www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Question on Eastern Catholicism....

So I'm Roman, but let's say that I want to start practicing as a Byzantine. Two questions:

1)Would I still identify myself as "Roman Catholic" since that's by birth rite instead of "Byzantine Catholic"??

2)Would I still need to attend the Holy Days of Obligation in the West (i.e. The Assumption, ect.) that aren't present in the East?

I suppose it depends on how strict a canonist you are. Personally, I would say that after you have attended our Church for a significant length of time and have taken a personal decision to commit yourself to our Church, you have all the disadvantages and most of the advantages. The one thing I would argue against is flip-flopping back and forth (to avoid fast days, for example). These days, in most countries we have more holy days than the local Latins do.

Fr. Serge

Fr. Serge,

My wife is Latin Catholic and I am Ukrainian Catholic, having recently chaged Churches formally based on my widowed mother's ancestry. I try to attend the Latin Church holydays with her to promote harmony in marriage. However, it appears to be a hardship to her to prepare meatless, dairy free meals on the fast days. With Philip's Fast coming up, how can I best deal with this?

Ummmm... Dr. Henry, YOU could do the cooking.

Seriously. YOU find the recipes you would enjoy eating. YOU buy the necessary ingredients. Invite your wife to join in the preparation, but YOU take full responsibility for the meal.

Since abstaining from meat and dairy is your discipline and not hers, I believe that your taking responsibility for the requirements of your discipline will strengthen your marriage. If preparing the fasting meals is impossible because of time constraints, or if your doing so fosters frustration and resentment, perhaps it is not yet time for you to take on the discipline of abstaining.

-- Penthaetria, who loved cooking with her husband

This is certainly a problem in my house - and one I have discussed with my SF.

My husband has no Church affiliation - is a complete carnivore and says that if he was meant to be a rabbit he would have been born one. He eats very few vegetables and no meal is complete without meat and dairy in one form or another.

Cooking 2 entirely different menus is not easy , been there , done it and certainly struggled with it and am still struggling with it .

BTW Fasting is not just about ruling out certain types of food

My advice - talk to your priest

Our Lady's Slave always gives good advice--follow it. I've found that since we are not living in Eastern Europe in the 1700's, following fasting rules is not that hard. There is certainly more to fasting than just eating certain foods, that's true. Which is why fasting is not a big deal if taken on that level only. Do you like asian food? Eat your heart out--no dairy products, no meat. There are any number of dishes that one can prepare easily or buy in most restaurants that fulfill the simple requirements of "fasting." But looking below the surface, ah, now there's the rub as someone smarter than I said a long, long time ago.

Fasting really was a hardship for our ancestor's when all there was to eat was certain dairy products and vegetables. Meat was something most peasants didn't have lots of to begin with. But butter and the like--now giving that up would be a real hardship. Imagine working in the fields all day, from sun up to sun down. Hard, physical labor, the kind that leaves you old before your time. And not having much to eat except some vegetables. Not only is your stomach growling, but you might find yourself literally weak from hunger. And doing that for a few days per week for weeks on end. That can take it's toll. So Christmas and Easter really were "feasts" in every sense of the word.

It's not that hard today to follow a fast--simple or full. But that's just the surface part. There's another level of fasting too.

Tim

I thought fasting was easy for them because I was under the impression that the Slavic peasants just ate bread and drank only beer (water being unsafe), at least for us Pols the beer is true because the custom continues to this day (and has contributed much to the ruin of families, including my own).

If Slavic peasants ate only bread and drank beer, a Slavic cookbook would be a very thin book indeed. They ate much more than that. Most of it involved butter in one form or another. Not to mention cabbage and other vegetables that would keep well over the winter without the kind of sterile canning we have today. And when it came to meat--every part was used. And I do mean EVERY part of the cow/pig/chicken/fish/goat, etc. I have recipes for calves brains, tongue, etc. Nothing went to waste. Any protein was good protein. And needed, with the kind of physical work they did.

Tim

That explains the salo.

Salo ?? - yes I suppose it does.

My GodPapa loves it - I've tried it - but I'll leave it alone

Tom,

Definitely talk to your priest...

My own sense is that if you have been attending and tithing at an Eastern Church for a time, officially register as a member of that parish. You can do this without officially tranfering rites. Then, when in East Rome, do as the East Romans do! The issue of a transfer may only come up with children or with pursuing major orders. Or it could just be the official seal of what has been a spiritual pilgrimage, as it was for me.

God bless!

Gordo

I'm not familiar with salo? What is that? I can surmise it's something that is probably a acquired taste.

Tim

I would until you transfer - but think of it more as a visit to show you are in communion with the Roman Church. For example I'll go to a Roman Mass a 2 or 3 times a year just to show I'm in communion with her. Even better just go to a daily Divine Liturgy on those days - (if you have daily DL in your area).

Good.

Tim,

I think it is pork fat and pork renderings used in Slavic cooking.

Ungcsertezs