What's the long Fast in June for?

[Orthodox Andrew]

http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/calendar.asp?Y=2004&M=6

 

[Oblio]

It is not always long, some years it does not even exist (on the Sergianist, heretical, was not 19th century Russia new calendar )

I know that doesn't answer your question but I thought I might add something of substance.

 

[Reader Nilus]

It is the Sts Peter and Paul Fast, which can be as short as two days or even longer than Lent, it depends on when Pascha is, which is movable, where the feast of Sts Peter and Paul are always on the same day.
Jeff the Finn

 

[katherine2001]

It is the Apostle's Fast in preparation for the feast day for SS. Peter and Paul, which on the new calendar is celebrated on June 29th. The length of this fast changes from year to year due to Pentecost. The week after it is a fast-free week. If Pascha and Pentecost are late, you will have a short Apostle's Fast if you have one at all. Next year, Pascha isn't until May 1 and Pentecost isn't until June 19th. Since the week afterwards is a fast-free week, the fast will only be a couple of days.

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

Thanks, all.

 

[Reader Nilus]

The following comes from His Holiness Pope SHENOUDA III's book THE SPIRITUALITY OF FASTING​

When the Bridegroom shall be taken from them.....then they shall fast." (Matthew 9:15) The Apostles' Fast is the oldest fast and the first one kept by the Christian Church. During the Apostles' Fast, the Holy Spirit spoke to them, "As they ministered to the Lord and FASTED the Holy Spirit said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." (Acts 13:2-3) ​

The apostles served the Lord Jesus and later provided leadership to the first generation Christian believers. They were of such importance that the word "apostle" occurs approximately seventy-nine times in the New Testament. Acts of the Apostles portrays the apostles as leaders of the first church in Jerusalem during the Church's first decade. The apostles truly established the church and with their fast we contemplate the glory of God, their faith, and hardships in which they overcame.​

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Jeff the Finn ​

 

[Momzilla]

Here's another question--does anyone know why fish is allowed during this fast, when it is not during other fasts?

 

[Cradle]

As far as I know, the fast of the Holy Apostles, together with the pre-Christmas fast are based on pious oral tradition. They are not formally defined in the Canons (as is, I understand, the Great Lent). They are therefore more lenient fasts. I would put the question differently : why do we not eat fish on Great Lent while we do so pre-Christmas and pre-Holy Apostles? Probably because before the "Feast of the Feasts" we want to go through the "fast of the fasts" .