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What is halal? Please tell me whether it is possible to eat foods with kosher marks

The word "halal" comes from the Arabic "al-halal", which means "permissible". Basically, this concept among Muslims refers to meat. For example, Islam prohibits eating pork, meat with blood, meat from animals that died naturally or strangled, and those who were slaughtered without uttering the name of Allah. You should also not eat the meat of land predators - for example, a tiger or a wolf. The consumption of certain parts of animal bodies, such as genitals, endocrine glands, and gall bladder, is also prohibited.

Kosher (kosher) food in Judaism is food that corresponds to kashrut - a system of ritual rules, in turn, corresponding to the commandments of the Torah. Thus, it is allowed to eat the meat of herbivores, which are both ruminants and artiodactyls. These are, for example, cows, sheep, goats. But it is forbidden to eat the meat of a pig, hare or camel. As for poultry, according to tradition, Jews eat only domestic birds - chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and pigeons. The slaughter of livestock and poultry must also be carried out in compliance with many rules. Eating blood is prohibited, so the meat must be bled. A fish is considered kosher if it has scales and fins. Therefore, some types of fish (catfish, sturgeon, eel, shark) are not kosher, and neither is their caviar. Whales and dolphins are also not kosher, since they do not have scales, nor are any mollusks and crustaceans, since they have neither scales nor fins. It is strictly forbidden to eat insects, amphibians and reptiles (the Torah calls them sheretz - evil spirits).

Today in Russia you can often find products on sale labeled “kosher” or “halal”. Moreover, they are sold not only in specialized retail outlets. Many Orthodox Christians are interested in whether it is possible to buy and eat such products.

Please tell me, is it possible to eat foods with kosher marks?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Kasher Jews have food, clothing and objects of worship that are ritually suitable for consumption from the point of view of halakha (the normative part of Judaism). Regulations on kashrut (permissibility) of food apply to products of animal origin, methods of their preparation and rules of consumption. Only “clean” (tahor) animals, birds and fish are allowed (see: Lev. 11: 2–47). All “unclean” (lo tahor) animals, birds and fish and everything obtained from them (milk, eggs) are prohibited for consumption. Next, the halakha defines the method of ritual slaughter (shechita). After slaughter, the carcass of an animal, from which the sciatic nerve, internal fat is removed and the blood is released, goes into the kasher category. Modern Jews are not united regarding kashrut. Representatives of Conservative Judaism consider its observance necessary. And supporters of reformism in Judaism do not consider kashrut obligatory.

As we see, the regulations regarding kosher food are nothing more than the fulfillment of ritual rules based on Old Testament rituals. The New Testament abolished all dietary regulations. This was confirmed by the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem (see: Acts 15: 6–29). It was only forbidden to eat blood and strangled meat. The prohibition for Christians to eat blood was confirmed by the 67th rule of the VI Ecumenical Council (680–681). Strangled - the body of an animal that died in a snare or was strangled in some other way. You can't eat it because there is blood left in it. The basis of this prohibition is the understanding of blood as the seat of the soul (see: Lev. 17: 11).

Since the preparation of kosher food does not go beyond the Old Testament rituals, for us Christians, the question of whether this or that food is kosher or not has absolutely no meaning. We can eat it prayerfully, like any other food.

The reason for writing this article was the surprise caused by the warning announcement posted on the doors of one of the capital's Orthodox churches. On a standard sheet of A-4 format, the temple clergy strictly threatened with excommunication from the Church of everyone who would buy and eat kosher products:

“Dear brothers and sisters! Products with the kosher mark have appeared in our stores, and we know that kosher products are products blessed by rabbis with the blood of sacrificial animals...” This was followed by references to the rules of the holy fathers “On eating food sacrificed to idols,” according to which those who tasted it were excommunicated from the Church for a period of 4 to 6 years.

Probably the first feeling that arises in the average person after reading this appeal is confusion and even fear. A more knowledgeable person has indignation and indignation: again, through deception, one might say “on the sly,” they want to separate us Orthodox, through defilement from eating “kosher products,” from Christ! And indeed, if everything written in the leaflet were true, the instinctive anger of an Orthodox person would be justified. But the trouble is that everything connected with heterodoxy, and especially with Judaism, is little known to the majority of our population. And if there is some basic knowledge, it often does not correspond to reality due to the dubiousness of the sources from which it was obtained (V.V. Rozanov, L.I. Tikhomirov, V.I. Dal, etc.), coming into conflict with many factual provisions of Judaism.

