Study Guide: What We Believe About the Church Year

Book: Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life by Anthony M. Coniaris
Chapter 8: What We Believe About the Church Year

Summary

• As the secular calendar of holidays expresses the national history and heritage of a people, so the church calendar expresses the history and faith of the Church.
• The liturgical year helps us remember annually events that are vital to our salvation and the abundant life that God wants us to have.
• The Church year unfolds before us every year the whole life of Christ. It makes the events of His life present again in a mystical way so that we may re-live them and participate in them. This is expressed through the constant use of the word "today" in the hymns of the Church.
• Easter is the hinge on which the whole Church year swings. It is the greatest and most exalted feast of the Orthodox Church.
• There are twelve great feasts annually, five relating to the Mother of God and seven to the Lord Jesus. Periods of fasting are associated with many of the feast days.
• Each day of the week has its own memory and is dedicated to some event in the history of our salvation. Sunday is a "little Easter", Monday is dedicated to the angels, etc.
• Each day is broken down by hours to the remembrance of an important event in our salvation history that happened at that hour. For example, during the first hour (7 a.m.), the rising sun reminds us of the coming of the Light of the World; the third hour (9 a.m.), the actual time of Pentecost, reminds us to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit, etc.
• A synaxis is a feast on which we commemorate those saints who are a vital part of the feast that was celebrated on the previous day. On the day following the Nativity of the Theotokos, for example, we celebrate the feast of her parents, Joachim and Anna, etc.
• Since a single day is not enough to help us remember a sacred event, the Church has established pre-festive and post-festive periods before and after major feast days culminating in the apodosis -- the "giving up" or "conclusion" of a feast.

Key Themes and Sections

1. The Calendar Tells Much

A good way to start historical analysis is by asking what holidays a people celebrate on their calendar. In the same way, the religious calendar of the Orthodox Church reflects and expresses the whole history and faith of the Church.

"Its (the Orthodox Church's) liturgical year is...a sermon on the mystery of divine love, and this sermon is preached in words more powerful and sublime than any that could come from the mouth of a preacher." -- F. Heiler

2. To Keep Us from Forgetting

The Holy Days of the church calendar are "our annual sharp slap to keep us from forgetting events that are vital to our salvation and the abundant life that God wants us to have." We become so immersed in daily preoccupations that we forget our Lord and begin to live as if He never came. The church calendar is a constant reminder of His presence.

3. Unfolds Before Us the Life of Christ

The liturgical calendar unfolds annually the whole life of Christ from His birth to the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. By bringing into daily focus the great events of Christ's life, the church year enables the Church to revolve around Him as a satellite around its star.

Key Insight: The liturgical year is a most effective instrument for religious education -- both the literate and the illiterate. It sanctifies time.

4. The Preservation of Orthodoxy

Thomas Smith discerned that the real reason for the survival of the Orthodox Church under centuries of Muslim oppression was the strict and religious observation of the Festivals and Fasts of the Church.

"Next to the miraculous and gracious providence of God, I ascribe the preservation of Christianity among them to the strict and religious observation of the Festivals and Fasts of the Church.... This certainly is the chiefest preservative of Religion in those Eastern countries against the poison of the Mahometan superstition." -- Thomas Smith

5. Its Impact on Religious Experience

Peter Hammond described how for Greek Christians the Gospel is inseparably linked with the liturgy that is unfolded week by week in the parish church. The recurring cycle of the Church's liturgy has an extraordinary hold upon the piety of the common people.

6. The Use of the Word "Today"

The constant use of "today" in Orthodox hymns has profound meaning. Examples:

• Good Friday: "Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung on a Tree."
• Christmas: "Today He who holds the whole creation in the hollow of His hand is born of the Virgin."
• Epiphany: "Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has descended... Today the sins of mankind are blotted out..."
• Easter: "Today brings salvation to the world, for Christ has risen as Almighty."
• Palm Sunday: "Today Christ enters the city..."

7. The Now Moment

The word "today" is not merely a quaint expression peculiar to Orthodox hymnology. It expresses the essence of liturgical consciousness. Everything that Christ accomplished once returns to life eternally. It becomes present mystically in the now moment. It transcends time, joining the past with the present.

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8)

8. An Existential Encounter

Through the events of the liturgical year, we actually relive with Christ the great events of His life. Unlike a movie or play which merely re-enacts events, the liturgical year not only re-enacts those events but also places us in each event. An existential encounter takes place between us and Christ.

Key Point: Today He comes to be born in the manger of my soul. Today He offers me His precious Body and Blood. Today He hangs on the cross for me. Today He is resurrected and I am resurrected with Him.

