Feasts of the Church
The Antiochian Orthodox Church follows the Revised Julian calendar.
The Church year begins on September the 1
st and the ecclesiastical year is marked by many Feasts.
The greatest of all of these is The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ more usually called Pascha or Easter. The formula for determining the date on which Pascha is celebrated in any given year was defined by the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
In addition there are 12 other feasts of great importance to the Church, called the Twelve Great Feasts, Ten of these occur on fixed dates according to the calendar whilst the other two are movable. The date of the movable Feasts in any given year is based upon the date of Pascha for that year and the relationship of the event commemorated to that of Resurrection of Christ as recorded in the New Testament.
Individual parishes usually have special celebrations on the feast days of their Patron Saint or the festival for which they were named.
To learn more about the Great Feasts of the Church follow the links below
The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ
Preceded by Triodian, Great Lent and Holy Week
Pascha (Easter)
The Twelve Great Feasts of the Church The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary - 8th of September Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross - 14th of September Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple - 21st of November The Nativity of Christ - 25th of December Theophany - 6th of January - 6th of January The Presentation of Christ at the Temple - 2nd of February
The Annunciation - 25th of March Palm Sunday The Ascension of Christ Pentecost The Transfiguration - 6th of August The Dormition of the Theotokos - 15th of August Various Other Feasts