- A: No. No it’s not particularly Jewish except for the number 40 being common in the OT. One of the early quotes from the early church on this, comes from Irenaeus, who explains how the very early fasting practices prior to Easter varied:
- For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more. In fact, others fast forty days … And this variety among observers [of the fasts] did not have its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors. –Irenaeus (c.180)
- It was formalised into a 40 day fast around the time of Nicaea where there was more expectation for the Church to follow this practice. Sundays were skipped as they were seen as mini feast days to celebrate the resurrection, and so couldn’t be a day of mourning with a fast The beginning of the fast of forty days is on the fifth of the month Phamenoth [Ash Wednesday]; and when, as I have said, we have first been purified and prepared by those days, we begin the holy week of the great Easter on the tenth of the month Pharmuthi [Palm Sunday], in which, my beloved brethren, we should use more prolonged prayers, and fastings… –Athanasius, Paschal Letter III
Are there Jewish origins to Lent?
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