9781422276563

word for the Jewish festival known as Pentecost, the celebration of the 50th day after Passover (the holiday celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery). Historians do not know exactly when Christians began observing Lent. Early medieval church scholars believed that Jesus’ apostles introduced the tradition of 40 days of fasting, but there is no historical evidence to support this. (Jesus’ apostles were the 12 men he chose to preach his teachings both during and after his life.) It appears that Christians during the first three centuries of the Common Era gradually worked out the details of the religious observance. Christian scholars note that some Christians fasted in the period before Easter, but it does not appear that there was any tradition of a 40-day fast. Rather, it seems to have begun as a one- or two-day fast just before Easter. Historians Irenaeus (ca. 130–200) and Tertullian (ca. 160 or 170–ca. 230) note this type of fast in writings from the late second and early third centuries. In the year 331, the early Christian bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, recommended that believers fast for 40 days before Holy Week, the last week before Easter. By the fifth century, the observance of Lent was a common practice in the Roman Catholic world. In Rome Lent lasted six weeks, although people may not have fasted for the entire period. In Jerusalem, some Christians observed Lent for eight weeks, which resulted in 40 total days of fasting (Saturday and Sunday were not fast days ). By this time, Holy Week had become institutionalized throughout the different regions. Holy Week was characterized by particularly severe fasting, such as the “black fast” on Holy Saturday, the day on which Jesus is said to have lain in his tomb. This type of fast allows the believer only one meal to be taken after sunset and is usually limited to bread and water alone. When Lent Is Observed The Western and Eastern Churches both observe Lent, but at different times and with different rituals. Various cultures also celebrate differently; for example, Catholics in the United States have different Lenten customs fromCatholics in Brazil or Zimbabwe. The dates of Lent depend on the date of Easter. Easter is called a “movable feast,” because it is celebrated on different dates every year. The Western and Eastern Churches celebrate Easter at different times because they use different methods to schedule the holiday. Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches schedule Easter using a complicated system of rules that date to the Council of Nicea. At that meeting in 325, church leaders came up with a number of rules about how the Roman Catholic Church should work. One thing they decided was that the Church should hold a holiday to commemorate the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. Because they did not know when this happened, they decided that Easter would be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full Moon following the spring equinox. (The spring equinox is the day

Lent, Yom Kippur & Days of Repentance

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