Between the Magazine and the Readers

Question:
Is it permitted to eat fish on Wednesdays and Fridays?

Answer:
No, it is not permitted, for the fast of Wednesday and Friday follows the rite of the Holy Forty-Day Fast, during which eating fish is not allowed.

In fact, the original principle of fasting in general is that it be entirely vegan, abstaining from all kinds of meat, including fish. But because of the many fasts, which amount to about two-thirds of the year, as a kind of concession to the weak it was permitted to eat fish during some fasts. As for first-degree fasts in the Church, among which are Wednesday and Friday, as well as the Holy Forty-Day Fast, Pascha Week, Nineveh, and the Paramoun, eating fish has absolutely never been permitted in them.

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Fifth Year – Issue Ten – 7 December 1974

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