On the Calculation of the Days of Great Lent #
Great Lent is called the Forty Days — the Holy Quadragesima. However, if you look at the calendar, it becomes clear that from the first day of Great Lent until Pascha there are seven weeks, that is, 49 calendar days. How, then, is the Forty Days calculated?
6 × 7 – 2 = 40
Properly speaking, Great Lent ends on the Saturday of the Righteous Lazarus. By this day, the cycle of services conducted according to the special, penitential order concludes. The Liturgies of the Presanctified Gifts also come to an end. A distinct period then begins — Holy Week. The days commemorating Christ’s Passion naturally still require fasting and prayer. However, they are considered to be beyond the Forty Days.
Thus:
6 full weeks of Lent × 7 days in a week – 1 feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem – 1 Saturday of Lazarus = 40 days.
5 × 7 + 1 + 0.5 = 36.5
The holy fathers also call Great Lent the “tithe of the year.” In this calculation, Saturdays and Sundays are excluded from the strict fast. On these days, there are no full prostrations in prayer, oil is permitted at meals, and the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in church. However, they add the fast of Great Saturday (Holy Saturday) and half of the Paschal night, which is also spent in abstinence.
Thus:
5 weekdays × 7 weeks from the start of Lent to Pascha + Great Saturday + half of Paschal night = 36.5 days, which constitutes one-tenth of the number of days in a year.