When is Easter in 2016? When does Maslenitsa begin? Lent? Dates of all Orthodox holidays with a brief explanation of their meaning. And also: how to find out your name day and the rules of fasting, history miraculous icons and days of remembrance of our patron saints. The RG calendar will be your faithful assistant all year round.
November 28, 2015 - January 6, 2016, Wednesday. Christmas post. A forty-day fast was established to prepare for the Nativity of Christ
December 31, 2015, Thursday - January 6, 2016, Wednesday. The last week (in Church Slavonic “week”) of the Nativity Fast. The strictest post.
January
January 6, Wednesday. Christmas Eve, or Eve (i.e. the day before) the Nativity of Christ. Strict post. On Christmas Eve they eat only juice - wheat boiled with honey, they start eating after the first star appears in the sky, which reminds of the star that lit up after the birth of the Infant Jesus in Bethlehem. On this day it is customary to confess in order to internally prepare for the meeting of the born Christ.
January 7, Thursday. The Nativity of Christ, the feast of the Incarnation, the birth of God in the flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Not only houses, but also churches are decorated with evergreen trees - as a sign of the eternal life that Christ gave us. The stars on the Christmas trees are in memory of the star that lit up in Bethlehem at the birth of Christ and showed the Magi the place of His birth. And we give gifts, like the wise men who brought gifts to the Infant Christ. Christmas is an occasion for uniting all generations of the family. The memory of being together at night worship - the all-night vigil - is carried throughout life.
January 7, Thursday - January 17, Sunday. Christmastide (holy days). Fasting is canceled, genuflection is not performed, and marriage is prohibited. The festive days of Christmastide are dedicated to the joy of the Birth of Christ: people go to visit, sing songs glorifying Christ, give gifts, help the poor, and release the repentant from prison. The Church is categorically against fortune telling and other “atrocities of superstition” left over from pagan times; “those who persist in this sin” were subject to “eruption from the bosom of the church.”
January 14, Thursday. Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the day of remembrance of St. Basil the Great, saint and compiler Divine Liturgy. New Year according to the old style. The New Year is a temporary boundary that gives a person the opportunity for renewal, so on this day priests advise coming to the temple and asking for blessings for the year.
January 18, Monday. Epiphany Christmas Eve, or Vecherie (i.e., the day before) Epiphany. Strict post. On this day, like the day of Epiphany, the Great Blessing of Water takes place. Holy water is sprinkled on the house. Blessed water “has the power to sanctify the souls and bodies of all who use it.”
January 19, Tuesday. Baptism of the Lord, or Epiphany. A holiday in honor of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, which took place when the prophet John the Baptist, recognizing Christ among many people, baptized Him in the Jordan River. When Jesus, having been baptized, came out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God “like a dove” descended on Christ. And at that time, God the Father announced with a voice from heaven that Jesus was the Son of God. Thus, all three hypostases of God were revealed to the world - God the Father with a voice from heaven, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Hence the name - Epiphany. By receiving Baptism, Christ sets an example for us and sanctifies the watery nature. It is believed that on Epiphany all water is sanctified, hence the tradition of swimming on this day.
January 25, Monday. Tatyana's Day. Memorial Day of the early Christian martyr St. Tatiana (beginning of the 3rd century). The daughter of a Roman consul and a secret Christian, Tatiana abandoned the life of a noble Roman woman, choosing to serve the Church. She was brutally tortured because she did not bow to the pagan idol in the temple of Apollo and did not renounce Christ. In 1755, Count Shuvalov, on the name day of his mother, Tatyana Shuvalova, submitted a petition to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to found Moscow University: “for the common glory of the Fatherland.” The Empress could not refuse; the decree was signed. Over time, the day of remembrance of the martyr Tatiana became a student holiday.
January 27, Wednesday. Day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, enlightener of Georgia (336) * .
February
February 1, Monday. Enthronement Day His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and all Russia Kirill.
February 6, Saturday. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg (XVIII century), famous for her feat of foolishness for Christ's sake. Prayer book, seer, saint. Ksenia helped the suffering, saving the “city of St. Peter” with her holiness. The saint does not leave us even now.
February 15, Monday. The Presentation of the Lord. "Sretenie" means "meeting." We remember how on the fortieth day after the birth of Jesus, He was brought to the temple, and there the meeting of the Infant God with the elder Simeon took place. Simeon was a translator from Hebrew to Greek. When he was translating the prophet Isaiah, he doubted that the Virgin could give birth, and then an Angel appeared to him and said that he would live until he saw Christ with his own eyes. The life of Elder Simeon became an endless wait, but one day, having come by inspiration to the temple, he met the Infant Jesus there. Meeting is interpreted as a meeting of the New and Old Testament. Celebrating the Presentation, the Church emphasizes the need to observe the Old Testament tradition, when on the fortieth day after birth, the child was brought to the temple. And on the fortieth day, a cleansing prayer is read to the woman in labor, after which she can come to church and receive communion. A tradition has developed at Candlemas to remember the soldiers who died in Afghanistan.
March
March 5, Saturday. Ecumenical parental (meat-free) Saturday. The Saturday before Maslenitsa is dedicated to the remembrance of the departed, throughout the entire history of mankind - hence the name “Ecumenical”. And “meat-eating”, since next comes a resurrection without meat.
March 6, Sunday. Meat week, about the Last Judgment. In Church Slavonic, “week” is a Sunday day. And the seven-day cycle is called “week”. The meat-eating week is Sunday, when, according to the regulations, they stop eating meat; on this day, during services they remember the coming Last Judgment.
March 7, Monday - March 13, Sunday. Maslenitsa, or Cheese Week. During Cheese Week you are not allowed to eat meat, but you can eat eggs, milk, butter and cheese (hence the name), even on Wednesday and Friday. By taking the first step in restriction, giving up meat, a person prepares himself for more - for Lent.
March 13, Sunday. Forgiveness Sunday. The last day before fasting, they eat dairy and eggs. On Forgiveness Sunday, during the service, the rite of forgiveness is performed - an ancient monastic rite, when the monks, before retiring into the desert for the duration of fasting, not knowing whether they would live to see the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, said goodbye to each other. On Forgiveness Sunday, the Church gives us the opportunity, without hurting our pride, to reconcile with our neighbors and ask for their forgiveness.
March 14, Monday - April 30, Saturday. Great Lent. The seven-week fast, the longest of all, prepares us for the Bright Resurrection of Christ, Easter, through repentance and deepening our inner spiritual life. During all services, the repentant prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read, and in the first four days of Great Lent - the Great Canon of St. Andrey Kritsky.
March 14, Monday. Clean Monday. The first, most strict day of Lent, on this day complete abstinence from food is accepted.
April
April 3, Sunday. The third Sunday of Great Lent is called the Week of the Cross. During Lent, we are crucified, like Christ, while “we feel bitterness, despondent and exhausted.” Therefore, the Cross of Christ appears before believers, “reminding us of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ and comforting us.” The day before, on Saturday, the Cross of the Lord is brought into the center of the temple, and it remains in the middle of the temple until Friday. Looking at him, we measure our feat with the feat of Christ.
April 7, Thursday. Annunciation Holy Mother of God. They remember how the Archangel Gabriel brought the Good News to the Mother of God (hence the “Annunciation”) that she would become the Mother of God: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.” Archangel Gabriel says that the future Child of God will be called Jesus, which means “Savior.” What is important is not only the call of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, but also her answer: “I am the Servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word,” that is, the dialogue of God through the Angel with the Mother of God, and in Her person with all humanity, because Christ was born in human race. On Annunciation, the fast is canceled, no one works - “the maiden does not braid her hair and the bird does not build a nest.”
April 23, Saturday. Lazarev Saturday. The Church remembers the event of the resurrection of righteous Lazarus by Christ.
April 24, Sunday. Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday. Celebrated on the eve of Holy Week (i.e. week). Six days before the Old Testament Passover, Jesus enters Jerusalem, and the townspeople greet Him with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!” (i.e. “Save us!”). Jesus chose a donkey to enter Jerusalem - a symbol of peace in the east, showing that He did not come to people as a conqueror, that “His kingdom is not of this world.” But the crowd needs victories precisely in the earthly world; it expects external miracles and victories. Not even five days will pass before those who greeted the Savior with enthusiastic cries will demand: “Crucify Him!” Thus, the solemn meeting of Christ by the inhabitants of Jerusalem was a harbinger of His future suffering. There are no palm trees in Russia, so willow branches are brought to the temple - the first to bloom in spring. The willow is consecrated on the eve of the holiday on All-night vigil and then kept in the house all year, as a symbol of the blessing of the home.
April 25, Monday - April 30, Saturday. Holy Week. The week before Easter, when we remember the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, His suffering, Crucifixion, death on the cross, burial. In Church Slavonic the word "passion" means "suffering", hence the name. All days of Holy Week are called great. Services on these days are especially long, the first three days Holy Week During the service, the entire Four Gospels are read.
April 28, Thursday. Maundy Thursday, Maundy Thursday. In churches, four events that occurred on this day are remembered: the Last Supper, at which Christ established the sacrament of Communion (Eucharist), Jesus washing the feet of His disciples - as a sign of deepest love and humility, the prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and the betrayal of Judas. Since the Sacrament of Communion was established on this day, everyone strives to receive communion on this day. On evening worship twelve Gospel passages are read, telling about the suffering and death of Christ on the cross, and believers at this time stand with lighted candles. On Maundy Thursday there is folk tradition wash before sunrise and after the service put the house in order - hence another name: “Clean Thursday”.
