Weeks of the Great Fast

The Weeks of the Great Fast

The Great Fast begins on the Monday after Cheesefare or Forgiveness Sunday. For this reason, the "weeks of the Fast" are counted somewhat differently from other times of the year. The first Sunday of the Fast comes at the end of the first week of the Fast, and the same with the remaining weeks:

Each Sunday of the Great Fast has a particular commemoration:

• First Sunday - the restoration of icons to the Church in the 9th century
• Second Sunday - Saint Gregory Palamas, a noted 14th century theologian 
• Third Sunday - the veneration of the Holy Cross as we reach the midpoint of the Fast
• Fourth Sunday - Saint John Climacus, a 5th century abbot, whose book "The Ladder" is a masterpiece of monastic spiritual writing
• Fifth Sunday - Saint Mary of Egypt, a great penitent saint of the 4th century (read her Life here)

The Saturdays of the Great Fast also have commemorations associated with them:

• First Saturday - the miracle of Saint Theodore, in which the faithful were saved from being forced to eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols
• Second, Third and Fourth Saturdays - commemorations of the faithful departed
• Fifth Saturday - commemorating the protection of faithful by the Mother of God, with the singing of the Akathist Hymn

Finally, certain weekdays are of note:

• The first day of the Fast, called Clean or Pure Monday, is a day of exceptionally strict fasting.
• On Thursday in the Fifth Week, we sing the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete - the Church's great hymn of repentance.

Source: https://mci.archpitt.org/liturgy/Great_Fast.html

Recommended Reading

• The Great Forty Days Fast (Great Lent) - A Traditional Custom of the Byzantine Rite. Byzantine Leaflet Series, No. 13. (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Seminary Press, 1979).
• Father Alexander Schmemann. Great Lent. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1969.)
• Father Basil Shereghy. The Liturgical Year of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite. (Pittsburgh, PA: Byzantine Seminary Press, 1968.) 
  
• A Monk of the Eastern Church (Father Lev Gilet). The Year of Grace of the Lord. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001.)

Clean or Pure Monday, the first day of the Fast, is a day of exceptionally strict fasting.

The Great Fast begins on the Monday after Cheesefare or Forgiveness Sunday.

The First Sunday of the Great Fast commemorates the restoration of icons to the Church in the 9th century.

Saint John Climacus, a 5th-century abbot, is commemorated on the Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast.

The protection of faithful by the Mother of God, with the singing of the Akathist Hymn, is commemorated on the Fifth Saturday of the Great Fast.