The Feast of Feasts — the Holy
Pascha — the Resurrection of the Lord-is the climax of the Church's liturgical
year and is also the most glorious, most joyful and bright festival of the
Christian Church. On it Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ arose as victor over
death, destroying the power of death over man once and for all and annulling
the curse pronounced upon man in Paradise. But, before the bright joy of Pascha, the Church has ordained a
lengthy period of repentance and spiritual searching — a period of preparation,
so to speak — the 40-day Great Lent.
The Forty Days of Great Lent
commemorates Israel's forty years of wandering in the Wilderness — the forty
years of painful struggle as Israel longed for and then received entrance into
the Promised Land (Ex. 16:35) Moses remained fasting on Mt. Sinai for forty days
(Ex. 34:28) and the Prophet Elijah fasted for forty days as he journeyed to Mt.
Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). Great Lent also recalls the forty days the Lord spent in
the Wilderness after His Baptism, when He contended with Satan, the Temptor.
The time of Great Lent encompasses
forty days, to which must be added Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Passion
Week. In addition, the Holy Church prescribed three weeks of preparation for the Great Lent itself —
the Sundays of the Publican and the Pharisee, Prodigal Son, Meatfare and
Cheesefare. In all, the Orthodox Church prescribes ten weeks of spiritual and
bodily preparation for the joyous Pascha of the Lord.