Nativity Fast

[5Loaves]

Let Us Begin the Fast With Joy!
Well, I just made deviled eggs to use up the eggs I had in the fridge.

Some thoughts from Ancient Faith Radio to help inspire and guide us.

 

[malcido]

I had not heard of this fast before reading your post, so I did a little googling. What I read says that this is a fast for those in the Eastern traditions, (not me). I think I might just try it anyway.

 

[yaHalyna]

I am an Eastern Rite catholic. Eastern rite is much more strict than the Latin rite.
One example,I understand you have 6 or so holy days of obligation. We have 22.
We fast a lot. We still fast on Fridays (actually the obligation for that was changed because of the Eastern Rite catholics – many people dont have meat anyway, so to fast on Fridays was futile). That reminds me of a story my mom told me. When she was little they would barter eggs for bacon fat (she only had 2 chickens). Because it was Friday, my mom’s mom threw out the pierogies that were fried with bacon fat because it was a fast. My mom said she was so hungry, she would have went in the back to get those bacon-fried pierogies out of the farm animal feed to eat herself, but she stopped herself because it was a fast.
FOR THE NATIVITY: We do not eat meat on Chistmas eve. We have a special meal made of 12 courses all without meat (e.g. meatess borscz, pierogies with cheese, kraut, mushrooms and/or cottage cheese), kapushnyak which is a kraut & pea ‘soup’ or accompanyment, 1 fish, etc.
FOR EASTER: On Good Friday we do not eat any meat OR dairy products. My father & I would eat raw onions dipped in salt with some crusty rye bread (made without eggs). From 12 to 3 there was NO SOUND in the home. No talking, no TV, no radio, no phones. that was a very solemn time. On Holy Saturday, we do not eat meat. We prepare our foods for blessing which comprise: Paska (an egg bread represents the Risen Christ), dry cottage cheese, butter, kolbassi, ham, salt and eggs and horseradish (represents the bittter herbs of the Jews at Passover). This food is blessed on Saturday followed by Eucharistic Adoration.
Easter Sunday: nobody eats or drinks anything until after church (fasting until you can proclaim ‘Christ is Risen’ - which you wouldn’t ‘know’ unless the priest proclaims it). Only after church the family gets together to eat the blessed foods. The food is kep out on the table all day until it is all eaten - because it is blessed.
As for Lent, our Lent is 3 days longer than the Roman Catholic lent - because Lent to us is 40 days before the Passion & Death, Good Friday (Not Easter Sunday). We fast also on the first day of lent (and there are no celebrations, e.g. Fat Tuesday prior to the first day of Lent).
I just recently read that Our Lady said all our prayers, all our deeds mean little without meditation and fasting along with it.

If you think all of the above is hard, really it is not. When my children were growing up, on Good Friday I would take them (after 3 PM of course) to a buffet for dinner, but they could only get vegetables, salads, fruit and non-dairy type desserts.

 

[JesusforMadrid]

I am an Eastern Rite catholic. Eastern rite is much more strict than the Latin rite.
One example,I understand you have 6 or so holy days of obligation. We have 22.
We fast a lot. We still fast on Fridays (actually the obligation for that was changed because of the Eastern Rite catholics – many people dont have meat anyway, so to fast on Fridays was futile). That reminds me of a story my mom told me. When she was little they would barter eggs for bacon fat (she only had 2 chickens). Because it was Friday, my mom’s mom threw out the pierogies that were fried with bacon fat because it was a fast. My mom said she was so hungry, she would have went in the back to get those bacon-fried pierogies out of the farm animal feed to eat herself, but she stopped herself because it was a fast.
FOR THE NATIVITY: We do not eat meat on Chistmas eve. We have a special meal made of 12 courses all without meat (e.g. meatess borscz, pierogies with cheese, kraut, mushrooms and/or cottage cheese), kapushnyak which is a kraut & pea ‘soup’ or accompanyment, 1 fish, etc.
FOR EASTER: On Good Friday we do not eat any meat OR dairy products. My father & I would eat raw onions dipped in salt with some crusty rye bread (made without eggs). From 12 to 3 there was NO SOUND in the home. No talking, no TV, no radio, no phones. that was a very solemn time. On Holy Saturday, we do not eat meat. We prepare our foods for blessing which comprise: Paska (an egg bread represents the Risen Christ), dry cottage cheese, butter, kolbassi, ham, salt and eggs and horseradish (represents the bittter herbs of the Jews at Passover). This food is blessed on Saturday followed by Eucharistic Adoration.
Easter Sunday: nobody eats or drinks anything until after church (fasting until you can proclaim ‘Christ is Risen’ - which you wouldn’t ‘know’ unless the priest proclaims it). Only after church the family gets together to eat the blessed foods. The food is kep out on the table all day until it is all eaten - because it is blessed.
As for Lent, our Lent is 3 days longer than the Roman Catholic lent - because Lent to us is 40 days before the Passion & Death, Good Friday (Not Easter Sunday). We fast also on the first day of lent (and there are no celebrations, e.g. Fat Tuesday prior to the first day of Lent).
I just recently read that Our Lady said all our prayers, all our deeds mean little without meditation and fasting along with it.

