Ecumenical Patriarch’s Lenten message emphasizes asceticism
February 20, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: In his catechetical homily for the opening of Holy and Great Lent, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople reflected on asceticism.
“Asceticism is not a matter of self-willed choices and subjective particularities, but of submission to the rule and the ‘catholic experience’ of the Church,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches. “Repentance, prayer, humility, forgiveness, fasting, and philanthropic deeds are interconnected and interwoven.”
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