I have been told that Ethiopian Orthodox Christians observe a vegan diet in Lent and on other fast days. A couple minutes of Googling don’t find any clear explanations of this.

Today at the Mansfield College chapel service, we had the lessons Isaiah 58.1–12 and Matthew 6.1–6 and 16–21; read them. Dr Elaine Kaye preached on Richard Baxter whom I thought was the lower churches’ answer to Thomas More. And we sang his hymn They lack not friends who have thy love: “As for my friends, they are not lost; / the several vessels of thy fleet, / though parted now, by tempest tossed, / shall safely in the haven meet.”

I’ve found that I get real spiritual and penitential value from fasting if I skip food altogether, so most Fridays in Lent I’ll be juice-fasting and skipping caffeine as much as possible. My day job requires a great deal of concentration, so if the fasting turns out to be too extreme I’ll rachet it back.

If the juice fasting works out, skipping the soy will be incidental.

I haven’t yet compared Lent plans with my housemate Scott, who in years past has turned Lent into a competition. So my disciplines may change.