The 2025 Lenten Calendar: A Historic Alignment

In the Orthodox Church, the timing of Great Lent is anchored to Pascha (Easter), calculated according to the traditional Julian reckoning and the decrees of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325 AD). In 2025, the Julian and Gregorian calculations align, meaning Orthodox and Western Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on the same day: April 20, 2025.

The path toward the Empty Tomb begins weeks prior, inaugurating a period of intense spiritual recalibration:

• Forgiveness Sunday (Cheesefare): March 2, 2025
• Clean Monday (Beginning of Lent): March 3, 2025
• Lazarus Saturday: April 12, 2025
• Palm Sunday: April 13, 2025
• Holy and Great Week: April 14 – 19, 2025
• Holy Pascha (Easter Sunday): April 20, 2025

“Bright Sadness”: The Essence of the Fast

Great Lent is neither an exercise in legalistic self-deprivation nor a period of morbid self-condemnation. The Church Fathers describe the atmosphere of Lent as charmolypi, a Greek term translating to “bright sadness” or “joy-making sorrow.” It is a period marked by mourning over spiritual failures and human brokenness, yet illuminated by the impending joy of redemption and resurrection.

The aim is theosis—communion with God through inner transformation (metanoia, literally a “change of mind”). The Church invites the faithful to step away from worldly noise and enter the desert of quiet self-examination.

The Three Pillars of Great Lent

Orthodox tradition approaches the Lenten journey through three interconnected spiritual disciplines:

1. Fasting (Ascetic Discipline)

Beginning on Clean Monday, the traditional fast calls for abstention from meat, dairy, eggs, fish (with vertebrae), wine, and olive oil, with relaxations permitted on weekends and specific feast days (such as the Annunciation on March 25 / April 7). However, the Church consistently reminds the faithful that dietary fasting is only a pedagogical tool.

“Let us fast with a fast acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. To be acceptable, a fast must be not merely abstention from food, but estrangement from vices: curbing the tongue, putting away anger, setting aside lust, malicious gossip, lying, and perjury.”
— St. Basil the Great

2. Deepened Prayer and Liturgical Life

The liturgical rhythm of the parish undergoes a dramatic shift. Regular celebrations of the divine liturgy cease on weekdays, replaced by:

• The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Celebrated on Wednesdays and Fridays, offering the faithful spiritual nourishment in the middle of ascetic struggle.
• The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete: A vast, poetic penitential dialogue between the soul and God, read during the first week and the fifth week.
• The Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian: Accompanied by prostrations, this short prayer serves as the spiritual blueprint of the season, asking God to remove the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk, and to grant chastity, humility, patience, and love.

3. Almsgiving and Active Love

The physical fast saves money and time, which are strictly meant to be redirected toward those in need. In the Orthodox understanding, fasting without charity is demoniac; true fasting expands the heart to alleviate the suffering of one’s neighbor.

The Weeks of the Journey

Each Sunday of Great Lent acts as a spiritual milestone, reinforcing a foundational truth of the faith:

1. First Sunday (March 9, 2025) – Sunday of Orthodoxy: Commemorates the restoration of the holy icons in 843 AD, celebrating the reality of the Incarnation—that God truly became visible human flesh.
2. Second Sunday (March 16, 2025) – St. Gregory Palamas: Honors the defender of the hesychastic tradition, affirming that humanity can truly participate in God’s uncreated energies and divine grace.
3. Third Sunday (March 23, 2025) – Veneration of the Holy Cross: Placed precisely in the middle of the Forty Days, the Cross is brought out to give strength, shade, and refreshment to weary travelers.
4. Fourth Sunday (March 30, 2025) – St. John Climacus: Commemorates the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent, reminding the faithful of the gradual, step-by-step nature of spiritual growth.
5. Fifth Sunday (April 6, 2025) – St. Mary of Egypt: Tells the story of an extreme sinner who, through repentance, became one of the greatest desert monastics—proving that no soul is beyond the reach of divine mercy.

Preparing for Clean Monday

Before the strict fast begins, the faithful pass through Forgiveness Sunday. In parishes across the world, services conclude with the ancient Rite of Mutual Forgiveness. Clergy and parishioners bow before one another, asking and granting forgiveness for offenses seen and unseen, uttering the simple words: “Forgive me, a sinner,” met with the reply, “God forgives, and I forgive.”

Entering the arena of Great Lent unburdened by grudges and resentment, Orthodox Christians in 2025 prepare once again to walk the narrow path that leads through the Cross to the unwaning light of the Resurrection.