Calendar

Nativity of our Lord	December 25/January 7
Epiphany	January 6/January 19
Meeting of our Lord	February 2/ February 15
Annunciation	March 25/April 7




Transfiguration of our Lord	August 19 (6)
Dormition of the Mother of God	August 28 (15)
Nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary	September 21 (8)
Elevation of the Holy Cross	September 27 (14)
Entry of the Holy Virgin Mary	December 4 (Nov 21)

Meatfare Saturday, the Second, Third and Fourth Saturdays of Great Lent
and Saturday before Pentecost. Also St. Thomas Sunday is a day of customary commemoration. May 11 marks the commemoration of Famine victims

The Synaxis of the Holy Mother of God	December 26/January 8
St. Stephen the Protomartyr	December 27/January 9
Naming of our Lord. St. Basil	January 1/January 14
Synaxis of St. John the Baptist	January 7/January 20
Three Hierarchs	January 30/February 12
St. Haralambos (Charalampus, Haralampij) St. Polycarp (Polykarpos) Great Martyr St. George April 23/May 6	February 10/February 23 February 23/March 8
Venerable Theodosius of the Kievan Caves	May 3/May 16
Venerable Job of Pochaiv	May 6/May 19
Sts. Cyril and Methodius	May 11/May 24
Synaxis of the Fathers of the 2nd Ecumenical Council	May 22/June 4
Synaxis of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council	June 3/June 16
Nativity of St. John the Baptist	June 24/July 7
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul	June 29/July 12
St. Antony of the Kievan Caves	July 10/July 23
St. Olga, the Baptizer of Ukraine	July 11/July 24
St. Volodymyr, Equal-to-the-Apostles	July 15/July 28
Holy Prophet Elijah	July 20/August 2
Procession of Cross, Maccabees, Baptism of Rus (Rus-Ukraine)	August 1/August 14
Synaxis of Venerables of the Theodosian Kievan (Kyivan) Caves, St. Moses the Black	August 28/September 10
Beheading of St. John the Baptist	August 29/September 11
Sts. Zacharias and Elisabeth; Venerable Martyr Athanasius of Berest	September 5/September 18
St. John the Theologian Apostle, and Evangelist (repose)	September 26/October 9
Protection of the Holy Mother of God; St. Romanos the Melodist	October 1/October 14
Synaxis of the Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council	October 14/October 27
Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki	October 26/November 8
Holy Archangel Michael	November 8/November 21
St. Andrew the First Called Apostle	November 30/December 13
St. Nicholas the Wonderworker	December 6/December 19

All Wednesdays and Fridays that do not fall during High Feast (fast free) periods listed above

Nativity Eve	December 24/January 6
Epiphany Eve	January 5/January 18
Great Lent and Holy Week
Apostolic Fast	Day after All Saints to Sts. Peter and Paul
Dormition Fast	August 1-14 (August 14 - 27)
Beheading of St. John the Baptist	September 11
Elevation of the Holy Cross	September 27
Philip's Fast / Advent	Nov 28 - Jan 5

*Please note, 'fast free' indicates the Ascetical Fast. However, Eucharistic fasting, that is, eating no foods until Eucharist is partaken of on days when one partakes of Holy Communion is still applicable.

Weddings are permitted on all days except the following:

On Wednesdays and Fridays (from Vespers of the preceding evening until the Vespers which closes the day)

On Sunday from the time of Vespers the preceding evening until after Liturgy of the following day

On the eves of the Twelve Great Feasts, patronal feasts of a church or monastery and other great feasts

In all of the Fasts (Great Lent, Apostles' Fast, Dormition Fast, Nativity Fast)

From the Nativity of Christ (December 25/J7) through the Synaxis of the Baptist (January 7/18)

During the course of Cheesefare week (from the Sunday of Meatfare through the Sunday of Cheesefare)

During the course of Bright Week

On the day and the eve of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (August 29) and the Elevation of the Cross (September 14)

