First day of Lent

[ThereseOfLisieux]

I know that Orthodox have a few more weeks befor Lent, but I was curious about something. Catholics go to mass, and receive a cross of ashes (made from the burned palms from last palm Sunday) as a sign of our mortality.

What is the Orthodox tradition surrounding Ash Wednesday? Do you call it Ash Wednsday?

Thank You,

Therese

[Rilian]

Shrove Tuesday/Ash Wednesday is only found in the west.

The unofficial start to Lent is Meatfare Sunday, which is when the eating of meat stops. The following week is Cheesefare Sunday and Forgiveness Vespers when dairy products get cut out and the true fasting starts. Evey person in the parish individually asks everyone else for forgiveness on that day. There's a description of the service here (http://www.frederica.com/orthodox/ofeforg_mrb.html).

The following day, Clean Monday, begins the fast.

[gzt]

Lent starts on a Monday for us. It's called Clean Monday. The day before that, on Sunday, we have Forgiveness Vespers, where we ask each other for forgiveness. As far as I know, we don't do the ash thing. On the first four days of Lent, the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read. It is a long penitential canon which goes through all the Old Testament and such and puts the reader in the place of all the people who sinned against God. It boggles the mind.

[Matrona]

We don't do Ash Wednesday.

Preparation for Lent begins several weeks beforehand, but the actual Lent begins on Clean Monday. It's called that because the day before is Forgiveness Sunday, where we all prostrate before each member of our parish and ask for forgiveness for any way we have wronged them. So Lent begins on a "clean" note. That Sunday is also called Cheesefare Sunday because the full Lenten Fast begins on Clean Monday, so Sunday is the last day you can eat cheese until Pascha.

Another Clean Monday tradition is to begin praying the Canon of St. Andrew on it.

[Eusebios]

Therese,
In Orthodoxy Lent begins officially on "clean Monday". However, we always have a service of Vespers on "Forgiveness" or "cheesefare" Sunday. (Vespers actually marks the beginning of the liturgical day). There is no specialactivity on Wednesday, other than it marks the praying of the third part of the penetential canon of St. Andrew of Crete.
His unworthy servant,
Eusebios.
:bow:

[Matrona]

For the record, in the years when Western Easter and Orthodox Easter ("Pascha") align, Clean Monday falls in the same week as Ash Wednesday, two days earlier. (Which I'm sure makes things interesting for Orthodox living in New Orleans, LOL.)

[Rilian]

What I think is truly sad is that the entrance to the period where we mourn the death of Christ and celebrate his resurrection has now largely become identified with extreme self indulgence, hedonism and perversion. That's not an indictment of traditional Catholics and the way they approach Lent. I'm sure they are more horrified by what has become of Mardi Gras than anyone else.

[Oblio]

Clean Monday is also called such because in the Slavic tradition, that was the day when all non-Lenten items were purged or cleaned from the household. Stoves and ice boxes (was it refrigerators in 19th c Russia !) cleaned, and non-Lenten foods either properly stored or pitched.

[Matrona]

What I think is truly sad is that the entrance to the period where we mourn the death of Christ and celebrate his resurrection has now largely become identified with extreme self indulgence, hedonism and perversion. That's not an indictment of traditional Catholics and the way they approach Lent. I'm sure they are more horrified by what has become of Mardi Gras than anyone else.

I'm more horrified with what has happened to Spring Break. Time was, it was during Western Holy Week... now, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a spike in murders of prenatal children, about eight weeks after spring break. :(

[Grand_Duchess-Elizaveta]

I'm more horrified with what has happened to Spring Break. Time was, it was during Western Holy Week... now, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a spike in murders of prenatal children, about eight weeks after spring break. :(

Yeah. Not to derail the thread, but what happens during spring break "vacations" is absolutely shocking and disgusting. Like Sodom and Gomorrah.:sigh: :o

[Mary of Bethany]

My hubby still attends an Anglican Catholic parish, and they have an annual "Pancake Supper" the evening before Ash Wednesday. It's an English tradition as a way to use up the fat in the house before Lent.

So we'll be going to that tomorrow night. I enjoy it as a time to fellowship with my former parish. It's at a parishioner's house and there's no service attached to it. It's just fun.

Mary

[Momzilla]

My hubby still attends an Anglican Catholic parish, and they have an annual "Pancake Supper" the evening before Ash Wednesday. It's an English tradition as a way to use up the fat in the house before Lent.
Mary

I noticed that one of the Lutheran churches is having their pancake supper on Ash Wednesday, which struck me as kind of odd.