To comment on the surprise that accompanied the author of this article when reading the above announcement, we need to enlist the patience and attention of our dear reader, because To reveal the topic raised, some immersion in the history of the Jewish people and its tradition is necessary.

Rabbinical Institute. Can rabbis officiate?

Let's start with the rabbis. First of all, it must be emphasized that a rabbi in the Jewish tradition is not a priest in our Christian understanding, who is authorized to officiate, i.e. perform the Sacraments. Rabbi is a title awarded to a Jew upon receipt of higher Jewish religious education. It gives the right to lead a congregation or community, teach in a yeshiva (a religious educational institution for young men) and be a member of a religious court.

At the time of Christ the Savior, a rabbi was an interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, a religious teacher, and almost always he earned his living by some other work.

The formation of the institution of rabbis took place in the Middle Ages and was associated with the decline of the Babylonian gaonate and exilarchate - the central institutions of the Jewish Diaspora, which appointed rabbis to local communities. From the end of the 10th century, communities became more independent and elected their own spiritual leader. A rabbi could become a scientist, a highly moral, authoritative person with the wisdom of a judge, the ability to manage public affairs and the spiritual life of the community.

We emphasize: the duties of the rabbis did not include the functions of a clergyman; he was not supposed to lead synagogue services, bless members of the congregation, etc. Only later did rabbis begin to perform marriages and divorces, and only because these ceremonies required a thorough knowledge of religious law and legal procedure.

The Jerusalem Temple (10th century BC - 70 AD) is the only place of sacrifice of the Old Testament Church.

As for sacrificial animals, whose blood is supposedly sprinkled on kosher products, there is a distortion of reality and elementary ignorance in relation to such an “exact subject” (a term proposed by church historian V.V. Bolotov) as history.

The 70th year after the Nativity of Christ went down in the history of the Holy Land not only as the year of the suppression by the Romans of the four-year Jewish uprising (the year of the complete pacification of Judea is the 73rd year), but also as the year of the destruction of Jerusalem and its main shrine - the Jerusalem Temple. The suppression of the uprising was entrusted by Emperor Vespasian to his son Titus. The seriousness of the war between Rome and Judea is evidenced by the fact that Vespasian left Titus three legions (1 legion numbered 6,000 soldiers), to which Titus himself added three more, from Syria and Egypt, and also called troops from the kingdoms subordinate to Rome, in particular from Emesa . The total number of soldiers was approaching 40,000.

In February 70, Titus' army besieged Jerusalem. The siege lasted almost six months and on August 28, before the final assault on the city, Titus, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, gave the order not to destroy the Temple of Jerusalem, since in the future it would “serve as an adornment of the Empire.” But war is war: the despair and rage with which the Jews fought disrupted all the strategic plans of the Romans and the situation got out of control... The Temple perished.

It must be said that for the Jews, the Jerusalem Temple was not just a religious building - it was the only place of permanent presence of the Creator Himself. In addition to the Jerusalem Temple, in almost every settlement of the Holy Land there were synagogues (places for the study and interpretation of Scripture), but they could not replace the Temple and Temple worship, which is inextricably linked with sacrifices.

Every Jew, for a variety of reasons in life (harvest, birth of children, death of loved ones, etc.) had to come to the Temple and make a sacrifice. But the year 1970 changed a lot. Along with the destruction of the Temple, the entire system of sacrifices, which had spanned more than one century, was also destroyed. And the very institution of priests (koganim), who performed the ritual, lost its meaning without the Temple.

To this day, there are no priests in Judaism, just as there are no blood sacrifices - there is no one, and there is nowhere to make them (since the 7th century, on the site of the Temple of Jerusalem there is the third most important shrine of the Islamic world, the Mosque of the Rock or the Mosque of Omar). Nevertheless, Jewish communities still treat bearers of priestly surnames with reverence, as representatives of the spiritual aristocracy. As a rule, most Jews with the surname Kogan, Rappoport, Katz are descendants of ancient priests and therefore cannot remarry or marry widows.

