Kids and fasting

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samcarter14

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Obviously, very young children are not bound by the fast. But at what age are children encouraged to begin keeping the fasting seasons in the Eastern Church? I have known Orthodox families where the mom made sure every dinner during Lent was fast-friendly. Eventually the kids rebelled and began making their own cheese sandwiches every night. Lentil tacos just didn’t cut it for them. 😛

DH is firm that our kids (oldest is 8) do not need to keep the fast, but at the same time we don’t make special dinners for them. We just augment the meal with dairy or eggs where appropriate, to get them the protein and fats they need.

Just wondering if anybody else has raised children in the Eastern rite and what their approach was. Also, fasting for communion…our Liturgy is at 4 pm on Saturdays, and DH and I fast from noon on for Communion, but obviously my two year old and four year old cannot fast that long. My eight year old even needs a snack before we leave for church, and he’s starting altar server training this week. At what age do children begin fasting before Communion?
 
I believe you are confusing fasting with abstinence. Abstinence is refraining from eating red meat and poultry (and for some anything derived such as dairy products and eggs).

Fasting is either a reduction or a complete cessation of food intake.

So Lentil Tacos are not necessarily fast friendly or unfriendly as it is in the amount you eat if you are allowed to eat at all during that period of time.

According to Canon Law:

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PC.HTM
Can. 97 §1.** A person who has completed the eighteenth year of age has reached majority; below this age, a person is a minor.**
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§2. A minor before the completion of the seventh year is called an infant and is considered not responsible for oneself (non sui compos). With the completion of the seventh year, however, a minor is presumed to have the use of reason.
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With that in mind:

vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4O.HTM
Can. 1252 The law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year. The law of fasting binds those who have attained their majority, until the beginning of their sixtieth year. Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence, are taught the true meaning of penance.
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I am not sure if the Eastern Churches in union with Rome are under the same Canon Law, but I would have to assume so.

I do not know what the rules are for Children for Eastern Churches not in union with Rome.

I look forward to learning on this topic.
 
I believe you are confusing fasting with abstinence. Abstinence is refraining from eating red meat and poultry (and for some anything derived such as dairy products and eggs).
Eastern Christians, Orthodox and Catholic, generally use the terms interchangeably.

A fast that does NOT involve abstinence is not a fast in our tradition.
 
Mind you, ‘abstinence’ in most Eastern Churches doesn’t just mean meat either - usually includes eggs - and I believe dairy and also fish and oil for some as well.
 
I am not sure if the Eastern Churches in union with Rome are under the same Canon Law, but I would have to assume so.
There is a separate Code of Canon Law for Eastern Christians. In fact, Canon 1 of the CIC specifically says that it obliges ONLY the Latin Church.

What it says about what age the fast/abstinence is obligatory, I don’t know. It could be determined by the particular law of a sui juris church.
 
From Nedungatt’s Guide to the Eastern Code:

Canon 882. By divine law, all faithful all bound to do penance as a condition for living the gospel: “do penance and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15). The days and manner of fasting and abstinence are established by the particular law of their own Church sui iuris. In the Latin Church, those above fourteen years are bound by the law of abstinence, and those between eighteen and sixty by the law of fasting (CIC c. 1252). In CCEO, there are no such stipulations; therefore, since all above the age of seven are bound by ecclesiastical laws (c. 1490), children above seven and the elderly above sixty also are bound to fast and abstain. However, the manner in which the Christian faithful are to fast and abstain is determined by the particular law of each Church sui iuris. It is for this particular law to accommodate the manner to those different categories of the faithful.
 
From the particular laws of the Syro-Malabar Church:

Article 157. The observance of penance in the form of fast and abstinence in the Syro-Malabar Major archiepiscopal Church is practiced in the following manner.

§ 1. On days of Fasting only one full meal may be taken.

§ 2. Abstinence is observed by abstaining from meat and meat products.
 
That’s why I love this forum. It is a tremendous font of information.
 
samcarter14 said:
Obviously, very young children are not bound by the fast. But at what age are children encouraged to begin keeping the fasting seasons in the Eastern Church?
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My children are expected to eat with the adults at dinner, and obey the abstinance provisions when eating at home, period.

I encourage my oldest, now 9, to pick the fish on fridays at lunch, but I don’t ask if she does. (She often complains about it, so I suspect she does.)

My 4yo doesn’t get meat when we don’t; she doesn’t get cheese when we don’t.

However, we follow the more relaxed “modern” Ruthenian praxis: No meat, milk, nor eggs on Wed and Fridays of fasts (MWF of Great Fast), at home. But they get as much as they will eat of what is served. Generally, we have red meats most non-fast nights. Lots of peanut butter. I almost never use Olive oil, except what’s in the brine of my olives for hash or martinis, so that’s not an issue.

If we are over at friends, and they know our fasting requirements, the kids are expected to stick to them, but might get dessert. If the friends are not, we all eat what is served.
 
Thanks for all the information. I am sorry to have confused the question with my misuse of the word “fast”; in our house we just use that as shorthand for “no meat or dairy today”.

What about fasting before communion? The rules are stricter in the Eastern Church, but when are children expected to follow those guidelines? Since we have the practice of infant communion, obviously infants do not fast all morning or from noon on for communion, but at what age is that expected of them?
 
samcarter14 said:
Thanks for all the information. I am sorry to have confused the question with my misuse of the word “fast”; in our house we just use that as shorthand for “no meat or dairy today”.

What about fasting before communion? The rules are stricter in the Eastern Church, but when are children expected to follow those guidelines? Since we have the practice of infant communion, obviously infants do not fast all morning or from noon on for communion, but at what age is that expected of them?
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about age 2, IME.
 
samcarter14 said:
What about fasting before communion? The rules are stricter in the Eastern Church, but when are children expected to follow those guidelines? Since we have the practice of infant communion, obviously infants do not fast all morning or from noon on for communion, but at what age is that expected of them?
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Same answer as before. See here:

Canon 1490

Merely ecclesiastical laws bind those baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, who have sufficient use of reason and, unless the law itself expressly provides otherwise, who have completed their seventh year of age.
 
I just posted a video interview with Fr. Moses, the monastery chef at Holy Resurrection, on Youtube that touches on this. Questions 6, 7, 8 and 9 are about fasting in a family.

youtube.com/watch?v=ZQmjvUxDSq4

It has been my experience that children are not expected to fast or abstain by the church until around age 7, and not expected to hold the same level of fasting until around age 12, but that many families expect the children to fast and abstain from the time they eat solid foods.
 
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