While all Catholics do observe Lent and celebrate Easter (or Pascha), some of the days, names, and traditions of this season can be different depending on what Rite of Catholicism you practice. You can read an intro to Eastern Catholics here, and these Rites of Catholicism are in full communion with Rome. Today I want to share this printable Lenten calendar for kids that is specific for the Byzantine Rite. This Lenten calendar is free to print for 2022! 

You can find my Roman Catholic Lenten calendar here if that’s what you’re looking for. 

This article and calendar are by Carrie Chuff, a Byzantine Rite Catholic mom. 

Print And Go

If you’re just trying to print this file, scroll to the bottom of this post where it says “Download Your Lenten Calendar Now”

Byzantine Rite Lenten Season

This Byzantine Rite Catholic Lenten Calendar includes all the days of Great Lent, starting with Clean Monday and ending with the great Church feast of Pascha, known more commonly as Easter. Although Roman Catholics and Eastern Catholics share many feast days in common, there are also many feast days and liturgical celebrations that are different, and Lent is no exception. In this Lenten calendar,
you’ll find the important commemorations of the Byzantine Rite that take place during Great Lent, including some that are specific to 2022.

Some of the commemorations and illustrations on this calendar might not be familiar to you, particularly if you’re Roman Catholic. Here are some explanations, in case you’d like to learn!

Symbols On The Lenten Calendar

The Kite On Clean Monday

On Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent, the custom of flying kites has emerged over the last century or so in Greece. This is symbolic of our hearts rising up to God, just as kites rise up in the sky. Many Eastern Catholics, sharing much of the same patrimony as Greek Orthodox Christians, have begun to take part in this tradition, as well.

The Bowl For St. Theodore

The first Saturday of Great Lent commemorates the Miracle of St. Theodore the Recruit. As the legend goes, fifty years after the Saint’s martyrdom, the Emperor Julian the Apostate devised an evil plan to trick Christians into breaking their Lenten fast. He ordered his military leader to sprinkle all the food in the marketplace with the blood of animals sacrificed to idols. St. Theodore appeared in a vision to the Archbishop Eudoxios, and warned him of the trick. He called on the archbishop to tell everyone to prepare a dish made of boiled wheat berries and honey for the Christians to eat instead. This dish, called koliva, is made every year on this day in memory of the miracle.

Candles For All Souls Saturdays

Eastern Christians celebrate at least five “All Souls Saturdays” every year; days in which the faithful departed are remembered and prayed for. Three of these “Soul Saturdays” take place during Great Lent. The first All Souls Saturday takes place before Lent begins, which is why the first one on the Lenten calendar is the “2 nd All Souls Saturday.” For 2022, the 4 th All Souls Saturday takes place on the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, which is why it does not appear on the 2022 calendar.

The Sundays Of Lent

During Great Lent, each Sunday has a particular theme or commemoration that accompanies it. The First Sunday of Great Lent is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, which commemorates the triumph of icons against the Iconoclast heresy. The Second Sunday commemorates St. Gregory Palamas, the Archbishop and wonderworker. The Third Sunday is devoted to the Veneration of the Cross. The Fourth Sunday is dedicated to St. John Climacus, also known as St. John of the Ladder. He was a holy monk who wrote the famous spiritual work, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.” The Fifth Sunday is dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt, a holy woman who turned her sinful life around and lived a life of repentance in the desert. For 2022, the great feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos is celebrated two days before the 4 th Sunday of Great Lent. For major feast days in the Eastern Churches, the following day is often commemorated as a “Synaxis,” in which the holy ones that were present at the great feast are celebrated in their own right. This means that the great Saint Gabriel is celebrated on the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, which occurs the day
after the Annunciation.

St. Andrew Crete

The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is a lengthy penitential canon. A canon is a structured liturgical hymn that is usually prayed in a church service. On Wednesday or Thursday during the Fifth Week of Great Lent, this canon is prayed in its entirety, and the Life of St. Mary of Egypt is read. “Have mercy on me…” is repeated many times during this canon, and prostrations are made each time those words are sung. This makes for a very striking reflection on repentance and humility!

