"the King’s Majesty considering, that due and godly abstinence is a means to virtue, and to subdue men’s bodies to their soul and spirit, and considering also that Fishers, and men using the trade of living by fishing in the Sea, may thereby the rather be set on work, and that by eating of fish much flesh shall be saved and increased, and also for divers other considerations and commodities of this Realm :" "And also that no person [shall] willingly and wittingly eat any manner of flesh, after what manner of kind or sort it shall be ordered, dressed, or used, upon any Friday or Saturday, or the Ember days, or in any other day in the time commonly called Lent, nor at any such other day as is or shall be at any time hereafter commonly accepted and reputed to be a fish day, within this Realm of England wherein it hath been commonly used for to eat fish and not flesh :"
I became an Anglican in my late 20's and have never fasted except for not eating meat on Good Friday, and even that is never promoted from the pulpit. My father used to tell about a RC neighbour who would stay up reading on a Friday night until at the stroke of midnight he would throw a pork chop in the pan.
My mother always used to do fish on Fridays. I am not sure how it started and I suspect it is one of those things where the exact origin of the practice came from. The idea on Fridays was supposed to be abstinence, i.e. to give something up as a form of penance. What people were to abstain from was meat. It was a day of abstinence not a day of substitution. However, people always have to try to find a way around something rather than observe the spirit of the law therefore they resort to the letter of the law and start asking, does this count as meat? It was determined that fish didn't count as meat. Therefore, instead of people abstaining on Fridays they substituted.
I think historically the requirement wasn't so much about eating fish as abstaining from meat. However, I gather that during Elizabeth I reign there was an act of Parliament stipuling Wednesdays and Fridays as fish days for the preservation of the fisheries and the herd of cattle.
Not really about Fish per se, but I came across this commentary from St. Clement of Alexandria regarding the Christian attitude to eating and the avoidance of gluttony. I thought I would share: http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity02/Clement.html
Very interesting to read, thank you, and yes, we should eat to sustain life, but as we all know, our social lives today, even gatherings in many churches, revolve around meals. Jesus found it necessary to feed the masses with an abundance of fish and loaves, asked to dine with sinners. Our UK friends visiting the U.S. often stand amazed at the amount of portions served in restaurants here. Very tough to avoid gluttony in this day and age without superior discipline or a doctor's dire warning. You'd think the lockdown period would've tamed that area of our lives, but I think it's made us worse.... BTW — I still do fish on Fridays and attempt Meatless Mondays.
May be she did and may be she didn't. I don't know either way. I can see such a law benefitting fishermen but I'm not sure how it would help cattle farmers.
Wasn't fish a secret symbol of Christianity once? https://thefisheriesblog.com/2014/0...esides being derived,used in the early church.
In Spanish America, due to the Papal Bulls of the Holy Crusade, fasting on Fridays was not mandatory. Opus Dei introduced the practice in Latin America.
Relax, I was just making humor via a double entendre. Nothing serious was meant! Chalk it up to my weird sense of humor, if you must. Hey, it only took you 11 months to notice...
@Nevis i have read a few of your threads. Am I correct to infer from your remarks that all things Catholic are Roman? And you see all things Roman as “bad”. I agree there are things that require reform in the RC and fortunately it has been accomplish in our practice but not all things Roman are bad. In fact some are very, very Catholic. Do you struggle to square up the Catholic faith as delivered to us in the English tradition or do you write it all off as you are much, much more Protestant? I promise I’m not bating you; just naturally curious. Please do not answer if you do not like the nature of the question.