April 29, Friday. Good Friday. They remember the condemnation to death of Christ, His suffering on the cross and death. Liturgy is not served on Good Friday, since on this day Jesus Christ Himself sacrificed Himself. Evening service starts at 14:00, at the hour of the death of Jesus Christ. During the evening service, the Shroud is transferred from the altar to the center of the temple - in memory of the removal of the Body of Christ from the Cross and His Burial. The shroud will be in the middle of the temple for three incomplete days, recalling the three-day presence of Christ in the tomb. The day of the strictest fasting of the year, people do not eat until the Shroud is taken out.
April 30, Saturday. Holy Saturday. During the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the clergy change from black to light clothes, as a sign of Christ's victory over death. By twelve o'clock at night, the clergy silently transfer the Shroud from the middle of the temple to the altar, where it will remain until the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, in memory of the forty-day stay of Jesus Christ on earth after the Resurrection from the dead.
May
Matrona of Moscow. Photo: Icon painting workshop of the Holy Trinity Church in Moscow.
May 1, Sunday. Bright Resurrection of Christ, Easter, holiday, celebration of the victory of life over death. Sinless, Jesus voluntarily, out of love for us, gives Himself to suffering and with His suffering redeems the human race from the power of death. “Buried as a man, He, as God, disarms death,” having descended into hell, He emerges from It, for in Him no affinity was found with sin, and therefore with death. But death is defeated by Christ not only for Him alone, it is defeated for all of us. “No one should be afraid of death, for the death of the Savior freed us from it!.. Christ has risen - and no one is dead in the tomb: for Christ, having risen from the dead, became the Firstborn of those who died.”
May 1, Sunday - May 7, Saturday. Bright week, fasting is cancelled. During the entire week, the Royal Doors (the gate in the middle of the iconostasis leading to the altar) are not closed in churches, symbolizing that Christ came and opened the gates of heaven for us.
May 2, Monday. Memorial Day of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow (1952). Blessed Matrona is a prayer book, “with the gift of insight and healing” helping everyone who flows to her with faith.
May 6, Friday. They remember the Great Martyr George the Victorious (303). Patron saint not only of Moscow, but also of England and Georgia. Warriors consider him their saint, and the icon depicting St. George the Victorious on a horse symbolizes victory over the devil.
May 8, Sunday. Fomino Sunday. In churches the Gospel is read about how one of the twelve apostles, Thomas, said: “Until I see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands and put my finger into these wounds, I will not believe that Christ is Risen!” Jesus’ reproachful answer is addressed not only to the unbelieving Thomas, but also to us: “Blessed (i.e. happy) are those who have not seen, but have believed!” Weddings begin in the Church on St. Thomas Sunday (they have not been performed since Lent).
May 10, Tuesday. Radonitsa. Remembrance of the dead. Throughout Bright Week, people are not supposed to commemorate the dead, no funeral services are held, and no people go to the cemetery. A special day has been established for this - Radonitsa, when we share the joy of the Resurrection of Christ and His victory over death with our loved ones who have already passed on to the eternal world.
May 22, Sunday. Nikola summer. Transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra in Lycia to Bar.
May 24, Tuesday. Equal to the Apostles Methodius(885) and Cyril (869), the first teachers and educators of the Slavs. They pray to the creators of the Church Slavonic language and preachers if children “do not succeed in science.”
June
June 9, Thursday. Ascension of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter, Christ gathered His disciples, led them to the Mount of Olives and ascended to Heaven. The Ascension of Jesus Christ is the completion of His earthly ministry. Having defeated death as a terrible consequence of sin, and thereby giving man the opportunity to resurrect, He showed that greater deification is possible. human body. By His Ascension, Christ exalted all human nature.
June 11, Saturday. Memorial Day of St. Luke, Confessor, Archbishop of Simferopol (1961). St. Luke, in the world Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky, was both a great surgeon who saved thousands of lives, who did not begin an operation without prayer, and an unbending confessor of Christ who spent 11 years in exile. Through the prayers of the saint, miracles and healings continue. His books “Essays on Purulent Surgery” and “Spirit, Soul, Body” are classics of medicine and theology.
June 18, Saturday. Trinity parent's Saturday, remembrance of the dead. Celebrated on the eve of Trinity, people who did not receive a Christian burial are especially remembered: the missing, those who died in the abyss of water. All Souls' Day was established before Trinity in order to show that the Holy Spirit acts both in the living and in the dead, and for God everyone is alive.
Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Photo: Icon-painting workshop of the Holy Trinity
June 19, Sunday. Trinity Day, Pentecost. Dedicated to the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Christ (hence the name “Pentecost”). And the holiday is called the Holy Trinity because it was the descent of the Holy Spirit that revealed to people the trinity of God: God the Father, God the Son and the sanctification of the world by God the Holy Spirit. After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, the disciples of Christ received the gift of speaking different languages, the preaching of Christianity to all nations began. Therefore, Trinity is also considered the birthday of the Christian Church. For the holiday, houses are decorated with greenery, people come to the temple with flowers - a sign of eternal life.
June 20, Monday. Holy Spirit Day or Spirits Day. Continuation of the holiday of the Holy Trinity, dedicated to the third hypostasis of God - the Holy Spirit. In the week beginning with the Day of the Holy Spirit, fasting is canceled.
June 27, Monday - July 11, Monday. Petrov post. Established in honor of Christ's disciples Peter and Paul. It begins on the second Monday after Trinity and ends on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
July
July 7, Thursday. The Nativity of John the Baptist - the greatest prophet, born in order to recognize Christ among thousands of others. John the Baptist was the voice of God, preparing people to meet Christ.
July 12, Tuesday. Holy Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul. Christ said about the Apostle Peter that He would build His Church on his faith. The Apostle Paul did not see Christ with his own eyes during His earthly life; the Savior appeared to the Apostle Paul after His Ascension to Heaven. And ap. Peter, and ap. Paul left behind letters and were the greatest preachers.
July 18, Monday. Day of Remembrance St. Sergius, abbot of Radonezh, wonderworker of all Russia (1422).
July 21, Thursday. They remember the appearance of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Kazan (1579)
August
August 2, Tuesday. They remember the prophet Elijah (Elijah's day). Or me - great prophet, born 900 years BC, denouncer of idolatry, is especially revered in Rus'. They prayed to Elijah the prophet during a drought. The Russian airborne troops consider the prophet Elijah their patron.
August 9, Tuesday. Memorial Day of the Great Martyr Panteleimon (305), patron saint of the sick and doctors.
August 14, Sunday. Origin (deterioration) of honest trees Life-giving Cross The Lord's Day, among the people - the First Savior, the first of the August holidays dedicated to the Savior; on this day honey is blessed.
August 14, Sunday - August 27, Saturday. The Dormition Fast was established in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, since the Mother of the Savior, preparing to depart to another world, spent the last two weeks of Her earthly life in fasting and prayer. Strict fasting, during which you cannot even eat fish.
August 19, Friday. The Transfiguration of the Lord celebrates the event of the transfiguration of Christ before His disciples Peter, James and John on Mount Tabor, when Christ first revealed to them His Divine essence: “And His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white like light.” On this day, fruits are blessed; in Russia, before the Transfiguration, apples and pears were not eaten. Another name - Apple Spas.
August 28, Sunday. Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Dormition (putting to sleep) of the Mother of God is Her transition from earthly life to the heavenly world. When, on the third day after Her Dormition, the apostles opened the coffin, they saw only burial shrouds in it. Having physically left the world, the Mother of God did not die and intercedes for us before Her Son.
August 29, Monday. Transfer from Edessa to Constantinople Miraculous Image Lord Jesus Christ (944), Third Savior, “nutty”. The Savior Not Made by Hands is the first icon given to us by the Lord Himself.
September
September 11, Sunday. Beheading of the head of John the Baptist. They remember the feat of John the Baptist, who was not afraid to denounce the powers that be. A day of strict fasting as an expression of grief.
September 14, Wednesday. Church New Year. The New Year according to the church calendar begins on September 1 (old style), which is September 14 in the new style.
September 21, Wednesday. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary's parents were childless for a long time, but they believed that, contrary to human nature, God could give them a child. They made a vow to dedicate their child to the Lord. Their prayer was heard, and by God's providence their Daughter Mary was born. They pray to the holy righteous Joachim and Anna when they are childless.
September 27, Tuesday. Exaltation of the Holy Cross. They remember how the holy Queen Helen, having destroyed a pagan temple, discovered three crosses and decided to find out which of them was the Cross of the Lord. A procession with the deceased walked past, and when he was applied to the Cross of the Lord, he was resurrected. The Cross is not just an instrument of torture, it is an altar on which Christ once and for all offered His sacrifice, and since then the Cross has become a protection and a fertile source of Life.
October
October 14, Friday. Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The holiday recalls how Saint Andrew saw the Mother of God holding the Veil over the besieged Constantinople - a symbol of protection.
November
November 4, Friday. Day of celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, Day of National Unity.
November 28, Monday - January 6, Friday, 2017 Christmas post. A forty-day fast established in order to prepare us for the Nativity of Christ.
December
December 4, Sunday. Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple. Three-year-old Mary was brought to the temple, and She Herself climbed the steep stairs and entered it. On this day, it is customary to bring children to church for confession. By Orthodox tradition Children begin to confess at the age of seven.
December 19, Monday. Nikola winter. Memorial Day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (about 335).
January 2017
Saint's Day righteous John Kronstadtsky (1908) - miracle worker, prayer book, healer.
Christmas Eve, strict fasting.
