Holy Lenten Season 2025 + Happy Easter 2025

Introduction

Lent is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry.Lent is usually observed in the Catholic, Lutheran, Moravian, Anglican, United Protestant and Orthodox Christian traditions, among others. Some Anabaptist, Baptist, Methodist, Reformed (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), and nondenominational Christian churches also observe Lent, although many churches in these traditions do not.

Which days are enumerated as being part of Lent differs between denominations, although in all of them Lent is described as lasting for a total duration of 40 days, the number of days Jesus, as well as Moses and Elijah, went without food in their respective fasts.In Lent-observing Western Christian denominations, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later; depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent concludes either on the evening of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday),or at sundown on Holy Saturday, when the Easter Vigil is celebrated, though in either case, Lenten fasting observances are maintained until the evening of Holy Saturday.Sundays may or may not be excluded, depending on the denomination.In Eastern Christianity – including Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, Eastern Lutherans, and Oriental Orthodox – Great Lent is observed continuously without interruption for 40 days starting on Clean Monday and ending on Lazarus Saturday before Holy Week.

Lent is a period of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. Thus, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "bright sadness" (Greek: χαρμολύπη, romanized: charmolypê). The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (the three pillars of Lent), as well as mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, simple living, and self-denial.In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in imitation of Christ's sacrifice during his journey into the desert for 40 days;this is known as one's Lenten sacrifice.Prior to the 6th century, Lent was normatively observed through the practice of the Black Fast, which enjoins fasting from food and liquids, with the allowance of one vegetarian meal after sunset.This form of fasting continues in certain denominations, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Syrian Marthoma Christians observe the 50 days before the period of Easter as fast days. This year the lent has begun for them on 2nd March 2025 ending on April 20th Sunday.

Many Lent-observing Christians also add a Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar, to draw themselves near to God.Often observed are the Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and crucifixion. Many churches remove flowers from their altars and veil crucifixes, religious statues that show the triumphant Christ, and other elaborate religious symbols in violet fabrics in solemn observance of the event. The custom of veiling is typically practiced the last two weeks, beginning on the fifth Sunday of Lent (known as Judica Sunday or Passion Sunday) until Good Friday, when the cross is unveiled solemnly in the liturgy.

In most Lent-observing denominations, the last week of Lent is known as Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. Following the New Testament narrative, Jesus' crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, and at the beginning of the next week the joyful celebration of Easter, the start of the Easter season, which recalls the Resurrection of Jesus. In some Christian denominations, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday form the Easter Triduum.

Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter.

Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed with fasting and abstinence from meat in several Christian denominations.As it is the first day of Lent, many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, and making a Lenten sacrifice that they will not partake of until the arrival of Eastertide.

Many Christians attend special Ash Wednesday church services at which churchgoers receive ash on their foreheads or the top of their heads, as the wearing of ashes was a sign of repentance in biblical times.Ash Wednesday derives its name from this practice, in which the placement of ashes is accompanied by the words, "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" or the dictum "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations.

Shalom everyone,

I am Sydell, I thought I should do something to make a special thread dedicated the season of Lent which hasn't been done before on IF, so here is a thread dedicated to all christains all around the world observing Lent as we head onto a 40 day journey with God and that we grow closer to him by prayer, fasting and alms.

Have blessed Lent to all Christains observing.

Thank you so much for taking so much efforts and posting this thread. Thank you for all the detailed information.

In our Caste (Syrian Marthoma Christians) we observe the 50 days before the period of Easter as fast days. This year (2025) the lent period has begun on 2nd March 2025 ending on April 20th Sunday.

We don't observe Ash Wednesday with significance.

Originally posted by: -beena-

Thank you so much for taking so much efforts and posting this thread. Thank you for all the detailed information.

In our Caste (Syrian Marthoma Christians) we observe the 50 days before the period of Easter as fast days. This year (2025) the lent period has begun on 2nd March 2025 ending on April 20th Sunday.

We don't observe Ash Wednesday with significance.

Your most welcome dear

Just wanted every christain to have their own thread dedicated to our observance which is less given importance to .

Thankyou so much dear for enlightening me with the practices of Syrian Marthoma Christians will update that on the main post.

Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm branches waved by the crowd to greet and honor Jesus Christ as he entered the city. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy Week; in Western Christianity, this is the beginning of the last week of the solemn season of Lent, preceding Eastertide while in Eastern Christianity, Holy Week commences after the conclusion of Great Lent.

In most Christian rites, Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches (or the branches of other, native trees), representing the palm branches that the crowd scattered before Christ as he rode into Jerusalem. These palms are sometimes woven into crosses. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to the substitution of branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew.

