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Christmas Lent Begins/Preparatory Period Towards the Feast

2025-11-15 09:53:00, Kulturë CNA

For Orthodox Christians, November 15 marks the beginning of the period of preparation for the great and very important feast of Christmas, that is, the beginning of Lent. This is one of the Lenten periods that the Church has established as a time of preparation to worthily await the great feasts.

The Christmas Lent is a joyful Lent, because the event itself, the Nativity of Christ, which is celebrated on December 25, brought great joy (Matthew 2:10). During this period designated by the Church, we prepare ourselves with Lent and, at the same time, experience the entire hymnology of this same period, in order to live the great event of God's Coming to earth.

Lent is the cooperation of the material part of our body in the worship of the living God. By fasting from certain foods and, on the other hand, fasting from sins, we help the whole person, body and soul, to draw closer to and worship God. Every feast, every church holiday is not a simple, external representation of some past events, but in each such we relive as a person those events as if they were happening today. Thus, during the period of Lent, man prepares himself to accept the Savior Christ who will be born in the manger.

Lent is biblical. Lent was given to us by Christ Himself, who, before beginning His saving work on earth, after His baptism, stayed in the desert for 40 days, fasting (Matthew 4:1-11). Lent is not something that our imagination invented, but it is a way for man to purify himself and try to give something to God, and this fasting was mentioned in the Old Testament.

This tradition of experience was continued and experienced by God himself, as has been mentioned.

In this way, we also prepare for the coming of God to earth with a 40-day fast. During this fast, we abstain from animal products (meat, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, etc.) and, in parallel with this, we try to reflect on our lives and ourselves, not turning Lent into a diet and “postures,” but into a true and deep examination of repentance of ourselves and our sinful state.

Lent is a means, not a goal! Lent helps us and creates an atmosphere for spiritual elevation. Believers during this period wish each other: “Happy and joyful Lent!”

Let us all try, then, as best we can, to prepare the manger of our hearts, so that the infant Christ, the Savior of the world, may be born within it! Let us pray to the Lord with the words of one of the prayers of the Communion Service: “…and as you were worthy to lie down in a cave and in a manger of animals, be worthy to enter also into the manger of my unreasonable soul and my defiled body.”

Happy Lent!

We remind you:

* During Lent, meat and its by-products, as well as eggs and dairy products, are not eaten.

* Fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, oil, honey, etc., any plant product are allowed.

* Fish is allowed until December 17. Fish, oil, and wine are not allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays.

* From December 17 to 24, inclusive, Lent becomes stricter: fish is no longer consumed, and wine and oil are only allowed on Saturdays and Sundays.