Unlike the Western practice of entering the Great Fast “cold turkey” (i.e. going immediately from the Bacchus-like feasting of Fat Tuesday to the stark solemnity of Ash Wednesday), the Orthodox Church eases us into the Lenten process much as one would ease themselves into a hot bath. In other words, we don’t just plunge in, but slowly acclimate ourselves to the waters: first with a Fast-free week, then a last week for eating meat, and finally a last week for consuming dairy products. One might also consider these preparatory weeks as a training period prior to embarking upon the actual Lenten Journey which is often referred to in the Church as a “spiritual marathon.”
