Where Did Lent Come From Not Where Most Christians Think

Where did Lent come from? The origin of Lent is not apostolic. The 40 days were assembled in the fourth century, and we can name the men who did it — and the earliest Christians were doing something else entirely. In Carthage in AD 208, Tertullian wrote out the complete fasting calendar of the church he was attacking. Wednesdays, Fridays, and the two days between the cross and the empty tomb. Lent is not on the list. This video traces what actually happened between the Didache and Ash Wednesday. What's covered: The Didache's twice-weekly fast — the earliest Christian fasting rule we have, and why it has nothing to do with Easter Irenaeus to Pope Victor, c. AD 190: forty hours, not forty days, and what the Rufinus translation story actually says Tertullian as hostile witness — a fasting rigorist who never accused the church of skipping Lent Why Nicaea (325) did not invent Lent, and what Canon 5 is really doing Athanasius importing the 40 days into Egypt in the 330s — and defending them because Egypt looked provincial Origen and the Canons of Hippolytus: a "Forty" in Egypt that was never attached to Easter Socrates Scholasticus, c. 440: no written rule exists, so the apostles left it free Where Ash Wednesday came from (hint: an arithmetic problem, and the year 1091) Why the "Lent is pagan / Tammuz" argument fails on the evidence Tessarakostē, Quadragesima, and the Old English lencten — three traditions, three completely different names for the same season, and only one of them is about the light. Which surprised you more: that Tertullian's church had no Lent, or that Ash Wednesday is younger than the Crusades? Tell me in the comments — and if you keep Lent, I want to hear whether this history changes anything. If you want more episodes tracing doctrines and practices back to their actual first appearance in the sources, subscribing keeps them coming. Sources: Primary: Didache 8.1 (Wednesday/Friday fast); 7.4 (pre-baptismal fast) Irenaeus to Victor of Rome, preserved in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History V.24 Tertullian, De Ieiunio adversus Psychicos 2, 13, 14 (c. AD 208) Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 10.2 Canons of Hippolytus, canons 20 and 22 Council of Nicaea (325), Canon 5 — Greek pro tēs tessarakostēs Athanasius, Festal Letters; letter to Serapion, c. 340 Egeria, Itinerarium 27, 45–46 (Jerusalem, early 380s) Socrates Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica V.22 Leo the Great, Sermons; Ælfric of Eynsham, Lives of Saints Council of Benevento (1091), canon 4 (Mansi XX, 739) Secondary: Nicholas V. Russo, "The Early History of Lent," Baylor Center for Christian Ethics (2013) Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (1986; 2nd ed. 1991) Maxwell E. Johnson, "From Three Weeks to Forty Days: Baptismal Preparation and the Origins of Lent," Studia Liturgica 20.2 (1990) Alberto Camplani, Atanasio di Alessandria: Lettere Festali (2003) — redating of the festal letters Paul F. Bradshaw on Easter baptism in the pre-Nicene period Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Lent" and "Ash Wednesday" #Lent #ChurchHistory #AshWednesday