22-02-2023
Events
The ancient origins of Ash Wednesday
Starting from Ash Wednesday the Lent begins and it well reminds to faithful people their condition, but also a renewed closeness to the Lord.
Yesterday it was the 22nd of February, the official recurrence of Ash Wednesday that marks the beginning of Lent and preparations for Easter.
In the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday has always been an important day, an anniversary that anticipates a forty-day period of prayers, penance and fasting that only ends on the Holy Thursday. The ancient origins of this day dates back to the 6th Century A.D. and it requires the use of ashes that come from the olive branches of the previous year's Palm Sunday, to be sprinkled on the foreheads of the faithful. This action, which is performed by priests, wants to remind to faithful of their condition, namely that their body is actually a sort of shrine for their soul, which will return into dust. A condition that is reiterated several times in sacred texts. A very known passage from the Bible (Genesis 3:19) quotes the following words: “Dust thou wast and unto dust shalt thou return”.
Among some curiosities regarding this period, unlike the Roman Rite the Ambrosian Rite has never officially recognised Ash Wednesday. It has always started directly from the first Sunday of Lent. It is also interesting the case of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which does not observe this rite and whose Lent begins on the so-called Purified Monday, that is the following Monday. In short, as already mentioned, ashes symbolize a time of public penance and the beginning of a journey that culminates with Easter and the rebirth of both the believer and Jesus. (Il significato del Mercoledì delle ceneri. La Quaresima: segni, gesti e parole di un tempo di conversione)
In the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday has always been an important day, an anniversary that anticipates a forty-day period of prayers, penance and fasting that only ends on the Holy Thursday. The ancient origins of this day dates back to the 6th Century A.D. and it requires the use of ashes that come from the olive branches of the previous year's Palm Sunday, to be sprinkled on the foreheads of the faithful. This action, which is performed by priests, wants to remind to faithful of their condition, namely that their body is actually a sort of shrine for their soul, which will return into dust. A condition that is reiterated several times in sacred texts. A very known passage from the Bible (Genesis 3:19) quotes the following words: “Dust thou wast and unto dust shalt thou return”.
Among some curiosities regarding this period, unlike the Roman Rite the Ambrosian Rite has never officially recognised Ash Wednesday. It has always started directly from the first Sunday of Lent. It is also interesting the case of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which does not observe this rite and whose Lent begins on the so-called Purified Monday, that is the following Monday. In short, as already mentioned, ashes symbolize a time of public penance and the beginning of a journey that culminates with Easter and the rebirth of both the believer and Jesus. (Il significato del Mercoledì delle ceneri. La Quaresima: segni, gesti e parole di un tempo di conversione)