Attitude to blood in the Jewish tradition

A few words about the attitude of the Jews to blood. In Jewish tradition, blood is the material shell of the animal’s soul. Blood carries “nefesh” - vital energy, the “animal soul”, which contains all the substances necessary for the functioning of the body and delivers them to all organs of the body. It fills and permeates the entire organism, which is built from its elements and depends on its composition. And while the animal is alive, “nefesh” - life energy - is in its blood, and vice versa - the animal’s blood is in its soul. In other words, it is not the animal’s soul that is dissolved in its blood, but on the contrary, the blood is, as it were, “absorbed” by the soul.

This is precisely what explains the ban in Jewish tradition on eating any food containing animal blood. So, if a religious Jew decides to cook scrambled eggs and, when breaking a chicken egg, finds blood among the white and yolk, he must immediately throw away this egg and replace it with another. What can we say about those ridiculous speculations that provoked mass pogroms at the beginning of the twentieth century, in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, etc., according to which Jews allegedly added the blood of Christian babies to their Passover matzo?!

The year 1913 was marked by a very noisy trial that took place in Kyiv. It went down in the history of Russian jurisprudence as the “Beilis Case”. 39-year-old Mendel Beilis was accused of the ritual murder of 13-year-old Andrei Yushchinsky, and the Catholic priest Justin Pranaitis acted as an expert for the accusing party. Our Orthodox priest Alexander Glagolev, a professor at the Department of Hebrew Language and Biblical Archeology at the Kyiv Theological Academy, managed to reveal the absurdity and falsification of this case. Father Alexander, an excellent expert on the Holy Scriptures and Old Testament legislation, proved to the jury that it was impossible for Jews to perform ritual sacrifices after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, as well as the inadmissibility of consuming blood not only for food, but also for any other purposes in general.

So, the statement of the above announcement that rabbis sanctify kosher food with the blood of sacrificial animals is complete ignorance and absurdity!!!

What is “kosher food”?

A large number of products from countries with which Ukraine maintains trade relations have indeed appeared in our stores. Among these countries is the Middle Eastern state of Israel, whose products are so widely represented in our stores today. This includes baby food, citrus fruits, juices, herbs and much more. As a rule, products from Israeli manufacturers are marked with a kosher mark. Although not only the Israeli manufacturer puts the kosher mark on its products, many Western European manufacturers also indicate on their packaging that their products do not contradict the rules of kosher. Moreover, today many Ukrainian manufacturers place the kosher logo along with the quality mark of their products.

What is kosher food? How should we feel about her? Are foods marked kosher sacrificial to idols? Here are a number of questions that concern many Orthodox Christians. Let's try to answer them.

Etymologically, the word "kosher" is not related to food; in Hebrew it literally translates as "suitable." This term can be used in relation to the correct behavior of a person: “This is a kosher person” and used when speaking about something positive: “This is a kosher book,” etc.

Currently, the word “kasher” or “kosher” (originally a variant with the vowel “o” appeared in the English language due to the peculiarities of the pronunciation of Ashkenazi Jews, and then migrated to the Russian language) is more often used in relation to food. The only criterion for the suitability of food for food is not considerations of hygiene, but how the Holy Scriptures (the Pentateuch of Moses) relate to this food. That is, the usual meaning of the word “kosher” is “food allowed to be eaten.”

The laws of kashrut state that Jews are forbidden to eat anything, and even permitted food must be prepared properly.

For example, the only animals permitted by the Holy Scriptures are artiodactyls and ruminants. The most common of them are cows and sheep, but even they can only be slaughtered by a specialist - a shoykhet (butcher).

According to kashrut laws, the meat of animals killed during hunting is prohibited. The ban on hunting (which is several thousand years old in Jewish tradition) has led to the fact that even among non-religious Jews there are few hunters today.

As mentioned above, in the body of the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament there are many places prohibiting the consumption of animal blood (;). Therefore, during slaughter, according to the rules of kashrut, the blood is drained and covered with earth, and the meat is salted and soaked until all the blood is removed.

