The Orthodox Church Calendar is a liturgical calendar used by Eastern Orthodox Christians to determine the dates of religious feasts, fasts, and saints' days, often following the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar used by most of the Western world. This calendar reflects the rich tradition and theological significance of time in the Orthodox faith, emphasizing the cyclical nature of the liturgical year and its connection to the life of Christ and the saints.

Orthodox Church Calendar

The liturgical calendar is a system used by many Christian denominations to organize and commemorate the annual cycle of religious events and seasons, such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. It serves both as a tool for spiritual reflection and as a guide for worship, ensuring that the life of Jesus and key theological themes are systematically celebrated throughout the year.

liturgical calendar

Eastern Orthodox Christians

dates of religious feasts

Dates of fasts

saints' days

The Julian Calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, was a reform of the Roman calendar that established a 365-day year with a leap year every four years to better align with the solar year. It was widely used in the Western world until the Gregorian Calendar reform in 1582, which corrected its drift over time due to its slightly inaccurate year length.

Julian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to reform the Julian calendar, primarily to correct the drift of the equinoxes. It achieves greater accuracy by introducing a system of leap years that omits three leap days every 400 years, ensuring that the average year length closely aligns with the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

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