If you think all of the above is hard, really it is not. When my children were growing up, on Good Friday I would take them (after 3 PM of course) to a buffet for dinner, but they could only get vegetables, salads, fruit and non-dairy type desserts.

The Early Church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the Didache, and this tradition continues in Orthodoxy.

Why don’t Eastern Catholics fast on Wednesdays? I assumed the fasting rules would be the same as the Orthodox, but I guess I am wrong.

 

[ConstantineTG]

The Early Church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the Didache, and this tradition continues in Orthodoxy.

Why don’t Eastern Catholics fast on Wednesdays? I assumed the fasting rules would be the same as the Orthodox, but I guess I am wrong.

They still do, but how it is enforced varies.

 

[ciero]

They still do, but how it is enforced varies.

We fast and practice asceticism because we love God, not because someone enforces it. It really is a different way of looking at things then in the West (even in the Philippines which is East but still West ).

 

[ConstantineTG]

We fast and practice asceticism because we love God, not because someone enforces it. It really is a different way of looking at things then in the West (even in the Philippines which is East but still West ).

Are you in the Philippines?

What I meant was as a matter of discipline, days of fasting can be mandatory or “best effort”. In a Roman Catholic perspective, every Friday should be abstinence from meat but Lent would be whats mandatory, every other friday would be “best effort”.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

I am an Eastern Rite catholic. Eastern rite is much more strict than the Latin rite.

In what sense is it stricter?

One example,I understand you have 6 or so holy days of obligation. We have 22.

In the west all Sundays are holydays of obligation. In addition there are 10 feast days which are holydays of obligation. It is up to the Bishops in each country which of these 10 are observed. What are the 22 holydays of obligation you have? Are all 22 of these days observed by all 22 Eastern Catholic Churches or can it vary from Church to Church?

We have a special meal made of 12 courses all without meat (e.g. meatess borscz, pierogies with cheese, kraut, mushrooms and/or cottage cheese), kapushnyak which is a kraut & pea ‘soup’ or accompanyment, 1 fish, etc.

I wouldn’t call a 12 course meal much of a fast!

 

[ciero]

In the East we fast, pray and give alms as part of our ascetically discipline. We do so because we love God, not because there is some law or rule or regulation somewhere. In this guys opinion this Western way of thinking is the biggest and worse Latinization of the Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church.

As far as the 12 course meal served on Christmas eve.

Some people notably some Slavs (Ruthenian & Ukranian) have included dairy and fish in this meal. From the research I have done this is fairly recent and varies greatly from family to family and village to village. As far as the 12 courses go…this is not a tradition among all Byzantines but just among these 2 ethnic groups, it is not part of the traditions of the Greeks or the Great Russians.

The comment about a 12course meal not being fasting shows your lack of understanding of fasting from an Eastern viewpoint. In the Byzantine tradition fasting has moderated WHAT we eat, but not how much we eat. So in reallity you could have a 12 course meal of foods permitted while fasting without breaking the fast. Our tradition will often regulate when we eat and what we eat but rarely (if ever) regulate how much we eat. Once again very different from a Western viewpoint. Often in the Byzantine world we will have a Feasting Fast meal. Sometimes the Feast is to a degree that the fasting might be lessened a bit, such as Christmas eve, when traditionally wine and oil are permitted, but still no dairy, fish, eggs or meat. So you see a 12 course meal can still be fasting. The Chrismas fast docent end until after the Divine Liturgy of Christmas morning.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

The comment about a 12course meal not being fasting shows your lack of understanding of fasting from an Eastern viewpoint.

