The Meaning of Quarantine in the Lenten 40-Days
This starts out as a bit of trivia, but ends up as a timely piece of encouragement for us living in this time of quarantine. Stick with me to the end...
I found out in class today that the word quarantine comes from the word 40 in Italian (actually, I think it was first in the Venetian language, but those are both Romantic, so close enough). I checked the etymology of quarantine online, and numerous sources confirmed. But, it is obvious, if you think about it: four quarters in a dollar, four quarts in a gallon, right? You can see the 'four' in there. It comes from the days of the Bubonic Plague, where incoming ships would be quarantined, or 'do their forty-days', to help stop the spread of the Plague.
So, here is another connection to start to make this a bit more applicable to our daily lives. During Lent, almost every year (if not every year, I don't know), we celebrate the feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste (9Mar). Their feast was intentionally placed during Lent and their service reflects that intention.
The service for the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste is chock-full of connections to Lent. First, just as they suffered for the sake of Christ and passed "through fire and water" till eventually being forced into a freezing lake to their deaths, and thus received their heavenly reward, so we suffer through the forty days of the fast in order to reach the promised reward of the resurrection of Pascha. Also, it is no coincidence that the 40 of them come to represent the 40 days of Lent.
Let us use this same approach to see these days of quarantine in a spiritual way. Here we find ourselves both in the middle of Great Lent, the forty-day fast, and also quarantined away from friends and family, from going to Church and partaking of Holy Eucharist. What more fitting time to be quarantined? We are spending our 'forty-days' during the Great Forty Days.
Let us make this a time of reflection, a time of repentance, a time of prayer, and a time of preparation to be physically reintroduced into the wider body of the Church. This is a perfect preparation for Pascha...regardless of when the quarantine actually lifts.
I found out in class today that the word quarantine comes from the word 40 in Italian (actually, I think it was first in the Venetian language, but those are both Romantic, so close enough). I checked the etymology of quarantine online, and numerous sources confirmed. But, it is obvious, if you think about it: four quarters in a dollar, four quarts in a gallon, right? You can see the 'four' in there. It comes from the days of the Bubonic Plague, where incoming ships would be quarantined, or 'do their forty-days', to help stop the spread of the Plague.
So, here is another connection to start to make this a bit more applicable to our daily lives. During Lent, almost every year (if not every year, I don't know), we celebrate the feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste (9Mar). Their feast was intentionally placed during Lent and their service reflects that intention.
The service for the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste is chock-full of connections to Lent. First, just as they suffered for the sake of Christ and passed "through fire and water" till eventually being forced into a freezing lake to their deaths, and thus received their heavenly reward, so we suffer through the forty days of the fast in order to reach the promised reward of the resurrection of Pascha. Also, it is no coincidence that the 40 of them come to represent the 40 days of Lent.
Let us use this same approach to see these days of quarantine in a spiritual way. Here we find ourselves both in the middle of Great Lent, the forty-day fast, and also quarantined away from friends and family, from going to Church and partaking of Holy Eucharist. What more fitting time to be quarantined? We are spending our 'forty-days' during the Great Forty Days.
Let us make this a time of reflection, a time of repentance, a time of prayer, and a time of preparation to be physically reintroduced into the wider body of the Church. This is a perfect preparation for Pascha...regardless of when the quarantine actually lifts.
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