Chapter X: The Kalendar of the Orthodox Church of the East

The modern Kalendar of the Byzantine Church is here dealt with. The early Menologies (which corresponded pretty closely to the Martyrologies of the West) show the usual phenomena of comparative simplicity passing into forms of great elaboration. The best known are the Menology of Constantinople of the eighth century and that which is known as the _Basilianum_, now most commonly associated with the Emperor Basil II (A.D. 976-1025), at whose instance it is said to have been composed[168].

The history of the growth and variations of the Kalendar of the Greeks cannot be here attempted; we confine ourselves to the Kalendar now in use.

I. _Immoveable commemorations._

This Kalendar, or the Kalendar of Saints, begins on Sept. 1, the first day of the year of the Indiction. With us in the West the civil year has left no mark upon the services of the Church. In the Greek Church in the hymns the divine blessing is invoked on the new year; and two of the lessons at Vespers are chosen as bearing references applicable to the day.

The services of the Church have frequently several commemorations of various saints upon the same day; and this general statement may be illustrated from Sept. 1. In addition to the _propria_ of the new year, we find commemorations of Simeon Stylites senior; his mother, St Martha; forty women martyrs with the Deacon Ammun; and a miraculous _icon_ of St Mary. To these must be added a commemoration of the Old Testament worthy, Joshua, the son of Nun. This specimen will suffice to show that it would be impossible in the space at our disposal to exhibit the commemorations of every day in the year[169]. We shall confine ourselves to exhibiting the Greek classification of festivals, and marking the dates of some of the more eminent commemorations. But it must be observed that days that are not regarded as festivals frequently contain canons (metrical hymns) which commemorate saints or martyrs. Indeed the offices of the Eastern service-books are packed with an extraordinary abundance of hagiological reference and allusion.

As regards dignity and importance in the Greek Church, in addition to Easter, which stands pre-eminent and is known by way of distinction as ‘the Feast’ (ἡ ἑορτή), there are twelve festivals of the first rank, some of them being moveable. These are: (1) the Nativity of the Lord, Dec. 25; (2) the Theophany (Epiphany), Jan. 6; (3) Hypapante (Purification), Feb. 2; (4) the Annunciation of the Theotokos, March 25; (5) the festival of Palms, which with the Sabbath of Lazarus on the preceding day makes one festival; (6) the Ascension of the Lord; (7) Pentecost; (8) the Transfiguration, Aug. 6; (9) the Repose of Theotokos, Aug. 15; (10) the Nativity of Theotokos, Sept. 8; (11) the Exaltation of the Cross, Sept. 14; (12) the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (_i.e._ her presentation), Nov. 21.

Each of these is marked first by the day preceding (_proheortia_) partaking of a _festive_ character, and secondly, by having an echo of the festival on certain following days, which are known as the _apodosis_ of the feast; but the name is often applied to the final day of the observance. The apodosis, unlike the Western Octave, is in some cases shorter than a week and in some cases longer. Thus, the apodosis of the Nativity of the Virgin (Sept. 8) terminates on Sept. 12; while the apodosis of the Theophany (Jan. 6) ordinarily extends to Jan. 14.

Next in dignity are four festivals of high rank, though not having either _proheortia_ or _apodosis_. They are: (1) the Circumcision, Jan. 1; (2) the Nativity of the Forerunner (St John Baptist), June 24; (3) St Peter and St Paul, the Koryphaeoi, June 29; (4) the Decollation of the Forerunner, Aug. 29.

The twelve of the first group and the four of the second may be taken as together corresponding in a measure to festivals of the first class in the Roman classification.

Similarly corresponding to feasts of the second class in the West is a group which is divided into greater and lesser. The greater feasts of this group are marked liturgically by the singing of a canon of the Virgin in addition to the canon proper to the feast. The lesser are marked by the singing in the service of what is known as _Polyeleos_, a name given to Psalms cxxxiv, cxxxv (Pss. cxxxv, cxxxvi in the enumeration of the English Prayer Book).

