Thursday 2 April 2020

Fasting and abstinence in the Church





Fasting

Fasting, by which is meant refraining from eating for a whole day, or even longer, has long been recognised as a required practice for religious believers.

Jesus and his disciples were reprimanded by the Jewish authorities (as reported in Matthew 11:19) for not observing a fast and behaving like gluttons and drunkards, but there is no evidence that the first Christians were opposed to the notion of fasting as such.

Indeed, the early Christians made a point of fasting on different days from the Jews – Wednesdays and Fridays as opposed to Mondays and Thursdays.

The Church developed a whole code of behaviour for its members that required them to fast on specific occasions, such as preparing for baptism or ordination. The period of Lent – the days leading up to Easter – was long recognised as an occasion for daytime fasting. This was originally designated as applying to just two days, but by the 4th century this had been extended to 40 days as a way of marking Christ’s period of temptation in the wilderness.

In the Eastern Church, Advent was also regarded as a period of fasting.
The rules on fasting have been greatly relaxed in more recent times, with the Roman Catholic Church (since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-5) only requiring its adherents to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, thus returning the practice of Lenten fasting to its original two days.

Abstinence

In general, fasting has been replaced by abstinence, i.e. the avoidance of certain kinds of food at particular times.

The best known form of abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church is the avoidance of meat on Fridays, with fish being substituted. Many medieval monastic communities went to great trouble to ensure a ready supply of fish for Friday meals, and the remains of fish ponds are a feature of many abbey ruins that can be seen to this day - as at Whitby Abbey in the above photo.

At one time it was also declared that foetal rabbits (known as laurices) looked enough like fish in shape to count as such in terms of being allowed instead of meat. Many abbeys and monasteries therefore developed extensive rabbit warrens to supply what was in any case regarded as a delicacy.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches have developed a hierarchy of abstinence, beginning with meat but also including fish, dairy produce, oil and wine. The most severe form of abstinence only allows consumption of bread, water, fruit juice, honey and nuts.

© John Welford

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