Among fish, only those species that have fins and scales (; ) are considered kosher. This is not motivated by anything.

All shellfish are prohibited, including today's popular shrimp and lobsters.

Among the birds allowed, only chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and some others are allowed.

As a rule, all permitted animals are herbivores. Birds eating other birds are prohibited along with all predatory animals.

Since we do not have the goal of describing the entire severity of food regulations in the Jewish tradition, we will limit ourselves to the above.

From the above, we can conclude that whenever you pick up a package marked mashgiach (an expert who guarantees that a product complies with the rules of kashrut), you should know that this particular product fully complies with the dietary requirements of the Bible. And no mystical actions were performed on the product!

If this is a bunch of greens in a package (onions, basil, parsley, etc.), then the mashgiach checked these greens for the presence of insects - there are none there.

If this is a package of flour, it means that the flour has been sifted under the supervision of a mashgiach through a sieve, where there should be at least 70 holes per 1 cm2 (the expert must check the number of holes with the tip of a needle), in order to avoid bugs and other insects getting into food, because eating insects prohibited by the Bible!

If a dairy product is labeled kosher, it means that the product has not come into contact with animal fats and was prepared in sterile containers.

The kosher mark is a statement and guarantee that a product has been prepared and packaged in a sterile environment and in accordance with the ancient rules of the Bible regarding “clean” food.

How should a Christian treat kosher foods?

Whenever the next group of our Orthodox pilgrims goes to the Holy Land to worship places associated with the earthly life of our Savior, few of the pilgrims think about what they are treated to and fed during the pilgrimage. A meal in a monastery or an ordinary breakfast in a hotel, here in Israel kosher products are present everywhere. Yes, there are simply no other products in Israeli stores, and if there are, they are sold in non-kosher stores that are not so easy to find. And Orthodox Christians living in the Holy Land do not even pay attention to whether this or that product is kosher or not, primarily because this sign is addressed to those who keep kosher. And for people who are not religious Jews, this is only a guarantee that the product was prepared in an atmosphere of high sterility.

We, Orthodox Christians of the 21st century, should more often turn to the experience of the early Christian communities (and their life, especially in the Middle East and Asia Minor, was very closely intertwined with their pagan and Jewish neighbors), for which the words of the Savior: “Not what is included in the mouth defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth” () were the main criterion for maintaining holiness and inner purity.

And wariness and suspicion towards food was observed two thousand years ago. This is what prompted the holy Apostle Paul to turn his word of edification and consolation to the inhabitants of ancient Corinth - the economic metropolis of the ancient world, famous for its shops, markets and bazaars: “Everything that is sold at auction, eat without any research, for peace of conscience” (). We must hear these words of pastoral care in our troubled age.

In conclusion, it should be noted that kosher products are not sacrificed to idols. I would like to refer thinking and reading faithful children of our Church to the book by MDA professor Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev “Why are the Orthodox like this?” (M. 2008), in this work there is a wonderful article “Does “planted” sewage harm a Christian?”, where the author makes a detailed and reasoned analysis of the correspondence of food to the name sacrificed to idols, and the attitude of a Christian towards it according to the teachings of the Apostle Paul and the patristic heritage.

“Food does not bring us closer to God: for whether we eat, we gain nothing; If we don’t eat, we don’t lose anything” () - this admonition of the Apostle Paul is not always understood by our Orthodox contemporaries. And as a result, all sorts of misunderstandings and religious prejudices appear that interfere with really living according to the Gospel and patristic teaching.

God grant that nothing in life could overshadow Golgotha, the Savior’s Death on the Cross and His Glorious Resurrection - this is what we should strive for first of all. And the words of the Apostle “For the pure all things are pure” () should help us so that around us, thanks to our spiritual and moral purity, we promptly detect and expose the real fraud that can really harm our Christian conscience.

Archpriest Oleg Sknar, candidate of theology, “Orthodoxy in Ukraine”

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,

what you should eat and what you should drink, nor what you should wear for your body.

