Orthodox Church in ‘Lenten Vestments,’ Czech Republic (Frettie)
The Roman Catholic observance of Lent began last month.
A reader sent me an email which contained the following:
Why the Evangelical Rush to Lent is a Step Backward
By John B. Carpenter
In recent years, a surge of interest in Lent has swept through many Protestant circles. Non-denominational churches that once ignored the church calendar are now trending on social media with ash-marked foreheads”). Is this a return to our roots, or a subtle drift away from the Gospel? The Evangelical tradition has historically bypassed Lent …
Despite its prominence in modern liturgical calendars, Lent and its kickoff, Ash Wednesday, are remarkably late arrivals in church history. The apostles knew nothing of a forty-day fast; they focused on the immediate and total sufficiency of Christ.
The Lenten season was first formally instituted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD—nearly three centuries after the church’s founding. Different developments in the church, which Reformed Christians protest, appeared at different times. Some, like infant baptism, by the second century; others, like icons, not until the Middle Ages, not in the early church at all. The Lenten fast wasn’t as early as infant baptism or as late as iconography. But Ash Wednesday, now the kick-off for Lent, is even later than icons, not arising until the 11th century, a millennium after Jesus rose.
The apostles never gathered believers to have ashes imposed on their foreheads, nor did the early church inaugurate Lent with a ritualized day of penance. …
John Calvin, the great Genevan Reformer, was blunt in his assessment of Lent, calling the “superstitious observance” a “sheer hallucination”. He argued that pastors mistakenly commended it as a holy imitation of Christ. …
The Moral Trap of Lent
The Lenten season creates a dangerous divide between the “sacred” and the “profane.” By designating forty days as “holy,” it inadvertently suggests that the rest of the year is not. This mindset leads directly to the debauchery of Carnival and Mardi Gras.
If people believe they can “pay off” their spiritual debts through forty days of discipline, they often feel empowered to indulge in every vice right up until the clock strikes midnight on Ash Wednesday. This turns the church into what Jeremiah called a “den of robbers”—a hide-out where people gather to relax after their sins, rather than a place of true reformation. God’s word through Jeremiah is clear: “Truly amend your ways and your deeds”. A temporary ritual is no substitute for a heart that truly walks with the Lord now. …
We do not need a man-made season to remind us to repent.
Yes, Lent is a step backward from the original Christian faith. While John Calvin was not a real Christian leader, he was correct that Christians should not keep Lent.
In addition to having pagan origins, one very real problem with Lent is that it is a substitute for the biblical holy days as well as helps obscure the time to examine oneself each year, before partaking of the annual Passover.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
Yes, Christians are to examine ourselves each year prior to Passover.
Yet, that is not what people do related to Lent. Nor is it a typical practice for evangelical Protestants.
Furthermore, notice what Jude wrote:
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)
One should never contend for Lent, which was not part of the faith once for all delivered to the saints, but preparing for and keeping Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, which were –and still are–part of the original faith.
Presuming that Jesus began His ministry on the Feast of Trumpets, the beginning of the Jewish civil ‘new year,’ and ended on Passover, it would have lasted about 3 1/2 years.
Here is how The Catholic Encyclopedia defines Lent:
The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season (Thurston H. Transcribed by Anthony A. Killeen. A.M.D.G. Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York).
In other words, Lent means the Spring season (it may be of interest to note that Easter is a Teutonic word as well).
But since Lent means Spring and Lent now begins, and is often primarily, in the winter where did it really come from?
Certainly not from the Bible!
Here is some of what the late Dr. Herman Hoeh of the old Worldwide Church of God wrote:
WHY the Churches Observe Lent
The Lenten season is a period of 40 days abstinence, beginning on “Ash Wednesday.” Do you know what the meaning of “Lent” is?
The word “Lent” comes from the old English word “Lencten” meaning the “spring” of the year. You can verify it in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Lenten celebration was originally associated with the spring of the year. But today it begins in the winter! Why?
Where did the spring-time celebration of Lent actually originate? When was the celebration of Lent changed from spring to winter? Here is the surprising answer!
