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Eating blood during easter fast???
You know how in the easter fast and things how we are allowed to eat things like fish that dont have blood so like prawns and stuff yehh... sooo just say we were in that fast, would we be allowed to lick our blood if we cut ourselves or sumthing like that. Like also if we bite our lip and stuff like that... could we like lick the blood and eat and stuff like that if we do. Sooo just tell me if u didnt get my question but yeh... its a good question... that i am confused about. soo yeh. well cya
Comments
I don't think the intention of fasting is to over-analyze everything... God looks at the intention of our hearts first and foremost. If you cut yourself or your lip bleeds, it's fine ... not a big deal that you lick it. When the Church states that we are not to eat anything that has blood, it just wants us to train ourselves to have a strong will. It basically means to eat vegan foods, and avoid animal meat and byproducts (ie. cheese, butter, milk, etc).
NOTE: other fasts, such as the Nativity fast that we're in right now, allow eating seafood but not poultry or beef.
Hope that clarifies things for you!
The Church prohibited the eating of foods containing their blood because the "life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11) [See also Genesis 9:4] in Acts as a result of the Council of Jerusalem: "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood." (Acts 15:20) and also: "that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:29). That's the reason, not so much to do with a "strong will" in that case.
But in this case of licking your cut lip, is totally different. It's like swallowing your own saliva. I mean, if you were really worried about it, you could just apply pressure on the cut lip and it will clot much faster than it would by you licking it :)
Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast.
H.G Pope Shenouda III had a sermon about this topic a while back.
I personaly think that in the case of yourself bleeding, it is O.K.
God bless, Pray for me,
Cyril
The fathers talk about how Satan will use incidents like this to try and prevent you receiving communion. There is a difference between breaking the fast because of a desire for food, and ingesting something as you describe, even a bit of a fingernail that was being chewed ect (Don't chew your nails kids).
The true fast is directed towards God, and not towards keeping a rule. When we seek God then we keep the rule (as best we can). When we just keep the rule we may actually be moving away from God.
So if you were eating an entire finger because you were hungry that might be problematic. But licking blood from a cut, or anything life that, is not breaking the fast.
The practical reason that we abstain from meat products in the fast is because the Fathers learned that a animal products affect and inflame our animal passions in a particular manner, and eating a vegan diet tends to calm and help us control these passions. For many of us there is also value in abstaining from high sugar drinks etc which make us go hyper. We should be trying to become quieter in ourselves during the fasts, and more able to hear the voice of God.
Father Peter