paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends, who opened the roof of the house so that their friend could be healed. It reveals Jesus s authority as

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1 All About Lent History Virtually all traditions of Christianity observe a 40-day period of penitence and preparation before Pascha or Easter, the Great Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. What we now call Lent or the Great Fast combines two ancient fasting periods. The first seems to be the origin of what we now call Great Week or Holy Week. It dates to the third century, and lasted for the entire week before Easter. People ate as little as possible, just a little bread, salt, and water in mid-afternoon Monday through Thursday, then nothing at all until after the celebration of the Resurrection, ending at dawn on Easter Sunday morning. The 40-day fast is first mentioned in the canons of the Council of Nicea (325 AD), which imply that it is the usual practice. By the end of the 4t h century, the 40-day fast was virtually universally established. It seems to have been part of the preparation of catechumens for baptism at Pascha, in which the whole Christian community participated, by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Eventually, as fewer people were catechumens because Christians had their children baptised at birth, this fast took on the character of preparation for celebrating the Resurrection. The number 40 as the length of the fast obviously has its basis in Scripture. Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness, Moses fasted for 40 days on Mt Sinai, Elias fasted for 40 days as he traveled to Mt Horeb, and Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness where the devil tempted Him. The elements of this 40-day period prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are common to many religious traditions. They obviously predate Christianity, since they are often mentioned in the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus Christ mandates them for Christians. For example, in chapter 6 of the Gospel of Matthew, He says, when you give alms (vv. 2-3), when you pray (vv. 5-6), and when you fast (vv ). Obviously, these are not optional activities for Christians. Calculation of the Forty Days As the Eastern and Western branches of the Christian Church developed according to their different situations and cultures, they developed different ways of counting the 40 days of Lent and of celebrating the beginning of the Fast. The Byzantine Church counts the 40 days in this way: the six days from Clean Monday (the first day of Great Lent) through the first Saturday, then four weeks of seven days ending with the fifth Saturday, then the six days beginning with the fifth Sunday. Great Lent ends at Vespers (sundown) on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Although we do not fast (restrict the amount of food eaten) on Saturdays and Sundays, we do continue to abstain from certain kinds of foods on the weekends of Lent. The Saturdays and Sundays of the Great Fast are counted in the total of 40 days. Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week are outside the 40 days. The Roman Catholic Church counts Holy Week as part of the Lenten Fast, but not the Sundays during the Lenten season. Therefore, in about the 8 th Century, it was necessary to add four days to the beginning of Lent to bring the number of days up to the traditional 40. This was the origin of Ash Wednesday, which is a reminder of our mortality and utter dependence on God, and of our need for repentance. Great Lent begins for Byzantine Christians with the Vespers of Clean Monday, held on Cheesefare Sunday evening. On Cheesefare Sunday, after Divine Liturgy, it is the custom of many Byzantine Christians to have a great feast with fish, wine, olive oil, eggs, and dairy products, which

2 will not be eaten for 40 days. (Meat has already been relinquished the Sunday evening before, on Meatfare Sunday.) This is similar to the Western custom of Carnival or Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday. After the meal, the people gather in the church for Forgiveness Vespers, during which the priest begs forgiveness of his flock. Then the congregation all ask his forgiveness and, individually, each others pardon. In this way, we prepare for the fasting and trials of the Great Lent, commending ourselves and one another and all our lives to Christ our God. No external marking, such as ashes, is used (see Matthew 6:16). When Does Lent Begin? Of course, the beginning of Lent depends on the date of Pascha (Easter). On most published calendars, one sees two dates given: Western Easter and Orthodox Easter. How did this difference occur? In the Apostolic Christian Churches, there is one formula for determining the date of the Feast of the Resurrection: Pascha falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. At the first Council of Nicea (AD 325), this calculation was accepted by all the Churches. We no longer have the actual Acts of the Council, but we know from testimonial evidence that there was also a discussion about the relationship of this Christian Feast-of-Feasts with the Jewish Passover. This had obviously been a concern from early times: John s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels