The Apostles' Fast
Monday 8 June – Sunday 28 June 2026
The Apostles' Fast honours the holy apostles Peter and Paul and all the apostles' labours for the Gospel. Tradition recalls that after the fifty days of rejoicing that follow Pascha, the apostles fasted and prayed before setting out on their missions — echoing the Lord's word that His disciples would fast "when the bridegroom is taken from them". The Church keeps their memory the same way: first the unbroken joy of the Paschal season, then a fast, then the feast of the two chief apostles.
At a glance
- •From the Monday after All Saints' Sunday until the feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June)
- •Length varies with the date of Pascha — from about eight days to six weeks
- •Gentlest seasonal fast: fish, wine and oil on most days
- •Wednesdays and Fridays kept more strictly
- •The Nativity of the Forerunner (24 June) is feasted within it
Because it is anchored to Pascha at one end and to a fixed feast at the other, this is the fast whose length changes most from year to year. It begins on the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints — eight days after Pentecost — and runs until the feast of Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June, so it may last anywhere from about a week to six weeks. When Pascha falls late, the fast is short; when Pascha is early, it stretches through most of June.
It is also the gentlest of the four seasonal fasts. Meat, dairy and eggs are set aside, but on most days fish, wine and oil are permitted, with the stricter rule kept on Wednesdays and Fridays. Some traditions keep it more fully; as ever, the day-by-day entries on this site show the rule as this calendar keeps it. The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June), a great feast, usually falls within the fast and is celebrated with fish.
For newcomers the Apostles' Fast often arrives unannounced — one week it is simply summer, the next the calendar says the fast has begun. Its variable length is a good teacher: fasting belongs to the Church's year, not to personal preference, and even a short fast kept with attention honours the apostles whose preaching brought the Gospel to the world.
Fasting is a guide, not a law: how you keep it is worked out personally, with your parish priest. Illness, age, pregnancy and circumstance all soften the rule, and it is never a measure for judging yourself or others.