The Nativity of Christ, the feast of the Incarnation, the birth of God in the flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Homes and churches are decorated with evergreen trees - as a sign of the eternal life that Christ gave us.
Epiphany Christmas Eve, or Vecherie (that is, the day before Epiphany). Strict post. On Epiphany Eve, as on Epiphany Day, water is blessed.
Baptism of the Lord, or Epiphany. A holiday in honor of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, which took place when the prophet John the Baptist, recognizing Christ among many people, baptized Him in the Jordan River. Jesus, having been baptized, came out of the water, and then the heavens opened and the Spirit of God, like a dove, descended on Christ, and God the Father announced with a voice from heaven that Jesus is the Son of God. Thus, all three hypostases of God were revealed to the world - God the Father with a voice from heaven, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit. Hence the name - Epiphany. By receiving Baptism, Christ sets an example for us and sanctifies the watery nature. At Epiphany, all water is blessed, hence the tradition of swimming on this day.
*in parentheses indicate the date of the saint’s death, since this is the date of transition to Eternity, meeting with God, to whom the saint so strived to join during his lifetime. Most often, the day of remembrance of a saint is the day of his death, the day of the discovery of his relics, or the day of his church glorification.
How to determine your name day? Name day is the day of remembrance of the saint whose name was given to us at baptism. In the Church, every day is dedicated to the memory of some saints, and one saint may have several days of memory. Therefore, in order to determine the day of your name day, you need to find in the church calendar the day of remembrance of the saint named after you, closest to the day of your birth, this will be your name day. And the saint is your heavenly patron.
Orthodox calendars are one of the most important attributes of the life of any believer. It is with this calendar that the church advises to compare events planned in life.
It is important to look at the calendar so as not to plan a feast with friends on the day of Lent and not miss important dates, in which it is better to devote yourself spiritual cleansing and thoughts about God. In addition, major Christian holidays are a great joy for religious person, and they simply must be celebrated in accordance with the spirit of the Faith and Christian canons.
Main Orthodox holidays in 2016
There are 12 of them, and 9 of them are called immutable. This means that their celebration date does not depend on Easter and remains the same from year to year.
- On January 7, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Great Nativity of Christ.
- On January 19, the entire Christian world celebrates the Baptism of our Savior.
- On February 15, in the middle of the month, the Presentation is celebrated, the meeting of Christ and the righteous elder from Jerusalem, Simeon.
- On March 4, the Annunciation is celebrated - the day of good news to the Virgin Mary about her future destiny.
- On August 19, the Transfiguration of the Lord is celebrated in all churches.
- August 28 - Assumption of the Virgin Mary, on this day they celebrate her reunion with Heaven.
- On September 21, the Virgin Mary was born; on this date her Nativity of the Virgin Mary is celebrated.
- September 27 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in honor of the founding of the Temple of the Resurrection on Calvary.
- December 4 - Introduction to the Temple, the feast of the first accession of the Mother of God at a still young age along the steps to the Jerusalem Temple.
- April 24 is Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Ascension to Jerusalem.
- June 9 - Ascension of the Lord, celebrated 40 days after Easter.
- June 19 - Trinity, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.
In addition to these dates, there are three more, moving on, which are also celebrated church holidays:
Easter in 2016
2016 will be marked by a rather late celebration of Easter - May 1st. On this day, services will be held in all churches in memory of the bright Christ's Resurrection. This day serves as a reminder of the Kingdom of Heaven and the immortality of souls.
Then, from May 2 to May 8, Easter week will stretch. With Easter, the new Christian year begins and the countdown of all moving holidays and all liturgies associated with them begins.
Posts in 2016
The Orthodox calendar has 4 main multi-day fasts. Since the previous November 28, 2015, the main one, the Nativity Fast, has been stretching. It will end on January 6th. Then, on March 14 and will last until April 30, Lent. Petrov fast counts from June 27 to July 11. And the last, Assumption Fast - from August 14 to 27.
Also, all Wednesdays and Fridays are considered fast, except those that fall on Christmastide and continuous weeks. In 2016, Christmastide will last from January 7 to 17, and Weekends will last from February 15 to 21 (the week of the Publican and the Pharisee), from March 7 to 13 (Cheese Week, Maslenitsa), from May 2 to 8 (Easter Week) and from 20 to May 26 (Trinity Week).
Fasts accompany the day of Epiphany Eve on January 18, the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist on September 11, and the Exaltation on September 27. And since the fasts differ, being strict and non-strict, it is better to prepare for each of them separately, so as not only not to eat extra food - this is not the main thing - but by this time to read spiritual literature and become purer in soul and more humble in disposition.
Remember about church holidays and the importance of prayer. Treat faith with respect, and in difficult times it will help you out without leaving you in trouble. And don't forget to press the buttons and
09.12.2015 00:30
On December 4, the Orthodox world celebrates the Entry of the Mother of God into the temple. The great day foreshadowed that the Most Holy...
✿ღ✿Doctors are joking✿ღ✿
Every profession has its own specific jokes, for example, how doctors joke and what New Year’s toasts they make:
“Sister, write: the operation was successful...” - “But the patient died?!” “You shouldn’t have pulled yourself out!”
***
The doctor meets his long-time patient: “Hello, you look surprisingly good! How is your ulcer?” - “I went to see my mother for a week...”
***
Pharmacy. Behind the counter is a very old, experienced pharmacist. Queue. The first buyer approaches. Pharmacist. “Okay, I see you need aspirin!” - “Exactly!” (Buys, leaves). To the second buyer: “And I think you came for eye drops!” - “Hmm, that’s right!” (Leaves). A girl approaches. “And you, my dear, obviously need hemorrhoidal suppositories!?” “No, Tampax!” - "Wow! I was wrong by a couple of centimeters!”
***
The patient is sure that he is already dead. All attempts by the psychotherapist to dissuade him of this end in failure. Finally, he turns to the patient: “Please tell me, is there blood flowing in the corpses?” - "Of course not!" The therapist grabs the prepared needle and quickly injects the patient's arm. A drop of blood appears. “Well, what do you say now?” - "I was wrong. There is blood flowing in the corpses."
***
A sure sign that old age has come to you: you go to the pharmacy and they ask you: “Should I wrap condoms in gift wrapping?”
***
"Doctor! Help! My grandmother has been lying in bed for a month, not moving, her eyes are closed... very bad, she’s dying. What should I do?!" - “Grandfather, haven’t you tried to fuck her?” - “Why are you a doctor! What are you saying?! My grandmother and I are 80 years old! I am an old communist, Lenin died in my arms! What do you mean by saying “fuck”!”
“Grandpa, I’m telling you as a doctor, do it, and everything will go away.” Well, grandpa came, drank a shot, ate a handful of pills, and climbed on top of grandma. He did the job... He wakes up, and the grandmother is busy at the stove. I put on makeup and did my hair. Bloomed. Sings songs. Grandfather: “Damn it!! After all, I could have saved Lenin!!!”
***
I lead a secluded life.
I live quietly, without disturbing my neighbors.
But I will always come to the rescue...
Of course, if the revenue is large.
****
The dog, watching the Doctor take part in the funeral of a rich patient, asked: “When do you expect to dig him up?” - “Why should I dig it up?” - The Doctor was surprised. “Well, I don’t know,” answered the Dog. “For example, I bury a bone so that I can dig it up and gnaw it later.” “And I first gnaw it and then bury it,” the Doctor explained.
****
The wine we drink dilates blood vessels, lifts our spirits, and brightens up our lives. But the doctor forbade one of my friends to drink wine. Moreover, he obliged me to drink milk regularly. The poor fellow courageously took this medicine several times a day. But I couldn’t stand it for long. “Now I understand,” he says, “why babies whine and roar all the time!”
****
Life becomes more expensive, falling in value.
Some find truth in wine,
Others got lost in the commotion.
And the world is ruled, as always, by the wrong ones...
****
Are you in trouble in your career?
You can't fight against force
If life has you -
So you are still alive!
****
An ancient Indian treatise says: “the needs of the soul give rise to friendship, the needs of the mind - respect, the needs of the body - desire. All three needs give birth to true love.” Let's drink so that we always have these needs, and we love and are loved!
Well, and at the end - Congratulations from the doctor:
- Happy New Year!
I wish everyone in Novy not to get sick.
And if you get sick, it’s not serious.
Seriously, it's not dangerous.
If it's dangerous, it's not fatal.
If it’s fatal, then live longer surrounded by kind doctors, loved ones and friends.
And, for God’s sake, don’t dismember the corpses of Christmas trees! After 13.01. - cremate them, saying the appropriate words in this case.
Actually, there is no such holiday - New Year's Eve. The long preparation for this holiday smoothly flows into memories of it.
And it’s not the New Year that we celebrate, but the fact that we survived the old one.
Happy New Year!
Fixed part church calendar- This is the Julian calendar, diverging by 13 days from the Gregorian calendar. These holidays fall on the same day of the same month every year.
The moving part of the church calendar moves along with the date of Easter, which changes from year to year. The date of Easter celebration itself is determined according to lunar calendar and a number of additional dogmatic factors (not to celebrate Easter with the Jews, to celebrate Easter only after the spring equinox, to celebrate Easter only after the first spring full moon). All holidays with variable dates are counted from Easter and move in time on the “secular” calendar along with it.
Thus, both parts of the Easter calendar (movable and fixed) together determine the calendar of Orthodox holidays.
Below are the most significant ones for Orthodox Christian events - the so-called Twelfth Holidays and Great Holidays. Although the Orthodox Church celebrates holidays according to the “old style”, which differs by 13 days, the dates in the Calendar, for convenience, are indicated according to the generally accepted secular calendar of the new style.