differ slightly in their chronology of the events of the Passion. The Quartodecimans (the Fourteeners ) in parts of Syria and Ireland had insisted, even after the Council, that Pascha must be celebrated directly on the day of the Jewish Passover, the 14 th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. The Irish Church, due to its Eastern origins and missionaries, celebrated Pascha on that date until the Synod of Whitby in AD 664. To forestall such controversies, the Council of Nicea decreed that Pascha could not fall on Passover. The majority of the Apostolic Sees (Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, their daughter Churches, and also those outside the Roman Empire) remember that the Council said that not only could Pascha not fall on Passover, it also could not fall before Passover. If the normal calculations would place Pascha before the Jewish Passover, then Pascha must be pushed forward. The only Apostolic See in the West, Rome, remembered the Council differently., holding that all that was mandated was that Pascha must not fall on 14 Nisan directly. Thus Western Pascha may (and often does) fall before Passover. One possible solution to the problem of two dates for Pascha is that adopted in some countries of the Middle East, which is that Catholics and Orthodox celebrate Christmas together according to the Western date (25 December) and Pascha together according to the Eastern date (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox and after Passover). Great Lent in the Byzantine Churches The 40-day period of penitence and preparation before Pascha is known in the Churches of the Byzantine tradition as the Great Lent or the Great Fast, because there are several Lents (fast periods) in the Byzantine calendar. The other three major Lents are the Apostles Fast (from All Saints Sunday the Sunday after Pentecost until the feast of Saints Peter and Paul 29 June); the

3 Fast of the Theotokos before the Feast of the Dormition or Assumption on 15 August (1-14 August); and the Christmas Lent (15 November-24 December). In addition, there are also several one-day fasts, and throughout the year Byzantine Christians traditionally fast on Wednesdays (in memory of the betrayal of Christ) and on Fridays (in memory of the Crucifixion). It should be noted that the Byzantine Churches do not customarily talk about fasting and abstinence as separate categories. The term fasting covers both how much is eaten as well as what may be eaten. Liturgical Outline of the Great Fast In the Byzantine liturgical calendar, the Church s time of preparation for Paschaconsists of ten weeks three weeks called Prophonisimon (the Announcing of Lent), six weeks of Great Lent, and Great & Holy Week. This whole period is called the Triodion, because only three odes are sung in the canon at Orthros (Morning Prayer) during this time (usually there are nine odes). The first Sunday of the Triodion is the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican. It sets the mood of humility and repentance and asking for God s mercy. In the week following the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican no fasting is permitted, even on Wednesday and Friday. This week is sort of our last fling before beginning the discipline of fasting before and during Lent. The second Sunday of the Triodion is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. It reminds us of our prideful sinfulness, of our need to repent, and of our Father s eagerness to forgive us. In the week following the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, fasting on Wednesday and Friday resumes. The third Sunday of the Triodion is Meat-fare Sunday. The Gospel on this Sunday tells of the Last Judgement. It should lead us to have compassion and love for one another, seeing Christ in every person. In the week after Meat-fare Sunday, no meat is permitted to be eaten (until Pascha), but no other fasting is required. Thus the Church, in a way, eases us into the full fast of Great Lent. The fourth Sunday of the Triodion is called Cheese-fare Sunday. The Gospel for the day (Matthew 6:14-21) puts fasting into the correct perspective it s not about the action or appearance of fasting, but about storing up treasure in Heaven. Great Lent begins the next day, called Clean Monday. At Vespers on Cheese-fare Sunday, the Church invites us to begin Great Lent properly in the ceremony of mutual forgiveness, as already described. Each of the five Sundays in Great Lent commemorates an event in the life of the Church or a saint. In addition, the Gospel readings for these Sundays emphasize Jesus as the Son of God with the full authority of God, who must suffer, die, and rise in order to complete His work of salvation. Those who are His followers must live in the same way with faith, humility, and sacrifice. The First Sunday of Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. Originally established to commemorate the victories of the Orthodox faith over the Iconoclasts, especially at the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 787, the celebration has been expanded to honor the triumphs of the True Faith over all heresies. The Gospel reading (John 1:43-51) describes the call of the first disciples and the promise to Nathanael that you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This Sunday is often the occasion for a celebration of the unity in faith of the various Orthodox Churches, and a procession with the holy ikons usually follows the Divine Liturgy. People bring their favorite ikons and carry them in the procession, and everyone venerates all the ikons. The Second Sunday of Lent commemorates the great mystical theologian St Gregory Palamas, Bishop of Thessalonika, who died in The Gospel reading (Mark 2:1-12) is the story of the

