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Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part III. Ceremonial, 39. The Times of Public Worship
What name is given to the times, which have been fixed by the whole Church, for the regular gathering of the faithful, in order with one accord to worship God?
They are called “festivals.”
What is the most frequent festival, which is repeated every seventh day?
Sunday, fixed from Apostolic times in permanent remembrance of our Risen Lord, and which replaced the legal Sabbath, as we showed in the interpretation of the Fourth Commandment. Besides this, many other festivals are kept in our Church—with this great difference, however: that, while the festival of Sunday is kept fifty-two times a year, in order to bring constantly to our memory the eternal Redeemer and Guide of our souls, equal to Whom there is no one else, each of the other festivals is kept only once a year, although, even among them, not a few recall events from the life of Jesus Christ.
And how should we divide all those festivals of the year?
If we classify them according to the person, in whose honour the festival is kept, we should divide them into (1) the Lord’s Festivals, (2) the Mother-of-God’s Festivals, and (3) the Saints’ Festivals. If, according to the movability or fixity of their date, we should divide them into (1) fixed Festivals and (2) movable Festivals. Thus, the festivals of Christmas, Epiphany and the Transfiguration are Lord’s festivals, as concerning the person of our Lord. The festivals of the Annunciation, the Presentation and the Falling-asleep are Mother-of-God’s festivals, as concerning the person of the Holy Virgin, the Mother of God. The festivals of the Apostles, of St. Chrysostom, of St. George, of St. Catherine, etc., are Saints’ festivals, because they concern the persons of saints. But, while such as the above mentioned holy days belong to the order of immovable festivals, because the date of their celebration remains unchanged and immutable every year, the great festival of Easter, on the contrary, and the festivals of “Triodion” (hymnological book read before Easter) and of “Pentecostarion” (hymnological book read after Easter) which are contained in the space of 120 days and have Easter as their centre, have no fixed date of celebration, but occur at different times, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, as fixed by a special date-index called “Paschalion.” This occurs, because the celebration of Easter was fixed by the First Oecumenical Council for the first Sunday after the full moon following the Spring Equinox. And, as the full moon does not occur always on the same date each year, therefore the date of Easter and of the festivals dependent on Easter vary, although, thanks to the Paschalion, they are known beforehand.