The history of Lent you never knew...

Summary

In this engaging video, Joe Heschmeyer explores the fascinating history of Lent, uncovering lesser-known facts about its origins and evolution. Lent is widely recognized as a time for giving up certain indulgences, but its significance runs deeper, focusing on spiritual practices like prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Tracing back to the early Christian church, Lent's duration and intensity have varied, evolving from ancient traditions of fasting before Easter and baptism. With insights from early Christian writings and practices, Heschmeyer reveals how these traditions shaped the modern 40-day observance of Lent, encouraging a communal and deeply spiritual preparation for Easter. Through historical context and spiritual guidance, viewers are invited to enrich their Lenten season with understanding and purpose.

Highlights

• Lent's origin is a blend of pre-Easter and pre-baptism fasts dating back to early Christianity. ⛪
• The 40-day Lent mirrors Jesus' fast in the desert, a transformative biblical event. 🌟
• Historical figures like Tertullian and Athanasius helped shape Lent's development. 📚
• Early capricious fasting practices were unified slowly into the Lent we know today. ⚖️
• Community-based fasting was essential, with church-wide observances drawing everyone together. 👥
• Fasting traditions evolved from strict early practices to today's more moderate observances. 🍴

Key Takeaways

• Lent is more than just giving up treats; it's about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 🙏
• Early Christians had various fasting lengths before Easter, showing diverse historical practices. 📜
• Lent's 40-day fast was standardized over time, drawing from Jesus' 40-day fast in the desert. 🌵
• Baptism and pre-Easter fasts were interconnected, marking a deep spiritual preparation. 🕊️
• Communal fasting is rooted in early Christian and biblical traditions, emphasizing unity. 🤝

Overview

Lent isn't just about giving up chocolate! Historically, Christians have viewed Lent as a time to enhance their spiritual journey through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices aren't arbitrarily chosen; they come straight from biblical teachings and were emphasized by Jesus himself in Matthew 6. Over time, the community-oriented aspect of fasting before Easter and baptism became a widespread tradition, symbolizing a communal journey in faith.

Tracing back to the early centuries of Christianity, fasting, as part of Lent, was practiced in various forms. Joe Heschmeyer uncovers interesting bits of Lent's history, from individual fasting durations to its links with baptism. Influential Christian figures like Tertullian and Athanasius offered insights that harmonized differing practices, gradually leading to the Lenten period recognized today. Historically, Lent evolved from intense, short pre-Easter fasts to a more structured and spiritually reflective 40-day period.

