Just as in the Old Testament there were vegan, anti-animal-sacrifice prophets in contrast to carnist, pro-animal-sacrifice chief priests, there were, in the early church period (~100-~325), animal-friendly clergies such as St. Basil of Caesarea (330-378), St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Clement of Alexandria (150-215), Tertullian (155-220), St. Jerome (342-420), and Isaac of Nineveh (613-700), as opposed to animal-hostile ones like St. Augustine (354-430) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). According to Tertullian (Apology, ch.9), Christians in the first two centuries typically ate meals of simple food, abstaining from blood and strangled animals. But the animal-friendly early church fathers went vegan primarily for ascetic reason, secondarily for health reasons, and only tertiarily out of compassion.
For instance, in terms of spirit, Clement of Alexandria thinks that meatism darkens the soul (The Instructor, Book II, Chapt. 1), and Basil and Isaac argue that asceticism including abstinence from animal flesh is a way to access paradise reopened by Christ (Basil , On Fasting, Homily 1.7) as well as a short path towards God (Isaac of Nineveh, Mystic Treatises, ch. LXXIV). Concerning health, Tertullian stresses that meatism could result in diseases like cholera as in the case of quail-eating by the Israelites in Exodus (On Fasting, ch.16); Clement points that gluttony renders the body prone to disease (On Fasting, ch.16). Regarding compassion, Basil advises people to do fasting and observe Sabbath, giving animals mercy (Basil, On Fasting, Homily 1.7), and Chrysostom states that God manifests His mercy to both humans and animals (Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis 22.17, 26.10 [FOTC 82:81, 151]); Isaac of Nineveh even prays for reptiles (Isaac of Nineveh, Mystic Treatises, ch. LXXIV).
However, except for St. Jerome (who argues that since the first coming of Jesus Christ, as both Alpha and Omega, returned us back to the vegan Eden, we are no longer allowed to eat) (Jerome, “Against Jovinianus” in NPNF2(6):360), they all fail to declare veganism/vegetarianism as a faith-based mandate for everyone (e.g., Basil, On the Origin of Humanity, 2.7). For they believe that God gave humans dominion in terms of lordship and superiority (especially w.r.t. rationality) over animals in Genesis 1:26; and that He gave Noah and his offspring permission to eat flesh in Gen. 9:3 (although these animal-friendly priests do deem this permission a reluctant concession on the part of God to man’s fallen state) (Basil, On the Origin of Humanity, 2.6).
On the other hand, St. Augustine and his big fan St. Thomas Aquinas are adamant that only man was created in God’s image in terms of reason, while animals do not possess reason and so do not belong to the human community of law even though they may feel pain (Augustine, The Morals of the Manichaeans 2.17.59). By the same token, neither “Thou shalt not kill” (Augustine, 2014, City of God, 1.20) nor “love thy neighbour” apply to them (Aquinas, 1920, The Summa Theologiae, Art. 1). In other words, animals possess no rights at all. As a result, humans are entitled to kill, eat, and use animals in whatever way they fancy (Augustine, 2014, City of God, 1.20). Aquinas goes one step further than Augustine in that the former supposes that the souls of brute animals are not immortal as ours (Aquinas, Contra Gentiles 2.82).
Before the Council of Nicaea, which, as contended by Dr. R.W. Bernard (1964), rewrote the Gospels in 325, omitting all that pertained to veganism, most early church fathers were still vegetarian however humanocentric they might be. After that, the Augustinian anti-animal camp, which was actually a continuation of the Pauline anti-vegan line, gradually became the mainstream, and the veggie priests and theologians the minority, often prejudiced and persecuted. This situation scarcely changed until Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) and John Wesley (1703-1791) came to the scene.
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