Partial Fasting and Temporary Abstinence
During Lent some Christian communities, such as Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, undertake partial fasting eating only one light meal per day. For strict Greek Orthodox Christians and Copts, all meals during this 40-day period are prepared without animal products and are essentially vegan. Unlike veganism however, abstaining from animal products during Lent is intended to be only temporary and not a permanent way of life.
Laity generally abstains from animal products on Wednesdays (because, according to Christian tradition, Judas betrayed Jesus on the Wednesday prior to the Crucifixion of Jesus) and Fridays (because Jesus is thought to have been crucified on the subsequent Friday), as well as during the four major fasting periods of the year: Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Dormition Fast and the Nativity Fast. Catholic laity are encouraged to abstain from animal flesh on Fridays and through the Lenten season leading up to Easter (see fasting and abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church). This is not for animal rights or environmental reasons, but due to traditional abstinence guidelines.
Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic monastics abstain from meat year-round, and many abstain from dairy and seafood as well. Through obedience to the Orthodox Church and its ascetic practices, the Orthodox Christian seeks to rid himself or herself of the passions, or the disposition to sin.
Read more about this topic: Christian Vegetarianism
Famous quotes containing the words partial, fasting and/or temporary:
“The only coöperation which is commonly possible is exceedingly partial and superficial; and what little true coöperation there is, is as if it were not, being a harmony inaudible to men. If a man has faith, he will coöperate with equal faith everywhere; if he has not faith, he will continue to live like the rest of the world, whatever company he is joined to.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Did the first men who thought of fasting put themselves on this regimen on their physician’s order, because they had indigestion?”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“Good parties create a temporary youthfulness.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)