Priest Constantin Necula: “I don’t believe in fasting that forces the child’s freedom of choice. He fasts when he understands fasting”

In some Christian families, fasting also extends to children. Whether they want to, whether they don’t want to, whether they understand or not why they do it, children fast just like their parents. I spoke with priest Constantin Necula, professor at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu, to understand how we should talk to children about fasting, when it is recommended to introduce this habit into their lives and how they can be helped to they approach faith without imposing it on them.

All About Mothers: In some families, fasting is imposed on children. Is this approach correct?

Priest Constantin Necula: No, fasting is not imposed, but discovered. It is a teaching work on fasting that we adults cannot do without. Children learn from our example balance, which is the basis of fasting. I don’t believe in fasting recipes by forcing children’s freedom of choice. Are we still surprised that they leave the church towards adulthood when we present the church to them as a place of “Don’t…”? I think that a child can also fast because he is paying attention to work, for example.

All About Moms: Is There a Right Age to Start Fasting?

Priest Constantin Necula: Of course it depends on age, like everything that means human soul life. Paul Evdokimov called the “ages of spiritual life” the stages of formation and living of the Christian ideal in our lives. A child can fast from a very young age. About St. Nicholas – the friend of children – it is said that he fasted from his mother’s breast, eating only from one breast. Showing, through this, the early asceticism of a child. But there is no need to generalize. Each child has his own pace and… his parents. And it’s all about keeping the balance. No cheap liberalisms or rigorisms that border on physical and mental unhealthiness alike.

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