Orthodox calendar for 2016:
Permanent holidays:07.01 - Nativity of Christ (twelfth)
14.01 - Circumcision of the Lord (great)
19.01 - Epiphany of the Lord (twelfth)
15.02 - Presentation of the Lord (twelfth)
07.04 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
21.05 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
22.05 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, wonderworker
07.07 - Nativity of John the Baptist (great)
12.07 - Holy First. apostles Peter and Paul (great)
19.08 - Transfiguration of the Lord (twelfth)
28.08 - Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
11.09 - Beheading of John the Baptist (great)
21.09 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
27.09 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross (twelfth)
09.10 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
14.10 - Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (great)
04.12 - Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
19.12 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, wonderworker
Days special commemoration deceased
05.03 - Ecumenical Parents' Saturday (Saturday before the week of Last Judgment)
26.03 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent
02.04 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent
09.04 - Ecumenical Parental Saturday of the 4th week of Lent
10.05 - Radonitsa (Tuesday of the 2nd week of Easter)
09.05 - Commemoration of deceased soldiers
18.06 - Trinity Parents' Saturday (Saturday before Trinity)
05.11 - Dmitrievskaya Parents' Saturday (Saturday before November 8)
ABOUT ORTHODOX HOLIDAYS:
TWELVETH HOLIDAYS
In worship Orthodox Church twelve great holidays of the annual liturgical circle (except Easter). Divided into The Lord's, dedicated to Jesus Christ, and the Theotokos, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
According to the time of celebration, the twelfth holidays are divided into motionless(non-transient) and movable(transitionable). The former are constantly celebrated on the same dates of the month, the latter fall on different numbers, depending on the date of celebration Easter.
ABOUT MEAL ON HOLIDAYS:
According to the Church Charter on holidays Nativity of Christ And Epiphanies, happened on Wednesday and Friday, there is no post.
IN Christmas And Epiphany Christmas Eve and on holidays Exaltation of the Holy Cross And Beheading of John the Baptist Food with vegetable oil is allowed.
On the feasts of the Presentation, Transfiguration of the Lord, Dormition, Nativity and Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, John the Theologian, which occurred on Wednesday and Friday, as well as in the period from Easter before Trinity Fish is allowed on Wednesday and Friday.
ABOUT FASTS IN ORTHODOXY:
Fast- a form of religious asceticism, the exercise of spirit, soul and body on the path to salvation within the framework of a religious view; voluntary self-restraint in food, entertainment, communication with the world. Corporal fasting- food restriction; sincere post- limitation of external impressions and pleasures (solitude, silence, prayerful concentration); spiritual fast- struggle with one’s “bodily lusts”, a period of especially intense prayer.
The most important thing is to realize that physical fasting without spiritual fasting brings nothing to the salvation of the soul. On the contrary, it can be spiritually harmful if a person, abstaining from food, becomes imbued with the consciousness of his own superiority and righteousness. “He who believes that fasting only means abstaining from food is mistaken. True fasting“, - teaches St. John Chrysostom, “is removal from evil, curbing the tongue, putting aside anger, taming lusts, stopping slander, lies and perjury.” Fast- not a goal, but a means to distract yourself from enjoying your body, concentrate and think about your soul; without all this, it becomes just a diet.
Great Lent, Holy Pentecost(Greek Tessarakoste; Lat. Quadragesima) - the period of the liturgical year preceding Holy Week And Easter holiday, the most important of the multi-day fasts. Due to Easter may fall on different dates of the calendar, Lent also every year starts at different days . It includes 6 weeks, or 40 days, which is why it is also called.
Fast St. Pentecostal For Orthodox man- This a set of good deeds, sincere prayer, abstinence in everything, including food. Physical fasting is necessary to perform spiritual and mental fasting; all of them in their combination form the post is true, promoting the spiritual reunification of those who fast with God. IN days of fasting(days of fasting) the Church Charter prohibits modest food - meat and dairy products; fish is allowed only on some days fast days. IN
days of strict fasting installed as a sign that Christ was betrayed by Judas on Wednesday and crucified on Friday. Saint Athanasius the Great said: “By allowing meat to be eaten on Wednesday and Friday, this man crucifies the Lord.” During the summer and autumn meat-eaters (periods between the Petrov and Uspensky fasts and between the Uspensky and Rozhdestvensky fasts), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. During winter and spring meat-eaters (from Christmas to Lent and from Easter to Trinity), the Charter allows fish on Wednesday and Friday. Fish on Wednesday and Friday is also permitted when the holidays of the Presentation of the Lord, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Entry of the Virgin Mary into the Temple, the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Apostle John the Theologian fall on these days. If the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany fall on Wednesday and Friday, then fasting on these days is canceled. On the eve (eve, Christmas Eve) of the Nativity of Christ (usually a day of strict fasting), which happens on Saturday or Sunday, food with vegetable oil is allowed.
Solid weeks(in Church Slavonic, a week is called a week - days from Monday to Sunday) means the absence of fasting on Wednesday and Friday. Established by the Church as a relaxation before a multi-day fast or as a rest after it. The continuous weeks are as follows:
1. Christmas time - from January 7 to January 18 (11 days), from Christmas to Epiphany.
2. The Publican and the Pharisee - two weeks before Great Lent.
3. Cheese - the week before Lent (eggs, fish and dairy are allowed throughout the week, but without meat).
4. Easter (Light) - week after Easter.
5. Trinity - the week after Trinity (the week before Peter's Fast).
One-day posts except Wednesday and Friday (days of strict fasting, no fish, but food with vegetable oil is allowed):
1. Epiphany Eve (Epiphany Eve) January 18, the day before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day, believers prepare themselves to receive the great shrine - Agiasma - Epiphany Holy Water, for purification and consecration with it at the upcoming holiday.
2. Beheading of John the Baptist - September 11. On this day, a fast was established in memory of the abstinent life of the great prophet John and his lawless murder by Herod.
3. Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 27. This day reminds us of the sad event on Golgotha, when “for our salvation” the Savior of the human race suffered on the Cross. And therefore this day must be spent in prayer, fasting, contrition for sins, in a feeling of repentance.
MULTI-DAY POSTS:
1. Great Lent or Holy Pentecost.
It begins seven weeks before the holiday of Holy Easter and consists of Lent (forty days) and Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). Pentecost was established in honor of the forty-day fast of the Savior Himself, and Holy Week- in memory of the last days of earthly life, suffering, death and burial of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The total continuation of Great Lent along with Holy Week is 48 days.
The days from the Nativity of Christ to Lent (until Maslenitsa) are called Christmas or winter meat-eater. This period contains three continuous weeks - Christmastide, Publican and Pharisee, Maslenitsa. After Christmastide, fish is allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays, until the whole week (when you can eat meat on all days of the week), which comes after the “Week of the Publican and the Pharisee” (“week” in Church Slavonic means “Sunday”). In the next week, after the full week, fish is no longer allowed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but vegetable oil is still allowed. Monday - food with butter, Wednesday, Friday - cold food without butter. This establishment has the purpose of gradual preparation for Great Lent. The last time before Lent, meat is allowed on the “Meat Eating Week” - the Sunday before Maslenitsa. In the next week - cheese week (Maslenitsa), eggs, fish, and dairy products are allowed all week, but they no longer eat meat. They make a fast for Lent (the last time they eat fast food, with the exception of meat) on the last day of Maslenitsa - Forgiveness Sunday
It is customary to observe the first and Holy Weeks of Great Lent with particular strictness. On Monday of the first week of Lent (Clean Monday), the highest degree of fasting is established - complete abstinence from food (pious laymen with ascetic experience abstain from food on Tuesday as well). During the remaining weeks of fasting: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday, Thursday - hot food without oil (vegetables, cereals, mushrooms), on Saturday and Sunday vegetable oil is allowed and, if necessary for health, a little pure grape wine (but in no case vodka). If the memory of a great saint occurs (with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before), then on Tuesday and Thursday - food with vegetable oil, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without oil. You can find out about the holidays in the Typikon or the Followed Psalter. Fish is allowed twice during the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (if the holiday does not fall on Holy Week) and on Palm Sunday, on Lazarus Saturday (the Saturday before Palm Sunday) fish caviar is allowed, on Friday of Holy Week it is customary not to eat any food until it is taken out shrouds (our ancestors in Good Friday did not eat at all).
Bright Week (the week after Easter) is continuous - fasting is allowed on all days of the week. Starting from the next week after the continuous week until Trinity (spring meat-eater), fish is allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays. The week between Trinity and Peter's Fast is continuous.
2. Petrov or Apostolic Fast.
Lent begins a week after the feast of the Holy Trinity and ends on July 12, the day of the celebration of the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Established in honor of the holy apostles and in remembrance of the fact that the holy apostles, after the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, dispersed to all countries with the good news, always being in the feat of fasting and prayer. The duration of this post is different years
In the period from the end of Peter's fast to the beginning of the Assumption fast (summer meat-eater), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. But if these days fall on the feasts of a great saint with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before, then food with vegetable oil is allowed. If temple holidays occur on Wednesday and Friday, then fish is also allowed.
3. Assumption Fast (from August 14 to August 27).
Erected in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mother of God herself, preparing to depart to eternal life, constantly fasted and prayed. We, the spiritually infirm and weak, should all the more resort to fasting as often as possible, turning to the Most Holy Virgin for help in every need and sorrow.
This fast lasts only two weeks, but its severity is consistent with the Great One.
