Great Lent 2025

The fast of Holy Lent and Holy Week is called Great Lent due to the special importance of its establishment.

It was established primarily in memory of the 40-day fast of Jesus Christ, who soon after His baptism withdrew into the desert and fasted there (Matthew 4:2), as well as the 40-day fast of Moses (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8).

Great Lent is the most important and strict of all fasts .It begins seven weeks before the holiday of Holy Easter and consists of Lent (40 days) and Holy Week (the week before Easter) .

Lent was established in imitation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who fasted in the desert for 40 days, and Holy Week was established in remembrance of the last days of His earthly life, suffering, death and burial. Thus, the total duration of Lent together with Holy Week is 48 days.

Ancient Christians observed Lent with particular strictness, abstaining even from drinking water until the ninth hour (third hour after midday). Food was eaten after the ninth hour, consuming bread and vegetables. Meat, milk, cheese, and eggs were prohibited ( Rule 56 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council ).

The Orthodox Church prescribes in its Charter a particularly strict fast to be observed during the first and Holy Weeks .

On Monday and Tuesday of the first week, the highest degree of fasting is prescribed. In the remaining weeks of the fast, except for Saturdays and Sundays, there is xerophagy , that is, food without oil. On Saturdays and Sundays, cooked food with oil is allowed. Fish is allowed only twice during the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (April 7) , if the holiday does not fall on Holy Week, and on the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) . On Lazarus Saturday (the Saturday before Palm Sunday), fish eggs are allowed. If you strictly follow the charter, then vegetable oil is allowed only on Saturdays (except Saturday during Holy Week) and Sundays .

The Church strictly condemns those who violate Great Lent, but, acting in the spirit of love and mercy of God, does not impose the rules of fasting in their entirety on children, the sick, the infirm and the elderly, does not alienate them from participating in the joy of communion and Easter. But the physically infirm, like the healthy, are obliged during Great Lent to perform deeds of love and mercy and, as in other fasts, to keep the spiritual fast from sins.

Orthodox Rus' sacredly honored the Great Lent. On this day, all songs fell silent at once, the table, which had just been bursting with delicious and abundant dishes, became bare. Fasting, taken upon oneself as a feat, voluntarily, for the salvation of the soul, enlightens the soul, gives new strength and opens the way to heaven, to God. That is why the soul so joyfully responds to the Church's call to repentance.

"Clean Monday" (March 3 )

The first day of Lent is also called Clean Monday . This non-church name comes from the desire to spend the first day of Lent in cleanliness. Believers try to abstain from food, pray more fervently, and fight sinful passions. In Russia, there was a custom on this day to cleanse the house of the "spirit of Maslenitsa" and go to the bathhouse, that is, to bring physical (bodily) cleanliness. Spiritual cleansing was usually done the day before - on Forgiveness Sunday.

On "Clean Monday", as well as on the following 2 days, a very strict fast is practiced. According to the strictest canons, on this day one must completely abstain from food. Or one can eat 1 time (preferably in the evening), without eating oil or boiled food.

PECULIARITIES OF LENTEN SERVICE

During Lent, liturgies are celebrated only on Saturdays and Sundays (there is no liturgy on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday). On Wednesdays and Fridays , the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated - the very name of this service indicates that it involves the communion of the Holy Gifts consecrated on the previous Sunday.

During the first week of Great Lent, there is no commemoration of the dead and no celebration of the memory of saints.

In the church, both black vestments and a special Lenten chant of hymns call for repentance and a change in sinful life. The prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, “Lord and Master of my life… ”, is constantly heard, which all worshipers perform with prostrations.

During the first four days of Lent , the Great Canon of Repentance of St. Andrew of Crete is read in the evenings of Orthodox churches – an inspired work that poured out from the depths of a contrite heart. Orthodox people always try not to miss these services, which are amazing in their impact on the soul.

On Friday of the first week after the liturgy, the blessing of "koliva" (boiled wheat with honey) takes place in memory of the holy great martyr Theodore Tyrone. This saint appeared in a dream to the Bishop of Antioch Eudoxius. He revealed to him the secret order of the Emperor Julian the Apostate to sprinkle all food supplies with the blood of animals sacrificed to idols and ordered him not to buy anything at the market for a week, but to eat koliva.

STRUCTURE OF GREAT LENT

The structure of Great Lent is formed primarily by its Sundays – “weeks”, according to the terminology of liturgical books. Their order is as follows:

• Triumph of Orthodoxy ,
• St. Gregory Palamas ,
• Adoration of the Cross ,
• John Climacus ,
• Mary of Egypt ,
• Palm Sunday .

Each of them offers us its own themes, which are reflected in the liturgical texts of the Sunday itself and the entire following week (in Church Slavonic – sedmitsy ). A week can be named after the previous Sunday – for example, Cross-Adoration Week after Cross-Adoration Sunday, the third Sunday of Lent.

First Week of Great Lent (March 9)

The first week of Great Lent is dedicated to the Triumph of Orthodoxy . This celebration was established on the occasion of the final victory of the Holy Church over the iconoclastic heresy. On this day, after the liturgy, a special rite is performed in the church – the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. With this rite, the Church anathematizes, that is, excommunicates from unity with itself, heretics, enemies of Orthodoxy, and glorifies its defenders.

