Fast or Feast...Orthodoxy and Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving yesterday!

I recently ran across an article in a church bulletin, entitled "Thanksgiving...A Break in the Fast".  Now, I know this topic is going to ruffle some feathers, but I am going to touch upon it here anyway, because there seems to be a great number of people voicing there opinions in favor of breaking the fast while painting a very tainted picture of people who choose to keep the fast.  So hear me out, okay?

The article went on to say this about people who keep the fast:  

"Our ego drives us to prove that we are better than others so we create laws to provide us a way of judging which of us is better at upholding the law and seeking justification...

Hypocrites who make strict commandments because of their own guilty conscience, trying to justify themselves through their strict teaching, while not being themselves willing or able to uphold these teachings...

We must not allow ourselves to deny our Lord of this thanks by misguidedly fasting on this day.  This is not a day of fasting even though it falls during the period designated as the fast of the Nativity.  The Church has declared this holiday to be day upon which the fast is to be broken."

Now, I'm not going to lie, I was extremely upset when I read this.  It was written in such an hateful and hostile manner.  It also gave the impression that the only other option to breaking the fast was to keep the fast and thus be filled with pride.   It left me questioning whether the article had an actual purpose hidden somewhere or was it written simply to lash out at people who fast?  And if the answer is the latter...why??  Maybe a guilty conscience and/or resentment on behalf of the article's author?  I truly do not know.

For me personally, when I celebrate with my Orthodox family, it is completely lenten.  No meat, no dairy.  Like this year, we enjoyed the company of many of our dearest friends and family and enjoyed a delicious lenten feast!  There were so many delicious foods that trust me, no one missed the turkey.  It was a wonderful time of love and fellowship for all of us.  

However, when I celebrate with my non-Orthodox family, there is usually a smorgasbord of both lenten and non-lenten foods.  I usually eat what I can to avoid breaking the fast.  I just feel like, Thanksgiving in today's society is more about sharing a special day with loved ones and giving thanks for all of God's blessings.  The turkey, well, it's just not as rare a treat as it was in the past.  In today's society, how often do we eat turkey or chicken and sweet potatoes?  Several times a week for most of us!  My family who does not fast, eats whatever they want.  The fact that there is no meat or dairy on my plate does not offend or tempt or anger anyone, the same way their plates full of turkey and fixin's does not offend, tempt or anger me!  And why should it?  Where does this kind of thinking come from???

I know many times people will quote the holy fathers, saying they have said it is ok to break the fast in certain situations but it's important to remember that many of the fathers they quote did not eat the way we eat in today's society.  Breaking the fast to them meant maybe having an egg or a glass of milk which was rare in those days.  Meat was usually only eaten on very special occasions.  

I also listened to a podcast on fasting through the holiday seasons and the author of this particular podcast, who truly seems to be a loving and gentle woman, but she also gave the same two options.  Break the fast or keep it and be filled with pride.

But, I have to ask.  Isn't there a third option?  Isn't it possible to fast with prayer and humility?  If there isn't, then what is the point of fasting at all?  Why are those of us who choose to struggle and keep the fast, and let me tell you it is a struggle, depicted as ravenous hypocrites who look down upon others who do not make the same decisions that we do?   How do you know that I personally may feel like such a sinner and am so displeasing to God that I keep the fast as part of my repentance?

Why do you assume that I'm fasting because I believe myself to be righteous or pious?  Maybe, the reason for my fast is just the opposite.  Maybe, I fast because I am so weak and so pitiful that if I break down and allow myself to give in and indulge in the foods I desire, I won't be able to pick myself up the next day and continue to prepare for the coming of my Lord and Savior.

Perhaps, for some people, fasting seasons are not filled with prideful and judgmental thoughts.  That is possible, right?  Our saints did not break the fasts and they certainly were not dishonoring God by staying in the desert and living off of little more than water for 40 days or longer.

Fasting is supposed to be a struggle.  And in today's society, there are so many fasting foods available that in all reality, the struggle is usually not a difficult one.  So on the one day that it is, and we're given an opportunity to earn crowns of glory, we're told to simply break the fast without even trying.  In fact, we're told that if we do fast we are being ungrateful to God.  That's ridiculous!

And I'm not telling everyone they should fast or that there is never room for oikonomia (exceptions).  I certainly understand that in some families (or situations), especially those with non-Orthodox spouses, etc., that eating with them may be the best option.  You do not want to scandalize those people or push them further away from the church.  But in situations where everyone is Orthodox, why not tell them, "I'm sorry, we will be fasting that day since it is during the Nativity fast."?  Why not take that opportunity to give witness of your faith?  It doesn't have to be done with pride, it can done with love and humility!  What if that person is inspired by your struggle and decides they want to 'fight the good fight' as well?  Why not be the example?

