Lenten Fast Breaking

[Michael G]

What if you have a family member who prepares meat for you in order to make you break the fast? I know some folks who are hostile enough to Orthodoxy to do something like that.

Then you let them win and you show them no hostility.

 

[gzt]

Though, seriously, it's usually possible to find ways to decline any sort of invitation to anything on Good Friday, so you can hopefully avoid such a situation.

But, yes, if somebody tries to get you to break the fast, you let them win.

 

[Joshua G.]

Though, seriously, it's usually possible to find ways to decline any sort of invitation to anything on Good Friday, so you can hopefully avoid such a situation.

But, yes, if somebody tries to get you to break the fast, you let them win.

agreed, I was just giving an extreme example.

 

[MariaRegina]

I have shared this before on TAW, but I will say it again:

My husband is not Orthodox and he is a professional chef. Food is one of the main ways that he shows love and affection. During Lent, I eat whatever he makes for us as a way of returning and responding to his love. When he is not cooking, I follow my usual Lenten practice. Sometimes I wish that I could experience Lent with a fuller Fast, but this is the person that God has given me to love and share a table with. I have to honor that.

M.

God is so awesome.

 

[Blackknight]

Why not just politely say "no thanks"?

 

[Michael G]

agreed, I was just giving an extreme example.

Extreme examples do no good to the conversation. Just like when people cite to me extreme examples of how painters have broken the norms of iconography. Sure they exist, but all they do is blow up the conversation.

 

[cobweb]

Why not just politely say "no thanks"?

because a lot of times that isn't possible without drawing attention to the fact that you are fasting. If you are in a situation where you can easily say "no thanks" and no one will notice or care.... that is what you should do.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Why not just politely say "no thanks"?

It really depends on the situation and the people involved. There are a lot of cultures in which it is really offensive not to accept the offer of hospitality from one's host.

Also, it is pretty clear that we are supposed to accept the hospitiality of others:

When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. --Luke 10:8

If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. --1 Cor. 10:27

M.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Last night, I heard a talk given by an abbess of our local monastery. The subject was love of God and love of neighbor. Her main word was a saying of her Greek elders:

"If you see your brother or sister, you have seen your God."

She spoke about how we receive each person that comes to us as though we were receiving Christ Himself. And anything that our neighbor give us--whether a plate of food or a cross to bear--should be received as though it was from Christ himself.

M.

---------------------------------------------
A word from the Desert:

The abbot Cassian said, "We came from Palestine into Egypt, to one of the Fathers. And he showed us hospitality, and we said to him, "Why in welcoming the brothers do you break the rule of the fast that they keep in Palestine?"

And he answered, "Fasting is ever with me, but I cannot keep you ever here: and though fasting be indeed useful and necessary, it is a matter of our own choosing: but love in its fullness the law of God requires our hands. So, receiving Christ in you, I must show you whatever things be of love, with all carefulness: but when I have sent you away, then may I take up again the rule of fasting. The children of the bridegroom do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, but when he is taken from them, then they fast; it is in their own power."

 

[SoulFoodEater]

The fasting model is a monastic fast. Worry more about what you put in your mouth and what comes out of your mouth and less about what others eat.

Its not monastic because in the 69th Apostolic Canon it is written,


"Any bishop, priest, deacon, sub-deacon, reader or chanter, who does not fast during Great-Lent, and each Friday and Wednesday, is to be deposed. Except if he is prevented from doing so due to bodily illness. If a person is a layman who does not fast, he is to be rejected."

Jesus, showing us an example, defeated Satan by fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. This is what St Issac of Syria says about this,

"The Saviour began the work of our salvation with fasting. In the same way all those, who follow in the footsteps of the Saviour, build on this foundation the beginning of their endeavor, since fasting is a weapon established by God. Who will escape blame if he neglects this? If the Lawgiver Himself fasts, how can any of those, who have the law be exempt from fasting? This is why the human race knew no victory before fasting, and the devil was never defeated by our nature as it is: but this weapon has indeed deprived the devil of his strength from the outset."
Directions on Spiritual Training #30

 

[Michael G]

Its not monastic because in the 69th Apostolic Canon it is written,


"Any bishop, priest, deacon, sub-deacon, reader or chanter, who does not fast during Great-Lent, and each Friday and Wednesday, is to be deposed. Except if he is prevented from doing so due to bodily illness. If a person is a layman who does not fast, he is to be rejected."

Jesus, showing us an example, defeated Satan by fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. This is what St Issac of Syria says about this,

"The Saviour began the work of our salvation with fasting. In the same way all those, who follow in the footsteps of the Saviour, build on this foundation the beginning of their endeavor, since fasting is a weapon established by God. Who will escape blame if he neglects this? If the Lawgiver Himself fasts, how can any of those, who have the law be exempt from fasting? This is why the human race knew no victory before fasting, and the devil was never defeated by our nature as it is: but this weapon has indeed deprived the devil of his strength from the outset."
Directions on Spiritual Training #30

Notice it says nothing about lay people in that canon. Nice try. I suggest you tone it down a bit and worry more about what goes into and comes out of your own mouth and less about what goes on in others mouths.

 

[Michael G]

In case anyone forgot, we pray this prayer A LOT during Great Lent:


O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother,
for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

 

[gzt]

It does mention a layperson at the end, but the rest of Michael's response is on point.

 

[Michael G]

It does mention a layperson at the end, but the rest of Michael's response is on point.

I missed that part.

 

[Blackknight]

I would say that hospitality includes respecting dietary restrictions. OTOH I have had somebody serve rice with sausage and chicken in it and I didn't even say a word, just ate it.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

I would say that hospitality includes respecting dietary restrictions. OTOH I have had somebody serve rice with sausage and chicken in it and I didn't even say a word, just ate it.

Accepting hospitality means not putting our fasting requirements onto others. We do not set up parameters for the hospitality that others are showing to us. We simply receive with thanks.

M.

 

[Michael G]

Accepting hospitality means not putting our fasting requirements onto others. We do not set up parameters for the hospitality that others are showing to us. We simply receive with thanks.

M.

Yes. Exactly.

 

[choirfiend]

Its not monastic because in the 69th Apostolic Canon it is written,


"Any bishop, priest, deacon, sub-deacon, reader or chanter, who does not fast during Great-Lent, and each Friday and Wednesday, is to be deposed. Except if he is prevented from doing so due to bodily illness. If a person is a layman who does not fast, he is to be rejected."

Canons are for interpretation by the episcopate, and are not doctrine.

You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away. ~St. John Chrysostom's Pascha Sermon

 

[gzt]

Choirfiend is exactly.

To the OP: I've said it before, "Slow your roll, bro."

 

[Blackknight]

Accepting hospitality means not putting our fasting requirements onto others.

It has nothing to do with putting requirements on anybody else. It's simply a matter of friends showing respect for each other's culture/beliefs. I wouldn't serve my Muslim friends BBQ pork for example but at the same time they shouldn't expect me to live how they live.