In accordance with my stated theme for this blog, I want to very briefly compare the beginnings of Lent in the Eastern and Western traditions, focusing especially on their similarities. There’s enough that superficially appears different about the way the two traditions begin the Lenten journey that to the casual observer, they may appear to have different spirits. But in comparing the Eastern Forgiveness Sunday and Clean Monday with the Western Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, there’s actually much commonality to find.
The differences that strike us first are, of course, that they are different days and they have different names. That Eastern Lent begins on Monday and Western Lent begins on Wednesday are actually for the exact same reason–to achieve the timing of a forty day fast. Both traditions do achieve this, though according to different sets of rules. In the East, Holy Week is not included in the forty day Lenten fast, so beginning on Clean Monday and fasting every day until the Saturday before Holy Week makes a total of forty. In the West, Holy Week is considered part of Lent, so beginning on Ash Wednesday and fasting every day except Sundays (which is never done in the Western tradition) concludes with exactly forty days on Holy Saturday, the eve of Pascha.
The names “Forgiveness Sunday” and “Shrove Tuesday” are actually both thematically the same. Shrove is the past tense of the Old English word “shrive,” referring to the entire act of sacramental confession, absolution, and penance. So historically, it has been the Western custom to make a full confession on or before Shrove Tuesday, to have been shriven before the start of Lent, and to follow through on any penance, which should include making amends to anyone who has been wronged. The same spiritual wisdom is practiced in the Eastern tradition with the venerable ceremony of mutual forgiveness at Sunday Vespers. Both the Western shriving and the Eastern forgiveness ceremony are meant to identify and resolve any sin not only between ourselves and God, but our neighbors as well. Our Lenten fast is an offering we make to God, “offering our bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1), but before we can make that offering, we must “be reconciled with our brother” (Matt 5:24).
The names “Clean Monday” and “Ash Wednesday” seem less similar thematically. In fact, they almost seem like opposites. But again, an example of the shared wisdom of both East and West can be seen in that the Gospel chosen for Forgiveness Vespers is the exact same Gospel chosen for the Liturgy on Ash Wednesday:
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you…” (Matt 6:16-21)
The cleanliness of an anointed head and a washed face seem consonant with “Clean Monday,” but how does it follow on “Ash Wednesday” on which, it is sometimes argued, people are disfiguring their faces precisely as Jesus commanded them not to do? The key from the Gospel is that the Christian disposition ought to be one of cleanliness, that the Christian ought to prefer washed faces and a quietly presentable outward appearance. And so, with that disposition, the imposition of ash on one’s face actually asks humility of the Christian. The humility of the ashen imposition recalls Job’s bewildered perseverance, the repentance of the Ninevites, and the call for fasting in the book of Joel. It also recalls the expulsion from paradise of Adam and Eve, and their curse, with the words at the imposition: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return” (Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris).
But the ash isn’t only denotive of Old Testament figures; it also denotes Christ, because it’s applied in a cruciform manner upon the head (at least here in America). Every mercy hoped for in the fasts at Nineveh and Jerusalem, every answer sought after by Job, and the very solution to the problem of the curse at the expulsion from paradise is found in Jesus Christ. His incarnation and suffering and death and resurrection have redefined our human condition, and they have also redefined fasting for Christians. Jesus’ words about fasting in secret and with no external indicators applies both for Christians fasting on their own for personal reasons, and also for the Christian’s daily fasting during Lent when not at church. But on Ash Wednesday, the people leave the outside world and come into the church, gathering as a community, sharing in this action together:
“Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.” (Joel 2:15-16, from the Epistle at Mass)
Both the East and the West begin the Lenten journey communally, the East’s primary gathering being the Sunday Forgiveness Vespers, the West’s being the Ash Wednesday Mass. And after all the allusions to mourning and repentance and sackcloth and ashes throughout the Ash ceremony and the Mass, the people receive the Eucharist and the priest prays over them: “Look down in mercy, O Lord, upon those who bow before thy majesty: that they who have been refreshed by thy sacred gifts may evermore be strengthened by thy heavenly succor…”. The Mass ends with the themes of refreshment and strengthening. The people go into the world joyful, not “looking gloomy like the hypocrites.”
The official beginning of the Lenten fast for all Orthodox Christians, both on Clean Monday and Ash Wednesday, at least if we take our cues from the Church’s services, is marked by determination and resolve, a newly cleansed spirit, and joy. Like two professional baseball pitchers with different styles, the wind-ups may look slightly different, but the resulting trajectory of the pitch is identical from both. May you have a holy and blessed Lent, whether in the tradition of the Orthodox East or the Orthodox West.