George Mantzarides writes:

"The body of Christ surpasses time and space and joins all its members in the triadic communion where all things are present and live in the Lord.... Distance of time and place are annihilated, and all things become present in Christ."

9. Scripture Woven into Calendar

Important Scriptural truths have been woven into the church calendar. For example, John the Baptist's words about Jesus: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

• The birthday of Jesus was fixed at December 25 -- the beginning of the winter solstice, after which the days grow longer (He must increase).
• John the Baptist's birthday was fixed on June 24 -- the beginning of the summer solstice, after which the days grow shorter (he must decrease).

The Hinge on Which the Year Swings

The liturgical year revolves around the crucified and risen Christ. Easter is the hinge on which the whole church year swings -- the greatest and most exalted feast, the feast of feasts.

• The entire worship of the Church is organized around Easter.
• The liturgical year becomes "a journey, a pilgrimage towards Pascha" (Fr. Schmemann).
• An Orthodox Christian is one who lives from Easter to Easter.
• Dedicated to God, all the days of the year are bathed in the rays of the Risen Son of God.
• The liturgical year is not so much a collection of special days as it is a Christ-centered whole.

The Twelve Great Feasts

Feasts of the Mother of God (5):

• The Birth of the Theotokos (September 8)
• The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (November 21)
• The Meeting of our Lord (February 2)
• The Annunciation (March 25)
• The Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15)

Feasts of Our Lord (7):

• The Exaltation of the Cross (September 14)
• Christmas (December 25)
• Theophany (January 6)
• Palm Sunday (one week before Easter)
• The Ascension of Our Lord (40 days after Easter)
• Pentecost (50 days after Easter)
• The Transfiguration of Our Lord (August 6)

Note: Easter is not one of the Twelve Great Feasts because it is considered to be the source of all of them.

Three of the Twelve Great Feasts depend on the date of Easter (movable); the remainder are fixed.

Periods of Fasting

• Each Wednesday and Friday -- in memory of the betrayal (Wednesday) and crucifixion (Friday) of our Lord. Exceptions: between Christmas and Epiphany, during Easter week and Pentecost week.
• The Christmas fast -- 40 days, from November 15 to December 24.
• The Great Fast of Lent -- begins seven weeks before Easter.
• The Fast preceding the Feast of the Holy Apostles on June 30.
• Two fasts in August: August 1-6 (before the Transfiguration) and August 7-15 (before the Dormition of the Theotokos).
• The fasts on the Exaltation of the Cross, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the eve of Epiphany.

The Days of Each Week

The Daily Cycle (The Hours)

The early Christians would pause for prayer and meditation every third hour:

Practical Application: Even outside monastic life, we can pause briefly at these hours:

• 7 a.m. -- thank Jesus for spiritual light
• 9 a.m. -- beseech the Holy Spirit's presence
• Noon -- remember the crucifixion
• 3 p.m. -- remember His death with the words of the dying thief
• 6 p.m. -- remember Him who came as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles"
• Midnight -- remember Him who will come again

Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

Lent

• The main purpose of Lent in the early Church was to prepare catechumens (newly converted pagans) for baptism at the Paschal liturgy.
• Fr. Schmemann: "Easter is our return every year to our own Baptism, whereas Lent is our preparation for that return -- the slow and sustained effort to perform, at the end, our own 'passage' or 'pascha' into the new life of Christ."

Holy Week

• The Church re-enacts before us the entire passion of Christ.
• We are mystically present with Christ at each stage of His passion and death.
• At no other time of the year do we have the opportunity to experience the love of Christ as powerfully as during Holy Week.

Easter

• The feast of feasts, the festival of festivals.
• Radiates the tremendous joy of Christ's victory over death.
• At midnight the Paschal Candle is illuminated at the altar, representing Christ the Light of the World.
• The priest appears: "Come, receive light from the unwaning light, and glorify Christ Who is risen from the dead."
• Worshippers light their candles from the Paschal candle, passing the light until the whole church is ablaze.
• For forty days following Easter, Orthodox Christians greet one another: "Christ is risen!" / "Truly He is risen."

Synaxis

A feast on which we commemorate those saints who are a vital part of the feast celebrated on the previous day:

• Day after the Nativity of the Theotokos --> Feast of Joachim and Anna (her parents)
• Day after the Presentation of our Lord --> Feast of St. Simeon and St. Anna
• Day after the Annunciation --> Feast of St. Gabriel the Archangel
• Day after Epiphany --> Memory of St. John the Baptist

In the early Church, the bishop would have an actual synaxis (synod) with his clergy on the day after certain important feast days.

