The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

Orthodox worship and spiritual life — lesson 2

The liturgical year

Pascha at the centre, the fasts and feasts around it, and why Orthodox Pascha is often on a different Sunday.

  • Liturgical witnessAttested in the Church's worship — in a hymn, a prayer, a rite or a commemoration. Liturgical language is theological rather than casual, but a hymn is not a canon.
  • Jurisdiction-specific practicePractice varies legitimately between canonical Orthodox jurisdictions. Variation in practice is not variation in faith.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

What still needs checking (1)
  • Confirm the description of calendar practice across canonical jurisdictions against official Orthodox sources.

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What this lesson covers

  • Describe the shape of the Orthodox year.
  • Explain the calendar difference without misrepresenting either practice.
  • Name the major fasts.

About 7 minutes to read.

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Everything in the Orthodox year is arranged around pascha. The weeks before it are the Triodion and Great Lent; the weeks after are the Pentecostarion, running to Pentecost. The fixed calendar of feasts and saints runs alongside.

The date of Pascha

The Council of Nicaea addressed the disagreement over when Pascha should be kept. Its ruling, as the council's own letter puts it, fixes a principle rather than publishing a calculation: that all should keep it together, and not according to the reckoning of the Jews.

The fasts

  • Great Lent, the longest, preceding Pascha, with Holy Week following it.
  • The Nativity Fast, preceding Christmas.
  • The Apostles' Fast, of variable length, after Pentecost.
  • The Dormition Fast, in the first half of August.
  • Wednesdays and Fridays through most of the year, with fast-free weeks at set points.

The Twelve Great Feasts, with Pascha above them as the feast of feasts, give the year its high points. The Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Great Lent, commemorates the end of iconoclasm in 843.

Key Scripture

  • 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 — Christ our Pascha is sacrificed for us.
  • Leviticus 23 — The appointed feasts, which the Christian year does not copy but does presuppose.

On Scripture references. References are given so you can read the passage in the translation your parish uses. This site does not reproduce a modern copyrighted Bible text.

Council and canon connections

Why this matters in lived Orthodoxy

For a family this is the most visible part of Orthodox life: the year has a shape, meals change with it, and the church looks and sounds different in Lent than at Pascha. Children generally learn the faith through the year before they learn it through instruction.

Review

What is at the centre of the Orthodox year?
Pascha, with the Triodion and Great Lent before it and the Pentecostarion after.
Why does Orthodox Pascha often fall later than Western Easter?
Because the Orthodox Church reckons it by the Julian paschalion while Western churches use a Gregorian reckoning.

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Going deeper

Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) On the Keeping of Easter annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record
  2. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) Excursus on the Subsequent History of the Easter Question annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record

Tiers are explained in the methodology. No page on this site has been reviewed or approved by any bishop, priest, synod or seminary.