Lent's rich history reminds us of deeper spiritual roots, intertwining individual and communal practices. While modern Lent encourages giving up personal vices, its history is deeply embedded in communal fasting traditions meant to prepare the faithful for Easter's celebration. Heschmeyer highlights that despite the evolution, the essence of Lent—a season guided by spiritual reflection and community unity—remains consistent, offering a path for spiritual enrichment.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Purpose of Lent In the introduction, Joe Heshmire welcomes listeners to Gim Poperri and shares his intention to explore the history of Lent. He notes that while some Christians associate Lent with giving things up, others understand it as a penitential season before Easter. However, the reasons behind Lent's institution and its origins are often unknown, which he finds fascinating and worthy of sharing.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Supporting ShamelessJoe.com and Overview of Lent Practices This chapter discusses the importance of supporting ShamelessJoe.com, an initiative that relies solely on public donations to operate, without any sponsorships. Listeners are encouraged to consider contributing to keep the project running. Additionally, the chapter provides an overview of Lent practices, emphasizing that the essence of Lent goes beyond merely giving up certain items like chocolate or pizza. Instead, it is a time for meaningful self-reflection and eliminating negative influences from one's life.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Spiritual Practices of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving This chapter explores the spiritual practices associated with Lent, which include prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It emphasizes that these practices are not optional, referencing Jesus's words in Matthew 6, where he speaks of these actions not as choices, but as essential components of spiritual life. The chapter suggests that these practices are deliberately chosen for the Lenten season to help individuals detach from sinful attachments.
• 02:00 - 03:00: History and Duration of Lent and Pascal Fast The chapter discusses the historical evolution of Lent as a special season of fasting. Originally, Lent was not always 40 days but was shorter and more intense. It emphasizes two significant historical trends: the tradition of Christian fasting before Easter, known as the Pascal fast, and the fasting that occurred before baptisms.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Early Christians and Lent Fasting Practices The chapter discusses the ancient practice of fasting before Easter, already considered ancient by the 100s. It highlights the conflict between the Pope and Christians in what is now Turkey over the correct timing for celebrating Easter. The Pope wanted a universal celebration on Sunday, while others preferred basing it on the Jewish Passover calendar. This controversy is evidenced by a letter from St. Irenaeus of Lyon to Pope Victor in the late second century.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Apostolic Tradition and Christian Fasting Irenaeus's letter highlights inconsistency in the celebration of Easter and fasting practices among Christians, mentioning that some believers fast for different durations or count the fasting day differently. This varied observance did not originate in their generation.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Jewish Influence and Variations in Fasting The chapter discusses the Jewish influence on the tradition of fasting, highlighting how the ancient and varied practices of fasting among Jewish ancestors have shaped current customs. These ancestors, despite discrepancies in fasting accuracy and methods, lived peacefully with each other, indicating that the difference in fasting traditions does not disturb the harmony but rather emphasizes the shared faith. The chapter suggests a deep and historic lineage of fasting practices leading up to the pre-Easter period.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Pre-Baptismal Fasting: Dedication and Significance The chapter explores the tradition of pre-baptismal fasting, emphasizing its apostolic origins. It discusses Irenaeus, a third-generation Christian, who wrote to Florinus, a gnostic heretic. In his letter, Irenaeus reminds Florinus that they both learned Christianity from St. Polycarp of Smyrna, a devout Christian and not a gnostic. This connection to Polycarp is significant because Polycarp was a student of the Apostle, reinforcing the apostolic roots of their Christian teachings.