Fish is allowed only on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), and if the end of the fast (Assumption) falls on Wednesday or Friday, then this day is also a fish day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday and Thursday - hot food without oil, Saturday and Sunday - food with vegetable oil. Wine is prohibited on all days. If the memory of a great saint happens, then on Tuesday and Thursday - hot food with butter, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without butter.
The food regulations on Wednesdays and Fridays during the period from the end of the Dormition Fast to the beginning of the Nativity Fast (autumn fast) are the same as during the summer meat-eater, i.e. on Wednesdays and Fridays, fish is allowed only on the days of the twelfths and temple holidays. Food with vegetable oil on Wednesday and Friday is allowed only if these days fall on holidays in memory of a great saint with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before. 4. Christmas (Filippov) fast (from November 28 to January 6). met the Savior who appeared in the world. Sometimes this fast is called Filippov, as a sign that it begins after the day of celebration of the memory of the Apostle Philip (November 27). The regulations regarding food during this Lent coincide with the regulations of Petrov's Fast until St. Nicholas Day (December 19). If the feasts of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 4) and St. Nicholas fall on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, then fish is allowed. From the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas until the pre-festival of Christmas, which begins on January 2, fish is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On the pre-celebration of the Nativity of Christ, fasting is observed in the same way as during the days of Great Lent: fish is prohibited on all days, food with butter is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve), January 6, pious custom requires not to eat food until the appearance of the first evening star, after which it is customary to eat kolivo or sochivo - wheat grains boiled in honey or boiled rice with raisins; in some areas sochivo is called boiled dry fruits with sugar. The name of this day comes from the word “sochivo” - Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is also before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day (January 18), it is also customary not to eat food until taking Agiasma - Epiphany holy water, which begins to be blessed on the very day of Christmas Eve.
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Great Church holidays in 2016
Lent
(in 2016, according to the calendar, it falls on March 14 - April 30)
Lent is designated for the repentance and humility of Christians before the holiday of Easter, on which the Holy Resurrection of Christ from the dead is celebrated. This is the most significant of all Christian holidays in Orthodox calendar.
The start and end times of Lent depend on the date of Easter, which does not have a fixed calendar date. The duration of Lent is 7 weeks. It consists of 2 fasts - Lent and Holy Week.
Lent lasts 40 days in memory of the forty-day fast of Jesus Christ in the desert. Thus, the fast is called Lent. The last seventh week of Great Lent - Holy Week is designated in memory of last days earthly life, suffering and death of Christ.
During the entire Lent calendar, including weekends, it is prohibited to consume meat, milk, cheese and eggs. Fasting must be observed with particular strictness in the first and last weeks. On the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, April 7, it is allowed to relax the fast and add vegetable oil and fish to the diet. In addition to abstaining from food during Lent, one must diligently pray that the Lord God will grant repentance, regret for sins and love for the Almighty.
Apostolic Fast - Petrov Fast
(According to the calendar in 2016 it falls on June 27 - July 11)
This post does not have a specific date on the calendar. The apostolic fast is dedicated to the memory of the apostles Peter and Paul. Its beginning depends on the day of Easter and the Holy Trinity, which falls on the current calendar year. Lent begins exactly seven days after the feast of Trinity, which is also called Pentecost, because it is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter. The week before Lent is called All Saints' Week.
The duration of the Apostolic Fast can be from 8 days to 6 weeks (depending on the day of Easter celebration). The Apostolic Fast ends on July 12, the day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. This is where the post got its name. It is also called the Fast of the Holy Apostles or the Fast of Peter.
The apostolic fast is not very strict. On Wednesday and Friday, dry eating is allowed, on Monday the consumption of hot food without oil is allowed, on Tuesday and Thursday mushrooms, vegetable foods with vegetable oil and a little wine are allowed, and on Saturday and Sunday fish is also allowed.
Fish is still allowed on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, if these days fall on a holiday with great praise. It is permissible to eat fish on Wednesday and Friday only when these days fall on a vigil holiday or a temple festival.
Dormition post
(in 2016 falls on August 14 - August 27)
The Dormition Fast begins exactly one month after the end of the Apostolic Fast on August 14 and lasts 2 weeks, until August 27. This post prepares for the Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is celebrated according to the Orthodox calendar on August 28. Through the Dormition Fast we follow the example of the Mother of God, who was constantly in fasting and prayer.
According to the severity, the Assumption Fast is close to Great Lent. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is dry food, Tuesday and Thursday - hot food without oil, on Saturday and Sunday vegetable food with vegetable oil is allowed. On the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), it is allowed to consume fish, as well as oil and wine.
On the day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 28), if the devil falls on Wednesday or Friday, only fish is allowed. Meat, milk and eggs are prohibited. On other days, fasting is canceled.
There is also a rule not to eat fruit until August 19th. As a result, the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord is also called the Apple Savior, because at this time garden fruits (in particular, apples) are brought to the church, blessed and given away.
Christmas post
(from November 28 to January 6)
The Advent calendar lasts every year from November 28 to January 6. If the first day of fasting falls on Sunday, the fast is softened, but not canceled. The Nativity Fast precedes the Nativity of Christ, January 7 (December 25, old style calendar), on which the birth of the Savior is celebrated. Fasting begins 40 days before the celebration and is therefore also called Lent. People call the Nativity Fast Filippov, because it begins immediately after the day of remembrance of the Apostle Philip - November 27. Conventionally, the Nativity Fast shows the state of the world before the coming of the Savior. By abstinence in food, Christians express respect for the holiday of the Birth of Christ. In accordance with the rules of abstinence, the Nativity Fast is similar to the Apostolic Fast until the day of St. Nicholas - December 19. From December 20 until Christmas, fasting is observed with particular strictness.
According to the charter, it is allowed to eat fish on the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the week before December 20.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of the Nativity Fast, dry eating is accepted.
If there is a temple holiday or vigil on these days, it is allowed to eat fish; If the day of a great saint falls, the consumption of wine and vegetable oil is allowed.
After St. Nicholas Memorial Day and before Christmas, fish is allowed on Saturday and Sunday. You cannot eat fish on the eve of the holiday. If these days fall on Saturday or Sunday, meals with butter are allowed.
On Christmas Eve, January 6, on the eve of Christmas, food is not allowed until the appearance of the first star. This rule was adopted in memory of the star that shone at the moment of the birth of the Rescuer. After the appearance of the first star (it is customary to eat sochivo - wheat seeds boiled in honey or dried fruits softened in water, and kutya - boiled cereal with raisins. The Christmas period lasts from January 7 to January 13. From the morning of January 7, all food restrictions are lifted. Fasting is canceled for 11 days.
One-day posts
There are many one-day posts. According to the strictness of observance, they vary and are in no way associated with a specific date. The most common of them are posts on Wednesdays and Fridays of any week. Also, the most famous one-day fasts are on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, on the day before the Baptism of the Lord, on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist.
There are also one-day fasts associated with the dates of commemoration of famous saints.
These fasts are not considered strict if they do not fall on Wednesday and Friday. During these one-day fasts, it is prohibited to eat fish, but food with vegetable oil is acceptable.
Individual fasts can be taken in the event of some kind of misfortune or social misfortune - an epidemic, war, terrorist attack, etc. One-day fasts precede the sacrament of communion.
Posts on Wednesday and Friday
On Wednesday, according to the Gospel, Judas betrayed Jesus Christ, and on Friday Jesus suffered on the cross and died. In memory of these events, Orthodoxy has adopted fasts on Wednesday and Friday of each week. The only exceptions are continuous weeks, or weeks during which there are no existing restrictions for these days. Such weeks are considered to be Christmastide (January 7–18), Publican and Pharisee, Cheese, Easter and Trinity (the first week after Trinity).
On Wednesday and Friday it is forbidden to eat meat, dairy foods, and eggs. Some of the most pious Christians do not allow themselves to consume, including fish and vegetable oil, that is, they observe dry eating.
Relaxation of fasting on Wednesday and Friday is possible only if this day coincides with the feast of a particularly revered saint, to whose memory a special church service is dedicated.
In the period between All Saints' Week and before the Nativity of Christ, it is necessary to give up fish and vegetable oil. If Wednesday or Friday coincides with the feast of the saints, then it is allowed to use vegetable oil.
IN big holidays- such as Pokrov - it is allowed to eat fish.
On the eve of the feast of the Epiphany
According to the calendar, Epiphany falls on January 18th. According to the Gospel, Christ was baptized in the Jordan River, at that moment the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. John was a witness that Christ is the Savior, that is, Jesus is the Messiah of the Lord. During baptism, he heard the voice of the Most High, proclaiming: “This is My beloved Son, with Him I am well pleased.”
Before the Epiphany of the Lord, a vigil is celebrated in churches, at which point the ceremony of consecrating holy water takes place. In connection with this holiday, fasting has been adopted. At the time of this abstinence, food intake is allowed once a day and only juice and kutya with honey. Therefore, among Orthodox believers, the eve of Epiphany is usually called Christmas Eve. If the evening meal falls on Saturday or Sunday, the fast on that day is not canceled, but is relaxed. In this case, you can eat food twice a day - after the liturgy and after the rite of blessing of water.
Fasting on the Day of the Beheading of John the Baptist
The day of the Beheading of John the Baptist is commemorated on September 11. It was introduced in memory of the death of the prophet - John the Baptist, who was the Forerunner of the Messiah. According to the Gospel, John was thrown into prison by Herod Antipas because of his exposure in connection with Herodias, the wife of Philip, Herod’s brother.
During the celebration of his birthday, the King organized a holiday, the daughter of Herodias, Salome, presented a skillful dance to Herod. He was delighted with the beauty of the dance, and promised the girl everything she wanted for it. Herodias persuaded her daughter to beg for the head of John the Baptist. Herod fulfilled the girl’s wish by sending a warrior to the prisoner to bring him John’s head.
