Lenten Fast Breaking

[Michael G]

Unless, of course, you live right on the coast where they're fishing. But, yes, I would definitely suggest a change to how we consider these things. Just because something was, historically, peasant food doesn't mean that we should still consider it as such when it's now a luxury. Eating vegetarian is probably still a good idea for fasting, since beans and rice are still economical and feel quite penitent, but king crab legs might just have to go...

Eat vegetarian as much as you can. But do not kill yourself thinking about what you are eating and do not let it consume your life. And if you can't go pure vegetarian, eat pizza with no meat toppings. Fast as best as you can. Make sure you do not let others know you are fasting and do not offend someone by denying their hospitality when they offer you something you are fasting from.

 

[cobweb]

I will quote a Mitered Archpriest in the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church a few years ago. "Michael, I grew up in the Ukraine. We ate a lot of sea food growing up. It is no big deal for me to eat only fish and shell fish during Great Lent. If you really want to make me fast, make me go to McDonald's and eat hamburgers all of Great Lent."

I did NOT grow up eating sea food. If I eat too much shrimp I itch all over and I find most other seafood disgusting. I'd rather eat beans and veggies all of lent.

For me comfort food is hillbilly food. NONE of that is lenten.

 

[MKJ]

Unless, of course, you live right on the coast where they're fishing. But, yes, I would definitely suggest a change to how we consider these things. Just because something was, historically, peasant food doesn't mean that we should still consider it as such when it's now a luxury. Eating vegetarian is probably still a good idea for fasting, since beans and rice are still economical and feel quite penitent, but king crab legs might just have to go...

I do live on the coast, and shell-fish are still pretty expensive here!

I knew a Catholic lady who fasted on a schedule of lobster, scampi, crab, and so on. It always seemed a bit weird to me.

 

[Blackknight]

I think as long as you follow the fast to the best of your ability without being too nit-picky about it that's all you need to do. I still use coffee creamer even though it has a milk derivative in it, etc. but our priest has also said not to worry about it.

 

[gzt]

From a life of St John of Shanghai and San Francisco:

A former Shanghai altar boy of Vladika's and presently Archpriest George Larin, relates: "Notwithstanding Vladika's strictness, all the altar boys loved him very much. To me, Vladika was an ideal whom I wished to emulate in every way. Thus, during Lent, I stopped sleeping in bed and lay on the floor, I stopped eating the usual meals with the family, but partook of bread and water in solitude … My parents became worried and took me to Vladika. Hearing them out, the prelate asked the guard to go to the store and bring a sausage. To my tearful outcries to the fact that I did not wish to break Lent, the wise prelate admonished me to eat the sausage and to remember always that obedience to parents is more important than personal accomplishments. "How then shall I go on Vladika?' — I asked wishing albeit to "especially" apply myself. — "Go to Church as you always did, and at home do what your mother and father ask.' I remember how grieved I was then that Vladika did not assign to me some "special’ deeds."

Archbishop

 

[Monica child of God 1]

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.

 

[musicluvr83]

I think as long as you follow the fast to the best of your ability without being too nit-picky about it that's all you need to do.

Very true. St John Chrysostom's sermon on fasting basically says the same thing. It's not just about food; it's much more deeper than that.

 

[ArmyMatt]

yeah to what everyone said. my spiritual father once told me that when we fast, we fast with blinders and a mirror in front of our face, so that the only things that we see are our own sins.

 

[Michael G]

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.

Mrs G. is not a professional chef, but one of the ways she shows her love for me is making me snickerdoodles!

 

[Ortho_Cat]

"we will worry about what goes in your mouth when you have learned to control what comes out of your mouth."

Haha, if I waited for that day to come before I started fasting, I would never fast...

 

[Ortho_Cat]

I know we all have our own fasting rules, etc. but it still seems strange to me that the food served at coffee hour is in violation of the fasting rule. If our local parish does not serve as a model for proper fasting behavior, then where else are we going to learn it?

 

[Michael G]

Haha, if I waited for that day to come before I started fasting, I would never fast...

He did not tell me not to fast, he just made it clear to me that before I begin the hardcore fasting there are other areas of my life that I really do need to get a hold of.

 

[gzt]

I know we all have our own fasting rules, etc. but it still seems strange to me that the food served at coffee hour is in violation of the fasting rule. If our local parish does not serve as a model for proper fasting behavior, then where else are we going to learn it?

The short answer is that a lot of people only fast from meat. And you shouldn't judge them for it.

 

[Michael G]

I know we all have our own fasting rules, etc. but it still seems strange to me that the food served at coffee hour is in violation of the fasting rule. If our local parish does not serve as a model for proper fasting behavior, then where else are we going to learn it?

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.

 

[Ortho_Cat]

Yes, all this is true and well, but if I didn't have the church model to keep me in line and show me how to fast, i probably wouldn't even bother...and I imagine other's might get the same impression as well. If I went to a church dinner during lent and pepperoni pizza was being served, I would get the impression that the clergy don't really care if we fast or not. If it were me, i would address my concerns to the priest, as he is ultimately in charge of what goes on in his church, at least with respect to organized functions such as these.

 

[gzt]

But it's not pepperoni pizza. It's cheese in this example. It'd be another thing completely if it were meat, yeah. But it wasn't. Since a lot of people fast only from meat and not from dairy, they are teaching you how to fast in the way that they do.

 

[Kristos]

Pizza is a Latin invention designed to test us!

 

[inconsequential]

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.

 

[Joshua G.]

Then let them "win". Seriously, meat or the absence thereof is not what the faith is about... at all. But they think it is and if you insisted on no meat (even if it is Good Friday) then you only prove their point to them (at least in their heads). They think your faith is all about rules and empty rituals.

When they give you the meat for insincere reasons, be gracious about it and don't engage in any defense of why you're eating it. Like, if they say "wow, I'm surprised you're eating meat" in a snotty way (or not snotty) you just say something gracious and sincere like, "I apologize if I've ever said anything to make you believe that MY fasting should be YOUR problem. [bc we should apologize if we ever make our fasting someone else's problem or responsibility] Thank you so much for this, it tastes great!" Don't get preachy about, don't imagine you are going to convert them by teaching them all about fasting.

I was thinking about this today when I was emailing a friend. There are so many things that are natural extensions of the faith, but are not what actually define the faith. T he Scriptures define the Faith, Pascha defines the Faith, the Creed (quite literally) defines the Faith, the Liturgy defines the Faith. The Akathist to Mary does not define the faith, nor does fasting, pilgrimages or hesychysm. However, they are natural and even inevitable extensions of the Faith.

I say this because all of this stuff that does not define the Faith is not important for non-Orthodox to learn and understand about Orthodoxy. What they need to understand are the tenants of the Faith... what the Faith truly IS, Who Christ is, What love is, what humility is. Only then does their understanding the other stuff (Akathists, fasting, etc.) matter in the least and only then can it begin to make sense because it is learned WITHIN its proper context.

That was quite a rabbit trail, but I THINK it relates (??) lol.

Josh

 

[inconsequential]

That was quite a rabbit trail, but I THINK it relates (??) lol.

Josh

Ah, but rabbit trails sometimes show you parts of the forest you otherwise would never have seen. Thank you!