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Lent
Lent (Great Lent, or the Great Fast in Eastern Christianity) is the period of the Christian liturgical year leading up to Easter (Pascha), the purpose of which is the preparation of the believer --- through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial --- for the annual commemoration, during Holy Week, of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Lent probably originated in the early church with the pre-Easter baptismal preparation of catechumens; the number of days set aside for fasting was variable. In time, the 40 day fasts of Moses, Elijah, and especially Jesus, probably inspired the institution of 40 days as the duration of Lent, first mentioned by the Canons of Nicaea (AD 325). Initially the 40 day fast began on a Monday, and was intended only for the catechumens preparing to enter the Church at Easter; eventually the whole church observed the fast. Like Western Lent, Great Lent lasts for forty days, but unlike in the West, Sundays are included in the count. Great Lent officially begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha (Ash Wednesday is not observed in Eastern Christianity). The practice of Lent was virtually universal in Christendom until the Protestant Reformation. Some Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but many, such as Lutherans, Methodists, and Anglicans do.
The earliest fasts of Lent tended to be very strict, allowing one meal a day, plus abstinence from many foods. The Eastern Churches retain this strictness; the foods traditionally abstained from are meat and dairy products, fish, wine and oil. Now, in the Western Church, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are enjoined as strict fast days, but Fridays are set aside for abstinence from meat. Sundays are not a part of the Lenten fast, because Sunday is always a feast of the resurrection. The Western liturgical color of Lent is violet, symbolizing royalty and penitence. Certain devotions and liturgies have developed during the Lenten season, including (in the West), the Stations of the Cross.
In Latin the term quadragesima (translation of the original Greek tessarakoste, the "fortieth day" before Easter) is used for the season of Lent. In the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be given in the vernacular instead of Latin, the English word "Lent" was adopted. This word initially simply meant spring (as in German language Lenz and Dutch lente) and derives from the Germanic root for "long" because in the spring the days visibly lengthen.
Easter (Pascha)
Easter (called Pascha in the Eastern churches) is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion; this resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season, the period of fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter (Bright Week or Renewal Week in Eastern usage). Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the vernal equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on March 21. The date of Easter in the West therefore varies between March 22 and April 25. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar whose March 21 corresponds, during the 21st century, to April 3 in the Gregorian Calendar, in which calendar the celebration of Easter therefore varies between April 4 and May 8. In most years, the Eastern Pascha falls after the Western Easter, and it may be as much as five weeks later; occasionally, the two dates coincide.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar and, in most languages, its name. Pascha is a transliteration of a Greek word derived from the Hebrew pesach, both words meaning Passover. The origin of the English term "Easter" comes from the Germanic name for the month in which the Christian feast usually fell, which was named for the pagan goddess Eostre.
Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referencing Easter is a mid-2nd century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one. Evidence for another kind of annual Christian festival, the commemoration of martyrs, begins to appear at about the same time. But while martyrs' days were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the annual celebration of Christ's resurrection having begun during Christianity's earliest, Jewish period.
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms race.
Merton was born in Prades, France to a New Zealand-born father and an American-born mother, who were both artists. After a rambunctious youth and adolescence, Merton converted to Roman Catholicism and on December 10th, 1941 he entered the Abbey of Gethsemani, a community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists).
The twenty-seven years he spent in Gethsemani brought about profound changes in his self-understanding. This ongoing conversion impelled him into the political arena, where he became a prominent voice in the peace movement of the 1960s. Referring to race and peace as the two most urgent issues of our time, Merton was a strong supporter of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which he called "certainly the greatest example of Christian faith in action in the social history of the United States." For his social activism Merton endured severe criticism, from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who assailed his political writings as unbecoming of a monk.
During his last years, he became deeply interested in Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism, and in promoting East-West dialogue. It was during a trip to a conference on East-West monastic dialogue that Merton died, in Bangkok on December 10, 1968, the victim of an accidental electrocution.
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