16 Facts About Great Lent

Great Lent officially begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha, and runs for 40 contiguous days, concluding with the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday of the Sixth Week.

Purpose of Great Lent is to prepare the faithful to not only commemorate, but to enter into the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.

Great Lent is intended to be a "workshop" where the character of the believer is spiritually uplifted and strengthened; where their life is rededicated to the principles and ideals of the Gospel; where fasting and prayer culminate in deep conviction of life; where apathy and disinterest turn into vigorous activities of faith and good works.

Great Lent is not for the sake of Great Lent itself, as fasting is not for the sake of fasting.

Therefore, the significance of Great Lent is highly appraised, not only by the monks who gradually increased the length of time of the Lent, but by the lay people themselves.

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The deep intent of the believer during Great Lent is encapsulated in the words of Saint Paul: "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus".

Observance of Great Lent is characterized by fasting and abstinence from certain foods, intensified private and public prayer, self-examination, confession, personal improvement, repentance and restitution for sins committed, and almsgiving.

Great Lent is unique in that, liturgically, the weeks do not run from Sunday to Saturday, but rather begin on Monday and end on Sunday, and most weeks are named for the lesson from the Gospel which will be read at the Divine Liturgy on its concluding Sunday.

Uniquely, on weekdays of Great Lent there is no public reading of the Epistles or Gospels.

Since the season of Great Lent is moveable, beginning on different dates from year to year, accommodation must be made for various feast days on the fixed calendar which occur during the season.

Whereas on other weekdays of Great Lent, no celebration of the Divine Liturgy is permitted, there is a Liturgy celebrated on Annunciation—even if it falls on Good Friday.

Each of the Sundays of Great Lent has its own special commemoration, though these are not necessarily repeated during the preceding week.

Great Lent ends at Vespers on the evening of the Sixth Friday, and the Lenten cycle of Old Testament readings is brought to an end.

Holy and Great Lent Thursday is a more festive day than the others of Holy Week in that it celebrates the institution of the Eucharist.

Holy and Great Lent Friday is observed as a strict fast day, on which the faithful who are physically able to should not eat anything at all.

Holy and Great Lent Saturday combines elements of deep sorrow and exultant joy.