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Connection Between Pascal Fast and Baptismal Fast This chapter discusses the lineage of teachings and traditions passed down from the Apostle John to Polycarp and then to Irenaeus and Florinus. The focus is on the tradition related to fasting, particularly the differences in practices among early Christian communities. It highlights that although Irenaeus attributes the tradition to apostolic times, there was no universal rule regarding the duration of fasting for everyone. Instead, each local church had its own customs. The chapter emphasizes the absence of a standardized churchwide rule for fasting, reflecting a diversity of practices in early Christianity.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Tertullian’s Insights on Fasting and Baptism Tertullian suggests that the practice of fasting before significant religious events, such as passover, might have apostolic origins due to its deep roots in Jewish tradition. In the Jewish mishna, there is mention of a fast on the eve of passover, where individuals would abstain from eating until evening, breaking their fast with the passover meal. This tradition is seen as a precursor to the Christian practice of fasting in preparation for Easter, symbolizing Christ's own passover.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Lent: From Intense Fasting to 40-Day Observance The chapter discusses the origins and practices of Lent, highlighting two strands of fasting from early Christianity. It mentions the Pascal fast and a second regular fasting practice that can be traced back to apostolic times. This regular fast is documented in an ancient text called the Didache, which suggests Christians fasted twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, not only during Lent, but throughout the year. This text potentially dates back to the first century, making it older than some parts of the New Testament. It also references fasting in the context of preparing for baptism.
• 10:00 - 11:00: Growth of Lent's 40-Day Tradition The chapter discusses the tradition of fasting associated with baptism. It notes that there was a mandatory pre-baptismal fast for those being baptized and for the baptizers, lasting one or two days, with others encouraged to fast if able. This tradition is supported by references to St. Justin Martyr from the mid-100s, indicating its early establishment.
• 11:00 - 12:00: Writings of St. Athanasius on Lent St. Athanasius discusses the significance of prayer, fasting, and baptism in the process of repentance and spiritual rebirth.
• 12:00 - 13:00: Lenten Fasting in the Early Church and Global Observance The chapter discusses the practice of Lenten fasting in the early Christian church and emphasizes its role in the baptismal process. It notes that both the individual to be baptized and the Christian community engaged in a period of prayer and fasting before the baptism ceremony. The theologian Tertullian, around the year 200, wrote extensively on the subject in a work titled 'De Baptismo', which is referenced in the discussion.
• 13:00 - 14:00: The Establishment of 40-Day Lent in Christianity The chapter delves into the historical establishment of Lent, focusing on how the pascal and baptismal fasts became intertwined during this season. It references Tertullian's writings, particularly Chapter 20, where it is mentioned that those preparing for baptism should engage in frequent prayers, fasts, kneeling, and all-night vigils, along with confessing past sins to embody the significance of John's baptism. This illustrates how the early Church linked these practices to Lent.
• 14:00 - 15:00: The Role of the Good Friday Fast This chapter explores the significance of fasting and prayer, as emphasized by early Christian theologian Tertullian. It begins with the baptism of John the Baptist, noting that even though it isn't considered a sacrament, it required individuals to confess their sins, as described in Matthew 3. Tertullian underscores the importance of a spiritual time of fasting and prayer before undergoing baptism. Additionally, he highlights Jesus's example of fasting for 40 days in the desert immediately after his baptism to inspire those preparing for baptism.
• 15:00 - 16:00: Conclusion: The Spiritual Richness of Lent This chapter emphasizes the spiritual richness and significance of Lent, particularly for those about to be baptized. It reflects on the grace of God that awaits the newly baptized as they begin their spiritual journey. The chapter highlights the communal aspect of faith, as the newly baptized join their brothers and sisters in the faith to pray and ask for the Lord's special gifts and grace. The chapter used the timing of Lent and the two fasts to underscore the deep connection between these spiritual practices and the renewal that comes with baptism during Easter.