There is also the other excuse, "Well, what about people who have slaved over a meal?  Are we to just throw their hospitality in their face and refuse the meal?"  No.  Absolutely not.  But let me ask you this:  How many times are you invited over for an extravagant meal without an invitation in advance?  Not very often, I'd guess.  So why not tell that person when they call to invite you that you would love to come but want to let them know it's during a period of fasting for you?  And maybe offer to bring something lenten along?  How come whenever it gets uncomfortable to profess our beliefs, we take the easy way out and convince ourselves of all the ways we're being more spiritual by cheating?  We're learning moderation or how to be more grateful, practicing humility, some have said.  Excuses like this just sound ridiculous and lazy, I'm sorry.

Another question I have is, just a few days before Thanksgiving, on the 21st of November, we celebrate one of the 12 great feasts of the Church: The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple and the church allowed us to eat fish. Only fish! For such a feast! Why can we not feast on that day?  Is Thanksgiving more important than that?  It seems to me that if there should be an exception to break the fast of the Nativity, that should be the day, not Thanksgiving.  Because fact of the matter is, as wonderful a national holiday as it is, it's not a Church holiday.

It just saddens me so very much to see Orthodox Christians being so angry and judgmental with each other.  This is not what we are called to do.  We're called to love even our enemies.  


St. John Chrysostom said, "For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers and sisters?"  Whenever, I read that quote it is a reminder to love my neighbor and go the extra mile to help them, especially during periods of fasting.  But when I read this quote today, I had a different thought.  I thought about the author of the aforementioned article and thought how ironic it was.  That not only is he advising people not to fast, he's biting and devouring his brothers and sisters.  It seems to me, people heeding the words of that particular article should re-examine it's (and perhaps their) intention.  

No one is judging you because you do not fast, why then, do you judge those of us who do?

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Here is an interesting Q & A  I found on OrthodoxInfo.com.   

Q:    I wrote your Archbishop about our Antiochian jurisdiction and what we are taught about "modified" fasts and the "optional" fasts of the Apostles and Christmas....We are taught that fanatics and mentally unbalanced people require "classical" fasting and that that kind of fasting is not healthy, including monks not eating meat....Your Archbishop's answer to me (enclosed) was so good that I wish you would print it for other members of my church who read your magazine. (W.S., PA)

A:  His Eminence's comments are, indeed, worthy of note. We quote from his personal correspondence with this questioner:

"The Fathers of the Church were neither 'fanatics' nor 'mentally unbalanced.' They appointed fasts-none of which, except the Monday fast for monastics, is optional-for the spiritual and physical benefit of the Faithful, and the wisdom of their system is verified by modern science. In most instances, we Orthodox fast from all meat, fish, dairy products, and oil on Wednesdays and Fridays and during the fasts assigned to the Nativity period, Great Lent, and the periods preceding the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul and the Dormition of the Theotokos, with certain modifications and exceptions appropriate to each fast and specific Holy Days. Monks (and this, of course, includes Bishops) traditionally refrain from meat and meat products throughout their lives, and not just during prescribed fasting periods. Such a dietary regimen is precisely that prescribed by modern medicine for many serious diseases, including heart disease, certain forms of diabetes, and other serious and life-threatening ailments. It is not a dangerous regimen, but a therapeutic one.

"There is, of course, no such thing as 'modified' fasting in the Orthodox Church. The Holy Canons provide for the excommunication of Faithful and the deposition of clergymen who willingly violate the rules of fasting. This is because the discipline of fasting forms our souls, unites us to the spiritual life in a very direct and compelling way, and constitutes, as countless spiritual writings attest, a path to salvation. Indeed, there are many instances in the lives of the Desert Fathers and the Saints in which the souls of Christians have been snatched, at death, from the hands of demons by the 'Angels' of the Wednesday and Friday fast or saved by their particular fidelity to the Church's fasting rules.

"There are, naturally, those who cannot by constitution or because of ill health fulfill with absolute precision the standard established by the Church's fasting rules. These individuals, under the guidance of a mature spiritual Father, can make certain adjustments to their fasting regimen. But this condescension to human weakness and personal differences should be seen as a failure to reach up to the standard set by the Church, not as a 'modified' regimen to be adopted by those who are too lazy to fast or who think that Americans, for example, are incapable of, or exempt from, fasting. A standard which can lead us to salvation, which is established by the Holy Canons, and which has been passed down to us from Apostolic times, should not be treated lightly. Nor should anyone (such as myself, I admit) who cannot for reasons of health always follow the Church's fasting rules meticulously deny this means to spiritual growth to other Christians whom he might be advising. In things spiritual, we must hold others to the standard given to us by the Church, even if we cannot ourselves meet it. In this there is, I would submit, no room for modifications, dispensations, options, and other rationalizations for a lax and unproductive spiritual life. Oikonomia and the recognition of human weakness, however necessary, must always be honest principles and must never be misused to justify violations of the Church's revealed and God-established traditions."

Here is another wonderful article by Metropolitan Philaret on the topic of Prayer, Feasts, and Fasts.