|
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.
|