Let us first turn back the pages of time till we reach the close of the second century. This was 100 years after the death of the last of the 12 apostles. Here is what Irenaeus writes to the Bishop of Rome about Lent at this time:
“For the controversy is not only concerning the day” — there was a controversy over the time to celebrate Easter — “but also concerning the very manner of the fast” — the fast of the Lenten season. “For some think that they should fast one day, others two, yet others more, and some forty,” reports Irenaeus, Bishop from France.
How did all this confusion originate? God is not the author of confusion! Then who originated this confusion over Lent?
“And this variety in its observance,” continues Irenaeus, “has not originated in our time; but long before in that of our ancestors. It is likely that they did not hold to strict accuracy, and thus formed a custom for their posterity according to private fancy” — not apostolic authority or Christ’s command! (From Eusebius’ Church History, Book 5, chapter 24.)
Lent came into the Church through custom — through PRIVATE FANCY. The churches observe Lent, not because the Bible commands it, but because professing Christians adopted the custom from their Gentile neighbors.
“As long as the perfection of the primitive church [the inspired New Testament Church] remained inviolable,” wrote Cassian, the Catholic prelate of the fifth century, “there was no observance of Lent; but when men began to decline from the apostolical fervour of devotion… then the priests in general agreed to recall them from secular cares by a canonical indiction of fasting…” (Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book 21, chapter 1.)
Fasting, or abstinence from certain foods, was imposed after the days of the apostles — by the authority of the priests!Lent is not of apostolic origin! It did not originate with Christ! It entered the Christianity of the Roman World in the second century. It entered at the same time that Easter did! Lent is always associated with Easter. (Hoeh H. WHERE Did God Command YOU to Observe Lent? Plain Truth, April 1957)
Notice that The Catholic Encyclopedia teaches that the claim by some that Lent was observed by the Apostles is unfounded:
Some of the Fathers as early as the fifth century supported the view that this forty days’ fast was of Apostolic institution…But the best modern scholars are almost unanimous in rejecting this view…Formerly some difference of opinion existed as to the proper reading, but modern criticism (e.g., in the edition of Schwartz commissioned by the Berlin Academy) pronounces strongly in favor of the text translated above. We may then fairly conclude that Irenaeus about the year 190 knew nothing of any Easter fast of forty days…And there is the same silence observable in all the pre-Nicene Fathers, though many had occasion to mention such an Apostolic institution if it had existed. We may note for example that there is no mention of Lent in St. Dionysius of Alexandria (ed. Feltoe, 94 sqq.) or in the “Didascalia”, which Funk attributes to about the year 250 (Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia).
Notice what the Greco-Roman Catholic Socrates Scholasticus admitted around the beginning of the fifth century:
The fasts before Easter will be found to be differently observed among different people. Those at Rome fast three successive weeks before Easter, excepting Saturdays and Sundays. Those in Illyrica and all over Greece and Alexandria observe a fast of six weeks, which they term ‘The forty days’ fast.’ Others commencing their fast from the seventh week before Easter, and fasting three five days only, and that at intervals, yet call that time ‘The forty days’ fast.’ It is indeed surprising to me that thus differing in the number of days, they should both give it one common appellation; but some assign one reason for it, and others another, according to their several fancies. One can see also a disagreement about the manner of abstinence from food, as well as about the number of days. Some wholly abstain from things that have life: others feed on fish only of all living creatures: many together with fish, eat fowl also, saying that according to Moses, Genesis 1:20 these were likewise made out of the waters. Some abstain from eggs, and all kinds of fruits: others partake of dry bread only; still others eat not even this: while others having fasted till the ninth hour, afterwards take any sort of food without distinction. And among various nations there are other usages, for which innumerable reasons are assigned. Since however no one can produce a written command as an authority, it is evident that the apostles left each one to his own free will in the matter, to the end that each might perform what is good not by constraint or necessity. Such is the difference in the churches on the subject of fasts (Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History, Volume V, Chapter 22).
Since the Babylonians took over the Greeks and the Egyptians, that may have been when they started this practice.
