Fasts & Feasts
The Holy and Great Fast
February21 - 1st Sunday of the Great Fast (Sunday of Orthodoxy)
27 - All Souls Saturday
28 - 2nd Sunday of the Great Fast (Palamas)
6 - All Souls Saturday
7 - 3rd Sunday of the Great Fast (Veneration of the Cross)
13 - All Souls Saturday
14 - 4th Sunday of the Great Fast (Climacus)
18 - Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
20 - Akathistos Saturday
21 - 5th Sunday of the Great Lent (Mary of Egypt)
25 - Annunciation to the Mother of God
Great and Holy Week
28 - Palm Sunday
April4 - Pascha
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2009 Liturgical Calendar
Saturday, 03 May 2008 03:53
Major Fasts and Feasts
| January 1 | Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord Feast of St. Basil the Great |
| January 6 | Feast of the Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ |
| January 11 | Sunday after Theophany Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee (The Sunday of Zacchaeus is omitted this year) |
| January 25 | Sunday of Zacchaeus |
| January 30 | Three Holy Hierarchs, Saints Basil, Gregory and John Chrysostom |
| February 1 | Sunday of the Publican & the Pharisee; Pre-Festive Day of the Encounter |
| February 2 | Feast of the Encounter of Our Lord with Simeon and Anna (Presentation of Our Lord into the Temple) |
| February 8 | Sunday of the Prodigal Son |
| February 14 | First All-Souls Saturday (Memorial Saturday) |
| February 15 | Sunday of the Second Coming of Christ (Meat-Fare) |
| February 22 | Forgiveness Sunday (Cheese-Fare) |
| February 23 | Beginning of the Holy Forty Days Fast |
| March 1 | 1st Sunday of Great Lent - Sunday of Orthodoxy |
| March 7 | 2nd All Souls Saturday |
| March 8 | 2nd Sunday of Great Lent - St. Gregory Palamas |
| March 14 | 3rd All Souls Saturday |
| March 15 | 3rd Sunday of Great Lent - Veneration of the Holy Cross |
| March 21 | 4th All Souls Saturday |
| March 22 | 4th Sunday of Great Lent - St. John Climacus |
| March 25 | Feast of the Annunciation to the Mother of God |
| March 26 | Canon of St. Andrew of Crete |
| March 28 | Akathistos Saturday |
| March 29 | 5th Sunday of Great Lent |
| April 4-12 | Great and Holy Week |
| April 4 | Lazarus Saturday |
| April 5 | Flowery (Palm) Sunday - Entrance into Jerusalem |
| April 6 | Holy and Great Monday |
| April 7 | Holy and Great Tuesday |
| April 8 | Holy and Great Wednesday |
| April 9 | Holy and Great Thursday |
| April 10 | Holy and Great Friday |
| April 11 | Holy and Great Saturday |
| April 12 | PASCHA - The Resurrection of Christ |
| April 12-19 | Bright Week |
| April 19 | 2nd Sunday of Pascha - St. Thomas |
| April 23 | Feast of St. George the Great-Martyr |
| April 26 | 3rd Sunday of Pascha - Ointment Bearing Women |
| May 3 | 4th Sunday of Pascha - Healing of the Paralytic |
| May 6 | Mid-Pentecost |
| May 10 | 5th Sunday of Pascha - Samaritan Woman |
| May 11 | Feast of Saints Cyril & Methodius |
| May 17 | 6th Sunday of Pascha - Man Born Blind |
| May 21 | Day 40 - Ascension of Our Lord |
| May 24 | 7th Sunday of Pascha - Holy Fathers of the 1st Nicean Council |
| May 30 | 5th All Souls Saturday (Memorial Saturday) |
| May 31 | Day 50 - Pentecost - Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit |
| June 7 | All Saints Sunday |
| June 8- 28 | The Apostles' Fast |
| June 24 | Nativity of St. John the Baptist |
| June 29 | Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul |
| July 12 | Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils |
| July 20 | The Holy Prophet Elias |
| August 1-14 | Dormition Fast |
| August 6 | Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ |
| August 15 | Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God |
| August 29 | Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist |
| September 1 | Liturgical New Year |
| September 8 | Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God |
| September 14 | Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross |
| October 1 | Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God |
| October 18 | Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh and Final Ecumenical Council |
| November 8 | Feast of St. Michael and All the Heavenly Hosts |
| November 15- December 24 | Philip's Fast (Nativity Fast) |
| November 21 | Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple |
| November 26 | Thanksgiving Day (USA) |
| December 6 | Feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - Patron of the Byzantine Catholic Church |
| December 9 | Feast of the Conception of the Mother of God in the Womb of St. Anne (some Churches celebrate this feast on December 8th) |
| December 12 | Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Also: Our Venerable Father Spiridon the Wonder-worker, Bishop of Tremithus) |
| December 13 | Second Sunday Before Christmas Holy Forefathers |
| December 20 | Sunday Before Christmas - Holy Fathers |
| December 25 | Nativity of Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ (Christmas) |
| December 26 | Feast of the Synaxis of the Mother of God |
| December 27 | Sunday After Christmas - Commemoration of the Holy and Just Joseph, King David, James the Brother of the Lord and Stephen the First Martyr |
Note: The Byzantine liturgical year starts on September 1 and ends on August 31. The movable feasts are determined by the date of Pascha (the feast of the Resurrection). There are two systems currently in use to calculate Pascha - Gregorian (Western) and Julian (Eastern). Roman Catholics, most Byzantine Catholics in America and some Orthodox (notably those in Finland) follow the Gregorian date. Some Byzantines in America and most Byzantines and Orthodox elsewhere follow the Julian date. In the year AD 2009 Pascha will be celebrated on April 12 on Gregorian calendar and on April 19 on the Julian and Revised Julian calendars.
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O Savior, save me!
O Master, I have not kept Your Commandments. By my own free choice I yielded to the passions of sensual pleasure. I have stripped myself of grace. I lay wounded and naked. I pray to You, O Savior: save me!
Matins of the Fourth Sunday of the Fast
Wisdom from the Church Fathers
| While the Bridegroom tarried, they slumbered and slept: Give ear, ye prudent, to our Lord's parable, for it is all light. All of them slept, both the foolish and the wise -- Which signifies that the good and the wicked die until the resurrection. The same sleep comes upon the ten of them, which is as much as to say, That death is the same for all creation without distinction. One was the sleep of the wise and of the foolish, For one is death, both of the righteous and of sinners. The good die, as the wise virgins slept; And the bad die, as the foolish also slept. Behold, all creation looketh for the coming of the Bridegroom, Christ, Who cometh at the end with His angels. But since He hath tarried, all generations slumber and sleep with the sleep of death, while looking for when He cometh. A Homily on the Ten Virgins by Mar Jacob, Bishop of Serugh |