Lecture 10: Early Christianity—Food Rituals and Asceticism
Food Rituals in the Early Church
The most important food ritual that develops in the early church is
the fast. Judaism had fasts, but in Christianity, they become a lot
more important. The idea behind it is that the body is really not
important; it’s just a temporary dwelling place for the much more
important, and immortal, soul. In fact, the body is a distraction,
so if you can mortify the fl esh by denying the body its physical
urges—such as eating, sex, and sleeping regularly—then you can
make the soul all the more strong. From an early date, Christianity begins to stress asceticism,
something foreign to Judaism. Among the early Christians, there
were heroic ascetics, people who went out into the desert and fasted
(like Saint Anthony) and stayed there for years. According to the sayings of the church fathers, the early ascetics
tended to live alone, but gradually, larger communities, or
monasteries, develop. These orders entailed communal living,
celibacy, strict obedience, and sometimes vows of silence. Mostly,
they pray, but they also stay up all night and eat very little food.
They go out of their way to suffer, and they vent their pent-up anger
and frustration on themselves. This is sadistic self-torture for people
who have nothing else to control in life. Gluttony becomes one of the seven deadly sins, and it will imperil
your mortal soul. Gluttons are perpetually stuffed until they burst
and then become whole again, and it repeats for an eternity. Food
has now become sin. There’s also now an explicit idea of a devil or
demons tempting people to commit sin. Although these acts of ascetic heroism are exceptional, several
ritual fasts eventually became ingrained in the Christian calendar,
most importantly during the period of Lent (from Ash Wednesday
to Easter). Fasting did not actually mean total abstinence from food;
in fact, it rarely does. It meant abstaining from animal food (with
the exception of fi sh) or any animal product, including milk, eggs,
and butter.