[ExOrienteLux]

Le sigh.

What's an Celt to do this Lent? Lent starts on March 14, and one of the most important days of the year comes during the first week of Lent. How am I supposed to celebrate St. Padraig's Day without Guinness and Jameson's?

[This was only partly tongue-in-cheek, by the way]

+IC XC NIKA+
Phillip

[Wiffey]

Le sigh.

What's an Celt to do this Lent? Lent starts on March 14, and one of the most important days of the year comes during the first week of Lent. How am I supposed to celebrate St. Padraig's Day without Guinness and Jameson's?

[This was only partly tongue-in-cheek, by the way]

+IC XC NIKA+
Phillip

You can add green food coloring to your tofu for a Celtic, Lenten culinary treat!

[ExOrienteLux]

You can add green food coloring to your tofu for a Celtic, Lenten culinary treat!

Tofu... :sick: :sick: :sick:

[katherine2001]

You can have cabbage and soy corned beef and green O'Doul's beer!

[ThereseOfLisieux]

What I think is truly sad is that the entrance to the period where we mourn the death of Christ and celebrate his resurrection has now largely become identified with extreme self indulgence, hedonism and perversion. That's not an indictment of traditional Catholics and the way they approach Lent. I'm sure they are more horrified by what has become of Mardi Gras than anyone else.

Mardi Gras began because it is the day before the beginning of Western Lent, but today it is just an excuse to party. I don't even think that those who participate even know where mardi gras came from. I am sure you won't find the fasting the next day. Disgusting.:sick:

[prodromos]

"Mardi Gras" - French for "Fat Tuesday", the last day that meat and fat would be eaten until Easter. What it has become is akin to an alcoholic having a really heavy binge just before beginning treatment for the same. Trouble is that when he finally wakes up (if he wakes up), he has forgotten all about the treatment he was supposed to begin.

[prodromos]

Btw, I thought I might dredge up an old thread from last year regarding Lent. Lots of good info can be found within.

Lent's almost here! (http://www.christianforums.com/t93303&page=1)

[MariaRegina]

Is our Pascha a 5 or 6 weeks difference from the Western Easter this year?

Wow!

They will be celebrating Easter when we are just beginning the Great Lent! We will be wearing purple and black while they are wearing white.

[Eusebios]

Le sigh.

What's an Celt to do this Lent? Lent starts on March 14, and one of the most important days of the year comes during the first week of Lent. How am I supposed to celebrate St. Padraig's Day without Guinness and Jameson's?

[This was only partly tongue-in-cheek, by the way]

+IC XC NIKA+

Phillip
Phillip/Josh,
You can always come with Joe to Canton, attend liturgy with us, and go out for a Guinness or two on the 20Th!
Just a thought,
Eusebios.

[ExOrienteLux]

No, Don, that's the point: Lent begins on the 14th, and St. Paddy's Day's on the 17th. I want to have a good ole Irish party with Celtic music, corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and lots and lots of alcohol (specifically Guinness and Jamesons'), but I'm not allowed meat or alcohol during Lent. Or does the 'wine' restriction just pertain to wine and liquor and not to lagers and ales? Please say yes...

Regardless, it'd be the last big party I'd have till Pascha.

[Mary of Bethany]

You just need to invent your own calendar that moves March 17th to March 10th or something convenient. :thumbsup:


Mary

[Michael the Iconographer]

No, Don, that's the point: Lent begins on the 14th, and St. Paddy's Day's on the 17th. I want to have a good ole Irish party with Celtic music, corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and lots and lots of alcohol (specifically Guinness and Jamesons'), but I'm not allowed meat or alcohol during Lent. Or does the 'wine' restriction just pertain to wine and liquor and not to lagers and ales? Please say yes...

Regardless, it'd be the last big party I'd have till Pascha.

What you need is a good Irish Orthodox Bishop to grant you a little economia for the day! :) I am really thinking I need to start celebrating GERMANITY on the feast of St. Boniface in June! German bier-Weltenberger Kloester Asambock, Warsteiner, Paulaner, Rachbier, etc, bratwursts, sauer kraut (for those who like it, and I do not), Black Forest Cherry Torte, German Potato Soup, Beethoven and umpa-pa music (you know, those German tuba songs) and my German walking hat, and we will watch soccer. If anyone I knew had a Porsche we could even take that for a spin! And of course, we would venerate the icon of St. Boniface which I need to get writing!