Categories: orthodox-life, great-lent
Date: 27 February 2012 01:09:52
Surfing asked on my Ash Wednesday post:You comment about “western” in the above post. Is Orthodox lent different dates? I’m sure you have lent but I might be wrong. A little more information would be wonderful.I am happy to help as I can; I am no expert and the below is not exhaustive as I have focused on the dates as per Surfing's question. If anyone has any further questions, or corrections, from what I will write below, please comment. Orthodox Great Lent is 40 days, as per the 'Western' churches [sorry to use such a term but I do not know another...] but the 40 days are counted differently. Sundays are included, unlike in the west, however Holy Week and the two days before Holy Week, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, are not included in the 40 days of Great Lent. Therefore we Orthodox start Great Lent on a Monday, today, known as Clean Monday, not a Wednesday. Orthodox Easter, called Pascha (from Passover), can also differ from the date celebrated in the West. The calculation of Easter is a complex piece of maths (as I see it) -- less complex: the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox. As the Orthodox use the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian for the calculation of the vernal equinox, Orthodox Easter can the same date as Western Easter, or up to five weeks later. I hope that helps Surfing. An aspect of Eastern Orthodox worship, and preparation for Great Lent, is the Vespers of Forgiveness, where all members of the church go to one another and ask for forgiveness for any wrongs the have committed. And, so, dear blog readers: I humbly ask for your forgiveness for any way I may have hurt or offended you, either by my words or lack of words when they were needed. My warmest wishes and prayers for all for a blessed Lenten journey to Pascha.
Let us begin the time of fasting in light! Preparing ourselves for the spiritual efforts. Let us purify our soul; let us purify our body. As from food, let us abstain from all passion and enjoy the virtues of the spirit, so that perfected in time by love we may all be made worthy to see the Passion of Christ and the Holy Pascha in spiritual joy! stichera (verse) following Psalm 141 for the Vespers of Forgiveness; text as per that in Great Lent, by Fr Alexander Schmemann