Notice:
But the original length of the fast, traced back to Babylon was a “forty-days” fast in the spring of the year (Laynard’s Nineveh and Babylon, chapter 4, page 93). That is why it bore its name of “40 days”! (Hoeh, H. Did Jesus Observe Lent? Plain Truth. February 1982, p. 30).
It is likely that the idea of a forty-day fast came from Alexandria in Egypt or from Greece.
The historian Alexander Hislop apparently felt so as he wrote:
The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, “in the spring of the year,” is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives account of Mexican observances: “Three days after the vernal equinox…began a solemn fast of forty days in honour of the sun.” Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt, as may be seen on consulting Wilkinson’s Egyptians. This Egyptian Lent of forty days, we are informed by Landseer, in his Sabean Researches, was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god. At the same time, the rape of Proserpine seems to have been commemorated, and in a similar manner; for Julius Firmicus informs us that, for “forty nights” the “wailing for Proserpine” continued; and from Arnobius we learn that the fast which the Pagans observed, called “Castus” or the “sacred” fast, was, by the Christians in his time, believed to have been primarily in imitation of the long fast of Ceres, when for many days she determinedly refused to eat on account of her “excess of sorrow,” that is, on account of the loss of her daughter Proserpine, when carried away by Pluto…
Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the “month of Tammuz”; in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, some time in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity–now far sunk in idolatry–in this as in so many other things, to shake hands…
Let any one only read the atrocities that were commemorated during the “sacred fast” or Pagan Lent, as described by Arnobius and Clemens Alexandrinus, and surely he must blush for the Christianity of those who, with the full knowledge of all these abominations, “went down to Egypt for help” to stir up the languid devotion of the degenerate Church, and who could find no more excellent way to “revive” it, than by borrowing from so polluted a source; the absurdities and abominations connected with which the early Christian writers had held up to scorn. That Christians should ever think of introducing the Pagan abstinence of Lent was a sign of evil; it showed how low they had sunk, and it was also a cause of evil; it inevitably led to deeper degradation. Originally, even in Rome, Lent, with the preceding revelries of the Carnival, was entirely unknown; and even when fasting before the Christian Pasch was held to be necessary, it was by slow steps that, in this respect, it came to conform with the ritual of Paganism. What may have been the period of fasting in the Roman Church before sitting of the Nicene Council does not very clearly appear, but for a considerable period after that Council, we have distinct evidence that it did not exceed three weeks (Hislop A. Two Babylons. pp. 104-106).
Hence we see that the so-called Christian observance of Lent is apparently a continuation of widespread, ancient, pagan practices that were subtly incorporated into mainstream Christianity over the centuries.
It should be noted that the Bible condemns practices associated with pagan worship, such as those that involved Tammuz:
And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:13-14).
Essentially, mourning for Tammuz could include fasting of some type for some time.
The Orthodox Catholic apologist Arnobius (died 330) warned against the type of fasts that pagans had and even seemed to warn about a Mardi Gras banquet followed by a fast:
What say you, O wise sons of Erectheus? what, you citizens of Minerva? The mind is eager to know with what words you will defend what it is so dangerous to maintain, or what arts you have by which to give safety to personages and causes wounded so mortally. This is no false mistrust, nor are you assailed with lying accusations: the infamy of your Eleusinia is declared both by their base beginnings and by the records of ancient literature, by the very signs, in fine, which you use when questioned in receiving the sacred things,—” I have fasted, and drunk the draught; I have taken out of the mystic cist, and put into the wicker-basket; I have received again, and transferred to the little chest” (Arnobius. Against the Heathen, Book V, Chapter 26).
The feast of Jupiter is tomorrow. Jupiter, I suppose, dines, and must be satiated with great banquets, and long filled with eager cravings for food by fasting, and hungry after the usual interval (Against the Heathen, Book VII, Chapter 32).
Hislop believed that Arnobius was teaching against what became known as Lent (Two Babylons, p. 106). Perhaps it should be noted that in the late 2nd century, Tertullian also warned against “Christians” participating in events that also honored Minerva (please see the article Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate?).