The greater feasts of the middle class are: (1) the common festival of the three Doctors of the Church [Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen], Jan. 30; (2) St George, martyr, April 23; (3) St John the Evangelist, May 8; (4) the Translation of the image of Christ, made without hands, from Edessa, Aug. 16; (5) the Migration of St John the Evangelist, Sept. 26. This festival is based on the ancient legend that St John did not die, but was translated; (6) St Sabbas, the Sanctified [Abbot of Palestine, who died A.D. 531], Dec. 5; (7) St Nicholas of Myra, the wonder-worker, Dec. 6.

The lesser feasts of the middle class include: (1) St Anthony, hermit, Jan. 17; (2) the forty Martyrs [of Sebaste, under Licinius], March 9; (3) St Constantine and St Helena, May 21; (4) St Cosmas and St Damian, the unmercenary physicians, July 1; (5) St Elias, the prophet, July 20; (6) St Demetrius, Great Martyr [of Thessalonica, under Diocletian], Oct. 26; (7) Synaxis of the Archangel, St Michael, Nov. 8; (8) St Andrew the Apostle, Nov. 30.

There is a third class subdivided into (_a_) festivals with the great doxology, and (_b_) festivals without the great doxology[170]. Festivals of the third class are very numerous, but they are festivals rather of the service-books than of actual life, upon which they leave little or no impression. The number of festivals kept by the Greeks and observed either by a complete or a partial cessation from trade and servile labour far surpasses the festivals so observed in any of the countries of Western Christendom.

The Russian Kalendar corresponds largely to the Byzantine; but there are, as might be expected, not a few commemorations of persons, events, and of miraculous _icons_, peculiar to Russia.

A few explanatory observations may here be added: (1) The Eastern Kalendars contrast in a striking way with the Western in the prominence given to commemorations of the saints and heroes of the Old Testament. All the prophets and many of the righteous men of Hebrew history have their days. And the service-books contain a _common_ of Prophets as well as a _common_ of Apostles, etc.

(2) Honorary epithets are freely bestowed upon the various saints without any very precise significance. Thus ‘God-bearing’ (_theophorus_), which is a natural epithet in the case of Ignatius, as being used of himself in his writings, is bestowed on various distinguished ascetics, as Anthony, Euthymius, Sabbas, Onuphrius.

(3) The ground for the distinction between ‘Martyrs’ and ‘Great Martyrs’ is not apparent. ‘Hieromartyrs’ are martyrs who were bishops or priests; ‘Hosiomartyrs’ are martyrs who were living as religious. Thekla, as well as Stephen, is ‘Protomartyr.’

(4) The word ‘Apostle’ is not confined to the twelve. The seventy disciples whom the Lord sent forth are the ‘Seventy Apostles,’ among whom were reckoned many of the persons named in the salutations of St Paul’s Epistles. And the word is also applied to certain companions or acquaintances of St Paul, as _e.g._ Ananias of Damascus, Agabus, Titus, etc. ‘Equal to the Apostles’ (_Isapostolos_) is applied (_a_) to very early saints, _e.g._ Abercius of Hierapolis, Mary Magdalene, Junia, Thekla, etc.; and (_b_) to great princes who were distinguished for their services to the Church, as Constantine and Helena.

‘Wonder-worker’ (_thaumaturgos_) is used of various saints famous for their miracles, as _e.g._ Charilampes (Feb. 10), Spiridion (Dec. 12), Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus (Nov. 17), the Saint Elizabeth (April 24), of uncertain date, who never washed her body with water, and others.

John, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who with us is the Baptist, appears as the Precursor or Forerunner (_Prodromos_). He figures much in the services of the Church: and several days are dedicated to his honour; his Conception (Sept. 23), his Nativity (June 24), his Decollation (Aug. 29) and the great feast known as his Synaxis (Jan. 7). In addition, the first and second finding of his head is commemorated on Feb. 24, and the third finding of his head on May 25.

St Mary the Virgin is almost invariably the Theotokos, and Joachim and Anna are the Theopator and Theometor (Sept. 9).

The ‘unmercenary’ (_anarguroi_) saints are generally physicians who took no fees, as Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and his companion John, and Pantaleon.

