Letter to the English Churchman on Lent (Part 1)

Dear Sir,
Re: Lent

We appreciate the remarks made by Mr. Cyril Blackstock about the origins of the (penitential season of) Lent. However, its history predates the rise of the papacy and is rooted in the observance of Easter/Paschal Sunday by the early Christian communities, i.e. the 'Lencten' (Anglo-Saxon for 'spring'; the Latin equivalent: 'quadragesima' and Greek: 'tessarokoste' means '40') season was originally an expansion of the pre-vigil fasting discipline prior to the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ on Sunday which eventually became the prevalent practice in the Catholic Church in contrast to the 14th Nisan/Jewish Passover/Paschal following the Babylonian lunar calendar of the Asia Minor churches. This is significant for it represents the mature understanding of the early Church concerning the fulfilment of Old Testament prototypes by New Testament antitypes. The 40-day period of fasting or partial abstinence from food became regularised by the time of Nicea (1), 325 A.D which also fixed the 'date' of Easter in the liturgical calendar - representing the triumph of Christian religion over paganism in the Roman Empire - as invariably succeeding the full moon of the vernal equinox of the year.

The imposition of a (system of) penitential-fasting discipline upon the consciences of the faithful – as is the case in the Roman Catholic Church by the Pope (embodying the Magisterium) in e.g. Canon 1251 (Code of Canon Law, 1983) – is not only contrary to Scripture and the primitive Faith but the liturgical tradition of the Church of England (e.g. note the absence of a ritual directive but only the Collects and Scripture readings as ordered according to the Prayer-book). 1 Timothy 4 (note the word, 'command' in verse 3) is to be read in tandem with Romans 14 which deals precisely with the pastoral issues of feast days and diet. Observance of the church calendar stripped of medieval accretions and superstition is an issue of the authority and right by a branch of Christ’s Church to regulate its non-doctrinal customs (ref. Article XXXIV) so long as they are “not repugnant to the Word of God”.

The heresy is observing Lent - a complex of ritual stages - in conjunction with the so-called Sacrament of Penance, and in preparation for Baptism and Confirmation as an integral progress towards our justification before (or a means of obtaining forgiveness from) God through the Church versus the commemoration of (and by extension, participation in) the 'mysteries of salvation' - accomplished once-for-all in the life and ministry of Our Lord 'made present' in these sacred cycles of the church calendar - accompanied by genuine repentance (i.e. 'inward fasting') and prayer in recognition of the free mercy and sovereign grace of God in forgiving sins (see Ash Wednesday Collect). It is the difference between 'grace plus works' and 'grace alone/only' religion. The invocation (i.e. direct impetration) of saints condemned in Article XXII is another perversion whereby prominent saints in Heaven are reduced to departmental deities or secondary mediators. It is these so-called pious practices rampant in modern Anglicanism that represents the reintroduction of paganism in Christendom.

The Church of England (Continuing) - with the exception of the Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church in the American scene – is the only authentic classical Anglican jurisdiction that upholds the Gospel (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Timothy 3, 1 Corinthians 1:21-24, Romans 9 etc.).