The Roman Catholic Saint Abbot John Cassian (also known as Cassianus, monk of Marseilles) in the fifth century admitted:
Howbeit you should know that as long as the primitive church retained its perfection unbroken, this observance of Lent did not exist (Cassian John. Conference 21, THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS. ON THE RELAXATION DURING THE FIFTY DAYS. Chapter 30).
Notice that he admits that “the primitive church” did not keep Lent!
Perhaps I should also mention that although the Eastern Orthodox Church shown above has ‘lenten vestments,’ these vestments do not come from the Bible, nor did early Christians use these type of vestments. They did not come into use until after the compromises with that famous follower of Mithras, Roman Emperor Constantine, in the fourth century.
Those who truly wish to observe the practices of the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) will not observe Lent, celebrate Ash Wednesday, pray to Mary, or observe Easter. They would keep the same days and practices of the original church.
Protestants tend to claim their doctrines come from the Bible, but if they really did, they would not be Protestant.
There is no historical record of anything resembling modern Evangelical Protestantism in the early Christian church.
Those who want to see documented proof can check out the free eBook Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism.
Some items of possible interest may include:
Is Lent a Christian Holiday? When did it originate? What about Ash Wednesday? If you observe them, do you know why? Here is an old, by somewhat related, article in the Spanish language by Dr. Hoeh: ¿Por Qué Se Observa la Cuaresma? Here is a link to a related sermon: Lent, Ash Wednesday, Carnaval, and Christianity?
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Examine Yourself before Passover This article goes into some of why real Christians are to do this. Three related sermons are Really examine yourself before Passover, Passover Examination, and Passover Preparation. Here is a link to this article in the Spanish language: Examínese antes de la Pascua.
Preparing for Passover The Apostle Paul taught that Christians should examine themselves prior to taking Passover. This YouTube video sermon gives suggestions on how to prepare.
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins? There is also a detailed YouTube video available titled History of the Christian Passover.
Did the Apostles Keep Passover on Easter Sunday or Nisan 14 Some have claimed that the Apostles Peter and Paul institued Easter Sunday, whereas the Apostles John and Philip kept Passover on Nisan 14. Were the apostles divided? What does the historical and biblical evidence point to? Here is a link to a related video: Did Peter, Paul, & John keep Easter Sunday or Passover?
The Night to Be Observed What is the night to be much observed? When is it? Why do Jews keep Passover twice and emphasize the wrong date? What about the 15th? A related animation is available and is titled: Night to Be Observed.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers. Here is a link to this article in the French language: Les Chrétiens devraient-ils observer les Jours des Pains sans levain? Here are some YouTube videos intended to be viewed for the first day of unleavened bread: Let’s Talk About the Days of Unleavened Bread, Unleavened Bread: No Tolerance for Sin, Leaven and Sin, and Christians and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Unleavened Bread, Jesus, and the New Testament? What happened to Jesus during the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do the Days of Unleavened Bread have any Christian meaning? Are there passages in the New Testament supporting not only keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, but the meaning behind them? Here is a link to a related sermon: Unleavened Bread, Jesus, and the Apostles.
Leaven, Sin, and Why to Not Sin What is leaven? What is sin? Why is sin so bad? Can sin effect your eternity? Here is a link to a related sermon: Leaven, Sin, and Purpose.
The Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread What happened? Does this day have any type of fulfillment in the Book of Revelation? A related sermon video is also available: 7th Day of Unleavened Bread: Prophecy and Lessons.
Mardi Gras: The Devil’s Carnival? Do you know that in Bolivia the carnival/Mardi Gras time is part of a celebration known as the Devil’s Carnival? Did Jesus celebrate Carnaval? Where did it come from? There is also a related YouTube video Mardi Gras & Carnaval: Are they for Christians?
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? Where did Easter come from? What do scholars and the Bible reveal? Here is a link to a video titled Why Easter?
Do You Practice Mithraism? Many practices and doctrines that mainstream so-called Christian groups have are the same or similar to those of the sun-god Mithras. December 25th was celebrated as his birthday. Do you follow Mithraism combined with the Bible or original Christianity? A sermon video from Vatican City is titled Church of Rome, Mithras, and Isis?
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2033, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 
In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L’Histoire Continue de l’Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egenderere