RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fasting
afterward reduced the original time still further to the present four weeks.
In the Greek Church there is another season of fasting preparatory to the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul on June 29. This also was originally intended to be a period of forty days; but since that would have conflicted with the feast of Pentecost, its beginning was fixed for the Monday after the octave of that feast, which reduces it in some years to only nine days. There is evidence of a fast after the long festal season from Easter to Pentecost from the end of the fourth century in different parts of the Church, Western as well as Eastern, apparently connected to some extent with the feast of the apostles, though no trace of it now remains in the West beyond the single day's vigil. A fast before Epiphany was customary in the fourth century within the domain of the Gallican liturgy, in northern Italy, France, Spain, so far as the ecclesiastical power of Milan then
5. Other reached. It seems to owe its origin Fasts. to a rivalry with the Roman Christmas festival; as the latter had its
fast, so it was thought necessary that the older Epiphany festival on Jan. 6 must have its fast too. The fast of the Virgin is the most recent of the four great fasts of the Greeks. The festival of the death of Mary, Aug. 15, was introduced by the Emperor Maurice (582-602); the fast lasts from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15. On the other hand the ember fast is a Roman custom. The quattuor tempora, according to Leo I., occur before Easter, before Pentecost, in September and in December. The exact date has been differently fixed; since Urban II. (1095), they fall in the weeks after the first Sunday in Lent, Pentecost, the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14), and St. Lucy's day (Dec. 13). They are observed by fasting on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, the three ancient Roman fastdays. The meaning seems to have been originally that of supplication for a blessing on the fruits of the earth. In some countries the second emberseason was referred to the corn-harvest, the third to the vintage, the fourth to the olive-harvest, and the first was omitted.
The mode of observing the fasts was various even in the oldest times. In considering the large number of fast-days observed in the first Christian centuries, it must not be forgotten that the population of the South, and especially that of the East is satisfied with meager and primitive food, and hardly knows any regular times for meals. None the less, the requirement of fasting during the whole of Lent seemed too difficult, and even in the
6. Mode of fourth century all Christians were not Observance, enjoined to fast during the whole
forty days. Most fasted two or three weeks (Chrysostom, Horn. xvi. ad popul. Antiochen. ). By fasting was generally understood abstinence from all food till evening, or one meal a day; and this was to be as simple as possible. In the first centuries only bread, salt, and water was allowed. Afterward fruits and eggs, sometimes fish and even poultry were allowed, so that the fasting was finally limited to a prohibition of flesh and wine (Socrates, Hist, eccl., v. 22). To limit
thus the enjoyment of food to the barest necessities, or to refrain from certain designated articles of food constitutes " abstinence " in the technical sense. The injunctions were at first only of local or provincial authority. During the Middle Ages a vast system of casuistry developed in the Roman Church touching upon questions of permitted and forbidden food, indulgences and dispensations. In the fourth century (canons 1., li. of the Council of Laodicea, c. 360) ecclesiastical legislation made Lent a tempus clausum, by prohibiting anniversaries of martyrs, weddings, and birthday celebrations.
At present the laws of the Greek Church are stricter than those of the Roman. It still observes, besides the four great seasons of fasting, also the vigils of the Epiphany, St. John 7. The Baptist's day and Holy Cross day, Present and the weekly fast on Wednesday Practise, and Friday; so that half of the year is spent in fasting. The people are said as a rule to observe the fasts with strictness, but the educated classes have in large measure emancipated themselves from these regulations, and even the clergy are not enthusiastic advocates of their observance. In the Roman Catholic Church the influence of changed social conditions and climate has brought about a mitigation of the law of fasting. Advent has partially lost its character as a season of fasting, and the rules for Lent are generally very lenient. The ember-days are still observed. Of the three weekly fast-days Friday is retained, though as a day not of strict fasting but of abstinence from meat. The Church of Rome cares less for the amount of fasting than for the act of obedience performed by its members in observing its rules on this point. [These vary considerably in different places. Speaking generally, the obligation of fasting is not imposed upon any persons under twenty-one or over sixty; and those who are bound to fast are allowed to take, besides the one meal a day of the older use, a small piece of bread with tea or coffee in the morning, and a light meal or collation in the evening. The fast before communion, on the other hand, is absolute, not allowing even a drop of water from the preceding midnight.]
In the Lutheran Church the fast-seasons are continued in days appointed for penance and prayer (see Fast-day). They are generally observed about the time of the old fast-days, e.g., the ember-days, or are specially appointed on account of public calamities, great wars, destructive storms, and the like. Lent is still spoken of as a season of fasting, and is considered by stricter Protestants as a time in which music, dancing, games, public amusements, and weddings are prohibited. In many places the people still abstain from eating and drinking before receiving the Lord's Supper; otherwise fasting is considered a Roman Catholic practise. [Calvin, whose views were generally adopted by the Reformed churches, commends the practise of fasting, if guarded against superstition; and the Westminster Confession says that " solemn fastings " are " in their times and seasons " to be used in a holy and religious manner.
Fatalism Faustus of Kiez