4 paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends, who opened the roof of the house so that their friend could be healed. It reveals Jesus s authority as God to heal the soul as well as the body. The Third Sunday of Lent is dedicated to the Holy Cross. At the mid-point of Great Lent, when fatigue and perhaps even discouragement may be setting in, we celebrate the Cross as a source of power and inspiration, the Tree of Death that became the Tree of Life, the symbol of shame that became a standard of victory. The Gospel reading (Mark 8:34-9:1) contains Jesus s teaching that all who want to be His followers must take up their own crosses, and must lose their lives (in the world) to save them (for eternity). A procession with the Holy Cross follows the Divine Liturgy, and everyone venerates the Cross. The Fourth Sunday of Lent commemorates St John Klimakos, the 7 th Century monk of Mt Sinai, who wrote a spiritual treatise called The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is read in monasteries during Great Lent. His feast day is 30 March. The Gospel reading (Mark 9:17-31) tells of Jesus s healing of the boy possessed by a demon that seeks to destroy him. Christ tells the disciples that they could not heal the boy because this kind can come out only through prayer and fasting. Then He tells them that He must be betrayed, killed, and rise again on the third day. On the Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent, it is customary in monasteries and in some parishes to chant at Orthros or Great Compline the Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete, which retells in short poetic hymns (called troparia) the story of God s Plan of Salvation from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The Fifth Sunday of Lent commemorates St Mary of Egypt as an example of repentance. She was a prostitute in Alexandria, Egypt, who had a conversion experience when she went to Jerusalem on business. Repenting of her sinful life, she went to live as a hermit in the desert. The Gospel reading (Mark 10:32-45) contains Jesus s third prediction of His Passion, and the request by James and John to sit at His right hand in glory, which leads to Jesus s teaching that those who wish to be great must become the slaves of all, for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. The 40 days of Great Lent end at sundown on the sixth Friday with the service of Vespers for Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. It is called Lazarus Saturday because the Gospel reading is John 11:1-45, the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus s friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany. It serves as a kind of preview of how each one of us is to share in the resurrection to life in Jesus Christ. Lazarus Saturday begins what is called Great Week, in which prayer and fasting are intensified as the events of Jesus Passion begin to unfold. Palm Sunday commemorates the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, acclaimed by the crowds as the Son of David. On Palm Sunday evening, as well as on the evenings of Great Monday and Great Tuesday, the service of Orthros is celebrated, with the theme of the Bridegroom, for whose coming in the middle of the night we must be awake and ready. Since Orthros is actually the service of Morning Prayer, it is unusual for it to be celebrated at night. Sometimes it is said that in the Church s eagerness to celebrate the Resurrection, all the services are moved back 12 hours in Great Week. However, the explanation might be a practical one: the services that celebrate popular events, such as the Crucifixion and the Burial of Christ, coincide with Orthros, so perhaps the services were scheduled at night so that more people could attend. On Great Wednesday we commemorate the sinful woman who washed Jesus s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. On Great Thursday morning, at Vespers for Great Friday

5 combined with the Divine Liturgy, we commemorate the Last Supper and the institution of the Holy Eucharist. On Thursday evening, we commemorate and re-enact the Crucifixion of the Lord at Orthros for Great Friday. This is a dramatic service, with beautiful chanting and a procession that ends with the erection of a cross bearing the ikon of the crucified Lord in the center of the church. On Friday morning, at Vespers for Great and Holy Saturday, we commemorate the Descent from the Cross. The ikon of the crucified Christ is taken down from the Cross, wrapped in a shroud, and laid in a tomb that is decorated with flowers. On Friday evening, at Orthros for Great and Holy Saturday, we commemorate the burial of Christ. Three series of beautiful lamentations are sung and the whole congregation follows the tomb of Christ as it is carried in procession around the