Second Week of Great Lent (March 16)

The second week commemorates Saint Gregory Palamas . He is known as the denouncer of the heresy of Barlaam, who rejected the Orthodox teaching on the uncreated light.

Third Week of Great Lent (March 23 )

The third week of Great Lent is the Veneration of the Cross . This week the Holy Cross of the Lord is glorified. For the veneration and spiritual support of those undergoing the feat of fasting, the Cross is taken out of the altar to the middle of the church. The week following the Veneration of the Cross week has the same name, and is also called the Middle of the Cross, since Great Lent reaches its middle on Wednesday.

Fourth Week of Great Lent (March 30)

The fourth week of Great Lent offers us a high example of the fasting life in the person of St. John Climacus , the author of The Ladder.

On Wednesday of the fifth week, an all-night vigil is held with the reading of the Great Penitential Canon of Andrew of Crete and the life of St. Mary of Egypt. For this reason, it is called the St. Andrew's Standing, or the Standing of Mary of Egypt . During the first week, the Great Canon was divided into four parts, and during the fifth week, the entire canon is read at once. This can be seen as meaningful. During the first week, the canon is read in parts, "to get going," and during the second half of Lent, the reading is repeated, taking into account that the work of fasting and prayer has already become habitual, people have "trained," become stronger and more resilient.

On Saturday of this same week, the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos is sung , which was established in gratitude for Her deliverance of Constantinople from enemies.

Fifth Week of Great Lent (April 6)

The fifth week of Great Lent is dedicated to the glorification of the exploits of Saint Mary of Egypt .

The Saturday before the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is called Lazarus . On this day, the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus is remembered, which was performed by the Lord Jesus Christ as proof of His Divine power and as a sign of our resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus served as a reason for the condemnation of the Savior to death, therefore, from the very first centuries of Christianity, it was established to commemorate this great miracle before Holy Week itself.

Sixth Week of Great Lent (April 16)

The sixth week of Lent is called "Palm Sunday", or in common parlance "Palm Sunday" (or Flower Sunday), and celebrates " The Lord's Entry into Jerusalem ". The branches of palm fronds are replaced by pussy willows, since pussy willows produce buds earlier than other branches. The custom of using pussy willows on this holiday has its basis in the circumstances of the event of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. The worshipers seem to meet the invisibly coming Lord and greet Him as the Conqueror of hell and death, holding in their hands the "sign of victory" - blossoming pussy willows with lit candles.

Holy Week (April 14 – April 19)

After Palm Sunday comes the Great Days, or Holy Week . In the church they read the Gospel of the Passion of Christ (the Sufferings of Christ), how He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, taken into custody, scourged and crucified on the Cross. The fast during this week, like the first, is strict (that is, without oil). And on Good Friday (April 18) - the day of general sorrow for the crucified Savior - it is customary not to eat any food until the end of the liturgical rite of the burial of the Shroud of the Lord , that is, a special cover with an image of Christ lying in the tomb. Each day of the week has a name - Great Monday, Great Tuesday, etc. During this week, believers begin to prepare for Easter and try to visit the church more often.

During Holy Week , as in the first week of Great Lent, there is no commemoration of the dead and no celebration of the memory of saints, since the entire week is dedicated exclusively to the remembrance of the suffering and death on the cross of the Lord.

Of all the days of the last week, the most notable is " Maundy Thursday " (April 17) . This day was established by the Church in memory of the Last Supper, to which Jesus Christ gathered His disciples on the first day of the Jewish Passover. Jesus Christ himself established the sacrament of Communion on this day. Christians, having sincerely repented in confession, approach the Lord's Cup with a clear conscience.

On Holy and Great Friday there is no liturgy in remembrance of the fact that on this day the Lord Himself offered Himself as a Sacrifice. Only the Royal Hours are celebrated. Vespers is served at the third hour of the day, the hour of Jesus Christ's death on the Cross.

At the end of this service, the Shroud is carried out , before which the touching canon "On the Crucifixion of the Lord and the Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos" is read. The worshipers venerate the Shroud and the Gospel placed on top of it. The Shroud remains in the middle of the church for three days, thus recalling the three-day stay of Jesus Christ in the tomb.

The entire service of Great Saturday (April 19) represents a touching combination of opposing feelings – sorrow and joy, grief and joy, tears and bright jubilation.

At Vespers, 15 paremias (texts from the Holy Scriptures) are read. These paremias contain almost all the main prophecies and prototypes of the Old Testament relating to Jesus Christ. In the Ancient Church, during the reading of the paremias of Great Saturday, the sacrament of Baptism was performed so that those preparing to become Christians could taste the Easter joy together with the faithful. After the reading of the Apostle, the clergy change into light vestments in the altar.

After the end of the liturgy, before the beginning of the midnight office , Easter cakes, cottage cheese paskhas, and painted eggs are blessed.

Holy Week ends with the solemn celebration of Pascha – the Bright Resurrection of Christ (April 20) .

Pascha week

Pascha falls on  April 20 .

After the Easter holiday there follows a continuous Easter week . Fasting on Wednesday and Friday is cancelled: “permission for everything”. But entering into marital relations on these days, according to church rules, is not yet permitted, so that sensual pleasures do not interrupt spiritual joy.

In the period following Easter week, from Antipascha to the feast of Pentecost, fasting on Wednesday and Friday is resumed, but according to the charter, fish can be eaten on these days.

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