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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 6:20pm | IP Logged
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I read somewhere, ages ago, that the old fasting rules used to be more strict than the current rules. I'm interested in learning more about the old way of fasting, but I don't know where to look.
Can anyone recommend a book or web site?
~Books
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ALmom
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 11:05pm | IP Logged
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Are you talking about fasting for lent or fasting before Holy Communion?
Janet
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Jen L.
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 11:21pm | IP Logged
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Hmmm, I thought I at least kinda knew the old rules, and went looking on the web to confirm. It's a little more confusing than I thought, but a little bit more meat than I thought is allowed. According to what I found:
Traditional (Pre-Vatican II) Lenten Days of Penance and Abstinence of Meat (United States)
Ash Wednesday: complete fast and abstinence.
Weekdays of Lent: fast only.
Ember Wednesdays: fast and partial abstinence.
Ember Fridays: fast and complete abstinence.
Ember Saturdays: fast and partial abstinence.
Definitions:
Complete Abstinence: forbids the eating of meat, and soup or gravy from meat.
Partial Abstinence: permits meat, and soup or gravy made from meat, to be eaten only once a day, at the principal meal.
Fast: means that only one full meal is allowed. Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one's needs, but altogether they should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk and fruit juices, are allowed.
Ember Days: during Lent are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the First Sunday in Lent. Ember days through out the rest of the year are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following Pentecost, during the third full week of September, and after the Third Sunday of Advent. Ember Days are days of fasting for the special sanctification of the four seasons, and for obtaining God's blessing on the clergy, for whose ordination the Ember Saturday's are especially set apart.
Is that clear? 
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dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Jan 12 2006 at 6:08am | IP Logged
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I'm sorry for the confusion. I meant fasting in general during Lent, not before communion.
***Ember Days are days of fasting for the special sanctification of the four seasons, and for obtaining God's blessing on the clergy, for whose ordination the Ember Saturday's are especially set apart. ***
huh?????? I'm confused. The four seasons of the year, or some kind of spiritual season?
I've been talking with a woman who is Orthodox about their fasting during Great Lent. That got me thinking about our own traditions of fasting. But this is confusing!
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JennGM
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| Posted: Jan 12 2006 at 10:01am | IP Logged
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Good job, Jen! It is hard to pinpoint, because there were modifications. I have several books in front of me, and depending on the date, the rules are slightly different.
My mil used to talk about how hard the fasting was throughout Lent, but the Orthodox Lent is more difficult, because it's more of a Vegan fast -- no dairy or eggs, either!
Now if you want to be super traditional, you could go back and find a time when the Orthodox fasting regulations were similar to Roman rules. A lot of these rules were modified because they were impractical for living. We don't live in our cloisters -- we have daily chores and people we must serve. Not keeping up our strength causes weakness, fatigue and IRRITABILITY! Our family we joke that we will make the sacrifice to not make the sacrifice...because sometimes it's my own pride that would feel better if I did something, but it wouldn't be better for the whole family. I digress...this wasn't meant to be preaching!
Books, you might enjoy a little cookbook called The Lenten Kitchen by Barbara Benjamin and Alexandria Damascus Vali. It's OOP, but I found several copies on www.bookfinder.com starting at $2.00. It's really inspiring. All the recipes are meatless, but it has 3 sections: 1) Gifts from the Land, recipes with only fruits, vegetables, grains and their byproducts 2) Gifts from the Dairy which includes eggs and milk products and 3) Gifts from the Sea which includes the fish and shellfish. It's a slim volume, 89 pages, but chock full of healthy and tasty recipes but with a very religious purpose to fasting.
I also would recommend any cookbook by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila Latourrette. He is a Trappist monk whose monastery follows all meatless rules. See this interview. I'm wondering if a great tangent (rabbit trail) would be reading the Rule of St. Benedict for inspiration on the fasting.
For further reading, I found Fast and Abstinence comparison on Women for Faith and Family. If you scroll down, you see the 1917 Code of Canon Law regulations regarding fasting and abstaining.
Laws on Fasting. This is an interesting site, because it discusses the current Code of Canon Law and how the changes were made.
BookswithTea wrote:
***Ember Days are days of fasting for the special sanctification of the four seasons, and for obtaining God's blessing on the clergy, for whose ordination the Ember Saturday's are especially set apart. ***
huh?????? I'm confused. The four seasons of the year, or some kind of spiritual season? |
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Ember Days were 3 days (Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) set apart in each of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall) for fasting, abstinence and prayer. The total number of ember days in the year were 12. The dates were:
1) Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after St. Lucy day (Dec. 13)
2) Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after First Sunday of Lent
3) Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after Pentecost
4) Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after feast of the Holy Cross (Sept. 14)
The Roman calendar was revised in 1969, making these ember days optional, up to the discretion of the National Conference of Bishops, and the bishops can extend the time of prayer to more than 3 days.
In my personal interpretation, these days helped everyone to bring back their focus to God, to thank him for blessings, and to ask for further blessings. The origin of the days might have been days of prayer for success in the agricultural areas. Living in cities, we lose that focus of praying for good weather throughout the year for a good harvest.
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JennGM
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Continuing my thoughts on the Trappists...I found this site Monastery Greetings which is a store for all sorts of goods and goodies from the Benedictine monks and sisters.
Now I'm hoping someone can help me out...I can't seem to find any reference to Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in NY. Do they have a website? I couldn't find mention of their monastery on the OSB site.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Lenten fasting questions
