Ash Wednesday

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Donation of the ash cross

With Ash Wednesday ( Latin Feria quarta cinerum , 'fourth day (= Wednesday ) of the ashes' or dies cinerum , 'day of the ashes', also ashes day ), the forty-day fasting period begins in the Western Church since the pontificate of Gregory the Great . The day before Ash Wednesday is Shrove Tuesday .

The name Ash Wednesday comes from the custom of consecrating the ashes of the burned palm branches of the previous year in a service on this day and marking the believers with a cross made from these ashes. The ashes consecration and the reception of the ash cross (also ash cross ) belong to the salvific signs, the sacramentals .

Lent is to remember the 40 days that Jesus Christ spent fasting and praying in the desert ( Mt 4,2  EU ), and to prepare for Easter . The Eastern Church does not know Ash Wednesday because its Lent begins on the Sunday evening of the seventh week before Easter.

history

Symbolic embodiment of Lent at Carnival , partial view of a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

The sprinkling of ashes as a sign of repentance can already be found in the Old Testament .

"When the news of this reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal cloak, wrapped himself in a robe of penance and sat in the ashes."

- Jonah 3,6

"I turned my face to the Lord God to pray to him with prayer and supplication, while fasting in sackcloth and ashes."

- Dan 9.3

In Christianity since late antiquity , people who were penalized at church had to wear a penitential robe at the beginning of Lent, and they were strewn with ashes. In the Church of Gaul, they were expelled from the church - based on the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise ( Gen 3  EU ). On Maundy Thursday they were allowed to receive communion again . While this custom was lost around the end of the 10th century, the ashes of all believers prevailed after initially some had taken it upon themselves out of solidarity with the penitents. The first prayer for the blessing of ashes dates from the 11th century, the regulation to use the palm branches of the previous year for the extraction of the ashes dates from the 12th century. At the Synod of Benevento (1091) Pope Urban II recommended the practice of spreading ashes for the whole Church.

Depending on the local custom, the ash cross is either sprinkled on the head in the form of a cross or drawn on the forehead, also depending on custom, the believers kneel down in rows at the communion bench or receive the ash cross while standing. With the receipt of the ash cross, the person should be reminded of his transience and called to repentance ( Greek μετάνοια metánoia , literally for "rethink, change of mind, change of mind").

Ash Wednesday also marks the end of Shrovetide . In the Bible, the “carnal” is opposed to the spiritually minded (e.g. Rom 8,5  EU ). The farewell to the flesh in Lent, which is also symbolically carried out through abstinence and fasting, should help to reflect on the spiritual life and thus on God. In the Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is a strict day of fasting and abstinence .

According to the prevailing opinion, German employers have to release their employees from work on Ash Wednesday to attend a church service without payment of wages in order to enable the faithful to receive this sacramental. Catholic students can be exempted from class to attend Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday.

Church service on Ash Wednesday

Roman Catholic

The ashes can also be sprinkled on the head in a cross shape, as seen in this Polish painting from 1881.

The donation of the ash cross usually takes place during the holy mass on Ash Wednesday. There is no general admission of guilt at the beginning, the ashes are distributed after the sermon. The priest blesses the ashes through prayer and sprinkling with holy water and places them on everyone who comes before him. The donor speaks the words with the designation with the ash cross to each individual: "Remember, man, that you are dust and return to dust" ( Gen 3.19  EU ) (Latin: "Memento homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris" ) or: “Convert and believe in the gospel ” ( Mk 1.15  EU ). There is singing while the ashes are being distributed; the liturgy sees this as an antiphon z. B. Joel 2.13  EU in connection with Ps 51  EU or another penitential song; The antiphon Attende Domine , which originated in France in the 17th century, is often chosen ( God's praise 266 Convert us ). The intercessions immediately follow the distribution of the ashes .

The blessing and laying on of ashes can also take place outside of Holy Mass. In this case one begins with the divine service of the daily mass: opening verse, daily prayer. Readings with intermediate chants, a homily, then the blessing of the ashes and the donation of the ash cross. The intercession, the closing prayer and the blessing conclude. The liturgical color of the day is purple.

Evangelical

The celebration of the service on Ash Wednesday has been preserved in Protestant (especially Lutheran) churches. The ash cross can also be donated. The Evangelical Worship Book suggests to celebrate Ash Wednesday with a penance service or the celebration of congregational confession.

The liturgical texts of the day address the motives of penance, fasting and the Christian life. The Old Testament reading says: "Convert yourselves to me with all your heart with fasting, with weeping, with lamentation!" ( Joel 2: 12-18  LUT ) In the Gospel, Jesus warns the disciples against a fasting practice that is only aimed at this To make an impression on people ( Mt 6,16-21  LUT ).

The liturgical color of the day is purple, the sung Hallelujah after the reading of the Epistles is omitted. The “Glory to God in the highest” is no longer sung in all services from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday with the exception of the service on Maundy Thursday . The song of the day is “Let us go with Jesus” ( EG 384). The texts of the service on Ash Wednesday can be exchanged with the texts of the Sunday Invokavit .

date

The beginning of Lent depends on the moving Easter date . Ash Wednesday is the 46th day before Easter Sunday. The earliest possible date is February 4th, the latest possible is March 10th.

year date
2020 February 26th
2021 February 17th
2022 02nd March
2023 February 22
2024 14th of February
2025 05. March

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Ash Wednesday  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Ash Wednesday  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dirt has to get out on “Ash Day”. dpa article in the Schwäbische Zeitung , February 9, 2005, archived from the original on February 16, 2016 ; accessed on February 14, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Anke Fischer: Feste und Customs in Germany , Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89736-323-2 , p. 20.
  3. ^ Pius Brunnquell : Brief history of church penance and apology of sacramental confession . Bamberg and Würzburg, 1816, p. 16
  4. ^ Adolf Adam : Celebrate the church year. Its history and its meaning after the renewal of the liturgy . Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna, 1979, ISBN 3-451-18648 , pp. 87-88.
  5. ↑ Religious holidays: leave for employees possible. In: Berlin.de. March 9, 2017, accessed February 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ lyrics and melody Attende Domine
  7. ↑ Evangelical church service book. Agende for the Evangelical Church of the Union and for the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany , ed. by the church leadership of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany and on behalf of the Council of the Church Chancellery of the Evangelical Church of the Union; Berlin, Bielefeld, Hanover, 2000; ISBN 3-7461-0141-7 ; Pp. 292, 694.