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The fasting of Catechumens begins today. It is specific only to the Armenian Church. It begins three weeks before the Great Lent. In ancient times people could eat only bread and salt during the fast of Catechumens. On those days it was not allowed to celebrate Divine Liturgy either, armenianchurch.org reports.

The meaning of the fasting of Catechumens is the purification of the five human senses from pagan impurity. In the ancient Church there was a custom to fast for five days before baptism. St. Gregory the Illuminator ordered King Trdat and others to fast for five days before baptism in order to be freed of evil. That is also the reason for the fasting of Catechumens to be called "fast of salvation" from the evil.

According to the tradition, the fasting of Catechumens was initiated by St. Gregory the Illuminator in memory of the above-mentioned practice.

There are two explanations regarding the name of this fast. It is called the fast of Catechumens:

As the precursor of the Great Lent, and it is the first fast of the Liturgical Calendar year

As the first Armenian fast

On the fifth day of the fasting of the Catechumens, on Friday, the remembrance day of Prophet Jonah is celebrated, but it is celebrated not as the feast of the Prophet Jonah, but as the memory of an example of great repentance and abstinence which Jonah urged.

At times, the fasting of the Catechumens was incorrectly called the fast of St. Sarkis, because the Armenian Church celebrates the feast of St. Sarkis on Saturday following the fast. According to the testimonies of Armenian medieval writers, Greek and Latin Churches also practiced the fasting of the Catechumens in ancient times.