On the Forty Days of Great and Holy Lent

In forty days has all sinful flesh been destroyed by the waters of the Great Flood in the days of Noah.

In forty years has the wicked, ungrateful, and rebellious generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt, and gnashed their unthankful teeth against Moses and the Lord, been wiped out in the wilderness, without ever entering into the Promised Land.

For forty days stood Moses with God on top of Mount Sinai, without touching any food or water, to receive the Law of the Old Covenant, being kept alive only by the power of God, and when he came back down the mountain, his face shone brighter than the Sun.

For forty days after His Baptism by John in the Jordan has Christ fasted in the wilderness, to defeat the devil, before beginning His Messianic activity here on earth.