Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter).
An Orthodox church in the Czech Republic vested in lenten colors (Třebíč).
The Crucifixion. Icon by Theophanes the Cretan (16th century, Stavronikita monastery, Mount Athos).
Saint Gregory Dialogus, who is credited with compiling the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
The Last Judgment is a repeating theme of Great Lent (17th-century icon from Lipie, Poland).
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of scripture are to be read.
The month of October from a liturgical calendar for Abbotsbury Abbey. 13th-century manuscript (British Library, Cotton MS Cleopatra B IX, folio 59r).
Roman Rite liturgical year
A white coloured parament hangs from the pulpit, indicating that the current liturgical season is Christmastide. The fact that the Christ Candle in the centre of the Advent wreath is lit also indicates that Christmas has arrived.
