FASTING AND ORALITY
psychological aspects of orthodox fasting and suggestions for a possible reform
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
This article offers a study of the psychological aspects of Orthodox fasting, developed from a doctoral thesis in philosophy defended at the University of Lyon III in 1981. The approach is deliberately interdisciplinary: the author draws on psychoanalytic concepts — orality, desire, need, withdrawal, narcissism — to illuminate the spiritual and ascetic significance of fasting in the Orthodox tradition. The central idea is that fasting cannot be reduced to abstaining from food, but constitutes an ascesis of desire aimed at converting oral greed — rooted in the fallen human condition — into a capacity for authentic communion with God and with others. The article makes a twofold contribution: it articulates the patristic symbolism of original sin with the psychoanalytic dynamics of affective development, and it situates ecclesial fasting within a perspective that is at once personal, liturgical, and social, including a critique of contemporary consumer society.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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