After all, every person needs to eat some kind of food, we all do this every day, even several times a day. This forced the German materialist philosopher L. Feuerbach to throw out the bright phrase “Man is what he eats” in a letter to J. Moleschott! True, some attribute it to Pythagoras, but the ancient thinker was such a mysterious figure that many phrases from him remain, but their reliability is in doubt.

However, it is strongly said: “A man is what he eats”! However, J. Moleschott did not remain in debt and, as they say, threw out another biting expression, “The brain secretes thoughts like the liver produces bile,” or maybe it was his comrade-in-arms in vulgar materialism, Karl Vocht. This does not change things, but it reflects a materialistic attitude towards man as an animal. Even if it's smart. But the animal has no conscious food prohibitions: it eats instinctively, satisfying the body’s need for nutrients. Man, in his culture, constantly tries to overcome the animal nature in himself. The whole religion and the whole culture, with its customs, cries out like us: “I am not a beast, I do not eat - I eat, write, eat! I am not an animal, I do not relieve myself under the nearest bush or tree, I arrange cultural latrines! I’m not some animal covered in fur, I dress, put on clothes, adorn myself with them, thereby reflecting my difference, my culture!”

Therefore, religious food prohibitions are one of the oldest prohibitions known to us in historical times. By forbidding himself to eat any food, a person thereby asserted that he was able to overcome the animal nature in himself for the sake of some high idea: as a rule, a religious one. Food prohibitions existed among the priests in Ancient Egypt, among the Pythagoreans in Ancient Greece, among the ascetics of Ancient India, among the Persian Zoroastrians.

A strict division of animals into clean (whose meat was allowed to be eaten) and unclean (forbidden to eat) also existed in the Old Testament: “these are the animals that you can eat from all the livestock on earth...”. And then follow the signs of these animals. Next, the animals forbidden to eat are listed, and it is said: “Do not eat their meat and do not touch their corpses; they are unclean for you" (). For what reason did God set dietary restrictions in the Old Testament?

Saint John Chrysostom directly indicated that God did not create anything evil or unclean, but the very nature of man contributed to such a division. Saint Photius of Constantinople indicates that this distinction was historical in nature and was given to suppress idolatry. Saint Constantine (Cyril), the educator of the Slavs, believed that such a ban was aimed primarily at abstaining from fattening foods. “About how harmful overeating is for you,” says Saint Cyril, “it is written about this: “And Israel became fat... and he forsook God” (Deut. 32:15). The Holy Fathers point out that there is nothing unclean in nature itself, but this division for the Old Testament had didactic and moral significance. In general, the Old Testament law, according to the Apostle Paul, was a teacher to Christ (). Since many Old Testament institutions were subordinated to this pedagogical goal, with the fulfillment of ancient prophecies and types in the New Testament, the question arose: should newly baptized Christians observe the educational and didactic institutions when the Truth Itself shone in Christ.

Therefore, the apostles at their First Council, one of the main issues at which was compliance with the law, including the Old Testament food prohibitions, decided that for pagan converts there was no need to observe strict restrictions. The Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, himself a strict follower of the Mosaic Law, confirmed this decision with his word: “Therefore I do not intend to make it difficult for those who turn to God among the pagans, but to write to them that they should abstain from what is defiled by idols, from fornication, from things strangled and from blood, and that They didn’t do to others what they didn’t want for themselves” ().

“Food prohibitions are not of an essential nature, but we need them for moral improvement, health and well-being”

So, since our faith is that a good and humane God created the entire universe, and, according to the words of the Bible about the animal and plant world, “God saw that it was good” (), it means that food prohibitions are not of an essential nature , but we need it for moral improvement, health and well-being. Therefore, it is wrong to pose the question this way: what should Orthodox Christians not eat? The Apostle Paul did not say in jest to the Corinthian Christians: “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me. Food is for the belly, and the belly is for food; but God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord, and He will also resurrect us by His power” (). Therefore, in Orthodoxy there are no food prohibitions; there are food restrictions voluntarily observed by Christians, determined by the Charter (Typikon). If a Christian considers himself a member of the Church of Christ, he, along with the Church, observes abstinence in food: he does not eat modest foods (meat and dairy foods) on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, as well as during four multi-day fasts, especially during Great Lent, which is the way for Christ's saving Easter. By limiting ourselves in food, we remember the frailty of our earthly nature, we humble ourselves when we experience hunger. But the purpose of fasting is not dietary, but liturgical.

