Xerophagy ("dry eating", from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
"dry" and "eat") is
a form of
fasting
Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...
observed in
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent an ...
during
Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, ( Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days," and "Great Fast," respectively) is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denomin ...
and certain other fasts.
"Dry" primarily refers to food cooked without oil.
In the Greek tradition, "oil" generally refers to
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...
, but in Slavic tradition, this also extends to
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...
and to other types of vegetable oil.
The diet during xerophagy consists of bread, fruit, nuts (sometimes also honey), as well as vegetables cooked with water and salt.
Outside of the regular calendar of Christian fasts, xerophagy may also be used as a penance for specific transgressions. For example, in the 35 Canons of
Saint John the Faster, the penance for any monk caught in homosexual acts includes a xerophagic diet for three years along with other penances.
See also
*
Raw foodism
Raw foodism, also known as rawism or a raw food diet, is the dietary practice of eating only or mostly food that is uncooked and unprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include ...
References
Asceticism
Christian fasting
Eastern Christian liturgy
{{christianity-stub