Paschal cycle

Paschal cycle

The Paschal cycle in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion (referring to the liturgical book that contains the services for this liturgical season). This period includes the three weeks preceding Great Lent (the "pre-Lenten period"), the forty days of Lent, and Holy Week. The 50 days following Pascha are called the Pentecostarion (again, named after the liturgical book).

The Sunday of each week has a special commemoration, named for the Gospel reading assigned to that day. Certain other weekdays have special commemorations of their own (see outline, below). The entire cycle revolves around Pascha. The weeks before Pascha end on Sunday (i.e., the Week of the Prodigal Son begins on the Monday that follows the Publican and the Pharisee). This is because everything in the Lenten period is looking forward towards Pascha. Starting on Pascha, the weeks again begin on Sunday (i.e., Thomas Week begins on the Sunday of St. Thomas).

While the Pentecostarion closes after All Saints Sunday, the Paschal cycle continues throughout the entire year, until the beginning of the next Pre-Lenten period. The Tone of the Week, the Epistle and Gospel readings at the Divine Liturgy, and the 11 Matins Gospels with their accompanying hymns are dependent on it.

(For fixed feasts, see Eastern Orthodox Church calendar. For this year's date for Pascha, see Easter. For the method used to calculate the date of Pascha, see Computus.)

Contents

Pre-Lent

Icon of Palm Sunday
Icon of Christ washing the feet of the Apostles (16th century, Pskov school of iconography).
Icon of Pentecost
  • Zacchaeus Sunday (Slavic tradition) or Sunday of the Canaanite (Greek tradition): 11th Sunday before Pascha
  • The Publican and the Pharisee: 10th Sunday before Pascha (70 days)
  • The Prodigal Son: 9th Sunday before Pascha (63 days)
  • The Last Judgment; also, Meat-Fare Sunday (the last day meat may be eaten): 8th Sunday before Pascha (56 days)
  • Sunday of Forgiveness; also, Cheese-Fare Sunday (the last day dairy products may be consumed — during Great Lent fish, wine, and olive oil will be allowed only on certain days): 7th Sunday before Pascha (40 days)

Great Lent

  • Clean Monday, the actual beginning of Great Lent: 48 days before Pascha
  • Theodore Saturday—1st Saturday in Great Lent—commemorating of the "miracle of the kolyva" (boiled wheat) by Theodore of Tyro during the reign of Julian the Apostate
  • Triumph of Orthodoxy—1st Sunday of Lent—commemoration of the restoration of icons after the defeat of the iconoclast heresy in 843: 6th Sunday before Pascha (42 days)
  • Memorial Saturdays—2nd, 3rd, and 4th Saturdays of Great Lent—commemorative Divine Liturgies and memorial services for the dead are celebrated on the
  • Saint Gregory Palamas—2nd Sunday of Lent—5th Sunday before Pascha (35 days)
  • Adoration of the Cross 4th Sunday before Pascha and 3rd Sunday of Lent(28 days)
  • Saint John of the Ladder—4th Sunday of Lent—3rd Sunday before Pascha (21 days)
  • Saturday of the Akathist—5th Saturday of Great Lent
  • Saint Mary of Egypt—5th Sunday of Lent—2nd Sunday before Pascha (14 days)

Great and Holy Week

Great and Holy Pascha

  • The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: very late Saturday night (with the procession starting at midnight)
  • Agape Vespers: Proclamation of the Gospel to all the ends of the Earth, symbolized by the reading of the Gospel in various languages from the four corners of the Church building (Sunday afternoon)

Pentecostarion (Paschaltide)

  • Bright Week: Week following Pascha
  • Thomas Sunday (Sunday of Saint Thomas): 1st Sunday after Pascha (7 days)
  • Radonitsa: Tuesday after Thomas Sunday (9 days)
  • The Holy Myrrhbearers: 2nd Sunday after Pascha (14 days)
  • The Paralytic: 3rd Sunday after Pascha (21 days)
  • The Samaritan Woman (Photini): 4th Sunday after Pascha (28 days)
  • The Blind Man: 5th Sunday after Pascha (35 days)
  • The Ascension of Jesus Christ (39 days)
  • The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council: 6th Sunday after Pascha (40 days)
  • Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles: 7th Sunday after Pascha (49 days)
  • All Saints: 8th Sunday after Pascha (56 days)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Greek paschal cycle — Dionysian Di o*ny sian, a. Relating to Dionysius, a monk of the 6th century; as, the Dionysian, or Christian, era. [1913 Webster] {Dionysian period}, a period of 532 years, depending on the cycle of the sun, or 28 years, and the cycle of the moon …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Paschal — is a variant spelling of the name Pascal (see: Pascal (name)). Two popes and two antipopes have taken this name:* Antipope Paschal (687) * Pope Paschal I (817 824) * Pope Paschal II (1099 1118) * Antipope Paschal III (1164 1168)Paschal is also… …   Wikipedia

  • Paschal greeting — This article is about the greeting. For the troparion, see Paschal troparion. Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II, giving the Paschal greeting to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Paschal greeting is an Easter custom among Eastern Orthodox,… …   Wikipedia

  • CYCLE — Une conception cyclique du temps a souvent été comprise par la pensée moderne comme la marque du primitivisme d’une culture ou le symptôme d’une régression archaïsante chez un sujet. Une telle conception, dans les deux cas, résulterait d’une… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Beda Venerabilis' Easter cycle — In the year 616 an anonymous extended Dionysius Exiguus Easter table to an Easter table concerning the years 532 up to and including 721, and it is this Easter table which about the year 650 was accepted by the church of Rome, which from the… …   Wikipedia

  • Computus — (Latin for computation ) is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. The name has been used for this procedure since the early Middle Ages, as it was one of the most important computations of the age. In principle, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Easter — This article is about the Christian Festival. For secular uses, see Easter customs and Ēostre. For other uses, see Easter (disambiguation). Easter Resurrected Jesus and Mary Magdalene, by Antonio da Correggio, 1543 …   Wikipedia

  • Great Lent — Orthodox church in the Czech Republic vested in lenten colors. Liturgical year Western …   Wikipedia

  • Liturgical year — For Dom Guéranger s series of books, see The Liturgical Year. Christian year redirects here. For John Keble s series of poems, see The Christian Year. Part of a series on Christianity …   Wikipedia

  • Canonical hours — Benedictine monks singing Vespers on Holy Saturday. Canonical hours are divisions of time which serve as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. A Book of Hours contains such a set of prayers. In western Catholicism,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”