Lent starts on February 27 this year. It lasts for 40 days plus the Holy Week. According to the Orthodox Calendar, Easter this year is celebrated on April 16. The IPN reporter discussed the period that precedes Easter and what the faithful should do and should not do while fasting with the bishop of “Protection of the Mother of God” Church of Ghidighici village Maxim Melinti.

According to the priest, Lent is also called Great Lent owing to its length, strictness and importance. It lasts for almost seven weeks, until Palm Sunday, when it is celebrated Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, it is allowed to eat fish, while the next week, which is the Passion Week or Holy Week, ends on Easter.

“The Christians should understand that this fasting period, as any other such periods, does not mean only abstention from particular food products, but also training of the body and soul to refrain from particular customs, practices and vices, and not only during this period. Lent should mean a new start in life for the faithful,” stated Maxim Melinti.

The priest also said that if we fast and do not do particular unpleasant things during a particular period of time and then return to these after fasting, the fasting period becomes a formality and takes more the form of a diet. “Fasting is when we combine prayer, reading of the Holy Scripture, charity and good deeds. We should visit those who are grieving, the friends who are confined to bed, the parents if it wasn’t possible to visit them in the course of the year. We should bring more joys and smiles to those who need our support. This is much more valuable and important in the eyes of God than abstaining from food,” he stated.

Maxim Melinti noted that the persons who have health problems and cannot abstain from food should talk to the priest who recommends them to read, to repent and do other things to replace fasting. In the period, the Church urges to lay emphasis on the spiritual state of the person and to avoid baptizing and wedding ceremonies because they are succeeded by celebrations. Such services are held in exceptional cases, for a sick child who wasn’t baptized for example.

The date when Easter is celebrated varies annually owing to two natural phenomena, one with a fixed date – the vernal equinox – and another one with a changing date – full moon. This year the Orthodox and Catholic Easters are celebrated the same day.