Some Notes on Byzantine Catholic Pre-Lent
Friday, 25 February 2011 15:03
The current Byzantine Liturgy and the Romanusus antiquiorhave a point of unity in their respective observances of Pre-Lent.
In Constantinople, in either the sixth or seventh century, a week of Pre-Lent developed gradually, and was commonly called "The Week without Meat". It is likely that this is in imitation of the Church in Palestine, which calculated Lent in forty days, Monday through Friday, over eight weeks. Byzantines did not need the extra days, since they counted the forty days continuously. So the compromise to the eight weeks of Palestine was to add a week of gradual fasting prior to the Great Fast. Now commonly known as "Cheese-Fare Week", during this week Byzantines begin fasting from meat but continue to eat cheese and other dairy products right up until "Pure Monday", the first day of the Fast (two days before the Roman "Ash Wednesday").