Liturgical Calendar

The Liturgical Year

The Orthodox Liturgical year begins every year on September 1st. This is known as the Liturgical New Year.

Most feasts are celebrated on the same day every e.g. September 8th, or March 25th, and thus they usually fall on a different day of the week each year e.g. Monday one year then Tuesday the next.

Fasts

Any and all questions of fasting should be directed to the priest. The information presented here is not a prescription for how individuals should fast.

There are broadly two categories of fasting, the regular fasts and the seasonal fasts. In general, Orthodox fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year

In addition to regular fasting, there are 4 major fasting seasons, in order of the Liturgical calendar:

  1. The Nativity Fast (40 days, November 15th to December 25th)
  2. Great and Holy Lent (40 days)
    • Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday (2 days)
    • Holy Week (7 days)
  3. Apostles’ Fast (2nd Monday after Pentecost to June 29th, 8-42 days)
  4. Dormition Fast (14 days, August 1st to 14th)

Feasts

In the Orthodox Church we have “feasts”, or “feast days”, congruent with the term “festival”. There are five ranks or classes of feasts.

The Feasts of Feasts

Pascha, Greek for Passover, is the Feast of Feasts. It is a rank of all its own. It is so-called as it is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover. During Pascha we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ and his conquest over Death.

The Feasts of Christ and His Mother
(1st Class and 2nd Class)

There are 12 Great Feasts of the Church, not including Pascha. 7 of these are feasts of our Lord, and are considered first class feasts. 5 of these are in honor of the Theotokos and are considered second class feasts.

  1. The Nativity of the Theotokos, 8 September
  2. The Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September
  3. The Presentation of the Theotokos, 21 November
  4. The Nativity of Christ (Christmas), 25 December
  5. The Baptism of Christ (Theophany, Epiphany in the West) 6 January
  6. The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas), 2 February
  7. The Annunciation, 25 March
  8. The Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), the Sunday before Easter
  9. The Ascension of Christ, forty Days after Easter
  10. Pentecost, fifty Days after Easter
  11. The Transfiguration of Jesus, 6 August
  12. The Dormition of the Theotokos, 15 August

Notice that 9 of these feasts fall on the same day every year, their dates are fixed. The other 3, as well as Pascha, fall on different days each year, their dates are movable.

Also notice, the Liturgical year begins with the birth of the Theotokos, and ends with her Dormition.