Every year about this time someone asks about Great Lent. When did it develop? How did it start? OK, here is the short story.

Though some who read the Bible conclude that people were always baptized immediately after accepting the Lord, it was not necessarily that way for everyone who converted. Mind you, there is little doubt that there are quite a few immediate baptisms. But, you might be surprised that the word catechumen (katechoumenos), meaning one who is being instructed in the faith, occurs in Galatians 6:6. (In fact, Saint Paul speaks of matters such as dedicated virgins, holy widows, episkopoi, diakonoi, etc. This is a long way from the congregationalist idea that all these divisions and offices were unknown to Scripture.)

Within a short time, a catechumenate period developed in the Church because of the many heresies that sprung up. Particularly with the development of the proto-Gnostics (already listed as heretics in the letters of Saint John), the later Marcionites, etc., the Church became aware that it needed a period of training to ensure that those who were baptized both knew the faith and knew how to live it out in an appropriate fashion. As the catechumenate developed, part of the teaching was, of course, about prayers and fastings. And very quickly, a 40 hour prayer and fast before baptism develops.

Also developing in a parallel way was the Church Year. Already in the Book of Acts, the celebration of the First Day along with an Eucharist on that day is found. Already in that book, Saint Paul talks of wishing to celebrate Pentecost with the Ephesians. In passing, many argue that he is not speaking merely about the day itself, but about the entire 50 day season from Pascha to Pentecost. But, given the Gentile nature of the Ephesians, this is not merely the celebration of a Jewish holiday, but of a now Christian holiday.

These two movements, catechumenate and Church Year, came together somewhat–but only somewhat. The Vigil of Pascha becomes a very important time for Baptism, and the forty-hour fast becomes a one week time of prayer and preparation, in which both the catechumen and the sponsor participate. Alongside the catechumenate and the Church Year, the system of discipline also comes into play. Church discipline is found in the New Testament more than once. And, so, the Vigil also became a time to release penitents from their time of discipline.

So . . . . How did it become forty days? Well, various fast periods quickly became common. Nevertheless, one of the earliest documented letters that speaks of a fast period of around forty days is the letter from Patriarch Dionysius (248-265) to Bishop Basilides. In it he instructs on when to finish the fast and speaks of the feasting that follows from Pascha to Pentecost, implying at least a forty day and maybe a fifty day period of fasting. Saint Athanasius (yes THAT Athanasius) writes to his bishops in 332 and says, “The beginning of the fast of forty days is on the fifth of Phamenoth [March 1]; and when, as I have said, we have first been purified and prepared by these days, we begin the holy week of the great Easter on the tenth of Pharmuthi [April 1]…” The way in which he writes assumes that this is an already well-established custom.

Let me summarize. Within the Book of Acts, we can already see Saint Paul observing the Feast of Pentecost as a Christian feast. I am one of those who believes that he meant the season of Pascha to Pentecost, as Pentecost is derived from the Greek word for fifty. Very quickly, a period of fasting develops during Holy Week. That period of fasting quickly becomes a period of fasting equal to the period of feasting after Pascha. That is the period we call Lent.

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