Pope Shenouda III
Man did not eat meat except after Noah's Ark. This took place at a dismal time when “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” and so, “the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart” (Gen 6:5-6) and He submerged the whole world with the flood.
After the flood water subsided, God said to our Father Noah and his sons: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Gen 9:3-4).