Lazarus Sunday

Lazarus Saturday is the Saturday before Palm Sunday, and it celebrates the raising of St. Lazarus from the dead, as described in Scripture. Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are unique days in Great Lent, in that they are days of triumph and joy amid the somber penitence that has punctuated the season thus far.

Palm Sunday For Byzantine Catholics

You may notice that in Byzantine Catholic parishes of Slavic origin, pussy willow branches are handed out instead of palms on Palm Sunday. This is because in Slavic countries (where most Christians belong to the Eastern Churches), the people did not have access to palms, since they don’t grow there! Instead, Christians would use pussy willow branches, which bring forth their soft, fuzzy catkins right around the time of Easter. This tradition is continued in Byzantine Rite Churches of Slavic origin in the United States.

Holy Week For Byzantine Catholics

For Byzantine Rite Catholics, Holy Week includes a “theme” for each day leading up to Pascha.

• On Great and Holy Monday, we recall the story of the cursed fig tree from the Gospel.
• On Great and Holy Tuesday, we remember the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.
• On Great and Holy Wednesday, we remember the sinful woman who poured precious ointment on Jesus’s head at Bethany, and we take part in the solemn celebration of Holy Unction (also known as Anointing of the Sick), where the priest anoints the faithful present with holy oil.
• On Great and Holy Thursday, we recall the Mystical Supper and institution of the Holy Eucharist, and then later in the evening, the Service of the 12 Gospels begins, in which the Passion suffered by Our Lord is recalled.
• Great and Holy Friday is the most solemn day of the year, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. On Friday night or on Great and Holy Saturday morning, Jerusalem Matins is prayed. This is a beautiful service filled with captivating sacred hymns, which mourn the crucified Christ.

Finally, at the end of our journey through Great Lent, a time filled with prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and all the many traditions, commemorations, and liturgical services that we observed, we joyfully celebrate the most important feast of the entire Church, the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Byzantine Catholic Great Lent Differs From Roman Catholic Lent

There are so many interesting differences between how Roman Catholics and Eastern Catholics observe the Lenten season. You can read about 6 of the key differences here.

• Color each day on the calendar as you go
• Color the entire calendar at the beginning of Lent, hang your calendar up, and use those cheap foil star stickers to mark off the days as you go. This is my favorite way to use this calendar!
• Mark off each day as you go by drawing an “X” on that day

Download Your Lenten Calendar Now

2 Options For Downloading:

1. Become an email subscriber and get the download for free 
2. Purchase the pack for $2 from my shop, and it includes this version of the Lenten calendar in that file

This download is free on my subscriber bonus page, so all you need to do to gain instant access to this download is sign up as a subscriber to Catholic Icing. When you do, you will begin receiving a weekly liturgical newsletter to provide you with resources for Catholic kids throughout the year. 

When you subscribe, you get access to all of my free subscriber bonuses, including this Lenten Calendar for kids! Instant access… for free! Sign up now using the box below to get instant free access to this Lenten calendar! 

If you prefer not to subscribe for a free copy, you can purchase your Lenten calendar here for just $2. Again, the version from my shop includes the special Lenten calendar that is specific to this year! 

More Resources:

You can find all of the Catholic Icing resources about Lent here

You can find more resources for Byzantine moms here

Author Of This Article:

Carrie Chuff is a wife and homeschooling mother of six children. As a young woman, she spent five years of formation in a Roman Catholic convent of active/contemplative religious Sisters whose apostolate included retreats and catechesis. After realizing God had other plans, she left and later met and married her husband, Derek. Eventually, they both rediscovered their Eastern Catholic heritage and embraced it fully as members of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church which is in full Communion with Rome. She resides with her family in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

You can find Carrie’s charming videos about her time in the convent and more on her TikTok page and you can follow her Instagram here.