Posted on 02/22/2009 11:03:36 PM PST by Salvation
Fat Tuesday? Never heard of it called that, we generally call it pancake day.
Sorry, but it was a little dig at my RC brothers. Lent doesn’t begin for us until next Monday. ;)
Orthodox fasting is a little . . . different. The “official” RC rules look pretty lax to us. My wife’s grandmother was RC and she practiced fasting rules much more like Orthodox ones.
Of course, it’s not the rules that count, but your heart when fasting. We have something called a “demon’s fast.” It’s when someone follows a very strict fast but is a real jerk. We call it a demon’s fast because even the demons don’t eat.
I find that this makes me remember Christ's sacrifice, enforces my Catholic identity, and encourages me to a life of more discipline.
So what are the orthodox rules for Lent?
The modern Lenten Discipline: Party 6 days a week and sleep it off on Sunday.
And time for my annual curmudgeonly remark: If people in the country observed Lent with half the enthusiasm with which they observe Mardi Gras, our nation would be renewed.
/curmudgoen off.
Pre-Lenten Days -- Family activities-Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
And so it begins - The Questions, the questions... [Shrove Tuesday]
Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots [Shrove Tuesday]
New Orleans: A Tale of Two Cities (Rosary Walk Before Mardi Gras)
I grew up around a lot of catholics, and always loved the Friday Fish Fries, but never had any knowledge other than it was a great bonus for those of us who did not participate in Lent.
Have most Catholics strayed from the Friday Fish Fries? I don't see them offered at the local restaurants like I did as a kid (of course I'm living in a strong Baptist area now, so maybe that's the difference).
It’s different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but . . .
The first rule is the whole “why are you doing it.”
The food rules are generally as follows:
No meat after one week before Lent.
No dairy after Lent begins.
No oil on many days, although this is generally not observed outside of monasteries.
For Greeks, no alcohol except on special wine days, which are very rare.
For us weak slavs, no alcohol means no hard liquor and, often, no wine. Beer is not considered alcohol by some of the Slavic jurisdictions.
Sunday’s liturgies are (for all jurisdictions) the Liturgy of St. Basil, which is longer than our normal Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
More home prayers, liturgies, etc.
How many people actually observe the fast? It’s hard for me to tell and I don’t ask. It seems that most at my church follow it, but it’s a taboo subject. A person may have an ailment that requires dispensation. Dispensation is almost always from the priest.
A person can get dispensation based on the fact that they’ve never fasted before and it’s too hard. The priest then makes a rule of fasting for that individual, which is usually very challenging.
Unfortunately, the Eastern Rite Catholics have had the tendency to leave their own fasting traditions (used to be Orthodox) and follow more RC stuff. Most of the ECs don’t eat meat or dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays, but do not fast otherwise.
If you want a good challenge for Lent, skip meat and cheese on Wednesdays and Fridays (talk to your priest first). Stick to bread and inexpensive fruit. Take the cheese and meat you would have eaten and donate it to your local food bank, or whoever.
Sorry to go on and on. I was just trying to give you guys a hard time.
Have a blessed Lenten season.
Fat Tuesday? Never heard of it called that, we generally call it pancake day.
&&&
We have always called it Shrove Tuesday in my home, as it was called in the home I grew up in. Pancakes for supper that night. Last night, the husband and I attended a pancake supper given by the K of C at my parish.
...another area of traditional anti-Judaism....
&&
Well, I apologize for the sins of my forefathers, but that was then, and this is now.
Our Eastertide gives the nod to your Passover, BTW, and some RC liturgies introduce elements of Passover traditions.
I was never, in my 12 years of Catholic education, beginning in the 1950s, taught anything but respect for Judaism, both in school and in my parents’ home.
...another area of traditional anti-Judaism....
&&
Well, I apologize for the sins of my forefathers, but that was then, and this is now.
Our Eastertide gives the nod to your Passover, BTW, and some RC liturgies introduce elements of Passover traditions.
I was never, in my 12 years of Catholic education, beginning in the 1950s, taught anything but respect for Judaism, both in school and in my parents’ home.
Sorry for the double post.
I grew up sharing the beliefs of my Fundamentalist Protestant culture, one of which was that the "old law" no longer applied because it had been explicitly abolished in the "new testament"--however, this same abolition was seen to make all rituals, ceremonials, holidays, and laws completely superfluous.
Eventually I converted to Roman Catholicism because of the historical argument, but this created an even bigger problem. I retained my Biblical sentimentalism, but now I found myself having to justify and defend post-Biblical rituals, ceremonials, holidays, and laws while interpreting Paul's strictures only against Biblical (ie, Jewish) rituals, ceremonials, holidays, and laws. Eventually I could no longer go along with this.
If the ceremonials and laws of the Bible have been abolished, then, qal vachomer, so have all post-Biblical laws. If, on the other hand (as liturgical chr*stianity teaches) post-Biblical laws are the means by which "salvation" is "appropriated," then there was never anything wrong with Biblical law in the first place.
This is strictly theological anti-Judasim, not "anti-Semitism" as it is conventionally defined today. I also took a little swipe (reread my post and perhaps you'll see it) at Jews who engage in endless dialogues with the most liberal, anti-Biblical chr*stians they can find and who scream bloody murder at ethnic prejudice but never seem to complain about the abolition of Jewish holidays in favor of pagan ones (or about slams at the "Pharisees," who remain a perfectly legitimate target uncovered by the shield of "political correctness").
Thank you for your interest. I know you are not an anti-Semite.
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