The history of Lent you never knew... Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 welcome back to gim poperri i'm joe heshmire and today i want to explore the true history of lent now some christians just know lent is that time of year where we give stuff up they may not even know why other christians know that it's the penitential season in preparation for easter sunday but how many of us know why the lenton season was instituted do we know when the first lent happened i think the story is actually really cool so i thought i'd share a quick video unpacking that history now i know we've just entered into lent but the one thing i couldn't bring myself to give up was thanking our
• 00:30 - 01:00 beautiful supporters over at shamelessjo.com this show runs because of your direct support we haven't taken sponsors this ministry is possible because of your generous giving so if you haven't yet ask you to prayerfully consider joining us at shamelessjoe.com and support the show all right so the first thing to note is that the point of lint really isn't just giving things up like chocolate or pizza if you want to do that don't get me wrong that is wonderful and certainly if there's anything in your life that should not be there this is a great time to root out
• 01:00 - 01:30 any kind of sinful attachments you may have but there are actually three spiritual practices associated with lent it is a season to focus on prayer fasting and almsgiving and these three are not randomly chosen jesus in matthew 6 says "when you give alms and when you pray and when you fast." now notice he doesn't say if you pray fast or give alms jesus is telling us these are not optional parts of the spiritual life but
• 01:30 - 02:00 why is lent in particular this special season of fasting and when and why did lent become 40 days long because believe it or not lent used to be a lot shorter but also a lot more intense so in tracing the history of lent and fasting it's actually important to trace two related trends the history of christian fasting before easter this is sometimes called the pascal fast and the history of fasting before baptism yeah early christians used to fast before baptisms and we're going to get back to that cuz
• 02:00 - 02:30 that's actually going to be pretty important but the first thing we should know is that fasting before easter this pascal fast was already considered an ancient practice in the 100s how do we know this well we have fragments of a letter that st erynaeus of leon sent to pope victor at the end of the second century the controversy in the day is that the pope wanted all christians to celebrate easter at the same time on the same day always on sunday while the christians in what is now turkey were insisting on celebrating it based on passover on the jewish calendar which
• 02:30 - 03:00 might mean easter could fall any day of the week in irenaeus's letter he mentions that this actually isn't the only place where we find different christians doing different things liturggically in his words quote "the controversy is not only concerning the day but also concerning the very manner of the fast for some think that they should fast one day others two yet others more some moreover count their day as consisting of 40 hours day and night." and this variety in its observance has not originated in our
• 03:00 - 03:30 time but long before and 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 their own simplicity and peculiar mode yet all of these lived nonetheless in peace and we also live in peace with one another and the disagreement in regard to the fast confirms the agreement in the faith okay so that tells us a few things number one there is a clear and ancient tradition of fasting for some period of time before easter i think it's fair to actually
• 03:30 - 04:00 view that tradition as apostolic and i'm going to give you a couple reasons for thinking that first of all he's part of the third generation of christians we actually have another fragment of a letter that he sends to a guy named florinus who had become a gnostic heretic and the gist of the letter is this irenaeus reminds florenus that both of them had learned christianity from st polycarp of smyrna who was definitely a christian and not a gnostic and why does that matter well as st urus explains polycarp was a student of the apostle
• 04:00 - 04:30 john so you see erynaeus and florinus things that he himself had learned from the apostle john so you have those three generations john to polycarp to erynaeus so when erynaeus talks about this as a tradition that doesn't originate in his time but long before in the time of the ancestors he seems to be putting it back into the time of the apostles but it's equally clear that the apostles didn't give one standardized rule for everybody there's no one churchwide rule for how long the fast should be so every local church seems to be doing its own thing
• 04:30 - 05:00 you know you got a 1-day fast 2-day fast 40-hour fast maybe something longer but my other reason for suggesting that this might be apostolic in origin is that it's actually pretty thoroughly jewish the jewish mishna describes how there was a fast on the eve of the passover so that you would go all the way to evening without eating and you would break your fast with the passover meal so it makes sense to see this carried out in the preparation for christ's own passover as christians take the holiday of passover and turn it into the holiday of easter
• 05:00 - 05:30 so that's one strand you've got pascal fasting but there's a second fast that we know about as well which we also have good reason to believe goes back to the time of the apostles and the reason i say that is because there's this ancient document called the dedicay it's dated anywhere from around 150 at the latest to quite possibly sometime in the first century which would make it older than parts of the new testament and it talks about christians fasting twice a week throughout the year on tuesdays and fridays but then in the chapter on baptism it talks about another kind of
• 05:30 - 06:00 fasting it says before the baptism let the baptizer fast and the baptized and whatever others can but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before so we know that there was a pre-baptismal fast of about a day or two that was mandatory for the one about to be baptized and seemingly for the one who was going to baptize them and then apparently optional for everyone else but encouraged for those able to do it well similarly when st justin martyr is talking about baptism in the middle part of the 100s as many as are persuaded and
• 06:00 - 06:30 believe that what we teach and say is true and undertake to be able to live accordingly are instructed to pray and to entreat god with fasting for the remission of their sins that are passed we praying and fasting with them then they are brought by us where there's water and are regenerated that means reborn in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated now notice by the way how casually he mentions that when jesus tells us we have to be born again of water and the spirit in john 3 this is obviously a reference to the fact that we become born again in water