In memory of John the Baptist and his pious life, during which he continuously fasted, fasting was defined in the Orthodox calendar. On this day it is forbidden to consume meat, dairy, eggs and fish. Vegetable foods and vegetable oil are acceptable.
Fasting on the Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
This holiday falls on September 27th. This day was established in memory of the discovery of the Lord's Cross. This happened in the 4th century. According to legend, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Constantine the Great, won many victories thanks to the Cross of the Lord and therefore revered this symbol. Showing gratitude to the Almighty for the consent of the church at the First Ecumenical Council, he decided to erect a temple on Calvary. Helen, the emperor's mother, went to Jerusalem in 326 to find the Cross of the Lord.
According to the then custom, crosses, as instruments of execution, were buried next to the place of execution. Three crosses were found on Calvary. It was impossible to understand which one was Christ, since the bar with the inscription “Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews” was discovered separately from all the crosses. Subsequently, the Cross of the Lord was installed according to its power, which was expressed in the healing of the sick and the resurrection of a person through touching this cross. The glory of the amazing miracles of the Cross of the Lord attracted a lot of people, and because of the crowds, many did not have the opportunity to see and bow to it. Then Patriarch Macarius raised the cross, showing it to everyone around him in the distance. Thus, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross appeared on the calendar.
The holiday was adopted on the day of the consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, September 26, 335, and began to be celebrated the next day, September 27. In 614, the Persian king Khozroes took possession of Jerusalem and took out the Cross. In 328, Chozroes' heir, Syroes, returned the stolen Cross of the Lord to Jerusalem. This happened on September 27, so this day is considered a double holiday - the Exaltation and the Finding of the Cross of the Lord. On this day it is forbidden to eat cheese, eggs and fish. In this way, Christian believers express their reverence for the Cross.
Holy Resurrection of Christ - Easter
(in 2016 falls on May 1)
The most important Christian holiday in the Orthodox calendar is Easter - the Holy Resurrection of Christ from the dead. Easter is considered the main one between the transitory twelve holidays, since in Easter story contains everything on which Christian knowledge is based. For all Christians, the Resurrection of Christ means salvation and trampling on death.
The suffering of Christ, the torment of the cross and death, washed away original sin, and therefore, gave salvation to humanity. That is why Christians call Easter the Solemnity of Solemnities and the Feast of Feasts.
The basis Christian holiday was the following story. On the first day of the week, the myrrh-bearing women came to the tomb of Christ to anoint the body with incense. However, the large block that blocked the entrance to the tomb was moved, and an angel sat on the stone, who told the women that the Savior had risen. Some time later, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and sent her to the apostles to inform them that the prophecy had come true.
She ran to the apostles and told them the good news and told them the message of Christ that they would meet in Galilee. Before His death, Jesus told the disciples about future events, but Mary's news plunged them into confusion. Faith in the Kingdom of Heaven, promised by Jesus, came to life again in their hearts. However, not everyone was happy about the Resurrection of Jesus: the high priests and Pharisees started rumors about the disappearance of the body.
However, despite the lies and painful trials that fell on the first Christians, the New Testament Easter became the basis Christian faith. The blood of Christ atoned for the sins of people and opened the way to salvation for them. From the first days of Christianity, the apostles established the celebration of Easter, which was preceded by Holy Week in memory of the suffering of the Savior. Today they are preceded by Lent, which lasts forty days.
Discussions about the true date of celebration of the memory of the described events did not subside for a long time, until on I Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325) they did not agree on celebrating Easter on the 1st Sunday following the first spring full moon and spring equinox. In various years, Easter can be celebrated from March 21 to April 24 (old style).
On the eve of Easter, the service begins at eleven o'clock in the evening. First they serve the Midnight Office Holy Saturday, then the bell sounds and a procession of the cross takes place, which is led by the clergy; believers leave the church with lighted candles, and the bell is replaced by the festive ringing of bells. When the procession returns to closed doors churches, which symbolize the tomb of Christ, the ringing is interrupted. Sounds holiday prayer, and the church door opens. At this time, the priest exclaims: “Christ is Risen!”, and the believers together answer: “Truly He is Risen!” This is how Easter Matins begins.
In the moment Easter liturgy as usual they read the Gospel of John. At the end of the Easter liturgy, artos - large prosphora similar to Easter cakes - are blessed. During Easter week artos is located close to the royal doors. After the liturgy, on the following Saturday, a special rite of breaking the artos is served, and pieces of it are distributed to the believers.
At the end of the Easter liturgy, the fast ends and the Orthodox can treat themselves to a piece of blessed Easter cake or Easter cake, a colored egg, a meat pie, etc. In the first week of Easter (Bright Week) it is supposed to give food to the hungry and help the needy. Christians go to visit their relatives and exchange exclamations: “Christ is risen!” - “Truly he is risen!” On Easter, people are supposed to give colored eggs. This tradition was adopted in memory of the visit of Mary Magdalene to the Emperor of Rome Tiberius. According to legend, Mary was the first to tell Tiberius the news of the Resurrection of the Savior and brought him an egg as a gift - as a symbol of life. But Tiberius did not believe the news of the Resurrection and said that he would believe it if the egg he brought turned red. And at that moment the egg turned red. In memory of what happened, believers began to paint eggs, which became a symbol of Easter.
Palm Sunday. Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
(in 2016 falls on April 24)
The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, or simply Palm Sunday, is one of the most key twelve holidays celebrated by the Orthodox. The first mentions of this holiday are found in manuscripts of the 3rd century. This event is of great importance for Christians, since the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, whose authorities were hostile to Him, means that Christ voluntarily accepted the suffering of the cross. The entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is described by all four evangelists, which also testifies to the significance of this day.
The date of Palm Sunday depends on the date of Easter: The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is celebrated a week before Easter. In order to confirm the people in the belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah predicted by the prophets, a week before the Resurrection, the Savior and the apostles went to the city. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent John and Peter to a village, indicating the place where they would find the colt. The apostles brought a colt to the Teacher, on which He sat and went to Jerusalem.
At the entrance to the city, some people laid out their own clothes, the rest accompanied Him with cut palm branches, and greeted the Savior with the words: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and King of the people of Israel.
When Jesus entered the Jerusalem temple, he drove out the merchants with the words: “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). People listened with admiration to the teachings of Christ. The sick began to come to Him, He healed them, and at that moment the children sang His praises. Then Christ left the temple and went with his disciples to Bethany.
In ancient times, it was customary to greet winners with fronds, or palm branches; this is where another name for the holiday came from: Vaiya Week. In Russia, where palm trees do not grow, the holiday received its third name - Palm Sunday - in honor of the only plant that blooms during this harsh time. Palm Sunday ends Lent and begins Holy Week.
As for the festive table, Palm Sunday allows fish and vegetable dishes with vegetable oil. And the day before, on Lazarus Saturday, after Vespers, you can taste a little fish caviar.
Ascension of the Lord
(in 2016 falls on June 9)
The Ascension of the Lord is celebrated according to the calendar on the fortieth day after Easter. Traditionally, this holiday falls on Thursday of the sixth week of Easter. The events associated with the Ascension signify the end of the Savior’s earthly sojourn and the beginning of His life in the bosom of the Church. After the Resurrection, the Teacher came to his disciples for forty days, teaching them the true faith and the way of salvation. The Savior instructed the apostles what to do after His Ascension.
Then Christ promised the disciples to release the Holy Spirit on them, which they should wait for in Jerusalem. Christ said: “And I will send the promise of My Father upon you; But you remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Then, together with the apostles, they went outside the city, where He blessed the disciples and began to ascend into heaven. The apostles bowed to Him and returned to Jerusalem.
As for fasting, on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord it is allowed to eat any food, both fasting and fasting.
Trinity Day - Pentecost
(in 2016 falls on June 19)
On the Day of the Holy Trinity, we commemorate the story that tells about the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Christ. The Holy Spirit appeared to the Apostles of the Savior in the form of tongues of flame on the day of Pentecost, that is, on the fiftieth day after Easter, hence the name of this holiday. The second, most famous name of the day is dedicated to the discovery by the apostles of the third hypostasis of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit, after which christian concept about the Triune Godhead received a perfect interpretation.
On the day of the Holy Trinity, the apostles intended to meet in their home in order to pray together. Suddenly they heard a roar, and then tongues of fire began to appear in the air, which, dividing, descended on Christ’s disciples.
After the flame descended on the apostles, the prophecy “...were filled... with the Holy Spirit...” (Acts 2:4) came true and they offered a prayer. With the descent of the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Christ acquired the gift of speaking in different languages in order to carry the Word of the Lord throughout the world.
The noise coming from the house attracted a large crowd of curious people. The assembled people were amazed that the apostles could speak different languages. Among the people there were people from other nations, they heard the apostles offering prayer to their native language. Most people were surprised and filled with awe, at the same time, among those gathered there were also people who were skeptical about what had happened, “they got drunk on sweet wine” (Acts 2:13).
On this day, the Apostle Peter preached his first sermon, which said that the event that happened on this day was predicted by the prophets and marks the last mission of the Savior in the earthly world. The Apostle Peter's sermon was short and simple, but the Holy Spirit spoke through him, and his speech reached the souls of many people. At the end of Peter's speech, many accepted the faith and were baptized. “So those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added” (Acts 2:41). Since ancient times, Trinity Day has been revered as a birthday. Christian Church created by Sacred grace.
