availability of excellent plant-based foods in the US, UK, Canada and Australia makes the non-fish days manageable even for those new to the practice. In American cities with significant Orthodox communities — New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston — Orthodox delis, Greek and Antiochian restaurants and specialty grocers carry fasting-friendly foods throughout the Apostles' Fast. In the UK, the tradition of fish and chips on Fridays — still observed in many British households — creates a natural weekly overlap with the Orthodox Friday abstinence from meat.
June 24: the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
In the middle of the Apostles' Fast falls June 24 — the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, one of the great feasts of the Forerunner of Christ in the Orthodox tradition. In some traditions this feast grants a fish dispensation and a slight lightening of the fast. In the English-speaking Orthodox world, the feast of the Baptist on June 24 is observed more quietly than in countries where it carries folk cultural weight — but it marks a natural midpoint of the fast and an occasion for reflection on the figure of John: the greatest of the prophets, the last of the Old Testament, the bridge between the two Covenants.
FAQ — Frequently asked questions about the Apostles' Fast
When does the Apostles' Fast begin each year?
The Apostles' Fast always begins on the Monday after All Saints Sunday — itself the first Sunday after Pentecost. Its start date therefore varies every year according to the date of Orthodox Pascha. It always ends on the evening of June 28, the eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The exact dates for each year are given in the table above.
Why can the Apostles' Fast sometimes last only one day?
When Orthodox Pascha falls exceptionally late — early May — Pentecost is pushed to late June and All Saints Sunday falls on the last Sunday of June. The fast can then only begin on Monday June 28 and ends the same evening, the eve of the feast. This is the absolute minimum duration of the Apostles' Fast. This case perfectly illustrates the mechanics of the Orthodox liturgical calendar: the later Pascha falls, the shorter the Apostles' Fast — potentially reducing it to a single symbolic day.
Can you eat fish during the Apostles' Fast?
Yes — this is one of the defining features of the Apostles' Fast. Fish is permitted on all days except Wednesday and Friday. This is a significant difference from Great Lent, where fish is permitted only twice in forty days.
Is the Apostles' Fast obligatory?
All Orthodox fasts are prescribed by the tradition and the Typikon of the Church — in that sense they are part of Orthodox Christian discipline. In practice, the Apostles' Fast is the one most often lightly observed or skipped altogether, partly because it falls in summer, partly because its highly variable duration (sometimes a single day) gives it a less structuring character. The essential thing is not to ignore it entirely: even a partial observance — no meat for a few days, a prayer on June 29 — honors the apostolic spirit of the fast.
What is the difference between the Apostles' Fast and the other great fasts?
The Apostles' Fast differs from the other three great fasts in three ways: its highly variable duration (from 1 to 42 days depending on the year), its moderate strictness (fish is permitted most days), and its specifically missionary meaning (it prepares for apostolic action rather than for a great theological feast like Pascha or the Dormition). It is the most accessible of the four fasts for those beginning to practice Orthodox fasting.
What is celebrated on June 29?
June 29 is the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul — one of the great apostolic feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year. It commemorates the martyrdom of both Apostles in Rome under Emperor Nero (around 64–67 AD) and honors their founding role in the Church: Peter as the Prince of the Apostles and first confessor of the divinity of Christ ("You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"), Paul as the Apostle of the Nations and author of most of the New Testament letters. In the Orthodox tradition, both Apostles are celebrated together as the two great pillars of the Church — equal in martyrdom, complementary in their mission.
Does the Apostles' Fast have the same duration in all Orthodox churches?
The duration of the Apostles' Fast is the same in all Orthodox churches using the same calendar. For churches of the Gregorian calendar (Greek Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Antiochian Orthodox), the fast ends on June 28 and the feast is June 29. For churches of the Julian calendar (Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox), the feast of Peter and Paul falls on July 12 of the Gregorian calendar — their Apostles' Fast therefore ends on July 11 and is generally 13 days longer.
I'm a convert — do I need to keep the Apostles' Fast?
The short answer is: yes, it is part of the Orthodox fasting discipline and applies to all Orthodox Christians. The more pastoral answer is: speak with your priest and start where you are. For converts in their first year or two, the Apostles' Fast is an excellent opportunity to begin practicing summer fasting at its most accessible level — eliminating meat and dairy, observing the Wednesday and Friday fish abstinence, attending the June 29 Liturgy if possible. Many priests in English-speaking parishes are particularly encouraging about the Apostles' Fast precisely because it is the most approachable of the four: a few weeks of mild fasting in summer is a sustainable commitment that builds the discipline needed for Great Lent.
A quiet fast for a quiet mission
The Apostles' Fast does not have the grandeur of Great Lent or the intensity of the Dormition Fast. It has no Great Canon, no Epitaphios, no Paschal night. It is sober, quiet, sometimes brief. But it carries a truth that the other fasts do not say quite as clearly: the Christian life after Pascha and after Pentecost is not only a life of contemplation and celebration — it is a life of being sent and of bearing witness.
In America or Britain in June, amid cookouts, Wimbledon and graduation parties, keeping this small summer fast is a quiet way of saying: I am also an apostle, in my own measure. I do not fast to be gloomy — I fast to stay free. And that interior freedom, however quietly held, is already a form of mission.
