Friday in the same week, because of the vigil for the Akathistos

Hymn. It has always been held that these rules of fasting should be re­ laxed in the case of anyone elderly or in poor health. In present-day practice, even for those in good health, the full strictness of the fast is usually mitigated. Only a few Orthodox today attempt to keep a total fast on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the first week, or on

the first three days in Holy W eek. On weekdays —except, perhaps,

during the first week or Holy W eek - it is now common to eat two cooked meals daily instead of one. From the second until the sixth week, many Orthodox use wine, and perhaps oil also, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and less commonly on Mondays as well. Permission is often given to eat fish in these weeks. Personal factors need to be taken into account, as for example the situation of an isolated Ortho­ dox living in the same household as non-Orthodox, or obliged to take meals in a factory or school canteen. In cases o f uncertainty each should seek the advice of his or her spiritual father. At all times it is essential to bear in mind that ‘you are not under the law but under grace’ (Rom. 6: 14), and that ‘ the letter kills, but the spirit

gives life’ (2 Cor. 3 :6 ) . The rules of fasting, while they need to be taken seriously, are not to be interpreted with dour and pedantic legalism; ‘for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 14 : 17).

Within the book of the Great Fast, the Lenten Triodion, two constituent elements may be distinguished: first, the cycle of the Psalter and the other Scriptural readings; and secondly, the cycle of liturgical hymnography - of canons, stichera, sessional hymns and

The Psalter and the Scriptural Readings. These are of inestimable im­

portance, for Lent is an annual return to our Biblical roots.43 It is, more specifically, a return to our roots in the Old Testament; for during Lent, to a far greater degree than at any other time of the year, the Scriptural readings are taken from the Old Testament rather than

This emphasis upon the Old Testament is evident, first of all, in

the more prominent place assigned to the Psalter during Lent.

Instead of being read through once, as in other weeks of the year, during Lent it is read in its entirety twice each w eek.44 Our Lenten aspirations are concentrated in the words of the Psalms that our Lord Himself learnt by heart as a child and used in His own morning and evening prayers. The centrality of the Psalter is particularly evident at Mattins on weekdays in Lent, when nearly half the service is taken up by readings from the Psalms, while the Canon is much shorter than at other seasons. During the Canon itself a particular prominence is likewise given to the Scriptures of the Old Covenant; for the Old Testament Canticles are sung in full on weekdays in Lent, instead of being greatly abbreviated or omitted altogether, as

at other times of the year. This serves as a reminder of the original form o f the Canon, which in the early period consisted of Scriptural Canticles with no more than a short refrain between the verses from

the Bible.45

The increased use of the Old Testament is also evident at other

Lenten Offices besides Mattins. On weekdays there are additional readings from the Psalter at the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth