Meat on Fridays - Byzantine

[Paragon468]

Do Eastern Catholics traditionally abstain from meat on every Friday of the year, as Romans do in many places, or is abstinence only required during the Great Fast?

 

[Spyridon]

Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite traditionally abstain from both meat and dairy on both Friday and Wednesday throughout the year.

The actual requirement depends on which particular sui juris Church in which country you’re speaking of.

 

[Vico]

Do Eastern Catholics traditionally abstain from meat on every Friday of the year, as Romans do in many places, or is abstinence only required during the Great Fast?

For the Byzantine Catholic Church, particular law, has this:

Canon 880 §2
§1. The special penitential seasons are:
1o. The Great Fast
2o. The Peter and Paul Fast
3o. The Dormition Fast [August 1-14]
4o. The Philip Fast [November 15-December 24]
§2. Strict abstinence is to be observed on the first day of the Great Fast and on Great Friday. Simple abstinence is to be observed on Wednesdays and Fridays of the Great Fast.
§3. Simple abstinence or an equivalent penance is to be observed on all Fridays throughout the year.

But note that on our published calendar from Archeparch William there are some variations:

• Not observed on Friday after the Nativity or Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, Pascha, or Pentecost
• Observed on a weekday when it is the day before Theophany, a day with Royal Hours
• Traditionally observed on Holy Saturday and
• Traditionally observed on Beheading of St. John the Baptist

 

[Entwhistler]

Well, technically, Catholics are still either supposed to abstain from meat or do another sacrifice that equals giving up meat.

 

[BridgetN]

Traditional Roman Catholics abstain from meat on all Fridays, not just the ones in Lent.

I think that makes the most sense, because how will you know what is “equal to giving up meat”?
Also one abstains from meat on all Fridays “in honor of the day on which our Savior died.” (Baltimore Catechism No. 2)

 

[Paragon468]

Well, technically, Catholics are still either supposed to abstain from meat or do another sacrifice that equals giving up meat.

As I understand it the norm for the Roman Church is to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year, but bishops are free to make changes. In the United States Romans can eat meat only if they do another suitable act of penance. What acts of penance are permissible remains unclear to me.

I’ve tried looking up the rules for Eastern Catholics, but all I can find is rules regarding Lenten fasting.

Thank you for providing a source, Vico. Simple abstinence means no meat, right?

 

[IrishUkrainian]

Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S. are obliged to abstain from meat on most Fridays of the year. The exceptions are:

1. when a major Feast of our Lord or our Lady falls on a Friday (Christmas, Epiphany, etc.)
2. when a major secular holiday (4th of July, Ukrainian Independence Day, Friday after Thanksgiving) falls on a Friday
3. other designated non-fasting periods (Dec 25-Jan 4, the 3rd week before Lent, the week after Pascha (Easter), and the week after Pentecost).

As other posters have said, Eastern Christians traditionally abstain on Wednesdays throughout the year as well. However, in the UGCC, this is only obligatory during Lent, the Apostles’ Fast (Sunday after Pentecost - June 28), the Dormition Fast (Aug 1-14), and the Nativity Fast (Nov 15-Dec 24).

 

[Angel_Gabriel]

And as with many Byzantine disciplines, fasting is usually done under the guidance of a spiritual father/confessor. I’ve got a few health issues and can’t always abstain from animal products especially during the 4 fasting periods…I try my best the rest of the time but even thenit’s difficult.