The Holy and Great Forty-Day Fast represents a distinctive and most exalted period within the course of the year, during which we undergo spiritual and bodily renewal, in order to welcome, as prepared and worthy as possible, the Feast of feasts. Since it is difficult for the contemporary person to transform himself through repentance, the Church, as a caring Mother, has established preparatory weeks which, through their liturgical life and penitential themes, lead us into the exalted period of the Holy and Great Forty-Day Fast.
During the preparatory weeks, the Church gradually prepares us for fasting through progressive restraint: after the fast-free week, we return to fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, and thereafter a higher degree of preparatory abstinence begins—the consumption of meat is prohibited. In the liturgical services of the preparatory weeks, the Church, by recalling the creation of the world and of humankind, the blessed state of the forefathers and their fall into sin, and the coming of the Son of God into the world for the salvation of humankind, directs the faithful towards fasting, repentance, and spiritual struggle.
Since the portal Kinonia contains numerous programmes, original texts, and contributions devoted to the theme of preparation for the Holy and Great Forty-Day Fast—Great Lent—we present here a contribution that brings together, in chronological order, materials related to the preparatory weeks.