Many churches of mainstream Christian denominations, including the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican, Moravian, and Reformed traditions, distribute palm branches to their congregations during their Palm Sunday liturgies. Christians take these palms, which are often blessed by clergy, to their homes, where they hang them alongside Christian art (especially crosses and crucifixes) or keep them in their Bibles and daily devotional books.[9] In the days preceding the next year's Lent, known as Carnival or Shrovetide, churches often place a basket in their narthex to collect these palms, which are then ritually burned on Shrove Tuesday to make the ashes to be used on the following day, Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.

In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place a week before his resurrection. Only the Gospel of John shows a timeline of the event, dated six days before the Passover.

The raising of Lazarus is mentioned only by the Gospel of John, in the previous chapter. The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches which follows the Byzantine Rite, commemorate it on Lazarus Saturday, following the text of the Gospel. In fact, the Jewish calendar dates begin at sundown of the night beforehand, and conclude at nightfall.

The Gospel of Matthew states that this happened that the prophecy might be fulfilled of: Zechariah 9:9 "The Coming of Zion's King – See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey".It suggests that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel.

According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of him, singing part of Psalm 118: 25–26– Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.

The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, unlike the horse which is the animal of war.A king would have ridden a horse when he was bent on war and ridden a donkey to symbolize his arrival in peace. Christ's entry to Jerusalem would have thus symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king. Thus there have been two different meanings (or more levels of biblical hermeneutics): an historical meaning, truly happening according to the Gospels, and a secondary meaning in the symbolism.

In Luke 19:41 as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it (an event known as Flevit super illam in Latin), foretelling his coming Passion and the suffering that awaits the city in the events of the destruction of the Second Temple.

In many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way. Both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. In the synoptics the people are described as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, whereas John specifies fronds of palm (Greek phoinix). In Jewish tradition, the palm is one of the Four Species carried for Sukkot, as prescribed for rejoicing in Leviticus 23:40.

In the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, which strongly influenced Christian tradition, the palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory. It became the most common attribute of the goddess Nike or Victoria.For contemporary Roman observers, the procession would have evoked the Roman triumph,when the triumphator laid down his arms and wore the toga, the civilian garment of peace that might be ornamented with emblems of the palm.

Although the Epistles of Paul refer to Jesus as "triumphing", the entry into Jerusalem may not have been regularly pictured as a triumphal procession in this sense before the 13th century. In ancient Egyptian religion, the palm was carried in funeral processions and represented eternal life. The martyr's palm was later used as a symbol of Christian martyrs and their spiritual victory or triumph over death.In Revelation 7:9, the white-clad multitude stand before the throne and Lamb holding palm branches.

Holy Monday or Great and Holy Monday (also Holy and Great Monday) is a day of the Holy Week, which is the week before Easter. According to the gospels, on this day Jesus Christ cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:18–22, Mark 11:20–26), cleansed the temple (Jesus and his disciples travel to Jerusalem for Passover, where Jesus expels the merchants and consumers from the temple, accusing them of turning it into "a den of thieves" (in the synoptic Gospels) and "a house of trade" (in the Gospel of John) through their commercial activities., and responded to the questioning of his authority (Matthew 21:23–27).

It is the third day of Holy Week in Eastern Christianity, after Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, and the second day of Holy Week in Western Christianity, after Palm Sunday.

Holy Tuesday - Jesus Preaches at the Temple for the last time

Holy Wednesday -

In Christianity, Holy Wednesday commemorates the Bargain of Judas as a clandestine spy among the disciples.[1] It is also called Spy Wednesday,[2] or Good Wednesday (in Western Christianity),[3] and Great and Holy Wednesday (in Eastern Christianity).

In Western Christianity, many churches of various denominations observe the tenebrae service on Holy Wednesday.

In the New Testament account of Holy Week, after Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered and plotted to kill Jesus before the feast of Pesach. On the Wednesday before his death, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of spikenard. The disciples were indignant, asking why the oil was not instead sold and the money given to the poor.But Judas Iscariot wanted to keep the money for himself. Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. From this moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.[12]

In reference to Judas Iscariot's intent to betray Jesus, formed on Holy Wednesday, the day is sometimes called "Spy Wednesday".He word spy, as used in the term, means "ambush, ambuscade, snare". Additionally, among the disciples, Judas clandestinely was a spy and Wednesday was the day he chose to betray Christ.

Maundy Thursday, also referred to as Holy Thursday, or Thursday of the Lord's Supper, among other names, is a Christian feast during Holy Week that marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, and commemorates the Washing of the Feet (Maundy) and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, as described in the canonical gospels.