The term _Synaxis_ in such phrases as the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael (Nov. 8), the Synaxis of the Theotokos (Dec. 26), the Synaxis of the seventy Apostles (Jan. 4), the Synaxis of the Forerunner (Jan. 7), the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (March 26), the Synaxis of the twelve Apostles (June 30), is not easily rendered into English; and its precise significance (as used in the Kalendar) is not obvious. It is sometimes used for a gathering or assembly of people; but more commonly it is employed to signify a Eucharistic Communion[171].

It is customary after the great feasts of our Lord and of the Virgin Mary to subjoin on the following day the commemoration of saints associated with the event commemorated on the preceding day. Thus, the Epiphany (Theophany) in the Greek Church being chiefly concerned with the Baptism of Christ, we have on the following day (Jan. 7) the feast of St John Baptist; after the Hypapante, or meeting with Simeon and Anna in the Temple (on Feb. 2, the day of the Purification of the Virgin, in the West), we find (Feb. 3) Simeon and Anna the prophetess; after the Nativity of the Lord, the synaxis of the Theotokos, Dec. 26; after the Nativity of the Virgin (Sept. 8) we have on Sept. 9 Joachim and Anna, her parents; after the Annunciation (March 25) we have on March 26 the synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, who made the great announcement.

It remains to be added that, as in the Orthodox Church of the East Wednesdays and Fridays are observed as strict fasts alike by the clergy, the monks, and the laity, most of the important festivals carry with them either a partial dispensation (as in some cases for the use of oil and wine, and in others for the use of oil, wine, and fish) or a dispensation for all kinds of food, when a festival falls on one of these fast days.

We now proceed to describe the annual cycle of Sundays.

II. _The Dominical Kalendar of the Orthodox Church of the East._

The arrangement of the Sundays falls into two divisions, the first beginning with the Sunday before our Western Septuagesima; and the second, immediately after our Trinity Sunday, which, with the Greeks, is called the Sunday of All Saints. In the following table, opposite the names of the Sundays for the earlier part of the Dominical cycle, as given in the Greek service-books, are placed the names of the corresponding Sundays in the West, as known to English churchmen.

Publican and Pharisee Sunday before Septuagesima
The Prodigal Son Septuagesima
Apocreos Sexagesima
Tyrinis, or Tyrophagus Quinquagesima
First of the Fasts (or Orthodoxy) First Sunday in Lent
Second of the Fasts Second Sunday in Lent
Third of the Fasts (or Adoration of Third Sunday in Lent
the Cross)
Fourth of the Fasts Fourth Sunday in Lent
Fifth of the Fasts Fifth Sunday in Lent
Palms Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday)
Holy Pasch Easter
Antipasch (or St Thomas) First Sunday after Easter
Myrrh-bearers Second Sunday after Easter
Paralytic Third Sunday after Easter
Samaritan Woman Fourth Sunday after Easter
Blind Man Fifth Sunday after Easter
The Three hundred and eighteen[172] Sunday after Ascension-day
Pentecost Whitsunday
First after Pentecost (or All Saints) Trinity Sunday

The following Sundays are numbered the Second, Third, Fourth after Pentecost, and so on, till we reach the Sunday of the Publican (the Sunday before Septuagesima) in the following year. But while the numbers are continuous, special names are given to certain Sundays. Thus we find the Sunday before and the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14); the Sundays before and after the Nativity; the Sundays before and after the Lights (_i.e._ the Epiphany).

Again, we sometimes find the Sundays after Pentecost referred to as the First, Second, Third, etc., of Matthew; because the liturgical Gospel on these Sundays, on to the Exaltation of the Cross, is taken from St Matthew. Similarly, after the Exaltation of the Cross and on to Apocreos the liturgical Gospel for the Sundays is taken from St Luke, and the Sundays are named First, Second, Third, etc., of Luke.

It is the subject-matter of the Gospel for the day which gives its name to the Sundays called the Publican, the Prodigal, St Thomas, the Myrrh-bearers (_i.e._ the women bringing spices to the tomb), etc.

