Coconut
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"As early as the second century, Christians were practicing an interesting and very sacrificial form of charity. They would fast from meals so that the unconsumed food and resources could be given to the poor and hungry."
Early Christian Attitudes Towards Charity
"The examples of Christian charity did not end with the New Testament. Christians of the second and third century could also find many examples of charitable injunctions in other early Christian writings. The Didache (perhaps around 100 CE), a kind of instruction manual for recent converts, instructed Christians to "give to everyone who asks thee, and do not refuse."
Similarly, the Shepard of Hermas (early 100s) instructed Christians to "Give simply to all without asking doubtfully to whom those givest but give to all." In the early 200s, Tertullian reports that Christians had a voluntary common fund into which Christians monthly deposited what they could. The common fund was then used to support widows, the disabled, orphans, the sick, the elderly, shipwrecked sailors, prisoners, teachers, burials for the poor, and even for the release of slaves. Apology, 39.
As early as the second century, Christians were practicing an interesting and very sacrificial form of charity. They would fast from meals so that the unconsumed food and resources could be given to the poor and hungry. The first mention of this practice that I have found is in the Shepard of Hermas (early 100s):
Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread and water; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul, and pray for you to the Lord.
Chapter 3.
It is also found in another second-century writing, the Apology of Aristides (130 CE).
And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.
Chapter 15.
The practice was enduring. Origen writes in the third century: "Let the poor man be provided with food from the self-denial of him who fasts." Also, according to historian Michel Riquet,
It has been calculated that at Rome in 250, under Pope Cornelius, ten thousand Christians obliged to fast could provide, from a hundred days' fasting, a million rations a year. These more or less regular offerings were supplemented by gifts made to the Church by rich converts."
Pagans, Christianity, and Charity
Early Christian Attitudes Towards Charity
"The examples of Christian charity did not end with the New Testament. Christians of the second and third century could also find many examples of charitable injunctions in other early Christian writings. The Didache (perhaps around 100 CE), a kind of instruction manual for recent converts, instructed Christians to "give to everyone who asks thee, and do not refuse."
Similarly, the Shepard of Hermas (early 100s) instructed Christians to "Give simply to all without asking doubtfully to whom those givest but give to all." In the early 200s, Tertullian reports that Christians had a voluntary common fund into which Christians monthly deposited what they could. The common fund was then used to support widows, the disabled, orphans, the sick, the elderly, shipwrecked sailors, prisoners, teachers, burials for the poor, and even for the release of slaves. Apology, 39.
As early as the second century, Christians were practicing an interesting and very sacrificial form of charity. They would fast from meals so that the unconsumed food and resources could be given to the poor and hungry. The first mention of this practice that I have found is in the Shepard of Hermas (early 100s):
Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread and water; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul, and pray for you to the Lord.
Chapter 3.
It is also found in another second-century writing, the Apology of Aristides (130 CE).
And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.
Chapter 15.
The practice was enduring. Origen writes in the third century: "Let the poor man be provided with food from the self-denial of him who fasts." Also, according to historian Michel Riquet,
It has been calculated that at Rome in 250, under Pope Cornelius, ten thousand Christians obliged to fast could provide, from a hundred days' fasting, a million rations a year. These more or less regular offerings were supplemented by gifts made to the Church by rich converts."
Pagans, Christianity, and Charity
