Sirate Tsion
Canon 10
Overview
This canon prescribes the annual forty-day Paschal fast, the remembrance of Christ’s suffering and burial, the celebration of his resurrection, and the period without fasting that follows.
1A commandment concerning the Paschal fast.
2Let them fast forty days every year, as Moses, Elijah, and the prophets fasted formerly. Our Lord Jesus Christ likewise undertook it in his flesh and made known that it should be observed before his sufferings. Let them remember Christ’s suffering, his crucifixion, his death, and his descent into the grave.
3On the day of his resurrection, let them celebrate Pascha and hold a feast at the completion of the fast. Excluding Saturdays and Sundays, they shall have fasted forty days. They shall also fast on both Friday and Saturday, the days of his crucifixion and burial; Sunday is the day of his resurrection.
4There shall be no fasting after these days until the completion of fifty days.