On Trinity Day, it is customary to decorate houses and churches with flowers and grass. Regarding the festive table, on this day it is allowed to eat any food. There is no fasting on this day.
Twelfth Enduring Holidays
(have a constant date in the Orthodox calendar)
Christmas (January 7)
According to legend, the Lord God promised sinner Adam the coming of the Savior back in paradise. Many prophets foretold the coming of the Savior - Christ, in particular prophet Isaiah, prophesied about the birth of the Messiah to the Jews who had forgotten the Lord and worshiped pagan idols. Shortly before the birth of Jesus, the ruler Herod proclaimed a decree on a population census, for this the Jews had to appear in the cities in which they were born. Joseph and the Virgin Mary also went to the cities where they were born.
They did not get to Bethlehem quickly: the Virgin Mary was pregnant, and when they arrived in the city, it was time to give birth. But in Bethlehem, due to the crowd of people, all the places were occupied, and Joseph and Mary had to stay in a stable. At night, Mary gave birth to a boy, named Him Jesus, swaddled him and put him in a manger - a feeding trough for livestock. Not far from their overnight stay, there were shepherds grazing cattle, an angel appeared to them, who told them: ... I bring you great joy that will be to all people: for today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord; and here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12). When the angel disappeared, the shepherds went to Bethlehem, where they found the Holy Family, worshiped Jesus, and told about the appearance of the angel and his sign, after which they went back to their flocks.
In these same days, wise men came to Jerusalem and asked people about the born king of the Jews, since a new bright star was shining in the heavens. Having learned about the Magi, King Herod called them to him in order to find out the place where the Messiah was born. He ordered the wise men to find out the place where the new king of the Jews was born.
The Magi followed the star, which led them to the stable where the Savior was born. Entering the stable, the wise men bowed to Jesus and presented him with gifts: incense, gold and myrrh. “And having received a revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another route” (Matthew 2:12). That same night, Joseph received a sign: an angel appeared in his dream and said: “Get up, take the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod wants to look for the Child in order to destroy Him” (Matt. 2, 13). Joseph, Mary and Jesus went to Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod.
For the first time, the holiday of the Nativity of Christ began to be celebrated in the 4th century in Constantinople. The holiday is preceded by a forty-day fast and Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, it is customary to drink only water, and when the first star appears in the sky, they break their fast with sochi - boiled wheat or rice with honey and dried fruits. After Christmas and before Epiphany, Christmastide is celebrated, during which all fasts are canceled.
Epiphany - Epiphany (January 19)
Christ began serving people at the age of thirty. John the Baptist was supposed to anticipate the coming of the Messiah, who prophesied the coming of the Messiah and baptized people in the Jordan for the cleansing of sins. When the Savior appeared to John for baptism, John recognized the Messiah in Him and told Him that he himself must be baptized by the Savior. But Christ answered: “...leave it now, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), that is, to fulfill what the prophets said.
Christians call the feast of the Baptism of the Lord the Epiphany; at the baptism of Christ, three hypostases of the Trinity appeared to people for the first time: the Lord Son, Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit, who descended in the form of a dove on Christ, and the Lord Father, who said: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” "(Matthew 3:17).
The first to celebrate the feast of Epiphany were the disciples of Christ, as evidenced by the set of apostolic rules. One day before holiday Epiphany begins on Christmas Eve. On this day, as on Christmas Eve, Orthodox Christians eat juices, and only after the blessing of water. Epiphany water It is considered healing, it is sprinkled at home, it is drunk on an empty stomach for various diseases.
On the feast of Epiphany itself, the rite of the great hagiasma is also served. On this day, the tradition of making a religious procession to reservoirs with the Gospel, banners and lamps has been preserved. Procession accompanies bell ringing and singing the troparion of the holiday.
Presentation of the Lord (February 15)
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord describes the events that happened in the Jerusalem Temple during the meeting of the Infant Jesus with the elder Simeon. According to the law, on the fortieth day after her birth, the Virgin Mary brought Jesus to the Temple of Jerusalem. According to legend, Elder Simeon lived at the temple where he translated Holy Bible on Greek language. In one of the prophecies of Isaiah, which describes the coming of the Savior, in the place where His birth is described, it is said that the Messiah will be born not from a woman, but from a Virgin. The elder suggested that there was an error in the original text, at that same moment an angel appeared to him and said that Simeon would not die until he saw the Blessed Virgin and Her Son with his own eyes.
When the Virgin Mary entered the temple with Jesus in her arms, Simeon immediately saw Them and recognized the Messiah in the Baby. He took Him in his arms and uttered the following words: “Now You are releasing Your servant, O Master, according to Your word in peace, because My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light for the revelation of tongues and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke .2, 29). From now on, the old man could die peacefully, because he had just seen with his own eyes both the Virgin Mother and Her Son-Savior.
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (April 7)
Since ancient times, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary has been called both the Beginning of Redemption and the Conception of Christ. This lasted for the 7th century until it acquired the name under which it is currently. In terms of its significance for Christians, the Feast of the Annunciation is comparable only to the Nativity of Christ. That is why there is a proverb among people to this day that on a given day “the bird does not build a nest, the maiden does not braid her hair.”
The history of the holiday is as follows. When the Virgin Mary reached the age of fifteen, She had to leave the walls of the Jerusalem Temple: in accordance with the laws that existed in those times, only men had the opportunity to serve the Almighty throughout their lives. However, by this time Mary's parents had already died, and the priests decided to betroth Mary to Joseph of Nazareth.
One day an angel appeared to the Virgin Mary, who was the Archangel Gabriel. He greeted Her with the following words: “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” Mary was confused because she did not know what the angel's words meant. The Archangel explained to Mary that She was the chosen one of the Lord for the birth of the Savior, about whom the prophets spoke: “... and you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
Having heard the revelation of the Archangel Gavria, the Virgin Mary asked: “... how will this happen if I don’t know my husband?” (Luke 1:34), to which the archangel replied that the Holy Spirit would descend on the Virgin, therefore the Child born from her would be holy. And Mary humbly answered: “...behold the handmaid of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to Your word” (Luke 1:37).
Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19)
The Savior often told the apostles that in order to save people, He would have to endure suffering and death. And in order to strengthen the faith of the disciples, he showed them His Divine glory, which awaits Him and the other righteous of Christ at the end of their earthly existence.
One day Christ took three disciples - Peter, James and John - to Mount Tabor to pray to the Almighty. But the apostles, tired during the day, fell asleep, and when they woke up, they saw how the Savior had been transformed: His clothes were snow-white, and His face shone like the sun.
Next to the Teacher were the prophets Moses and Elijah, with whom Christ spoke about his own sufferings that He would have to endure. At that same moment, the apostles were overwhelmed by such grace that Peter randomly suggested: “Mentor! It's good for us to be here; We will make three tabernacles: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said” (Luke 9:33).
At that moment, everyone was enveloped in a cloud, from which the voice of God was heard: “This is My Beloved Son, listen to Him” (Luke 9:35). As soon as the words of the Most High were heard, the disciples again saw Christ alone in His ordinary appearance.
When Christ and the apostles were returning from Mount Tabor, He ordered them not to testify before the time of what they had seen.
In Rus', the Transfiguration of the Lord was popularly called the “Apple Savior”, since on this day honey and apples are blessed in churches.
Dormition of the Mother of God (August 28)
The Gospel of John says that before his death, Christ commanded the Apostle John to take care of his Mother (John 19:26–27). From that time on, the Virgin Mary lived with John in Jerusalem. Here the apostles recorded the stories of the Mother of God about the earthly existence of Jesus Christ. The Mother of God often went to Golgotha to venerate and pray, and on one of these visits, the Archangel Gabriel informed Her of Her imminent dormition.
By this time, the apostles of Christ began to come to the city for the last earthly service of the Virgin Mary. Before the death of the Mother of God, Christ and the angels appeared at Her bedside, causing those present to be gripped by fear. The Mother of God gave glory to God and, as if falling asleep, accepted a peaceful death.
The apostles took the bed on which the Mother of God was and carried it to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Jewish priests, who hated Christ and did not believe in His resurrection, learned about the death of the Mother of God. The high priest Athos overtook the funeral procession and grabbed the bed, trying to turn it over in order to desecrate the body. However, the moment he touched the stock, his hands were cut off by an invisible force. Only after this did Afonia repent and believe, and immediately found healing. The body of the Mother of God was placed in a coffin and covered with a large stone.
However, among those present in the procession was not one of Christ’s disciples, the Apostle Thomas. He arrived in Jerusalem only three days after the funeral and cried for a long time at the tomb of the Virgin Mary. Then the apostles decided to open the Tomb so that Thomas could venerate the body of the deceased.
When they rolled away the stone, they found only the funeral shrouds of the Mother of God inside; the body itself was not inside the tomb: Christ took the Mother of God to heaven in Her earthly nature.
A temple was subsequently built on that spot, where the funeral shrouds of the Mother of God were preserved until the 4th century. After this, the shrine was transported to Byzantium, to the Blachernae Church, and in 582, Emperor Mauritius issued a decree on the general celebration of the Dormition of the Mother of God.
This holiday among the Orthodox is considered one of the most revered, like other holidays dedicated to the memory of the Virgin Mary.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 21)
The righteous parents of the Virgin Mary, Joachim and Anna, could not have children for a long time, and were very sad about their own childlessness, since among the Jews the absence of children was considered as God's punishment for secret sins. But Joachim and Anna did not lose faith in their child and prayed to God to send them a child. So they made an oath: if they have a child, they will give him to the service of the Almighty.
