If Ortodox Christians follow the Old Testament, why don't they keep Kosher?

Question

I am just wondering because it says in the Old Testament that you should not eat pork, or to mix meat with cheese, or to not eat specific animals, or to eat their blood.

Answer 1

Because we believe the Old Covenant foreshadowed the New, and while some aspects of the Old Covenant are still in effect, most of the purificatory disciplines are long gone. "When that which is perfect has come, that which is imperfect fades away" said the Apostle Paul. That's what happened: portions of the Old Covenant were superseded by the New, and the functional portions were included into the New (thus it was not abolished).

We in the Orthodox Church have kept many things. Our Vespers is actually the Old Covenant synagogue worship. Once we were cast out of the synagogues, we kept the Saturday services. We kept the hours of prayers, and so on. We also keep the old weekly calender where we fast on Wednesdays and Fridays (we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls that the Tuesday-Thursday fast days was actually an innovation, hence a possible reason for its condemnation in the Didache). We do these things, because the Lord said, "Do not thnk that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one iota nor one accent will by any means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." (Mt. 5.17-18). Thus, what the New Covenant doesn't abrogate, we maintain. The Old Covenant did, nonetheless, have to be transformed by the New and superseded by it. The perfect Covenant, the reality had come, and thus, we look to it, and not the signs and shadows.

On this specific issue, Christ declared, "Do you not perceive that whatever enteres a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, an dis eliminated thus purifying all foods." Mk 7.18-19.

Again, the Savior said that "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you." Lk. 11.39-41.

Finally, the Lord dealt with Peter this way in Acts 10.11-16 (the remainder is the quote):

Peter "saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descendingto him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice said to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."

But Peter said, "Not so Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common."

And this was repeated three times, and the object was taken up into heaven again.

Answer 2

The old testomony is of the old Covenant it really is about the rules and prophesies that don't have any more all started to be fulfilled and prefigures the arrival of Jesus. you may want to imagine of the old Covenant as being something of the previous with Christians. the recent testomony is of the recent Covenant it really is about the rules and prophesies which had already been fulfilled with the help of Jesus. you could imagine of the recent Covenant as being something of the present and destiny with Christians. The previous is major because it makes the present yet we stay contained in the present no longer contained in the previous in which we ought to continually be searching ahead to the destiny. Jesus did not abolish the regulation, Jesus had fulfilled the regulation yet as Christians we are no longer human beings of the regulation yet fairly human beings of Grace. So what does the 613 Mosaic rules advise to a Christian? no longer something they're of the previous. old Covenant = Moses New Covenant = Jesus

Answer 3

The 'Old Testament is one of thethings dividing Christianity currentlyin USA; which is 'old testament' in the question; 1. Genesis-Malachi or 2. the law of Moses?

Answer 4

Orthodox Jews still follow the ancient dietary laws. Reformed Jews do not. Christians have never followed ancient dietary laws.

The dietary laws were to prevent the spread of certain kinds of parasitic diseases 30 centuries ago. When the religion was also the doctor, the medicine, the health regimen, and the hospital.

You need to do some very basic research outside your own religion if you are going to ask such questions correctly.

Answer 5

Because in the New Testament, some of the old laws were made null. Jesus died once for the forgiveness of sins, so that no sacrifice would have to be made again. Likewise, he ate with sinners, gentiles and other things. Hope this sheds a little light on the subject. Dig in that Bible for more info!

Answer 6

They are Orthodox CHRISTIANS... They believe in Christ and the New Testament. They simply follow stricter "old school" rules.

Answer 7

It DOESN'T say anything about meat and cheese... It says something about a kid cooked in its mother's milk and the rabbinic interpretation was no cheeseburgers.

Ex 23:19 "Bring the best of the first share of your crops to my house. I am the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk."

Answer 8

very clearly it says don't eat the flesh of the swine, and women should cover their head, but you can tell them and show them a million times, they will reject some parts and believe other parts. Very few people who call them selves Christians , actually follow their religion correctly.

Answer 9

Because the big sheet came down and God said we could eat everything that moves.

Answer 10

they don`t...duh..you should see the difference between orthodox christians and orthodox jews, looks likes you mixed these two religions..