outside of the church. All the people carry lighted candles and chant during the procession. At the end of the procession, the tomb is held up at the door of the church and all the people pass under it to return to their places, symbolizing our death with Christ and resurrection to new life in Him. On Saturday morning, Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy is celebrated for Easter Sunday. The service begins with the lighting of the New Fire, which takes place behind the altar. The priest comes forth from the Holy Doors and announces, The Light of Christ enlightens all people! The congregation come forward and light their candles from the priest s Paschal candle. After the reading of the Epistle, Psalm 81 is sung, and the priest walks all around the church, scattering laurel leaves as symbols of Christ s victory over death. The Gospel reading is Matthew s account of the finding of the empty tomb and the commissioning of the disciples, on the mountain in Galilee, to go and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:1-20) It ends with Jesus s promise: Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. With this first announcement of Christ s Resurrection, Great Lent is finished. The next service, on Saturday evening, is the Orthros and Divine Liturgy for Pascha. The Disciplines of Great Lent Many people seem to think of Great Lent as a time of denial and deprivation, a time of struggle and suffering. In fact, Great Lent offers us the opportunity to gain and grow, to renew and rejoice. It is true that in this time of the Great Fast we emphasize prayer, fasting, and works of charity. But these are things that are normal parts of Christian life all year round. Great Lent provides us with the incentive to do more, to seek the life in abundance that Jesus came to bring us. Great Lent isn t about having less less leisure time, less food, less money. It is about doing more devoting more time in prayer to our relationship with God; becoming more conscious, through fasting, of food as God s generous gift to us; doing more good works to help our less-fortunate sisters and brothers. Fasting is an integral and essential part of Christian life. The Bible shows that it was a normal part of the life of God s chosen people under the Old Covenant; the prophet Isaiah especially talks about the kind of fasting that is pleasing to God. In the New Testament, we have the example of Jesus Christ Himself, who went into the desert for 40 days of fasting before beginning His public ministry. When the disciples complained of not being able to cast out demons, the Lord told them that prayer and fasting were required. He also taught that fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are expected of Christians: in the Gospel of Matthew, Christ doesn t say if you fast or pray or give alms ; He says when you fast and when you pray and when you give alms.

6 And in fact true fasting always involves prayer and almsgiving also. The discipline of changing what we eat and how much we eat and when we eat both reflects and reinforces the other disciplines of intensifying our prayer life and increasing what we do to relieve the suffering of others. All of these actions aim at the same thing bringing us into closer relationship with God. Fasting reminds us of our dependence on God. When we eat less and don t eat certain foods we usually eat, we become conscious that all we have to nourish our bodies comes from God. In the same way, praying more often or longer or in words especially chosen for Great Lent helps us to realize that we depend on God for everything that sustains our lives not just food, but health, family, friends, faith, comfort, and consolation. And when we give more to help others in need, money or food or clothing or services or time, we see that all of these things too come from God. Prayer in Great Lent typically focuses on the church services of the Akathist Hymn, Great Compline, and Presanctified Eucharist. It also points us to the Prayer of St Ephrem, which warns us of the dangers of laziness, greed, pride, and gossip, and reminds us of the virtues of humility, patience, love, and self-control. We can also devote more time to prayer by reading the Holy Bible, especially the Old Testament books of Genesis, Isaiah, and Proverbs. How powerful it would be for all Christians to take extra time each day to pray for their own parishes and for other churches that they may grow in faith and spiritual insight, in numbers, in charity and generosity, and always in giving glory to God. Fasting has always been part of human religious experience, not only Christian and Jewish and Islamic, but of practically every human culture. Fasting accomplishes many things: it makes us aware of our dependence on food, which comes from God, and so makes us thankful. It makes us aware of the strength God gives us to endure hardships. It makes us realize that we don t really need to eat and drink so much, or so richly, and so helps us find humility and generosity. It sharpens our senses and weakens our resistance, bringing us closer to God and making us more open to God. It helps us to understand the suffering of the poor and makes us more willing to help them. Fasting also helps us to connect with the sufferings of Jesus Christ and to have a better appreciation of