And God heard their requests, but before that, he subjected them to a test: when Joachim came to the temple to make a sacrifice, the priest did not take it, reproaching the old man for being childless. After this incident, Joachim went into the desert, where he fasted and begged for forgiveness from the Lord.
At this time, Anna also underwent a test: her maid reproached her for childlessness. After that, Anna went into the garden and, noticing a bird’s nest with chicks on a tree, began to think about the fact that even birds have children, and burst into tears. In the garden, an angel appeared before Anna and began to calm her down, promising that they would soon have a child. An angel also appeared before Joachim and said that the Lord had heard him.
After this, Joachim and Anna met and told each other about the good news that the angels told them, and a year later they had a girl, whom they named Mary.
Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (September 27)
In 325, the mother of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great, Queen Lena, went to Jerusalem to visit holy places. She visited Golgotha and the burial place of Christ, but most of all she wanted to find the Cross on which the Messiah was crucified. The search yielded results: three crosses were found on Calvary, and in order to find the one on which Christ suffered, they decided to conduct tests. Each of them was applied to the deceased, and one of the crosses resurrected the deceased. This was the same Cross of the Lord.
When the people learned that they had found the Cross on which Christ was crucified, a very large crowd gathered at Golgotha. There were so many Christians gathered that most of them could not approach the Cross to bow to the shrine. Patriarch Macarius proposed erecting the Cross so that everyone could see it. So, in honor of these events, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross was founded.
Among Christians, the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord is considered the only holiday that is celebrated from the first day of its existence, that is, the day when the Cross was found.
The Exaltation received general Christian significance after the war between Persia and Byzantium. In 614, Jerusalem was sacked by the Persians. Moreover, among the shrines they took away was the Cross of the Lord. And only in 628 the shrine was returned to the Church of the Resurrection, built on Calvary by Constantine the Great. Since then, the Feast of the Exaltation has been celebrated by all Christians in the world.
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple (December 4)
Christians celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple in memory of the dedication of the Virgin Mary to God. When Mary was three years old, Joachim and Anna fulfilled their vow: they brought their daughter to the Jerusalem Temple and placed her on the stairs. To the amazement of her parents and other people, little Mary walked up the stairs herself to meet the high priest, after which he led Her into the altar. Since then Holy Virgin Mary lived at the temple until the time came for her betrothal to righteous Joseph.
Great Holidays
Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord (January 14)
Circumcision of the Lord as a holiday was established in the 4th century. On this day, they commemorate an event associated with the Covenant made with God on Mount Zion by the prophet Moses: according to which all boys on the eighth day after birth were to accept circumcision as a symbol of unity with the Jewish patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
After completing this ritual, the Savior was named Jesus, as Archangel Gabriel commanded when he brought the good news to the Virgin Mary. According to the interpretation, the Lord accepted circumcision as a strict fulfillment of the laws of God. But in the Christian Church there is no ritual of circumcision, since according to the New Testament it gave way to the sacrament of baptism.
Nativity of John the Baptist, Forerunner of the Lord (July 7)
The celebration of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the prophet of the Lord, was established by the Church in the 4th century. Among all the most revered saints, John the Baptist occupies a special place, since he was supposed to prepare the Jewish people to accept the preaching of the Messiah.
During the reign of Herod, the priest Zechariah lived in Jerusalem with his wife Elizabeth. They did everything with zeal, as indicated by the Law of Moses, but God still did not give them a child. But one day, when Zechariah entered the altar for incense, he saw an angel who told the priest the good news that very soon his wife would give birth to a long-awaited child, who should be named John: “...and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord; He will not drink wine or strong drink, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb...” (Luke 1:14-15).
However, in response to this revelation, Zechariah smiled mournfully: both he himself and his wife Elizabeth were advanced in years. When he told the angel about his own doubts, he introduced himself as the Archangel Gabriel and, as punishment for disbelief, imposed a ban: because Zechariah did not believe the good news, he would not be able to talk until Elizabeth gave birth to a child.
Soon Elizabeth was pregnant, but she could not believe her own happiness, so she hid her situation for up to five months. In the end, she had a son, and when the baby was brought to the temple on the eighth day, the priest was greatly surprised to learn that he was named John: neither in the family of Zechariah nor in the family of Elizabeth was there anyone with that name. But Zacharias nodded his head and confirmed his wife’s wishes, after which he was able to talk again. And the first words that left his lips were the words of a heartfelt prayer of gratitude.
Day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (July 12)
On this day Orthodox Church commemorates the apostles Peter and Paul, who suffered martyrdom in 67 for preaching the Gospel. This holiday precedes the multi-day apostolic (Petrov) fast.
In ancient times, church rules were adopted by the Council of the Apostles, and Peter and Paul occupied the highest places in it. In other words, the lives of these apostles were of great importance for the development of the Christian Church.
However, the first apostles followed slightly different paths to faith, which, realizing them, one can involuntarily think about the inscrutability of the Lord’s ways.
Apostle Peter
Before Peter began his apostolic ministry, he bore a different name - Simon, which he received at birth. Simon lived as a fisherman on Lake Gennesaret until his brother Andrew brought him young man to Christ. The radical and strong Simon was immediately able to occupy a special place among the disciples of Jesus. For example, he was the first to recognize the Savior in Jesus and for this acquired a new name from Christ - Cephas (Hebrew stone). In Greek, this name sounds like Peter, and it was on this “flint” that Jesus was going to erect the building of his own Church, which “the gates of hell will not prevail.” However, weaknesses are inherent in man, and Peter’s weakness was his threefold denial of Christ. Nevertheless, Peter repented and was forgiven by Jesus, who confirmed his destiny three times over.
After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, Peter was the first to preach a sermon in the history of the Christian Church. After this sermon, more than three thousand Jews joined the true faith. In the Acts of the Apostles there is evidence in almost every chapter active work Peter: he preached the Gospel in various towns and states located on the shores of the Mediterranean. And it is believed that the Apostle Mark, who accompanied Peter, wrote the Gospel, taking the sermons of Cephas as a basis. Apart from this, in the New Testament there is a book written personally by the apostle.
In 67, the apostle went to Rome, but was caught by the authorities and suffered on the cross, like Christ. But Peter considered that he was unworthy of exactly the same execution as the Teacher, so he asked the executioners to crucify him upside down on the cross.
Apostle Paul
Apostle Paul was born in the city of Tarsus (Asia Minor). Like Peter, he had a different name from birth - Saul. He was a gifted young man and acquired a good education, but he grew up and was brought up in pagan customs. In addition, Saul was a noble Roman citizen, and his position allowed the future apostle to openly admire the pagan Hellenistic culture.
With all this, Paul was a persecutor of Christianity both in Palestine and beyond its borders. These opportunities were gifted to him by the Pharisees, who hated Christian teaching and waged a fierce struggle against it.
One day, when Saul was traveling to Damascus with permission for the local synagogues to arrest Christians, he was struck by a bright light. The future apostle fell to the ground and heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? He said: Who are you, Lord? The Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is difficult for you to go against the pricks” (Acts 9:4-5). After this, Christ ordered Saul to go to Damascus and rely on providence.
When the blind Saul arrived in the city, where he found Ananias the priest. After a conversation with a Christian pastor, he believed in Christ and was baptized. During the baptismal ceremony, his sight returned again. From this day Paul’s activity as an apostle began. Like the Apostle Peter, Paul traveled widely: he visited Arabia, Antioch, Cyprus, Asia Minor and Macedonia. In the places where Paul visited, Christian communities seemed to form on their own, and the supreme apostle himself became famous for his messages to the heads of the churches founded with his help: among the New Testament books there are 14 letters of Paul. Thanks to these messages, Christian dogmas acquired a coherent system and became understandable to every believer.
At the end of 66, the Apostle Paul arrived in Rome, where a year later, as a citizen of the Roman Empire, he was executed by the sword.
Beheading of John the Baptist (September 11)
In the 32nd year from the birth of Jesus, King Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, imprisoned John the Baptist for talking about his close relationship with Herodias, his brother’s wife.
At the same time, the king was afraid to execute John, since this could cause the anger of his people, who loved and revered John.
One day, during the celebration of Herod's birthday, a feast was held. The daughter of Herodias, Salome, gave the king an exquisite tanya. For this, Herod promised in front of everyone that he would fulfill any desire of the girl. Herodias persuaded her daughter to ask the king for the head of John the Baptist.
The girl’s request embarrassed the king, as he was afraid of John’s death, but at the same time he could not refuse the request, because he was afraid of the ridicule of the guests because of the unfulfilled promise.
The king sent a warrior to prison, who beheaded John and brought his head to Salome on a platter. The girl accepted the terrible gift and gave it to her own mother. The apostles, having learned about the execution of John the Baptist, buried his headless body.
Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (October 14)
The holiday was based on a story that happened in 910 in Constantinople. The city was besieged by a countless army of Saracens, and the townspeople hid in the Blachernae Temple - in the place where the omophorion of the Virgin Mary was kept. Frightened residents prayed fervently Mother of God about protection. And then one day during prayer, the holy fool Andrei noticed the Mother of God above those praying.
The Mother of God walked accompanied by an army of angels, with John the Theologian and John the Baptist. She reverently extended her hands to the Son, while her omophorion covered the praying inhabitants of the city, as if protecting people from future disasters. In addition to the holy fool Andrei, his disciple Epiphanius saw the amazing procession. The miraculous vision soon disappeared, but Her grace remained in the temple, and soon the Saracen army left Constantinople.
The Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary came to Rus' under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1164. And a little later, in 1165, on the Nerl River, the first temple was consecrated in honor of this holiday.
Birthdays
