Ash Wednesday

Definition and Meaning

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It is the Wednesday reached by counting back forty days from Easter, excluding Sundays, so its date changes from year to year, falling between early February and early March. The day takes its name from the rite, performed at services on this day, in which a cross is traced in ashes on the forehead. In Korean it is also called Seonghoe Wednesday, from seonghoe (聖灰), meaning "holy ash."

The ashes symbolize repentance and the finitude of human beings, who come from dust and return to dust. When the ashes are applied, the words commonly spoken are "Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (cf. Genesis 3:19) or "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The ashes are often made by burning palm branches used on the previous year's Palm Sunday.

Biblical and Historical Background

The observance of Ash Wednesday does not appear in the Bible. However, putting on ashes or sitting in ashes appears several times as an expression of grief and repentance (Job 42:6; Daniel 9:3; Jonah 3:6; Matthew 11:21).

In the early church, those who had publicly confessed their sins customarily received ashes and did penance during Lent. This practice is understood to have been extended to all the faithful during the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, many Protestant churches discontinued the rite, judging that it lacked a biblical basis. The Anglican and Lutheran churches, by contrast, maintained the tradition of keeping the day as a day of penitence. Since the liturgical renewal movement of the twentieth century, a growing number of other Protestant churches have resumed observing the day.

Practice in Korean Churches

• Catholic and Anglican: The Catholic Church and the Anglican Church of Korea observe the imposition of ashes at services on this day each year.
• Lutheran: The Lutheran Church in Korea also has a tradition of observing the day according to the church calendar.
• Some Methodist and Presbyterian churches: Among denominations that make use of the church calendar, such as the Korean Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, some congregations hold Ash Wednesday services and impose ashes. Many others begin Lent with the Word and prayer, without using ashes.
• Reformed tradition: Those who emphasize the Reformed tradition give priority to the principle that worship should consist only of elements commanded in Scripture. Consequently, they sometimes take a cautious or critical stance toward the rite of ashes, regarding it as a tradition not found in the Bible.
• Baptist and Pentecostal: Because many of these churches do not center their life on the church calendar, they often do not observe the day as a special occasion.

Overall, in Korean Protestantism, special early-morning prayer meetings during Holy Week and fasting are more widely practiced as Lenten disciplines than the rite of ashes.