Protopresbyter Alexander Shmeman writes: “Man is a hungry creature. But he hungers for God. Every “hunger”, every thirst, is the hunger and thirst of God. Of course, it is not only man who hungers in this world. Everything that exists, all creation, lives by “nutrition” and dependence on it. But the uniqueness of man in the Universe is that he alone is given the gift of thanking and blessing God for the food and life He has given. Only man is capable and called to respond to God’s blessing with his own blessing, and this is the royal dignity of man, the calling and purpose of being the king of God’s creation...”(“For the life of the world”). Therefore, the highest point in the human search for God is the Liturgy, the Eucharist (Thanksgiving). Bread and wine are brought to God and, having received God’s blessing, become for us not earthly food, but Bread that came down from Heaven, the Body and Blood of Christ (). This is why the Church established a Eucharistic fast before Communion: not because a medical diet is needed, but because the greatness of the Sacrament encourages us to make Holy Communion the first meal of the day.

If we understand the liturgical meaning of fasting, i.e. fasting as a gift to a sinful person for correction, for improvement in prayer (it is no coincidence that they say that “a full belly is deaf to prayer”), then we will avoid two extremes: treating fasting as a ritual restriction, like the Old Testament commandment about “unclean” things, and, on the other hand, frivolous connivance, when, out of cowardice, we “beg” the priest for permission for all sorts of fasting indulgences, or even allow ourselves modest meals during Lent.

In the first case, we risk falling into the most stupid condemnation of our neighbors: they say, “we are pure and bright because we fast, but these sinners defile themselves by eating non-fasting.” In this case, we forget the admonition of the Apostle Paul, read to us before Great Lent: “Whether we eat, we gain nothing; If we don’t eat, we don’t lose anything” (). That is, fasting is plowing: you won’t get a harvest by plowing. We still need to sow the seeds of spiritual life. But by judging our neighbors, we do a lot of harm, and first of all, we harm our soul.

In the second case, not caring about fasting as an “optional custom,” we sow on rocky, unplowed soil. How many spiritual fruits will we receive in this case? Will Easter be a spiritual joy for us if we have not worked on ourselves to the best of our ability?

Please forgive me for such a long introduction, but it is necessary to understand a simple thing: in Orthodoxy there cannot be ritual “clean” food, like that described in chapter 11 of the book of Leviticus, or prescriptions similar to the prescriptions of non-Christian religions: Jewish “kashrut”, Islamic “halal”, Hare Krishna “prasad”. There can be no corresponding prohibitions on “unclean” food, except those determined by the Apostolic Council.

This, however, does not mean that Orthodox Christians can eat any food that is unhealthy. Yes, the saints, covered by the special protection of God, ate poisonous food and remained alive. But these were miraculous incidents sent by God to help the fiery preachers of Christ, to reassure unbelievers. There is no need to eat spoiled food or purchase low-quality products when there is a choice. This is why we were given reason: to distinguish between what is useful and what is not.

And here discerning experts may notice: after all, the “kosher” food allowed to Jews, as well as the Muslim “halal” (which is essentially very similar) is often distinguished by excellent quality. Thus, the slaughter of kosher cattle is monitored by a Jewish rabbi, selecting only high-quality animals, making sure that the animal is quickly slaughtered, etc. Therefore, by the way, food prices in kosher stores are noticeably higher than in regular stores. Likewise, halal food for Muslims is subject to special selection. Maybe it’s worth buying and eating it: it’s healthier, isn’t it? Another question arises: is it possible for Orthodox Christians to eat food prepared according to Jewish or Muslim rituals?

