The Roman Catholic Church practices a forty-day fast, which also includes their Holy Week. However, because they consider Sundays to be outside the scope of Lent, those days are excluded in the count. This is why the Western Fast always begins on a Wednesday (i.e. “Ash Wednesday”). The Orthodox Church, on the other hand, considers the week of our Lord’s Passion (Holy Week) as separate and distinct from the Great Fast. Therefore, we also maintain a forty-day fasting season, but ours begins on the Monday after Forgiveness Sunday and continues unhindered for a full forty days, ending on the eve of Lazarus’ Resurrection – a Friday. Then, after a small two-day respite in which some fasting restrictions are lifted to honor the feasts of Lazarus’ Resurrection and Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, we embark upon Holy Week. Because we commemorate this last week in our Lord’s earthly life and recall His Passion, we do so with an even greater zeal and more intensified session of fasting. In essence, this means that faithful Orthodox Christians fast for a full forty-eight days prior to Great and Holy Pascha.