His sacrifices for our salvation. The Holy Tradition of our Church provides us with guidelines to help us experience all these effects and benefits of fasting. Good Works are the fruit of faith. Our belief in God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit causes us to put our faith into action, to fulfill the commandments of Jesus to love God completely and to love our neighbors just as we love ourselves. During Great Lent, we have the opportunity to do more good works, to increase our efforts to share God s love and generosity with other. We can do this with our time and talent, such as helping in a food bank or community service center, helping build houses with Habitat for Humanity, walking in support of a good cause such as breast cancer, hunger, AIDS, or opposition to the death penalty, and so on. We can do this with our money, giving more to our parish, to our favorite charities, to individuals who ask us for help, and so on. Public Worship During Great Lent On the Sundays of Great Lent, the usual cycle of Great Vespers on Saturday evening (the liturgical day begins at sunset), with Orthros and then the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, remains unchanged. However, the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great is celebrated on the five Sundays of Great Lent instead of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom that is celebrated on most occasions throughout the year. The Liturgy of St Basil differs mainly in its Anaphora or Eucharistic

7 Prayer, which is very beautiful and comprehensive in its presentation of God s grace and mercy for humankind. Three services have become customary on the weekdays of Great Lent. In many Melkite parishes throughout the country, we celebrate Great Compline on Monday evenings, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday evenings, and the Akathist Hymn on Friday evenings. Great Compline. During most of the year, Compline, or Apodeipnon as it is called in Greek, is the after-supper service at the end of the day in monasteries. It is kind of a winding down service quiet, contemplative, repentant, asking God s mercy and protection for the coming night s rest. Great Compline is a more elaborate service used only in Great Lent. It emphasizes God s greatness, protection, and mercy, especially in the beautiful and confident chant God is with us. Its prayers ask the intercession of the Theotokos, angels, and saints for our salvation from sin. In it we acknowledge our imperfections and sinfulness and need for repentance. It enables us to express our sorrow for sin and to ask God s mercy, forgiveness, and guardianship. It also give us the opportunity to express our offenses against one another as we ask and receive forgiveness from our brothers and sisters, and grant forgiveness to them in return. Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Because the Divine Liturgy is a joyous celebration of the Resurrection, it is not celebrated on the weekdays of Great Lent, which is a time of sober recollection of the effects of sin in the world, in human history, and in our own lives. In a way, we fast from daily participation in the joy of the Resurrection in order to understand and appreciate more fully what that great Mystery of Salvation means in our lives. But because the Church also recognizes the Holy Eucharist as the medicine of immortality for forgiveness of sin and strengthening of the spirit, it provides us with the opportunity to receive the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Savior in the middle of each week of our Great Fast. This service consists of Vespers followed by the solemn bringing in of the Holy Gifts sanctified at the previous Sunday s Divine Liturgy and then distribution of Holy Communion. During Great Lent, the readings at Vespers and Presanctified Liturgy are selected from the Books of Genesis and Proverbs. They were chosen to teach catechumens, those preparing to be baptized at Pascha, about what it means to be a Christian and how to live as a Christian. According to Professor Georges Barrois in his book Scripture Readings in Orthodox Worship, Genesis describes the Creation and the early phase of God s plan for the ultimate association of man and Himself, in spite of sin and its sequels. The readings from Proverbs present practical wisdom for daily life and the moral instruction of believers. The Book of Proverbs demonstrates the precepts of ethics by means of familiar maxims [which] always presuppose a free choice on our part, and this free choice is expressed in striking antitheses. Two ways are open before us, the way of life and the way of perdition. Although we do not always have catechumens preparing for baptism, we can all learn a great deal from the Presanctified readings from Genesis and Proverbs. Akathist Hymn in Honor of the Mother of God. The Akathist Hymn is actually not a Lenten service; in fact it is a service of preparation for the great feast of the Annunciation, 25 March. But since the Annunciation almost always falls during Great Lent, the Akathist has come to be regarded as a Lenten service. The Akathist (which means not sitting because everyone stood while it was being sung) has two main parts. The first is a canon, dating from the 8th century, extolling the place of the Theotokos in the Divine Economy. A canon is a form of liturgical prayer composed of nine odes or sets of short verses. Each ode is roughly based on a canticle, or song, found in Scripture and interpreted by the

