What Is Great Lent?

The death of Christ has provided a "Passover" into the Kingdom of God. In the New Testament, the Jewish Passover found its fulfillment in Christ. St. Paul says, "Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed" (I Cor. 5:7).

I. Great Lent: Key Term: Pascha

The death of Christ has provided a "Passover" into the Kingdom of God. In the New Testament, the Jewish Passover found its fulfillment in Christ. St. Paul says, "Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed" (I Cor. 5:7). “…by His own death Christ changes the very nature of, made it a passage- a “Passover,” a “Pascha” – into the Kingdom of God, transforming the tragedy of tragedies into the ultimate victory. (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 12).”

Historical Development of Great Lent: 1 150 AD The Church knew a short fast before the celebration of Pascha. The fast was observed differently depending upon the local, 1-2 days in duration. 2 247 AD the fast extended to 6 days in some places. "therefore you shall fast in the days of Pascha from the second day of the week (Monday) and you shall sustain yourselves with bread, salt, and water only up to the ninth hour (3:00PM) until the fifth day (Thursday); but on Friday and Saturday fast wholly and taste nothing." 3 325 AD Canon 5 of the First Ecumenical Council mentions a forty day period of fasting prior to Easter. 4 400-500 AD a Forty Day fast is universally instituted. 5 1000 AD Great Lent reached its present form. 6 The date of Easter: The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325) decided that Easter should be celebrated on first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox March 21.

Great Lent Today: “Lent is a spiritual journey and its destination is Easter…the new life which almost two thousand years ago shone forth from the grave, has been given to us, to all those believe in Christ. . .Thus on Easter we celebrate Christ’s resurrection as something that happened to us (in baptism) and still happens to us (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 12).”

Baptism is our personal Pascha "Baptism as the sacrament of regeneration, as re-creation, as the personal Pascha, and the personal Pentecost of man, as the integration into the laos, the people of God, as the passage from the old into the new life and finally as Epiphany of the kingdom of God (Fr. Schmemann, Of Water and Spirit, p.10-11).”

The Role of Liturgical Traditions: “…the liturgical traditions of the Church, all its cycles and services, exist, first of all, in order to help us recover the vision and the taste of that new life which we so easily lose and betray, so that we can repent and return to it (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 13.).”

The Role of Worship “It is the worship of the Church that was from the very beginning and still is our entrance into, our communion with, the new life of the Kingdom. It is through the liturgical life that the Church reveals to us something which “the ear has not heard, the eye has not seen, and what has not yet entered the heart of man, but what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 13.).”

Pascha stands as the very heart and center of the liturgical life in the Orthodox Church The School of Repentance "It is indeed a school of repentance to which every Christian must go every year in order to deepen his faith, to re-evaluate, and, if possible, to change his life. It is a wonderful pilgrimage to the very sources of Orthodox faith- a rediscovery of the Orthodox way of life (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent).” “Repentance is a return to the genuine order of things, the restoration of the right vision. (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent).”

A Renewal of Baptism Easter is our return every year to our own Baptism, whereas Lent is our preparation for that return- the slow and sustained effort to perform, at the end, our own passage or pascha into the new life in Christ. (Fr. Schmemann, Great Lent p. 14).”

II. The Triodion, “Spring Training” (Book of Three Odes)

“Before we can practice Lent, we are given its meaning( Fr. Schmemann)” The Pre-Lenten Period: 4 preparatory Sundays (10th-11th C.) 1 Sunday of Zacchaeus – THE DESIRE 2 The Publican and the Pharisee –HUMILITY (TRIODION BEGINS AT SAT. VESPERS) 3 The Prodigal Son- RETURN FROM EXILE 4 MEATFARE SUNDAY – THE LAST JUDGMENT – LOVE ONE ANOTHER This period ends with the Sunday of Forgiveness, (on the last Sunday before Great Lent begins). 5 CHEESE-FARE SUNDAY- FORGIVENESS SUNDAY – THE EXPULSION OF ADAM FROM THE PARADISE OF BLISS THE VESPERS OF FORGIVENESS CELEBRATED SUNDAY EVENING BEGINS GREAT LENT.

III. The conditions for our liberation from sin: a.) Obedience – the turning of one’s desire and love to Christ b.) Fasting – a refusal to accept the desires of our fallen nature as normal c.) Forgiveness – the main sign of sins’ victory is division, opposition, seperation d.) Prayer – a desperate call for divine help

IV. The Services of Great Lent Create a “Lenten State of Mind”

▪ The Vespers of Forgiveness ▪ The Penitential Cannon of St. Andrew (First four night of Lent) ▪ Presanctified Liturgy (Wednesdays & Fridays) ▪ Akathist Hymns (every Friday) ▪ Saturday of the Souls – 2 weeks before and 1 after Lent begins ▪ The Canon of St. Andrew in its entirety ( 5th Thursday of Lent) ▪ Great Compline (Monday Evenings in some Churches) ▪ Pan-Orthodox Sunday Evening Vespers