Part 6 of 9 · 2 min read
The church year
In short The Orthodox year revolves around Pascha (Easter), with seasons of fasting leading into seasons of feasting. Your calendar starts to have a rhythm.
When is Pascha?
Orthodox Pascha is worked out using the older Julian calendar, so it often falls later than Western Easter. Sometimes it’s the same day, and sometimes it’s up to five weeks later.
| Year | Lent begins | Pascha | Pentecost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 15 March | 2 May | 20 June |
| 2028 | 28 February | 16 April | 4 June |
| 2029 | 19 February | 8 April | 27 May |
Pascha is the biggest day of the year: a midnight service, candles, and “Christ is risen!” on repeat. If you go to one service, go to this one.
The Great Feasts
Besides Pascha, there are twelve major feasts. Dates below are for the Old Calendar, used by the Serbian, Russian and some other churches. Churches on the New Calendar (such as the Greek and Antiochian) keep the fixed feasts 13 days earlier, but almost all Orthodox share the same Pascha.
| Feast | Date |
|---|---|
| Nativity of the Theotokos (Mary’s birth) | 21 September |
| Exaltation of the Cross | 27 September |
| Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple | 4 December |
| Nativity of Christ (Christmas) | 7 January |
| Theophany (Jesus’ baptism) | 19 January |
| Meeting of the Lord in the Temple | 15 February |
| Annunciation | 7 April |
| Palm Sunday | Week before Pascha |
| Ascension | 40 days after Pascha |
| Pentecost | 50 days after Pascha |
| Transfiguration | 19 August |
| Dormition of the Theotokos | 28 August |
The church year starts on 1 September (14 September on the Old Calendar), which is why the list starts there.
Fasting, simply
Fasting is training, not dieting. You go without certain foods to loosen food’s grip on you and make more room for prayer and generosity. An old saying: fasting without prayer is just a diet.
- The traditional rule: no meat, dairy, eggs or fish, and often no wine or oil. Shellfish is allowed.
- When: most Wednesdays and Fridays, plus four seasons: Great Lent (about seven weeks before Pascha), the Apostles’ Fast (from a week after Pentecost to 11 July), the Dormition Fast (14–27 August) and the Nativity Fast (28 November to 6 January).
- Before Communion: nothing to eat or drink from midnight, or from waking, as your priest advises.
- Feast weeks: some weeks have no fasting at all, like the week after Pascha.
Start small. Almost nobody begins with the full rule, and it’s best not to try it alone. Talk to your priest. A common start is going meat-free on Wednesdays and Fridays. And it’s never about judging what someone else eats.