Lent begins today and will last 48 days until the eve of Holy Resurrection Sunday.
During Lent, people abstain not only from certain foods but also from excessive habits, talkativeness, lying, blasphemy, and other sins. Repentance, prayer, and penitence are the primary conditions for receiving God’s healing and redemptive power.
The 40 days of Lent symbolize Christ’s forty-day period of prayer, fasting, and repentance in the desert. After His baptism, Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the devil for forty days; and in those days he neither ate nor drank” (Luke 4:1-3). Jesus submitted Himself to fasting for the salvation of humanity; He repented in humanity’s place, so that the repentance of all who fast might gain meaning and reality through His fasting. The forty-day fast is followed by another week-long period of fasting—Holy Week. This is why the forty-day fast lasts 48 days.
Lent has seven Sundays, seven memorial days: Barekendan, Artaksum, Anaraki, Tnesi, Datavori, Galstyan, and Tsaghkazard.
Lent is divided into two parts. The fast is not broken on this day. However, according to folk custom, on this day, Lenten gata is prepared from bagharzh.
During Lent, according to ancient rules, weddings and sacrifices were prohibited. However, a circular from Catholicos Vazgen I permitted weddings to be held on Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, exclusively on all days of Holy Week, in cases of extreme necessity.
Of course, one can also consider the health benefits of fasting, especially during Lent, as spending the spring break without fatty, animal-based foods has a positive effect on the body.
However, it is a mistake to think of fasting as simply a diet for weight loss or recovery from illness. Fasting is not limited to abstaining from animal foods. Above all, it is a cleansing of all kinds of mental and moral illnesses and vices, sinful thoughts, words, and deeds, and a conversion to a God-pleasing and virtuous life through repentance and contrition. During fasting, it is important to strengthen spiritual gifts and especially brotherly love, for, as Eznik Kogbatsi says, “You shall not eat the flesh of animals, but shall constantly chew the flesh of your brother.”
In this case, it is also important to guard against the other extreme: fasting should not become a reason for judging a brother who is lax in observing the fast: “Let no one despise one who does not eat, and let no one who does not eat judge one who eats” (Romans 14:3).
Unlike other churches, which simply number the seven Sundays of Lent, the Armenian Church endowed these Sundays with unique names and sacraments based on Holy Scripture. Thus, they formed a symbolic chain reflecting the entire process of man’s heavenly life, his fall into sin and fall, his search for God, and his salvation through divine providence.
The days preceding the fasts (excluding the daytime fasts) are called “Barekendan,” and Lent is preceded by Barekendan proper. A good life, that is, a good, carefree, and happy life. This meaning is summed up in the name “Barekendan,” which is most fully expressed in the sacrament of Barekendan proper, which is the first Sunday of Lent and depicts man’s heavenly, blessed life. This symbolism is even evident in the use of food, as Barekendan proper is the last day on which one may consume animal and refined foods. The second Sunday of Lent is called Expulsion and symbolizes man’s expulsion from Paradise and his loss of the vision of God.
This is symbolized by the closed curtains of churches throughout Lent, depriving the faithful of Holy Communion. The third Sunday is called Unforgiven and points to the most important condition for turning to God and regaining lost Paradise—repentance.
The fourth, Sunday of the Home, teaches the role of managing material wealth in eternal salvation or perdition. The fifth, Sunday of the Judge, preaches the indispensable importance of constant prayer for salvation. The last, Sunday of Advent, summarizes both the mystery of Christ’s First Coming and the promise of the Second Coming.
The week immediately following Great Lent is called Great Saturday and includes the last important events of the Savior’s earthly life: the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Tsargazard), the Last Supper, Baptism, the Passion of Christ, the Crucifixion, Death, Burial and, finally, the miraculous Resurrection – Easter.