Pre-Festive and Post-Festive Periods

• A single day is not enough to remember a sacred event -- one day quickly passes and hardly leaves an impression.
• Pre-festive period: Builds up interest in the feast through special services, prayers, and hymns to place us in the proper spiritual mood.
• Post-festive period: An aftermath or echo of the feast day, designed to maintain our interest and help us see its abiding relevance.
• The last day of the post-festive period is called Apodosis (Greek: "giving up" or "conclusion"). The services on the Apodosis are almost the same as those on the feast day itself.
• All major feast days (except four) have one pre-festive day. Easter is anticipated by ten weeks of preparation (Pre-Lent, Lent, Holy Week) and forty days of post-festive celebration (until Ascension Day).
• Christmas has five pre-festive days; Epiphany has four.

Key Quotes

"Just as the sun bathes the earth in the rays which she sends out and bestows fertility and growth upon her, so the heavenly sun, Christ the giver of light and life, enters into the liturgical year of the Church of God with His gifts and the riches of His goodness in order to fill her with the divine light of His grace." -- Kirchoff

"For someone to whom worship is a living experience, the frequently used 'today' is not merely a rhetorical figure of speech. For it is indeed the proper function of liturgy that in and through it everything that Christ accomplished once always returns to life, is made present again, actualized in its relation to us and our salvation." -- Fr. Alexander Schmemann

"The life of the Church, in these services, makes actual for us the mystery of the Incarnation. Our Lord continues to live in the Church in the same form in which He was manifested once on earth and which exists forever." -- Fr. Sergius Bulgakov

Discussion Questions

• What does it mean to say that the liturgical year "sanctifies time"? How does this differ from a secular understanding of the calendar?
• The word "today" is used constantly in Orthodox hymns. Why is this more than a rhetorical device? What does it reveal about the Orthodox understanding of time and eternity?
• How did the strict observance of the Church calendar help preserve Orthodoxy under centuries of Muslim oppression? What lessons might this hold for Christians in secularized societies today?
• Why is Easter not counted among the Twelve Great Feasts? What does this tell us about its unique place in Orthodox worship?
• The liturgical year is described as "an existential encounter" with Christ rather than a mere commemoration. How does this differ from how many Christians experience holidays like Christmas and Easter?
• How does the structure of the daily hours (First, Third, Sixth, Ninth, Vespers, Midnight) connect prayer to the events of salvation? How might you incorporate even a simplified version of this into your own daily routine?
• What is the purpose of fasting periods before the great feasts? How do they prepare us spiritually?
• The concept of Synaxis shows how no saint acts alone -- each feast day is connected to the persons surrounding the event. What does this teach about the communal nature of salvation?
• Explain the significance of the pre-festive and post-festive periods. Why would the Church Fathers have considered one day insufficient to celebrate a sacred event?
• Fr. Schmemann says the liturgical year is "a journey, a pilgrimage towards Pascha." How does living from Easter to Easter reshape one's understanding of the Christian life?

Key Scripture References

• John 3:30 -- "He must increase, but I must decrease" (woven into the calendar)
• Hebrews 13:8 -- "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever"
• John 1:8 -- John "was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light"
• Matthew 27:45 -- Darkness at the sixth hour (crucifixion)
• Matthew 27:46,50 -- Jesus's death at the ninth hour
• Acts 2:15 -- The Holy Spirit at the third hour
• Acts 3:1 -- Peter and John at the hour of prayer (ninth hour)
• Acts 10:9 -- Peter praying at the sixth hour
• Acts 17:28 -- "In Whom we live and move and have our being"
• Exodus 12:29 -- The Exodus at midnight
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2,4 -- The Lord coming "as a thief in the night"
• Mark 13:35 -- Watch for the Master's return
• Psalm 19:1 -- "The heavens declare the glory of God"
• Psalm 65:11 -- "A garland of the beauties of the Lord"

Key Terms

• Synaxis (Greek: assembly/gathering) -- Feast commemorating saints connected to the previous day's feast
• Apodosis (Greek: "giving up") -- The conclusion or final day of a post-festive period
• Pre-festive period -- Preparatory days before a major feast
• Post-festive period -- Days of celebration following a major feast
• Pascha -- Easter; the passage from death to life
• Theophany/Epiphany -- The Baptism of Christ (January 6)
• Dormition -- The "Falling Asleep" of the Theotokos (August 15)

For Further Reading

• Great Lent -- St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY
• The Year of Grace of the Lord -- By a Monk of the Eastern Church
• The Divine Liturgy and the World -- Greek Orthodox Theological Review
• The Orthodox Church -- Bp. Kallistos Ware
• Eastern Christendom -- N. Zernov