Joseph Azize, a student of George Adie who was direct student of Gurdjieff, researches Gurdjieff's attitude towards fasting, especially as compared to fasting traditions in Orthodox Christianity. Azize draws on many sources, including his own teacher, most of which are first hand.
In the final analysis, it seems that Gurdjieff used his own eclectic approach to fasting, that doesn't fit neither in the strictly proscribed Orthodox Christian practices, nor in the practices of the Muslim and Buddhist faiths that he researched and took part in.
Azize wrote that most of the time Gurdjieff prescribed fasting in the form of abstaining from a certain type of food (or multiple types), which did not usually correspond to the foods that are usually excluded in Orthodox Christianity during the "light fasts" which were meant for everyone (the public).
The "heavy fast" in Orthodox Christianity, which is usually practiced only in monastic conditions, and not by the wider public, consists of refusal of all food, except regular water - what we call "water fast" in modern times. This type of fast has very rarely been a part of Gurdjieff's fasting choices, according to Azize, though it has popped up once or twice.
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