Here I will express a purely personal opinion. Jewish kashrut and Islamic halal are not food sacrificed to idols. These are simply ancient food permits and restrictions that have gotten lost in time and have lost their original meaning. I think there is no special prohibition on eating it (I am not talking about the special ritual food of Jewish Passover - matzah or the ritually slaughtered ram on Kurban Bayram: the question here is more complicated, and I am not ready to comment on it). But in the desire to buy this food, there is a spiritual danger of imperceptibly leaning towards the conclusion that “wouldn’t it be worth taking a closer look at a religion that has such healthy food?” True, this problem for us is rather of a speculative nature: well, there are not a lot of specialized Jewish or Islamic stores around us to worry too much about it. But still, in order for our citizens who identify themselves as Orthodox to be able to buy quality products, it would be possible to organize the sale of goods from monastery farmsteads. Just don’t attach any religious significance to this. Promotions for the sale of monastic goods on the market will essentially differ little from recent promotions for the sale of goods from the union Belarus: a little more expensive, but of better quality. And the obstacle of large retailers on the way of subsidiary farms to the market must be overcome. But you can buy any product in the store. Moreover... I’ll say a terrible thing: you can even go to McDonald’s (but, in my opinion, it’s not necessary).

But with the Hare Krishna vegetarian food “prasad” the situation is more complicated. There is no need to eat it: as far as I can imagine, it is an offering to idols, because Hare Krishna food is “offered” to Krishna, the god of the Hindu pantheon. Only after this is it served to the adherents of this neo-Hindu cult. Therefore, I would not advise Orthodox Christians to go to vegetarian canteens if they are organized by Hindus. There is nothing wrong with vegetarianism as a diet, but if it is of a ritual nature, then we are relegating ourselves from the highest spiritual level, set by the liturgical Sacrifice, to the level of the Old Testament law or pre-Old Testament paganism. But this should not be done.

The Orthodox themselves should not restore legislative and ritual food prohibitions by labeling their products “Orthodox product.” If we stand in the store for half an hour, reading the small print of the ingredients on a pack of cookies: “is there any milk in there?”, in order to take cookies for fasting, then there is something awkward in this. If the cookies are fatty and tasty, then they are unlikely to meet the purpose of Orthodox fasting. If these are dry biscuits, is it a big problem that whey is added to them? This is my opinion. That’s why I don’t read the ingredients in the store under a magnifying glass. However, I am not fit to be a model for those who fast diligently. The main thing is not to forget that food fasting in Orthodoxy is just part of the general liturgical charter and, in isolation from it, has little spiritual meaning in itself. And we must not forget that there is no special “Orthodox” food. “But he who doubts, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not according to faith; and everything that is not by faith is sin” ().

In the Gospels there is not a single commandment about what the disciples of Christ are forbidden to eat and what is allowed. And this looks very strange to those who know the Scriptures, because, say, chapter 11 of the book of Leviticus is entirely devoted to what the Old Testament people could eat and what they could not. Why is the Gospel silent about such a seemingly most important topic for a person?

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,
what you should eat and what you should drink, nor what you should wear for your body.
Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? (Matt. 6:25)

A strict division of animals into clean (whose meat was allowed to be eaten) and unclean (forbidden to eat) also existed in the Old Testament: “These are the animals that you may eat of all the livestock on earth...”. And then follow the signs of these animals. The following lists the animals prohibited for eating and says: “Do not eat their meat and do not touch their corpses; they are unclean to you" (Lev. 11; 2, 8). For what reason did God set dietary restrictions in the Old Testament?

Saint John Chrysostom directly pointed out that God did not create anything evil or unclean, but human nature itself contributed to such a division. Saint Photius of Constantinople points out that this distinction was of a historical nature and was given to suppress idolatry. Saint Constantine (Cyril), the enlightener of the Slavs, believed that such a ban was aimed primarily at abstinence from fattening foods. “About how harmful overeating is for you,” says Saint Cyril, “it is written about this: “And Israel became fat... and he forsook God” (Deut. 32:15). The Holy Fathers point out that there is nothing unclean in nature itself, but this division for the Old Testament had didactic and moral significance. In general, the Old Testament law, according to the Apostle Paul, was a guide to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Since many Old Testament institutions were subordinated to this pedagogical goal, with the fulfillment of ancient prophecies and types in the New Testament, the question arose: should newly baptized Christians observe the educational and didactic institutions when the Truth Itself shone in Christ.

