Rather than paraphrase, I looked for some easy text to understand and talk about the observance of Great Lent. We participant in this process for the full 40 days or so. We do not eat meat but we do have some dairy in our fast in our house, it's a very individual process in the church.
While there are major guidelines and there are certainly several "degrees" of fasting, we generally choose a fast that we can live with in our daily lives. Some folks want to see how much they can bend the fast with meat substitutes or other items. I see that a lot of us become so food focused we kind of miss the whole point, myself included. I have to provide meals for my family but elaborate preparation of "gourmet" meals is kind of the opposite of fasting, we tend to get caught up in the whole process. This year I am looking for simpler recipes that get the job done, leave me a little hungry and remind me of why I am doing this.
We had a sermon on Sunday kind of about fasting but mostly about not chastising those who don't participate. I am not sure who that sermon was directed at but I did look again at my personal attitude. I am not sure I talk so much to others about the fast. I do try to make it clear that whether you participate or not, any church sponsored event should follow the rules to the letter. I am not a popular guy.
Frankly I am thinking that people want more information about fasting which we don't seem to get at church. Not so much to beat each other up with but more for some guidelines and reminders. There are so many ways to honor the season besides beans and rice after sundown. That does not work well for most of us. And let's face it, we sponsor a Fish Fry each Friday and serve fish. We eat fish a lot during Lent but we are not supposed to. I know it. Just on feast days. Well, perhaps this article will put some perpective on things.
So about Great Lent:
Purpose
The purpose of Great Lent is to prepare the faithful to not only commemorate, but to enter into the
Passion and
Resurrection of Jesus. The totality of the Orthodox life centers around the Resurrection.
[1] Great Lent is intended to be a "workshop". Through spending more time than usual in prayer and meditation on the Holy Scripture and the
Holy Traditions of the Church, the believer in Christ becomes through the grace of God more godlike.
Observance
Self-discipline
Observance of Great Lent is characterized by
abstinence from certain foods, intensified private and public prayer, self-examination,
confession, personal improvement,
repentance and
restitution for sins committed, and
almsgiving. The foods traditionally abstained from are meat and dairy products, wine and oil. (According to some traditions, only olive oil is abstained from; in others, all vegetable oils.) Since strict fasting is canonically forbidden on the
Sabbath and the
Lord's Day, wine and oil are permitted on Saturdays and Sundays. If the
Great Feast of the
Annunciation falls during Great Lent, then fish, wine and oil are permitted on that day.
Besides the additional liturgical celebrations described below, Orthodox Christians are expected to pay closer attention to and increase their private prayer. According to Orthodox
theology, when asceticism is increased, prayer must be increased also. The
Church Fathers have referred to fasting without prayer as "the fast of the demons" since the demons do not eat according to their incorporeal nature, but neither do they pray.
Liturgical observances
Great Lent is unique in that, liturgically, the weeks do not run from Sunday to Saturday, but rather begin on Monday and end on Sunday, and most weeks are named for the lesson from the Gospel which will be read at the Divine Liturgy on its concluding Sunday. This is to illustrate that the entire season is anticipatory, leading up to the greatest Sunday of all: Pascha.
During the Great Fast, a special service book is used, known as the
Lenten Triodion, which contains the Lenten texts for the
Daily Office (Canonical Hours) and Liturgies. The Triodion begins during the Pre-Lenten period to supplement or replace portions of the regular services. This replacement begins gradually, initially affecting only the
Epistle and
Gospel readings, and gradually increases until Holy Week when it entirely replaces all other liturgical material (during the
Triduum even the
Psalter is eliminated, and all texts are taken exclusively from the Triodion). The Triodion is used until the lights are extinguished before midnight at the
Paschal Vigil, at which time it is replaced by the
Pentecostarion, which begins by replacing the normal services entirely (during
Bright Week) and gradually diminishes until the normal services resume following the
Afterfeast of
Pentecost.
On weekdays of Great Lent, the
Divine Liturgy is not celebrated, because the joy of the
Eucharist (literally "Thanksgiving") is contrary to the attitude of repentance which predominates on these days. However, since it is considered especially important to receive the
Holy Mysteries (Holy Communion) during this season, the
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts—also called the Liturgy of
St. Gregory the Dialogist— may be celebrated on weekdays. Technically, this is not actually a Divine Liturgy, but rather a
Vespers service at which
a portion of the
Body and
Blood of Christ, which was
reserved the previous Sunday, are distributed to the faithful. Most
parishes and
monasteries celebrate this Liturgy only on Wednesdays, Fridays and
feast days, but it may be celebrated on any weekday of Great Lent. Because the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on weekdays, it is replaced with the
Typica, even on days when the Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated. On Saturday and Sunday the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated as usual. On Saturdays, the usual
St. John Chrysostom is celebrated; on Sundays the more solemn and penitential
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is used.
The services of the
Canonical Hours are much longer during Great Lent. In addition to doubling the number of
Psalms read, the structure of the services is different on weekdays. In the evening, instead of the normal
Compline (the final service before retiring at night), the much longer service of
Great Compline is chanted. In the Greek practice, ordinary Compline is chanted on Friday night together with the
Akathist to the
Theotokos (Mother of God). The Akathist is divided into four sections and one section is chanted on each of the first four Friday nights of Great Lent. Then the Akathist is chanted in its entirety at Matins in the Fifth Saturday. In the Slavic usage, Great Compline is chanted on Friday night—though some parts are read rather than sung as they are on other weeknights, and some Lenten material is replaced by non-Lenten hymns—and the Akathist is not chanted until Matins of the fifth Saturday.
An interesting difference between the Eastern and Western observances is that while in the West the chanting of
Alleluia ceases during
Lent, in the East its use is increased. This is because for the Orthodox, fasting should be joyous (cf.
Matthew 6:16), and the sense of unworthiness must always be tempered with hope in God's forgiveness.
[2] In fact, days which follow the Lenten pattern of services are referred to as "days with Alleluia". This theme of "Lenten joy" is also found in many of the hymns of the Triodion, such as the
stichera which begin with the words: "The Lenten Spring has dawned!..." (
Vespers Aposticha, Wednesday of Cheesefare Week) and "Now is the season of repentance; let us begin it joyfully, O brethren..." (
Matins, Second
Canon, Ode 8, Monday of Cheesefare Week).
The making of
prostrations during the services increases as well. The one
prayer that typifies the Lenten services is the
Prayer of Saint Ephrem, which is said at each service on weekdays, accompanied by
full prostrations. One translation of it reads:
O Lord and master of my life! a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition and idle-talking, give me not.
But rather, a spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience and charity, bestow upon me Thy servant.
Yea, my king and Lord, grant me to see my own failings and refrain from judging others: For blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
The public reading of
Scripture is increased during Great Lent. The
Psalter (
Book of Psalms) is normally read through once a week during the course of the Daily Office; however, during Great Lent, the number of Psalms is increased so that the entire Psalter is read through twice during each of the Six Weeks (during Holy Week it is read through once). Readings from the
Old Testament are also increased, with the Books of
Genesis,
Proverbs and
Isaiah being read through almost in their entirety at the
Sixth Hour and
Vespers (during Cheesefare Week, the readings at these services are taken from
Joel and
Zechariah, while during Holy Week they are from
Exodus,
Ezekiel and
Job). Uniquely, on weekdays of Great Lent there is no public reading of the
Epistles or
Gospels. This is because the readings are particular to the Divine Liturgy, which is not celebrated on weekdays of Great Lent. There are, however, Epistles and Gospels appointed for each Saturday and Sunday.
