Dietary Rules

4.1. Great Lent

Great Lent, known also as the "Great 40 Days," is the most important and most strict fasting season. It prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter). It starts seven weeks before Easter and lasts for 40 days, leading to the Holy Week, which commemorates Christ’s passions, crucifixion and resurrection. Great Lent emulates the 40-day fast of Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:2) in order to help Christians repent and purify their bodies and souls thus becoming worthy of celebrating the greatest Christian holiday – the Resurrection of Christ.

Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha and runs for 40 contiguous days, concluding with the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday of the Sixth Week. The next day is called Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday.

Fasting continues throughout the following week, known as Passion Week or Holy Week, and does not end until after the Paschal Vigil early in the morning of Pascha (Easter Sunday).

On weekdays of the first week of Great Lent, fasting is particularly severe, and many observe it by abstaining from all food for some period of time. According to strict observance, on the first five days there are only two meals allowed, one on Wednesday and the other on Friday, both after the Presanctified Liturgy.

During Great Lent devotees should observe strict fasting - abstaing from meat, dairy products, fish, oil and alcohol, with a degree of mitigation on certain days.

A special service book - Lenten Triodion - is used during Great Lent. The Triodion is used until the lights are extinguished before midnight at the Paschal Vigil. On the weekdays of Great Lent, the full Divine Liturgy is not celebrated. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts including Holy Communion may be celebrated on weekdays.

Period	Dietary rules	Commemoration and church service
Clean Week	Strict fasting	On St. Theodore Saturday a special canon composed by St. John of Damascus is chanted and blessed kolyva (boiled wheat with honey and raisins) is distributed to the faithful.
Second week	Strict fasting on Wednesday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, oil and wine are allowed. Fish is allowed on the feast of Annunciation.	Sunday commemorates St. Gregory Palamas. The Epistle is Hebrews 1:10-14; 2:1-3 and the Gospel is Mark 2:1-12
Third week	Strict fasting is observed from Monday to Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, oil and wine are allowed.	The Veneration of the Cross is celebrated on Sunday. This is the midpoint of the forty days. During the All-Night Vigil the priest brings the cross out into the center of the church, where it is venerated by the clergy and faithful. It remains in the center of the church through Friday of the next week. The Epistle is Hebrews 4:14-5:6 and the Gospel is Mark 8:34-9:1.
Fourth Week	Strict fasting on Wednesday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, oil and wine are allowed.	This week is celebrated as a sort of afterfeast of the Veneration of the Cross, during which some of the hymns from the previous Sunday are repeated each day. Sunday is dedicated to St. John Climacus, whose work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent has been read throughout the Great Lenten Fast.
Fifth week	Strict fasting on Wednesday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, oil and wine are allowed.	On Thursday the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is chanted. This is the longest canon of the church year. It is centred on the theme of repentance. As a part of the Matins of the Great Canon, the Life of St. Mary of Egypt by St. Sophronius is read and the famous kontakion, "My soul, my soul, why sleepest thou..." by St. Romanos the Melodist is chanted. On Thursday morning a special Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated, and the fast is mitigated slightly as consolation after the long service the night before. On Saturday the Holy Mother of God is honoured with the hymn the Akathist to the Theotokos. Sunday is to St. Mary of Egypt.
Sixth Week	Strict fasting on Wednesday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, oil and wine are allowed. On Palm Sunday, fish, caviar and others invertebrates are also allowed.	The resurrection of Lazarus is celebrated on Saturday. The blessing of palms (or willow) takes place at Matins on Sunday morning, and everyone stands holding willow leaves and lit candles during the important moments of the service. The Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday morning recreates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The Holy Week services begin on the night of Palm Sunday, and the liturgical colours are changed from the festive hues of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday back to somber Lenten colours.
Holy Week	Strict fasting is observed from Monday to Saturday. Abstaining from all food and drinks is encouraged on Good Friday.	During Holy Week each day has its own theme, based upon the Gospel readings. The Matins services for Holy Monday through Thursday develop the theme of "Christ the Bridegroom". The icon often displayed on these days depicts Jesus with a crown of thorns and a robe of mockery.

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