I would like to make clear that the comment was not in anyway meant to be malicious. It seems to me to be a case of different use of terms. In the West, we generally use the word fast to refer to the quantity, i.e. we reduce it and the word abstinence to refer to what we do not eat, e.g. meat on a Friday.

 

[ConstantineTG]

In the west all Sundays are holydays of obligation. In addition there are 10 feast days which are holydays of obligation. It is up to the Bishops in each country which of these 10 are observed. What are the 22 holydays of obligation you have? Are all 22 of these days observed by all 22 Eastern Catholic Churches or can it vary from Church to Church?

It varies Church by Church. There is another thread I started called “Byantine Fasting” where I posted what is required for those who belong to the UGCC.

 

[priestswife]

We Byzantines make an effort to balance between fasting and feasting…and the Christmas season is a long one!

I blogged on this subject

remnantofremnant.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-31-philips-fast-advent.html

 

[ConstantineTG]

The fast should end by sundown of the 24th right? So one would be free to attend all the Christmas parties without breaking the fast?

 

[5Loaves]

The fast should end by sundown of the 24th right? So one would be free to attend all the Christmas parties without breaking the fast?

Dec. 24, the Eve of the Nativity, is a strict fast day in preparation for reception of our Lord. Similar to fasting Sat. nights and Sunday mornings until Holy Eucharist, such fasts are properly broken with Holy Eucharist.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Dec. 24, the Eve of the Nativity, is a strict fast day in preparation for reception of our Lord. Similar to fasting Sat. nights and Sunday mornings until Holy Eucharist, such fasts are properly broken with Holy Eucharist.

I see. So it won’t conflict with the Filipino tradition then
We usually have a midnight meal for Christmas which of course comes after midnight Mass.

 

[5Loaves]

yaHalyna;7265060:

We have a special meal made of 12 courses all without meat (e.g. meatess borscz, pierogies with cheese, kraut, mushrooms and/or cottage cheese), kapushnyak which is a kraut & pea ‘soup’ or accompanyment, 1 fish, etc.

I wouldn’t call a 12 course meal much of a fast!

As OP said this was the unique way his/her family did it for whatever reason.

The eve of the Nativity is indeed a strict fast day, right up until one breaks the fast with consuming Holy Eucharist in Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Nativity.

 

[5Loaves]

The Early Church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the Didache, and this tradition continues in Orthodoxy.

Why don’t Eastern Catholics fast on Wednesdays? I assumed the fasting rules would be the same as the Orthodox, but I guess I am wrong.

Like other things the fasting norms are determined by “by the particular law of their Church* sui iuris.*” so by each particular EC. My Russian parish does follow the fasting calendar of the Russian Orthodox (OCA).

Canon 882 On the days of penance the Christian faithful are obliged to observe fast or abstinence in the manner established by the particular law of their Church sui iuris.

 

[ciero]

I see. So it won’t conflict with the Filipino tradition then
We usually have a midnight meal for Christmas which of course comes after midnight Mass.

In the Byzantine tradition only Psscha has a midnight Divine Liturgy. For Christmas Eve there is a Vesperal Divine Liturgy, not breaking the fast…then later in the evening Great Compline with Litya. Christmas Divine Liturgy is not until the morning, and it’s the Eucharist at this liturgy that breaks the fast.

 

[ConstantineTG]

In the Byzantine tradition only Psscha has a midnight Divine Liturgy. For Christmas Eve there is a Vesperal Divine Liturgy, not breaking the fast…then later in the evening Great Compline with Litya. Christmas Divine Liturgy is not until the morning, and it’s the Eucharist at this liturgy that breaks the fast.

I thought there are Divine Liturgies on eve of feasts?

 

[5Loaves]

Are you in the Philippines?

What I meant was as a matter of discipline, days of fasting can be mandatory or “best effort”. ** In a Roman Catholic perspective**, every Friday should be abstinence from meat but Lent would be whats mandatory, every other friday would be “best effort”.

Your statements aren’t entirely clear to me. Here are some references that might clarify for readers, re the Latin Church (not the ECs).

Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church

Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting **are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. **

Can. 1253 The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast.

HH PAUL VI Apostolic Constitution on Penance

PAENITEMINI.CHAPTER III, VI Therefore, the Church, while preserving—where it can be more readily observed—the custom (observed for many centuries with canonical norms) of practicing penitence also through abstinence from meat and fasting, intends to ratify with its prescriptions other forms of penitence as well, provided that it seems opportune to episcopal conferences to replace the observance of fast and abstinence with exercises of prayer and works of charity.