• 06:30 - 07:00 baptism later protestants like anabaptists and baptists today are going to deny this but this is what it means for 2,000 years to be a born again christian biblically this is how the early christians understood it but for our purposes that's actually not what we want to key in on we want to key in on just the fact that the person being baptized and the christian community receiving them would join in a period of prayer and fasting before baptism now around the year 200 the theologian tertullian writes a whole work on baptism called fittingly day baptismo and there are a few details in
• 07:00 - 07:30 particular that he mentions that might help us to draw these two strains together how do the pascal fast and the baptismal fast end up connected in this season of lent well we've got some clues in chapter 20 of his work tertullan writes that they who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers fasts and bendings of the knee and vigils all the night through and with the confession of all bygone sins that they may express the meaning even of the baptism of john okay okay now if you don't catch that reference trullian
• 07:30 - 08:00 is saying that even john the baptist baptism which isn't a sacrament which is just a foreshadowing of jesus's baptism that even in that case the people getting baptized first had to confess their sins as we see from matthew 3 and if you're going to be doing that tertullian's point is you need this spiritual time of prayer and fasting but he then points out that even after the baptism the very first thing that we see jesus do after his own baptism is going for a 40-day fast in the desert and he uses this point to encourage the people who are about to be baptized therefore
• 08:00 - 08:30 blessed ones whom the grace of god awaits when you ascend from that most sacred font of your new birth and spread your hands for the first time in the house of your mother together with your brethren ask from the father ask from the lord that his own specialties of grace and distributions of gifts may be supplied to you i think that's a beautiful bit of advice for anyone about to be baptized this easter now i've already given a clue just now but there's a reason that these two fasts come together well why is that because
• 08:30 - 09:00 as the code of canon law notes while baptism can be celebrated on any day it is nevertheless recommended that it be celebrated ordinarily on sunday or if possible at the easter vigil so the timing of these is that the pre-easter fast and the baptism fast are happening at the same time and this isn't some new thing canon law is coming up with tertullian talks about this directly he says that easter which he calls the passover affords a more usually solemn day for baptism when with all the lord's
• 09:00 - 09:30 passion in which we are baptized was completed but if you can't get baptized on easter he suggests the next best time is be baptized on pentecost but don't worry even if you weren't baptized on easter or on pentecost tertullan is quick to point out that every day is the lord's every hour every time is apt for baptism if there's a difference in the somnimity there's no difference in the grace received in baptism so even if you didn't get baptized on easter no sweat you didn't have a discount baptism or
• 09:30 - 10:00 something we've got the same divine graces no matter the day we're baptized there you have it though think about the picture we've formed so far the christians are fasting before easter and they're fasting before baptisms which often times are taken at this exact same time right before easter now this can also dispel a myth that many modern day christians have we often think of fasting as a purely personal thing i decide what i'm going to give up or whether or not i'm going to fast and so on but biblically fasting was an act of the whole people frequently like when
• 10:00 - 10:30 the people who came from the cities of judah to jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the lord in jeremiah 36 or when the ninevites fasted and averted the judgment of god in jonah 3 or when the prophet ezra proclaims a fast in ezra 8 and that's not just an old testament reality either the church in antioch discerns that paul and barnabas are called to mission as a result of time of fasting and worshiping together okay so over time the sort of intense no food at all 40-hour fast turns into the limited
• 10:30 - 11:00 food 40-day period that we now know is lent well why 40 well quite obviously because it's a biblical day of preparation and because as tertullan points out jesus fasts in the desert for 40 days now that shift doesn't happen all at once instead various churches lengthen the time that they fast and other churches seem to follow suit so take the writings of the great st athanasius of alexandria for example in an easter letter from the year 334 he talks about how important lent is in
• 11:00 - 11:30 preparing us for the joy of easter the letter is actually worth quoting at length but as israel when going up to jerusalem was first purified in the wilderness being trained to forget the customs of egypt the word by this typifying to us the holy fast of 40 days let us first be purified and freed from defilement so that when we depart hence having been careful of fasting we may be able to ascend to the upper chamber with the lord to s with him and may be partakers of the joy which is in heaven in no other manner is it possible to go
• 11:30 - 12:00 up to jerusalem and to eat the passover except by observing the fast of 40 days okay you might be wondering well maybe the church in alexandria is just especially strict with the lenton fast well according to athanasius it's quite the opposite some years after the letter i just quoted from athanasius is in exile this is not the only time that happens to him he's in exile in rome and we have a letter that he sends home to egypt in which he says "but i have further deemed it highly necessary and very urgent to make known to your
• 12:00 - 12:30 modesty for i have written this to each one that you should proclaim the fast of 40 days to the brethren and persuade them to fast lest while all the world is fasting we who are in egypt should be derided as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in these days." okay so clearly by this point the 40 days of lenton fasting are standard across the church there's also a somewhat famous papal decreedle from the year 385 in which the pope writes rebuking the spanish bishop telling him that he needs to be having his baptisms on easter or pentecost and that he needs
• 12:30 - 13:00 to have a period of 40 or more days of prayer and fasting beforehand although he points out that obviously this doesn't apply when we're talking about infant baptism there are more steps to the story but i'm just trying to give kind of the broad brush picture and hopefully you can see the basic story all the way back to the beginnings of christianity we find people praying and fasting before the passover easter and before baptisms which often happened at easter and this practice eventually becomes standardized as the season of lent final point here if you find
• 13:00 - 13:30 yourself listening to this and thinking man we should go back to that short period of a day or two right before easter to fast really intensely i've got good news for you the church encourages us to keep the good friday fast actually all the way until the easter vigil marking the ancient 40-hour pascal fast so there you go i hope this short history helps us to become your most spiritually rich lent yet if this has been helpful please again consider joining over at shamelessjoe.com for
• 13:30 - 14:00 shameless poperri i'm joe heshmire god bless you