ASH MONDAY

 ASH MONDAY IN THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

A. INTRODUCTION

On Monday, 3rd March 2025, I came across the Maronite celebration of ASH MONDAY on one of their Facebook pages. It was my first time experience of such practice. As if that was not enough, the celebration of ASH MONDAY by the Syro Malankara Catholic Church and Syro Malabar Catholic Church surfaced on their various Facebook pages. The curiosity led me to put down this piece of work.

In the beginning, the Church was ONE, though with different cultures. Then, there were about five centers of trade and governance so to say; and they were: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. And these five centers became five major headquarters of the Church, each with her own Patriarch.

Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople belong to the East. They are called the Eastern Churches. Their main language is Greek and so they are called the Greek Church. Only Rome belongs to the West and her main language is Latin. The Church in Rome is called the Western Church or Latin Church. You can see that the division is based on location (and language).

With time, the Church in Constantinople swallowed the other ones, thus making Constantinople the headquarters of the Eastern Churches. Yes, the influence of the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria began to weaken, bringing Rome and Constantinople to the forefront as the two power centers of the church. 

B. THE GREAT EAST-WEST SCHISM OF 1054 AD

There is no how one can talk about the history of the Catholic Church without mentioning the Schism of 1054 AD. Prior to this time, only Rome (for the West) and Constantinople (for the East) were the two power centers of the church. So, what happened?

Most contentious of all and the conflict which brought the Great Schism to a head was the issue of ecclesiastical authority, specifically, whether the pope in Rome held power over the patriarchs in the East. The Roman Catholic Church had argued for the primacy of the Roman Pope since the fourth century and claimed that he held universal authority over the whole church. The Eastern leaders actually honoured the pope but refused to grant him the power to determine policy for other jurisdictions or to alter the decisions of Ecumenical Councils.

 

In the years leading up to the Great Schism of 1054 AD, the church in the East was led by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cærularius (around 10001058 AD), while the church in Rome was led by Pope Leo IX (10021054 AD). 

At the time, problems sprang up in Southern Italy, which was part of the Byzantine Empire (Greek Territory). Norman warriors had invaded, conquering the region and replacing Greek bishops with Latin bishops. When Cærularius learned that the Normans were forbidding Greek rites in the churches of Southern Italy, he retaliated by shutting down the Latin rite churches in Constantinople. 

Their longstanding disputes erupted when Pope Leo IX sent his chief advisor Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople with instructions to handle the problem and proffer a solution to it. Before the arrival of Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople, Pope Leo IX has died already. Cardinal Humbert acted on his own authority by aggressively criticizing and condemning the actions of Cærularius. When Cærularius ignored the supposed demands of Pope Leo IX as presented by Cardinal Humbert, he was formally excommunicated as Patriarch of Constantinople on July 16, 1054 by Cardinal Humbert. In response, Patriarch Michael Cærularius burned the papal bull of excommunication and declared the bishop of Rome to be a heretic, and thus being excommunicated from the Church. The East-West Schism was sealed. 

The Eastern Churches at this time referred to themselves as the ORTHODOX CHURCH. The name orthodox here means that they are the true Church, who follows the true teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And they referred to the Church in Rome derogatorily as the CHURCH OF ROME OR ROMAN CHURCH. At the same time of retaining the name as Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Rome maintains that she is the true Church, the true Orthodox Church. 

With the passage of time, most rites among the Greek Church or Eastern Church were returning to join the Roman Catholic Church, under the primacy of the Pope. They were accepted and they were allowed to celebrate the Mass (Liturgy) in their own way.

Today, there are 23 Sui Iuris Churches that came back to be in communion with the Pope. Their names are stated below:

ALEXANDRIAN RITE

The Sui Iuris Churches under it are 3 in number viz:

(1) Coptic Catholic Church

(2) Eritrean Catholic Church

(3) Ethiopian Catholic Church

WEST SYRIAN (OR ANTIOCHENE) RITE

The Sui Iuris Churches under it are 3 in number viz:

(1) Maronite Catholic Church

(2) Syriac Catholic Church

(3) Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

ARMENIAN RITE

The Sui Iuris Church under it is only 1:

Armenian Catholic Church

EAST SYRIAN (OR CHALDEAN) RITE

The Sui Iuris Churches under it are 2 in number viz:

(1) Chaldean Catholic Church

(2) Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

CONSTANTINOPOLITAN (OR BYZANTINE) RITE

The Sui Iuris Churches under it are 14 in number viz:

(1) Albanian Catholic Church

(2) Belarusian Catholic Church

(3) Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church

(4) Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro (or Križevci Catholic Church)

(5) Greek Byzantine Catholic Church

(6) Hungarian Greek Catholic Church

(7) Italo-Albanian Catholic Church

(8) Macedonian Catholic Church

(9) Melkite Greek Catholic Church

(10) Romanian Catholic Church

(11) Russian Catholic Church

(12) Ruthenian Catholic Church (also known as the Byzantine Catholic Church in America)

(13) Slovak Catholic Church

(14) Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Let me give you this illustration:

Using Ukraine Greek Catholic Church for example, those who came to be in communion with the Roman Catholic Pope bear the name Ukraine Greek Catholic Church while those who refused bear the name Ukraine Greek Orthodox Church; the same is applicable to Russian Greek Catholic Church and Russian Greek Orthodox Church; Syro Malankara Catholic Church and Syro Malankara Orthodox Church and so on. I hope you can now say their difference!

C. ASH MONDAY 

Ash Monday is a liturgical practice for all the churches of Greek origin, both the Orthodox and those in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

In the Maronite and Eastern Christianity tradition, it is synonym with Clean Monday. Clean Monday is the seventh Monday before Easter, traditionally used as the beginning of Lent in Eastern Christianity

Ash Monday or Clean Monday, or Kathara Deftera as it is called in Greek marks the end of the carnival season (Apokries) and the beginning of the preparation period for Orthodox Easter. Therefore, Clean Monday is by default a day of fasting, and cleansing of the body and the soul.

The Maronite Lenten season begins with the Entrance into Great Lent on Cana Sunday. The Maronite Church adopted Ash Monday later. Considering that Great Lent starts on Sunday, for the Maronites and the entire Eastern Church, it would not have made sense for the distribution of the Ashes on Wednesday, which is why it is Ash Monday.

D. THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF ASHES

Ashes can have many spiritual meanings, including mourning, repentance, mortality, and humility. 

In the Sacred Scriptures, ashes are a symbol of repentance and grief.  Wearing ashes was a common way to mourn and repent in early history. 

Ashes are also used as a sign of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. For example, Mordecai wore ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all the Jewish people. 

On Ash Wednesday, Christians wear ashes to symbolize death and repentance. 

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

March 4 2025