www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Thanksgiving and the Nativity fast

Thank you all for answering so many of my questions!

What do you all in the U.S. do at Thanksgiving when keeping the Nativity Fast (presuming you attend Thanksgiving dinner at someone's home who does not keep the fast?)

Thanks!

I hope this doesn't come as too big of a shock but the Nativity Fast is not mandatory in the Pittsburgh Metropolia so most eat a Turkey dinner. For Melkites the Fast doesn't start until after Thanksgiving and among the Orthodox most bishops give a dispensation for Thanksgiving as I understand it.

But if one were keeping the Fast and found oneself in a non-Fasting household one should eat what is put in front them and recevie the hospitality given as the Desert Fathers so often counseled. For if one draws attention to one's fasting by refusing to eat the food offered by a host one sins twice. First by rejecting hospitality one sins against charity, second by announcing one's fast one commits the sin of vainglory.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Thanks for that Father Deacon!

I eat Turkey...

It depends.

If I am at my mother-in-law's table, I decline to eat the turkey that is the consistency of boiled cotton balls: "So sorry, but it is a fasting time for us."

If I am at my cousin's, I grin and say, "It would be rude not to eat what is served me," and I savor the melt-in-your-mouth flavor.

-- Penthaetria, who obviously bends or follows the rules to suit her own purpose -- wicked wicked woman

This is the USA and lets not be legalistic.

Thank you so much for your very wise answer, Father Deacon!

Hospitality is an essential part of Christian witness, and we see this from the early Fathers up to the Elders of Optina and starets such as Elder Isidore. Charity would be better served by being a thankful and humble guest; economia can suggest a commesurate time of penance later.

If we returned to the traditional calendar, this would not even be an issue!

On the other hand, then we'd all be fasting through our non-Eastern relatives' Christmas and New Years' celebrations. Considering that I've been trying to convince Western-oriented friends to keep Advent as a fast and Christmastide as a feast, it does help a bit if I can not only fast with them during the former, but feast with them during the latter...

Jeff

P.S. My family and I used to break our fast for Thanksgiving, and save any leftovers for the following Sunday. These days, we try to cook just enough for Thanksgiving Day, and send any leftovers home with guests - preferably friends who can really use the extra food.

I like the idea of sending home leftovers with folks who need it, or going to other's homes when invited. I personally give myself a papal dispensation for that day.

On the other hand, I like the idea of returning to the old Calendar and celebrating Christmas and Easter without the commercialization that's taken place around them.

Except that St. Nicholas' Day would fall on 19 December then and that's practically on New Calendar Christmas, so the commercialism would be the same.

Yes, but the Greek Catholic celebration of St. Nicholas' day Dec 6/19 have nothing to do with how Christmas is observed now in the western world, specifically the USA. I don't see a problem. It may seem very foreign in western eyes to keep Christmas on January 7th, but it could lead to a revitalization of a reverent observance of the day. The same with keeping Pascha according to the Church calendar as well.

John,

But we still give gifts on St. Nicholas' Feast Day don't we? Many families celebrate their "Christmas" sometimes the weekend before or the one after Christmas. So it could essentially still tie in to what the rest of the world is doing.

I'm still on the fence with this one, would it make our Christmases more holy. I don't know. I think that people who try to keep the Christ in Christmas would do it anyway no matter if it was celebrated on Dec 25, Jan 7, or Jan 20 (Armenians.)

If Pascha were moved, on the other hand, that would change things quite a bit, especially if Pascha fell a month later than Western Easter.