It is the fifth day of Holy Week, preceded by Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday) and followed by Good Friday."Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, or commandment, reflecting Jesus' words "I give you a new commandment." The date of the day will vary according to whether the Gregorian calendar or the Julian calendar is used. Eastern churches generally use the Julian system.

Good Friday, also known as Black Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum.

Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, United Protestant and some Reformed traditions (including certain Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches), observe Good Friday with fasting and church services.In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 p.m.—the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross. Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.

The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world.Some predominantly Christian countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts—public dancing, horse racing—in remembrance of the somber nature of Good Friday.

The term Good Friday comes from the sense 'pious, holy' of the word good.Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of good include 'the good book" for the Bible, 'good tide' for Christmas or Shrovetide, and Good Wednesday for the Wednesday in Holy Week.

A common folk etymology incorrectly analyzes Good Friday as a corruption of God Friday, similar to the linguistically correct description of goodbye as a contraction of 'God be with ye'. In Old English, the day was called Long Friday (langa frigedæg —referring to the lengthy observances of fasting and religious services, making it a day of extended devotion—and equivalents of this term are still used in Scandinavian languages and Finnish.

Holy Saturday , also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Easter Eve, Joyous Saturday, the Saturday of Light, Good Saturday, or Black Saturday,among other names, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and when Christians prepare for the Christian feast of Easter.

The day commemorates the Harrowing of Hell while Jesus Christ's body lay in the tomb. Christians of the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations begin the celebration of the Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday, which provides a transition to the season of Eastertide; in the Moravian Christian tradition, graves are decorated with flowers during the day of Holy Saturday and the celebration of the sunrise service starts before dawn on Easter Sunday. Congregations of the Reformed and Methodist denominations may hold either the Easter Vigil or an Easter Sunday sunrise service.

Jewish Nazarenes

Whereas the Great Sabbath in Jewish liturgy occurs the sabbath before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the sabbath in the midst of the feast is celebrated as a Special Shabbat § Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach. In Hebrews 4, Jewish Christians are admonished to make every effort to enter this sabbath and every sabbath in repentance, and Psalm 95 is excerpted by the author of Hebrews: "today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." The entire Psalm 95 is read on Friday afternoon every week in synagogue prayers immediately before receiving the sabbath in rabbinic Judaism.

Eastern Orthodoxy

In Eastern Orthodoxy this day, known as Holy and Great Saturday, is also called The Great Sabbath since it is on this day that Christ "rested" physically in the tomb. But it is also believed that it was on this day he performed in spirit the Harrowing of Hell and raised up to Paradise, having liberated those who had been held captive.

Oriental Orthodoxy

In the Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, this day is known as Joyous Saturday, otherwise known as the night of light and joy.It is known as the Saturday of Good Tidings or Gospel Saturday in the Syriac Church, which is also a day where Syriac Christians remember their departed.

Syriac Christianity

In the Syriac Christian tradition, this day is known as ܫܲܒܬ݂ܵܐ ܕܢܘܼܗܪܵܐ šábbṯā d-núhrā or the Saturday of Light.

Western traditions

In Western traditions, the day is usually called Holy Saturday, although in the Moravian Church, the day is referred to as the Great Sabbath and in the Anglican Communion, the Book of Common Prayer refers to the day as Easter Even.

Although the term Easter Saturday is usually applied to the Saturday in Easter week, in English-speaking countries it is sometimes erronouesly applied to Holy Saturday, with the term even being present in legislation in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland,and by Australian government agencies. In the Catholic tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored on this day under the title Our Lady of Solitude, referring to her grief at the death of her son.

Easter, also called Pascha(Aramaic, Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday,[nb 3] is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned),and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus.In Eastern Christianity, the same events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great", and Easter itself might be called Great and Holy Pascha. In both Western and Eastern Christianity, Eastertide, the Easter or Paschal season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday, but in Eastern Christianity the leavetaking of the feast is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension.

Easter and its related holidays are moveable feasts, not falling on a fixed date; its date is computed based on a lunisolar calendar (solar year plus Moon phase) similar to the Hebrew calendar, generating a number of controversies. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established common Paschal observance by all Christians on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Even if calculated on the basis of the Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox.

The English term may derive from the Anglo-Saxon goddess name Ēostre; Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַח pesach, Aramaic: פָּסחָא pascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover) and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English translations of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover.

Easter traditions vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross,the wearing of Easter bonnets by women, clipping the church,and the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb). The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity,traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing (Eastern Europe), the Easter Bunny and egg hunting.There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture.