Fasting in the East and in the West
As we near the end of the Lenten Fast, I’d like to draw our attention to the differences between fasting in the Eastern church and the Western church. Actually, I’d like to draw attention more than anything to the differences between the attitude towards fasting in the East and the West.
Some people might know about the vast difference in the fasting regulations between the two great churches. In the West, we are told to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (which means one normal meal and two small meals not to equal that one normal meal) and abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday. In the East, on the other hand, a common tradition is that every day of Lent is a day of fasting and abstinence, and abstinence applies not only to meat, but also includes items such as fish, wine and oil. Why such a difference in these practices? Is it because the East is just more holy or more serious about Lent? I think the reason is due more to the underlying attitudes towards rules and regulations in the East and the West.
- In the West, a regulation is seen as the minimum requirement and failing to follow it is perceived as a serious failure, perhaps even a sin.
- In the East, a regulation is seen as an ideal to strive for and failing to follow it is perceived as an opportunity to do better in the future.
So in the West, the regulations for fasting are much less stringent than in the East, because a failure to follow them is seen as a more egregious action. In the East, the regulations are much more strict, but failing to live up to them is not seen as serious of a failure.
I do not think that either attitude is necessarily better than the other – both have their advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of the Western attitude is that regulations are always taken seriously, but the disadvantage is that one can become legalistic or even prideful if he follows the law. The advantage of the Eastern attitude is that one always sees the ideal as something to strive for and this keeps you humble, but the disadvantage is that the wide gap between practice and regulation might be so wide as to seem insurmountable or make the regulation appear unrealistic.
All Christians should work, with the help of God’s grace and a good spiritual director, to make sacrifices that are in keeping with their state of life. The worst thing to do, at any time, is to compare one’s own sacrifices with anyone else’s. But as we near the end of Lent, ask for God’s help in persevering in your own resolutions so that you might be properly prepared for the resurrection of our Lord at Easter!
But at the same time, the Eastern-style fast can be a hyper-dangerous path to pride. The thought process may go like this:
“If one perfectly holds the less-strict Western fast, they may be a disciplined person. But if one holds the intense Eastern-fast, they must be transcendentally disciplined or spiritual!”
Sometimes I lament the reality that the Church doesn’t call people to higher levels of discipline and devotion in the realm of fasting, but other times I realize that if She did, many people would then stop listening altogether.
Brandon, I disagree. There are many within our Eastern Church who ‘listen’ very well… and keep the fast much more fervently than those in the West (by the way, I’m Roman Catholic by Rite, but have been attending the Byzantine Church for some time). Great Lent, however, is not the only time of year the East fasts. Our fasting time includes: The Great Fast (Lent)-beginning on a Monday 7 weeks before Easter; Fast of the Apostles-varying in length from 1 to 6 weeks – it begins on a Monday, 8 days after Pentecost, and ends on June 28-the eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul; Fast of the Repose of the Virgin Mary–August 1 to 14.
Christmas Fast -lasting 40 days, from November 15 to December 24. So it’s not a matter of pride… we’re just more used to fasting.
In all actuality, we’ve more Roman Catholics in our parish than we do Eastern Rite. I think that’s because not only for Lent, but for other practices or rubrics, the Catholic Church is much more relaxed. People hunger for more. Maybe some would stop listening, as you say, if more were expected of her people. But I also believe that many would rejoice and embrace a more disciplined life with devotion. At least, that’s my experience from my last RC church as well as those RC I’ve met who’ve come East.
Our pastor says it this way, as we began Great Lent: The only thing you are NOT to fast from, is fasting. With the help of your spiritual father, choose your fast and stick with it.
It’s really about the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law as Mr. Sammons so eloquently stated.
Small correction: according to canon law, abstinence from meat is obligatory for all Latin-rite Catholics on ALL Fridays of the year (unless a solemnity falls on a Friday).
For these purposes, Lenten Fridays are (according to law) virtually indistinct from all other Fridays.
The only difference is that on other Fridays, Catholics are permitted by episcopal indult to substitute some other penitential practice. But if they don’t, the default is still fleshmeat abstinence.
What a great example of the “keep it simple, stupid” principle. It used to be an easy to understand standard. The bishops muddled it up in the 1960s, and now the Friday abstinence has been forgotten (even on this blog, apparently).
In Brandon’s defense, our fallen natures can turn any practice into an occasion for pride.
Yes, Mr. Sammons, but in my defense, he only mentioned the Eastern Church, not people as a whole.
One thing that might be good to remember is that pre-Vatican II, all days in Lent were days of fasting for Western (roman)Catholics. Each day in Lent the faithful were allowed one full meal, but meat was allowed during the main meal. On Friday,in addition to fasting, one had to abstain from meat as well. Doing this was a real penance and was considered a serious moral obligation. Today the West’s standards are so low that there’s hardly any penance being done at all. Traditionally, the East and West’s views were more in-line with on another and unfortunately modern sensibilities have almost eradicated penance altogether in the Roman Church.
What is also forgotten, I am afraid, is to what end one fasts. We don’t do it to please God, we do it to change ourselves. Great Saints and Fathers, through their own ascetic experiences, instituted the Lenten fast (and others) in both East and West, as a “prescription” for healing of our soul. The first few times one tries to do it, I confess, it’s acetic value maybe limited. But with practice, we dwell less on the food that we miss, and more on our sinfulness. I believe that fasting humbles us indeed, as Mr Sammons points out, but not so much because the fasting guidelines cannot be kept (Again, with practice, it’s not as hard as it sounds), but because we realize “in devouring our brothers and sisters” how far our souls are from God, and how much we need His healing of our sinful nature.
Lent is a time for penitence and a time for change. Fasting (as well as prayer and almsgiving) helps to change us for the better. In THAT way, we are pleasing to God.
The distinction in Europe is also to be found between people living in Northern Europe who take rules very seriously whereas those in Southern Europe (Italy Greece, Spain, Portugual etc) take them as ideals to be aimed for but failure is no big deal.
hi… well i am from india i beleive from the eastern churches. i think that the habits of fasting also depends on the climatic conditions. here in india normally lent season falls in the season of summer, and to have meat and fish during this time is normally off schedule.