Jumpstarter 7 of 10

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Question 7

Bercot criticizes the later forced 40-day Lent as leading people to think they were earning merit and causing the church to relax the definition of fasting until it became “fish instead of beef”; what uncomfortable questions does this raise about how quickly religious practices can turn into performance, and where might your own spirituality drift toward “merit thinking”?

Another way to ask: If forced Lent led people to think they were earning points with God and fasting became weaker over time, what does that warn us about religious habits turning into a show? Where might you be trying to “earn” God’s approval instead of trusting Him?

Direct Answer The transcript warns that even a meaningful practice (fasting before Pascha) can become a merit-based performance when it is forced and measured, leading to hollow substitutes—and it invites us to examine where we treat devotion like a scoreboard with God.

Support from Transcript:

Bercot calls the pre-Pascha fasting the “Origen of Lent,” stressing it was originally Christian, not pagan or “invented” by Rome.
He notes 40-day fasting existed but was “not a very common practice” and “had never been… obligatory… not before the time of Constantine.”
He says forced Lent “has not been a very good thing,” because it became associated with “earning some kind of merit with God.”
He links this to spiritual decline: many were “not… radical disciples… hearts… burning with love,” so the church “kept relaxing the rules.”
The outcome: Lent became “basically… eating fish instead of beef,” implying minimal-cost religion.

Discussion Follow-ups Where do you feel pressure to “keep a rule” mainly so you can feel okay about yourself spiritually? How could you tell the difference between disciplined love and religious box-checking?

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Jumpstarter 7 of 10