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Lenten pre-Lenten Sundays

21.02.2023, 16:14

The influence of the monastic tradition was such that it partially ruined the original structure of the Great Fast, and because of it two Sundays of the Fast simple fell out from among the “Sundays of the Lent” and landed between two pre-Lenten Sundays: the Sunday of Zacchaeus and Meatfare Sunday.

Lenten pre-Lenten Sundays

by Rev. Vasyl Rudeyko

This happens every year. Every year we begin the Paschal fast with the so-called “pre-Lenten” Sundays. In this category there are the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Sunday of the Prodigal Sun, and Meatfare and Cheesefare Sundays. If the last two don’t raise any questions (their essence is quite clear: a gradual introduction to the fasting season, first abstinence from the consumption of meat, and then from dairy products, so that having gone away from the rich and festal, we can focus on the regular and simple for the sake of suffering with Christ in His humiliation, in His condescension from the splendor of divinity to the poverty of humanity not accepted by its own), then the first two raise certain questions, especially for the thoughtful, and for those who pray the liturgical texts of the Church and try to meditate on them.

On one hand, the liturgical texts of the “pre-Lenten” Sundays already talk about important Lenten themes: fasting, humility, following the Gospel’s teachings. On the other hand, it is forbidden to fast, since these Sundays themselves and the week between them is fast-free. On the one hand we sing “by the waters of Babylon” and “open to me the doors of repentance”, and on the other there is the encouragement to celebrate. The stichera texts and the canon of these Sundays are full of calls to weep over sins, supplications to the Lord for cleansing, and other themes which are more commonly associated with the fasting period. In addition, those who thoughtfully pray the liturgical prayer of the Church can very easily notice that the themes of these two Sundays are repeated on the third (about the Prodigal Son) and fourth (about the Publican and Pharisee) weeks of the Fast. And not only the texts of these weeks, but the texts of the proceedings Sundays are dedicated to meditating on the themes of these parables as well.

Here are some of them:

I was Thy younger son, and I wasted the wealth Thou gavest me, with drawing far from Thee into an evil life; and now I am starved and hungry for Thy blessings, O Lord who lovest mankind. To Thee I come, my Father and my God, asking forgiveness. (Troparion of the 6th Ode of the canon of the Second Sunday of the Great Fast)The Lord of all has taught us in a parable to shun the boastful thoughts of the evil Pharisees; and He has instructed all of us not to think more highly than we should. He Himself became our pattern and example, for He emptied Himself even unto death upon the Cross. Let us therefore render thanks with the Publican and say: O God who hast suffered for us and yet remained impassible, deliver us from the passions and save our souls. (Sticheron at the Praises of the Third Sunday of the Great Fast)From already existing research (especially the wonderful work of Ivan Karabinov) it is known that the original place of the Sundays of the Publican and the Pharisee and of the Prodigal Son is the third and second Sundays of the Great Fast, corresponding to the cycle of Gospel readings in the Jerusalem tradition, which formed its liturgical piety around the meditations on selected parables from the Gospel of St. Luke.

With time, this tradition was pressured by the later monastic tradition, according to which feasts of persons or events important to the monks which fell during the Great Fast were transferred to Saturdays and Sundays. Such feasts were those of Theodore the Recruit, Gregory Palaas, Mary of Egypt, John of the Ladder, the celebration of the victory over the iconoclasts (which, by the way, was won by the monks themselves) and the veneration of the Cross of the Lord (which even in non-fasting time is venerated twice per week on Wednesday and Friday, and is regarded as the main fasting practice).

The influence of the monastic tradition was such that it partially (for it is partially present in the liturgical texts even until now) ruined the original structure of the Great Fast, and because of it two Sundays of the Fast simple fell out from among the “Sundays of the Lent” and landed between two pre-Lenten Sundays: the Sunday of Zacchaeus and Meatfare Sunday. It was these Sundays there were the original and very logical frames of the festive (fast-free) week before the beginning of the Great Fast. Zacchaeus organizes a banquet (feast) which concludes with his swearing to give to the poor and repay fourfold those whom he had wronged (meatfare), and it is this which is the main “task” for the time of the Great Fast. The faithful abstain from meat and dairy not for the sake of a diet, but in order to give to the poor that which they saved by fasting. Thus, the original logical outline of the Great Fast was this:

  • Sunday of Zacchaeus

Fast-free week

  • Meatfare Sunday

The beginning of singing from the Triodion

  • Cheesefare Sunday which really is the first Sunday of the Fast, since during the Fast as during the rest of the liturgical year it is the Sunday that opens the week, as is obvious from the liturgical texts of the weeks that follow them.
  • 1st Sunday of the Fast (of the lost sheep and coin), formerly the 2nd
  • 2nd Sunday of the Fast (of the Prodigal Son), formerly the 3rd
  • 3rd Sunday of the Fast (of the Publican and Pharisee), formerly the 4th
  • 4th Sunday of the Fast (of the Merciful Samaritan), formerly the 5th
  • 5th Sunday of the Fast (of the Rich Man and Lazarus) formerly the 6th, and was observed with the celebration of the resurrection of Lazarus and also served as the beginning of Great and Holy Week.

Naturally, as a result of the later combining [of liturgical traditions], this original logical unity is extremely hard to see, and the themes of hymns of the “pre-Lenten Sundays” on background of the disciplinary requirement to not fast looks completely illogical. The artificial extending of the already lengthy “Forty Days”, which is also not particularly easy to count, in no way fits into the call of the II Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy to live the liturgical life: “The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions; they should be within the people's powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation.”Translated by Philip Gilbert


[3]Sacrosanctum Concilium, 34. Vatican.va

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