Now if you ask who follows that, I could probably name everyone off the top of my head in my eparchy who does… which is sad…
The general concept of “fasting” in the Oriental Churches is relatively simple and differs from the highly legalized practice of the Latin Church with which most people (even, sadly, a lot of Maronites) are more familiar. IOW, fasting and abstaining were traditionally considered one thing. When we speak of “fasting foods” we mean food prepared without meat or dairy. Most traditional Levantine “fasting foods” are based on dried beans, lentils, onions, rice, and seasonal vegetables. To my knowledge, we never excluded olive oil, as do at least some Greeks. (Whether fin fish are permitted depends on interpretation – and location – but mollusks, crustaceans, and cephalopods – being the “dregs of the catch” – were allowed.)
This was very helpful. Thank you!
I’d suggest asking your pastor.
Saturday is the commemoration of the Sabbath.
Do you mean the Maronites that don’t fast Monday - Friday during lent are committing a sin?
In a way, that’s rather like asking why we still accept the Old Testament as part of the Scriptural Canon. The Old Covenant was fulfilled and gave way to the New, but we still honor the Old.
Have a look at the link I posted earlier, where the current practice is spelled out. It’s a PDF file and I have no way to copy and paste it here.
Yes I agree with you there but I’ve never heard a practice that commemorates both the Sabbath and the Lord’s day…
Sorry last time I just skimmed over it. Ok I’ve re-read it, fasting from Monday to Friday is an encouraged personal devotion but not a mandate.
Yes, well sadly the Maronite Church has allowed its Semitic identity to be obscured by its Latinizations to the point where Maronite priests don’t even teach Syriac tradition anymore. Saturday is both a liturgical day (along with Wednesday and Sunday) and an important day to observe - being the Sabbath and commemoration of the departed believers.
In former, i.e, pre latinizations time, yes. I’m not sure if it was abandoned in 1598 or 1736.
Only for holy saturday, and for the saturday before nativity if nativity falls on sunday or monday.
Malphono I am not sure if it was officially dropped by the Maronite Church, but in the north of Lebanon it is still held to this day by some. I was told that Wednesdays was because that was the day that Judas went to the temple to betray Jesus, and Fridays because that is the day of the death of our Lord. This is mentioned in the Didache [8,1].
My question is that if we take both Saturdays and Sundays out of the fast it is short of forty days but if only Sundays that it is forty days. My wife and I think that it is probably along the lines of the Divine office which starts at 6pm the day before, so for example Saturday nights during Lent from 6pm on are actually part of Sunday which falls into the Jewish custom and Syriac Liturgical custom.
Yes I believe it was (and remains) a pious practice among some faithful in certain places. IIRC, the same was true even in the Latin Church.
Lent was often called “sawm al-khamsin” (“the 50 day fast”) so looking for “40 days” would seem to be a bit legalistic in the Latin way. The idea is more beginning-to-end rather than counting the parts, meaning that the period starts on Clean Monday and ends on Saturday of Light. (Some people consider Cana Sunday to be the first Sunday of Lent, while others follow the alternate designation of “Sunday of Entrance into Lent” aka “Sunday of Celebration” as was commonly used years ago. The latter moniker makes it more clear.)