Is fish allowed when abstaining from meat

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There is a fish symbol on my Ruthenian Byzantine callendar. I assume this means fish is allowed but am not sure. I’m going to try and not eat meat on more Fridays than I’ve been doing and while fish does not taste as good as meat, and in my oinion it is not meat, I would like to know what the official opinion is in the US. I think Eastern Catholics in Europe consider fish as meat but that is not my opinion since fish are cold blooded and to my knowledge the US eparchies allow fish since why else would they put it on the callender.
 
The requirement is not to eat meat, as opposed to a requirement to eat fish. Mac and cheese works, too. My understanding is that red meat has been historically expensive, and the aim was to get the better off to do some sort of penance regularly. The poor rarely ate meat anyhow, and fish was commonly available to them.
 
katy said:
The requirement is not to eat meat, as opposed to a requirement to eat fish.
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Yes, but the OP’s question is whether fish counts as meat, in which case you shouldn’t eat it if you’re abstaining from meat. In normal English understanding, this would probably be the case. In Latin, however, fish is not meat, which is why Latin Catholics can eat fish even while abstaining from meat. The OP is asking whether fish counts as meat in the Eastern tradition, where presumably the Greek understanding of “meat” applies.
 
In the Byzantine tradition when one abstains from meat one abstains from the flesh of all creatures, including fish. Thus, during Great Lent, the ideal is to refrain from all mean, dairy products, poultry, fish, oil and wine (which actually refers to all alcoholic beverages). The fish symbol is simply a Latinization, not an indication that fish may be eaten instead of meat.

Deacon Ed
 
The traditional fasting guidelines have five categories in the east:

Meat
Dairy and Eggs
Fish (shellfish may be eaten)
Wine and alcohol
Oil

It is a hierarchy, so that the most basic fasts eliminate from the top. Weekends during fasting times are less strict, so they allow foods from the bottom. So you might have a fasting day where fish, wine, and oil is allowed. Then you might have one where none are allowed.

If you are trying to decide what the minimum is that you are held to, then this thread will spell out the letter of the law for you:
Byzantine Fasting - Catholic Answers Forums

If you are looking for how to fast and pray in unity with the traditions of your church and all the saints whose blood, sweat, and tears built it and passed it on to you, then this page is a good start:
** abbamoses.com/fasting.html
**
 
amazon.com/Why-Catholics-Eat-Fish-Friday/dp/1403969671

According to the book, ‘Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?,’ the reason is more practical. Now, personally, I don’t eat fish, I am allergic, but, the reason why it was done (according to this book, sans Nahil Obstat & Imprimatur) was because Jesus spilled his blood on a Friday. It would then be best to not eat anything that has blood to be spilled that day as a commemoration of that day. Fish was alright to eat because the fish symbol “<><” was a symbol to denote Christ before the cross. If this is correct, then we are calling to mind Jesus in more ways than one when we see this on a callendar. …At least in Catholocism, anyway. Don’t know the rules for the East.
 
adstrinity said:
If this is correct, then we are calling to mind Jesus in more ways than one when we see this on a callendar. …At least in Catholocism, anyway. Don’t know the rules for the East.
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The Eastern Catholic churches are as much Catholic as the Roman Catholic Church even though the rules and traditions for fasting differ between the two.
 
Is it just me or does it seem terribly coincidental that Burger King, Jack-in-the-Box, and the rest start their fish sandwich specials around Lent?
 
I am almost sure that fish is allowed in the Latin Rite however not in the Ruthenian Rite. Here is a good resource for fasting. Fasting
 
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