Editing Ash Wednesday (section)

===Fasting and abstinence===
{{Main|Fasting#Christianity}}

[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness (Jésus tenté dans le désert) - James Tissot - overall.jpg|thumb|''Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness (Jésus tenté dans le désert)'', [[James Tissot]], [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]

Many Lent-observing denominations emphasize making a [[Lenten sacrifice]], as well as fasting and abstinence during the season of [[Lent]], particularly on Ash Wednesday. The [[First Council of Nicaea]] spoke of Lent as a period of fasting for forty days in advance of Easter, although it is unclear whether the prescribed fast applied to all Christians, or specifically to [[Conversion to Christianity|new Christians]] preparing to be [[baptism|baptized]].<ref name="2011GassmannOldenburg">{{cite book|last1=Gassmann|first1=Günther|last2=Oldenburg|first2=Mark W.|title=Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism|year=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|language=en|isbn=9780810874824|page=229|quote=The Council of Nicea (325) mentions for the first time Lent as a period of 40 days of fasting in preparation for Easter.}}</ref><ref name="Olsen" /> Whatever the council's original intent, this forty-day fast came into wide practice throughout the church.<ref name="Olsen" />

While starting a Lenten sacrifice on Ash Wednesday (e.g. giving up watching television), it is customary to [[Christian prayer|pray]] for strength to keep it through the whole season of Lent; many often wish others to do so as well, e.g. "May God bless your Lenten sacrifice."<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Shrove Tuesday? Meaning, Traditions, and 2021 Date |url=https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/what-is-shrove-tuesday-meaning-and-holiday-date.html |publisher=[[Christianity.com]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |language=English |quote=While undergoing a Lenten sacrifice, it is helpful to pray for strength; and encouraging fellow Christians in their fast saying, for example: "May God bless your Lenten sacrifice."}}</ref> In many places, Christians historically abstained from food for a whole day until the evening, and at sunset, Western Christians traditionally broke the Lenten fast, which is often known as the [[Black Fast]].<ref name="Cléir2017">{{cite book|last=Cléir|first=Síle de|title=Popular Catholicism in 20th-Century Ireland: Locality, Identity and Culture|year=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|language=en|isbn=9781350020603|page=101|quote=Catherine Bell outlines the details of fasting and abstinence in a historical context, stating that the Advent fast was usually less severe than that carried out in Lent, which originally involved just one meal a day, not to be eaten until after sunset.}}</ref><ref name="GuérangerFromage1912">{{cite book|last1=Guéranger|first1=Prosper|last2=Fromage|first2=Lucien|title=The Liturgical Year: Lent|year=1912|publisher=Burns, Oates & Washbourne|language=en |page=8|quote=St. Benedict's rule prescribed a great many fasts, over and above the ecclesiastical fast of Lent; but it made this great distinction between the two: that whilst Lent obliged the monks, as well as the rest of the faithful, to abstain from food till sunset, these monastic fasts allowed the repast to be taken at the hour of None.}}</ref> In [[India]] and [[Pakistan]], many Christians continue this practice of [[fasting]] until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2002/02/27/some-christians-observe-lenten-fast-the-islamic-way&post_id=20178|title=Some Christians observe Lenten fast the Islamic way|date=27 February 2002|publisher=[[Union of Catholic Asian News]]|language=en|access-date=28 February 2018}}</ref> In India, Ash Wednesday is called व्रत विभूति (''Vrat Vibhuti'' - meaning, "the sacred ash of the Holy Fast"). After attending a worship service, often on Wednesday evenings, it is common for Christians of various denominations that celebrate Lent to break that day's Lenten fast together through a communal [[Lenten supper]], which is held in the church's [[parish hall]].<ref name="Lighthouse2018">{{cite web |title=The Lighthouse |url=http://christsaviorchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/02-2018-Church-Bulletin_email-version.pdf |publisher=Christ the Savior Orthodox Church |page=3 |language=English |date=2018 |access-date=17 February 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216003633/https://christsaviorchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/02-2018-Church-Bulletin_email-version.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Among Catholics, Ash Wednesday is observed by [[fasting]], [[abstinence]] from meat (which begins at age 14 according to canon law 1252<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1244-1253_en.html|title=Code of Canon Law – Book IV – Function of the Church (Cann. 1244–1253)|website=www. Vatican.va|access-date=28 February 2020}}</ref>), and [[repentance]]. On Ash Wednesday and [[Good Friday]], Roman Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59, whose health enables them to fast, are permitted to consume one full meal, along with two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. Some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations put forth by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast until sunset. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat ([[mammals]] and [[fowl]]), as are all Fridays during Lent.<ref>''1983 [[Canon law|Code of Canon Law]], canon 1251''</ref> Some Roman Catholics continue fasting throughout Lent, as was the Church's traditional requirement,<ref>''1917 [[Canon law|Code of Canon Law]]'', canon 1252 §§2–3</ref> concluding only after the celebration of the [[Easter Vigil]]. Where the [[Ambrosian Rite]] is observed, the day of fasting and abstinence is postponed to the first Friday in the Ambrosian Lent, nine days later.<ref name=Thouret/>

