MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The Russian Orthodox Church goes on Monday into the Great Lent - the strictest and the longest of four many day-long fasts.

It will continue for seven weeks together with the Holy Week and will end on April 16 with Easter celebrations.

The Great Lent also known as Quadragesima was set in early centuries of Christianity in remembrance of Jesus Christ fasting during forty days in desert before starting preaching and public ministry.

The Great Lent is "the time of purification, the time to change oneself for the better, and the time of the deep spiritual change," Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill said.

"The Great Lent provides us with an opportunity to repent, to recall bad actions, words that hurt us at some time but then seemed to go out of our influence and stopped provoking our conscience -but these actions and words remain and they overburden our spiritual life. The Great Lent provides us also with an opportunity to recall what we did not repent, to perform penance for the Lord and to think about dispensation of someone’s life in general," the Patriarch added.