On the Sunday of Orthodoxy (the first in Lent) some sixty anathemas against heresy of various kinds are recited, including several against the Iconoclasts who were condemned at the second Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787). Tyrinis (or Tyrophagus) and Apocreos are explained elsewhere[173].

The name ‘Antipasch,’ for the first Sunday after Easter (Low Sunday; _Dominica in Albis_), implies that it is ‘over against’ or ‘answering to’ the Pasch. On the Sunday of the Three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers of Nicaea a canon (or metrical hymn) in honour of the Council is sung.

The naming of the week in relation to the Sunday is peculiar, and does not follow, as in the West, a consistent rule. In some cases, the week _preceding_ a Sunday is given its name: in other cases the week is called after the Sunday with which it begins. And when the determination of dates is in view the student should be on the alert. Thus, the week of Apocreos (the last week of flesh-eating) precedes the Sunday Apocreos; the week of Tyrine (when cheese, butter and milk are allowed) precedes the Sunday of that name; and the first week of the Lenten fast precedes the Sunday that is the first in Lent. On the other hand, after Antipascha and on to the second Sunday after Pentecost the weeks are named from the Sunday which they follow: while the naming the week from the Sunday which follows is resumed at the latter date[174].

The period from the Sunday of the Publican to Easter Eve inclusive is sometimes called the time of the Triodion (Τριῴδιον), because the _propria_ for that time are contained in a service-book which bears that name; while the period from Easter Day to the Sunday of All Saints (first Sunday after Pentecost), both inclusive, is called the time of the Pentekostarion (Πεντηκοστάριον) from the name of the service-book used at that time.

A few words must be said on certain week-days observed with special dignity, the position of which in the almanack varies with the position of Sundays as affected by the incidence of Easter. It will be remembered that in the East the Sabbath (Saturday) is reckoned as a day of special religious observance; and some Sabbaths are distinguished by special names. The Sabbath of Apocreos is a day for the solemn commemoration of all the faithful departed; and vigils are kept during the night. It is known as the Sabbath of the Dead. The next following Sabbath serves for the commemoration of religious and ascetics; it is named the Sabbath of Ascetics. On the Sabbath of the first week of Lent (known as the Sabbath of Kollyba) there is a commemoration of St Theodore Tyro, martyr, who, according to the legend, in the time of Julian the apostate, appeared to the bishop of Constantinople, and ordered him in a great emergency to make _Kollyba_ and distribute them to the people. The bishop said in reply that he did not know what _Kollyba_ were, and the saint explained that they were wheaten cakes. We need not pursue the story further. The Sabbath before the fifth Sunday in Lent is the Sabbath of the Akathist. A hymn, so called, in honour of the Virgin, was sung throughout the night by the people, _not sitting down_. The Sabbath before the Sixth Sunday commemorates the raising of Lazarus, and is called the Sabbath of Lazarus. Easter Eve is the ‘Great Sabbath.’

It may be observed that while in the West the word _Parasceve_ is used exclusively for Good Friday, in the East the word is used for every Friday, and Good Friday is distinguished by the epithet _Great_.

A detailed exhibition of the Byzantine Kalendar cannot be attempted here, but the student will find it treated by J. M. Neale in the _General Introduction_ to his _History of the Holy Eastern Church_ (vol. II.) and with great fulness in Nilles’ _Kalendarium manuale utriusque Ecclesiae_.

Notes on the Kalendars of some of the separated Churches of the East will be found in Appendix III.

APPENDIX I

THE PASCHAL QUESTION IN THE CELTIC CHURCHES

The controversies as to the calculation of Easter between the Roman ecclesiastics, on the one hand, and, on the other, the ecclesiastics of Ireland (Scotia), Scotland (Alban), and Wales, arose from the fact that our native Churches continued to follow a cycle which had, at the beginning of the fourth century, prevailed at Rome, but which was afterwards abandoned by the Church of that city. An admirable account of the matter will be found in Prof. Bury’s _Life of St Patrick_, 371-374. The improved Roman computation was eventually adopted in the south of Ireland about A.D. 650; in the north of Ireland in A.D. 703; among the Picts of Scotland in A.D. 710; at Iona in A.D. 716; and in South Wales in A.D. 802.