A Note on the Orthodox Calendar. The "Old" Church Calendar is a calendar which is the initial ecclesiastical calendar and is based upon the Hebrew and Julian Calendars. The Church "Old" Calendar has the same months and dates as the "New Calendar." But each date is 13 days apart. In other words, if you looked at the modern civil calendar and it said that today was January 1, that would mean that today is the 19th of December according to the Old Roman-Byzantine Calendar. In other words, January 1 on the Old Calendar is January 14 on the New Calendar. The Church has never celebrated Nativity on "January 7", but on December 25. Yet, because December 25 on the Old Calendar falls 13 days later than Dec. 25 on the Civil Calendar. Thus that very same day is at one and the same time January 7 on the US Civil Calendar and December 25 on the Old Roman-Byzantine Calendar. Thus, everyone celebrates on December 25, the only question is "which December 25"? All of this is because, centuries ago in the west, a new calendar was created to try and be more astronomically correct and to put in leap years. on it 10 days were "skipped". With that taken into account, together with the fact that leap years occur, we have a 13 day difference, which will eventually become a 14 day difference in several decades (December 25 on the Old Calendar will at that point fall on January 8 due to leap years). Thus, it is important to realize that all Orthodox celebrate, and always have, on December 25, but some do it on December 25 according to the modern civil calendar, and some December 25 according to the Roman-Byzantine Civil calendar, falling 13 days later.

(according to the "Old Calendar", with ecclesiastical then common civil calendar dates given for the year 7514AK, 2006AD. The first date given is the date which it is if you are looking at a Julian Calendar for those who are on the Old Calendar (this same date currently falls 13 days earlier on the civil calendar). The second date is which date this falls on if you are looking at a common civil calendar)

Pascha (Orthodox Easter), the date when all Orthodox, and some within the Roman Communion and some of the Protestants celebrate the annual feast of the Resurrection, sometimes falls on the same date as modern Roman Easter (i.e. the date when a majority of those in the Roman Catholic and Protestant communions celebrate).

2009	April 12	April 19
2010	April 4
2011	April 24
2012	April 8	April 15
2013	March 31	May 5
2014	April 20
2015	April 5	April 12
2016	March 27	May 1
2017	April 16
2018	April 1	April 8
2019	April 21	April 28
2020	April 12	April 19

The Paschalia for the next twelve years is as is shown above. Notice that that the annual celebration by the Orthodox reckoning (which is also followed by some within the Roman Church and Protestant communities, though a majority follow what is called “Roman Easter” on the chart, referring to the fact that it was a Roman papal decree that removed the stipulation that the full moon before Pascha had to be a Paschal full moon.

The two celebrations coincide 4 times over these 12 years; they are one week apart 6 times, and are 5 weeks apart two times. Thus, over the next 12 years the two will either be the same date or a week apart 5/6 of the time—10 out of the 12 years.

It should be noted that, although it is true that Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Little or Dennis the Short, meaning humble) (c. 470 – c. 544) collated the calculations in accord with the Julian Calendar, He was simply collating it with the Hebrew calendar so that it always fell within the Hebrew lunar month of Nisan. Thus, it is really not a matter of the Old and New Calendars, although the Julian Calendar does “recede” more on par with the Hebrew calendar than does the Gregorian, and so in that sense, the finding of the Paschal moon is easier to do from the Julian and ‘convert’ to the Gregorian.

Of course, the acts of the Nicene council we no longer have. All we have is letters that tell us that 1. They stated that all would celebrate Pascha together on a pre-determined Sunday, and not midweek as was happening in parts of Asia minor. 2. That it would not be celebrated before the Vernal equinox when the Rabbinic Jews celebrated the first of a “double passover,” which seemed to be a problem. Later, because of the different appearences of the full moon in different parts of the world, it was agreed upon that a single pre-determined mathematical full moon which was agreeable to all would be utilized. It was adopted by both east and west and agreed upon, and would not be changed in the West until the decree was changed by Rome in the 16^th century.

The following is a copy of the original Latin text and a copy from Dionysicus Exiguus. A more complete table can be found at http://hbar.phys.msu.su/gorm/chrono/paschata.htm. Remember that the dates He was usuing were showing the Hebrew dates as they would appear to one using the Julian Calendar. To show it with Gregorian you would need to add currently 13 days.

Incipit cyclus decemnovennalis, quem Graeci Enneacaidecaeterida vocant, constitutus a sanctis Patribus, in quo quartas decimas paschales omni tempore sine ulla reperies falsitate; tantum memineris annis singulis, qui cyclus lunae et qui decemnovennalis existat. In praesenti namque tertia indictio est, consulatu Probi junioris, tertius decimus circulus decemnovennalis, decimus lunaris est.

The nineteen year cycle begins, which the Greek call Enneakaidekaeterida (nineteen yearly), established by the holy [Church] Fathers, in which you shall find fourteen paschal[ moon]s each time without error; you shall just bear in mind, in each of the years, which cycle of the moon and which nineteen year [cycle] prevails. In the present [year], in the consulship of Probus Junior, it is the thirteenth of the nineteen year cycle, and the tenth lunar one.

Paschal Cycle

2007

2008

2009