Several [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] parishes teach communicants to fast on Ash Wednesday, with some parishioners choosing to continue doing so throughout the entire season of Lent, especially on Good Friday.<ref name="Hatch1978">{{cite book|last=Hatch|first=Jane M.|title=The American Book of Days|year=1978|publisher=Wilson|language=en|isbn=9780824205935|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanbookofda00hatc/page/163 163]|quote=Special religious services are held on Ash Wednesday by the Church of England, and in the United States by Episcopal, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches. The Episcopal Church prescribes no rules concerning fasting on Ash Wednesday, which is carried out according to members' wishes; however, it recommends a measure of fasting and abstinence as a suitable means of marking the day with proper devotion. Among Lutherans as well, there are no set rules for fasting, although some local congregations may advocate this form of penitence in varying degrees.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americanbookofda00hatc/page/163}}</ref><ref name="GassmannOldenburg2011">{{cite book|last1=Gassmann|first1=Günther|last2=Oldenburg|first2=Mark W.|title=Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism|year=2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|language=en|isbn=9780810874824|page=229|quote=In many Lutheran churches, the Sundays during the Lenten season are called by the first word of their respective Latin Introitus (except Palm/Passion Sunday): Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi, Laetare, and Judica. Many Lutheran church orders of the 16th century retained the observation of the Lenten fast, and Lutherans have observed this season with a serene, earnest attitude. Special days of eucharistic communion were set aside on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.}}</ref><ref name="Pfatteicher1990">{{cite book|last=Pfatteicher|first=Philip H.|title=Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context|year=1990|publisher=Augsburg Fortress Publishers|language=en|isbn=9780800603922|pages=223–244, 260|quote=The Good Friday fast became the principal fast in the calendar, and even after the Reformation in Germany many Lutherans who observed no other fast scrupulously kept Good Friday with strict fasting.}}</ref><ref name="JacobsHaas1899">{{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Henry Eyster|last2=Haas|first2=John Augustus William|title=The Lutheran Cyclopedia|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924029466533|year=1899|publisher=Scribner|language=en|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924029466533/page/n121 110]|quote=By many Lutherans Good Friday is observed as a strict fast. The lessons on Ash Wednesday emphasize the proper idea of the fast. The Sundays in Lent receive their names from the first words of their Introits in the Latin service, Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi, Lcetare, Judica.}}</ref> ''A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent'', a Lutheran liturgical manual, recommends that the faithful "Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal during the day, usually without meat".<ref name="ELCA1978">{{cite web|url=http://www.ststephenlutheranchurch.org/pdf/Disciplines%20of%20Lent-%20Handbook.pdf|title=A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent|last=Weitzel|first=Thomas L.|year=1978|publisher=[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]|language=en|access-date=17 March 2018|archive-date=17 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317164940/http://www.ststephenlutheranchurch.org/pdf/Disciplines%20of%20Lent-%20Handbook.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the Church of England, and throughout much of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, the entire forty days of Lent are designated days of fasting. Fridays are designated as days of abstinence in the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']].<ref name="Buchanan2015">{{cite book|last=Buchanan|first=Colin|title=Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism|year=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781442250161|page=256}}</ref> ''[[Saint Augustine's Prayer Book]]'', a resource for Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, defines "Fasting" as "usually meaning not more than a light breakfast, one full meal, and one-half meal, on the forty days of Lent."<ref name="Gavitt1991">{{cite book|last=Gavitt|first=Loren Nichols|title=Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for Members of the Anglican Communion|year=1991|publisher=Holy Cross Publications}}</ref> The same text defines [[abstinence]] as refraining from flesh meat on all Fridays of the Church Year, except for those during [[Christmastide]].<ref name="Gavitt1991"/>

In the Methodist tradition, [[Sermons on Several Occasions|John Wesley's sermons]] on the topic of the [[Sermon on the Mount]] stress the importance of the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday.<ref name="AbrahamKirby2009">{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Kirby|first2=James E.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-160743-1|page=257}}</ref> The United Methodist Church therefore states that:
{{blockquote|There is a strong biblical base for fasting, particularly during the 40 days of Lent leading to the celebration of Easter. Jesus, as part of his spiritual preparation, went into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and 40 nights, according to the Gospels.<ref name="UMCFasting2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/what-does-the-united-methodist-church-say-about-fasting|title=What does The United Methodist Church say about fasting?|publisher=The United Methodist Church|language=en|access-date=1 March 2017}}</ref>}}
Rev. Jacqui King, the minister of Nu Faith Community United Methodist Church in Houston explained the philosophy of fasting during Lent as "I'm not skipping a meal because in place of that meal, I'm dining with God".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/resources/lent-a-time-to-fast-and-pray|title=Lent: A Time to Fast and Pray|last=Chavez|first=Kathrin|year=2010|publisher=The United Methodist Church|language=en|access-date=1 March 2017}}</ref>

Members of the [[Moravian Church]] may voluntarily fast during the season of Lent, along with making a [[Lenten sacrifice]] for the season as a form of penitence.<ref name="NHMC2021">{{cite web |title=Lent: 40 Days of Spiritual Renewal |url=https://www.newhopemoravian.org/holy-days.html |publisher=New Hope Moravian Church |access-date=17 February 2021 |language=English |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512140401/https://newhopemoravian.org/holy-days.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>