Therefore, the apostles at their First Council, one of the main issues at which was compliance with the law, including the Old Testament food prohibitions, decided that for pagan converts there was no need to observe strict restrictions. The Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, himself a strict fulfiller of the Mosaic Law, confirmed this decision with his word: “Therefore I do not intend to make it difficult for those who are among the Gentiles to turn to God, but to write to them that they should abstain from what is defiled by idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood, and that they do not do to others what they do not want for themselves” (Acts 15:19-20 ).

“Food prohibitions are not of an essential nature, but we need them for moral improvement, health and well-being”

So, since our faith is that a good and man-loving God created the entire universe, and, according to the word of the Bible about the animal and plant world, “God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:12), this means that food prohibitions are not of an essential nature, but we need them for moral improvement, health and well-being. Therefore, it is wrong to pose the question this way: what should Orthodox Christians not eat? The Apostle Paul did not say in jest to the Corinthian Christians: “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me. Food is for the belly, and the belly is for food; but God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord, and He will also raise us by His power” (1 Cor. 6:12-14). Therefore, in Orthodoxy there are no food prohibitions; there are food restrictions voluntarily observed by Christians, determined by the Charter (Typikon). If a Christian considers himself a member of the Church of Christ, he, along with the Church, observes abstinence in food: he does not eat modest foods (meat and dairy foods) on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, as well as during four multi-day fasts, especially during Great Lent, which is the way for Christ's saving Easter. By limiting ourselves in food, we remember the frailty of our earthly nature, we humble ourselves when we experience hunger. But the purpose of fasting is not dietary, but liturgical.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann writes: “Man is a hungry creature. But he hungers for God. Every “hunger”, every thirst, is the hunger and thirst of God. Of course, it is not only man who hungers in this world. Everything that exists, all creation, lives by “nutrition” and dependence on it. But the uniqueness of man in the Universe is that he alone is given the gift of thanking and blessing God for the food and life He has given. Only man is capable and called to respond to God’s blessing with his own blessing, and this is the royal dignity of man, the calling and purpose of being the king of God’s creation...”(“For the life of the world”). Therefore, the highest point in the human search for God is the Liturgy, the Eucharist (Thanksgiving). Bread and wine are offered to God and, having received God’s blessing, become for us not earthly food, but Bread that came down from Heaven, the Body and Blood of Christ (John 6:51). This is why the Church established a Eucharistic fast before Communion: not because a medical diet is needed, but because the greatness of the Sacrament encourages us to make Holy Communion the first meal of the day.

If we realize liturgical meaning of fasting, i.e. fasting as a gift to a sinful person for correction, for improvement in prayer (it is no coincidence that they say that “a full belly is deaf to prayer”), then we will avoid two extremes: treating fasting as a ritual restriction, like the Old Testament commandment about “unclean” things, and, on the other hand, frivolous connivance, when, out of cowardice, we “beg” the priest for permission for all sorts of fasting indulgences, or even allow ourselves modest meals during Lent.

In the first case, we risk falling into the most stupid condemnation of our neighbors: they say “We are pure and bright because we fast, but these sinners defile themselves by eating non-fasting.” In this case, we forget the admonition of the Apostle Paul, read to us before Great Lent: “Whether we eat, we gain nothing; if we eat, we lose nothing” (1 Cor. 8:8). That is, fasting is plowing: you won’t get a harvest by plowing. We still need to sow the seeds of spiritual life. But by judging our neighbors, we do a lot of harm, and first of all, we harm our soul.

The Orthodox themselves should not restore legislative and ritual food prohibitions by labeling their products “Orthodox product.” If we stand in the store for half an hour, reading the small print of the ingredients on a pack of cookies: “is there any milk in there?”, in order to take the cookies to fast, then there is something awkward in this. If the cookies are fatty and tasty, then they are unlikely to meet the purpose of Orthodox fasting. If these are dry biscuits, is it a big problem that whey is added to them? This is my opinion. That’s why I don’t read the ingredients in the store under a magnifying glass. However, I am not fit to be a model for those who fast diligently. The main thing is not to forget that food fasting in Orthodoxy is just part of the general liturgical charter and, in isolation from it, has little spiritual meaning in itself. And we must not forget that there is no special “Orthodox” food. “But he who doubts, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not according to faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).

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