8 Church as connected with the Mystery of Salvation. Canons are used in the services of Orthros and Compline. The second part of the Akathist contains 24 chants of praise that refer to the role of Mary the Mother of God in God s plan of salvation, drawing many beautiful images from Scripture and Tradition. In the original Greek, the first letters of the first words of each chant are the letters of the alphabet in consecutive order, a popular poetic form of the 6th century, when St Romanos the Melodist composed the chants. We celebrate the Akathist on five consecutive Fridays, customarily the five Fridays of Great Lent, but properly the five Fridays preceding the Annunciation. We sing the Akathist within the service of Little Compline. On the first four Fridays, we chant the canon and six of the chants of praise the first six the first week, the next six the second week, and so on. On the fifth Friday, the entire service is sung, with the odes of the canon distributed in between the four groups of the chants of praise. The service always ends with the Kontakion of the Annunciation ( Triumphant Leader ) and veneration of the ikon of the Theotokos. The Discipline of Fasting in Great Lent The Traditional Fast The traditional fast is quite strict. The use of olive oil and wine (or other alcoholic drinks) is not permitted, nor the flesh of any animal with a backbone (including fish, except on the feast of the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday), nor animal products (milk, cheese, butter, eggs, lard, etc.). On weekdays, only one meal, in the evening after Vespers. On Saturdays and Sundays, two meals, at mid-day and in the evening, with olive oil and wine permitted, which are also allowed on 24 February (the 1 st and 2 nd Finding of the Head of John the Baptist), on 9 March (the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebastea), on 24 March (Forefeast of the Annunciation), on 26 March (Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel), and on Holy Thursday. Fasting is more intense in the first week of Great Lent and in Holy Week. Current Fasting Practice The traditional fast is now seldom observed with complete strictness. Many Byzantine Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, keep the first week of Lent and Holy Week as times of stricter fast, but would modify the fast during the remainder of Great Lent. Typically, those keeping a strict fast would not eat before noon on any day, and would not eat a second meal until after receiving the Eucharist at the Presanctified Liturgy on Wednesday evening. A strict fast might permit fish, but would still exclude meat, animal products, olive oil, and alcoholic beverages. The absolute minimum fast, according to the Pastoral Handbook of the Diocese of Newton, means not eating before noon on the first day of Great Lent and on Great Thursday, Great Friday, and Great and Holy Saturday, and not eating meat on those days or the Fridays of Great Lent (just as we do not eat meat on other Fridays). Fasting and You It is absolutely important to remember that fasting is a physical and spiritual discipline. It is not meant to cause suffering or physical harm. However, it is meant to require effort and to impose some hardship, not because the body or the material world is bad and must be despised, and not because by our effort we can win God s favor, but because hardship helps us to focus on the Source of all good, and because God asks our cooperation with His will.

9 Fasting is not an end in itself, nor a legal obligation. As Bishop Kallistos Ware writes, Divorced from prayer and from the reception of the holy sacraments, unaccompanied by acts of compassion, our fasting becomes pharisaical or even demonic. It leads, not to contrition and joyfulness, but to pride, inward tension, and irritability. No one should feel guilty or discouraged if he or she cannot follow the fast because of health or other weakness. Likewise, no one should take pride is observing the fast, but rather should give thanks and glory to God, who makes it possible. But no one can simply dismiss the fast as not applicable, or as inconvenient, or as meaningless. Doing this is turning one s soul over to the Evil One instead of trying to come closer to God. Following the fast as strictly as you can, with equal attention to prayer and almsgiving, is strongly recommended. For guidance on modifying the fast, if this is necessary, ask your pastor or your spiritual father or mother, if you have one. Don t just make up your own rules, for the accepted pattern, expressing as it does the collective conscience of the People of God, possesses a hidden wisdom and balance not to be found in ingenious austerities devised by our own fantasy (Bishop Kallistos). Conclusion Everything we do in Great Lent should be done not because of compulsion or fear of breaking the rules, but because we love God and seek to glorify and thank God for all the gifts we have received life, health, family, food, prosperity, education, freedom, faith, and above all, salvation to eternal life. So, Happy Lent to everyone! Because Lent is about more, not less.