The Orthodox Church calendar is how we structure our year around Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It’s not just dates on a wall. It’s a way of living in rhythm with the Gospel.
If you grew up Baptist or non-denominational here in Southeast Texas, you probably thought of the church year (if you thought of it at all) as Christmas, Easter, maybe a few other special Sundays. The Orthodox calendar is different. Every single day has a purpose. Every week points somewhere. The whole year circles around Pascha, that’s what we call Easter, like planets around the sun.
Two Cycles, One Story
The calendar works through two interlocking cycles. The first is the fixed cycle, tied to specific dates. Christmas is December 25. Theophany (Christ’s baptism) is January 6. The Annunciation is March 25. These don’t move.
The second is the Paschal cycle, which does move. Pascha’s date changes every year because it’s calculated using both solar and lunar elements, following the ancient formula: the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Everything in this cycle moves with Pascha. Great Lent starts 40 days before. Pentecost comes 50 days after. The Sundays between Pentecost and the next Lent are numbered in sequence.
These two cycles weave together. Sometimes a fixed feast falls during Lent. Sometimes the Annunciation lands on Pascha itself. The services adjust. It’s complex, but you don’t need to master it all at once. Just show up and the calendar will teach you.
How It Shapes Your Life
When you start following the Orthodox calendar, you stop living in secular time alone. September 1 is the church new year, not January 1. Your autumn doesn’t start with football season but with the Nativity of the Theotokos on September 8. Winter isn’t about holiday parties but about the Nativity Fast, 40 days of preparation before Christmas.
You’ll fast most Wednesdays and Fridays. You’ll keep four major fasting seasons: Great Lent, the Nativity Fast (November 15 to December 24), the Apostles’ Fast (after Pentecost until June 29), and the Dormition Fast (August 1-14). Between these fasts come feasts. After fasting comes celebration. It’s a rhythm you feel in your body, not just your head.
The calendar also means that every day commemorates saints. Today isn’t just Tuesday. It’s the feast of St. Basil the Great or St. Mary of Egypt or the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. You’re never alone. The Church surrounds you with this great cloud of witnesses, and the calendar makes sure you remember them.
What Makes It Different
Most Antiochian parishes in North America, including ours, use what’s called the Revised Julian calendar. This means our Christmas falls on December 25 on your regular calendar, same as the Catholics and Protestants. Some Orthodox (Russian, Serbian, Jerusalem) still use the old Julian calendar, which is now 13 days behind. Their Christmas is January 7 on the civil calendar. It’s the same feast, just different dating systems.
But even though our Christmas date matches, our Pascha usually doesn’t match Western Easter. We use a different calculation, and we follow the ancient rule that Pascha must come after Jewish Passover. So some years we’re a week later. Some years a month. Occasionally we line up.
If you’re coming from a Protestant background, this whole concept probably feels foreign. You’re used to the church following your life, services when it’s convenient, maybe a Christmas Eve service, an Easter Sunday. The Orthodox calendar flips that. Your life follows the church. You plan vacations around Holy Week. You adjust your work schedule for Vespers. You eat differently depending on what season it is.
Catholics will find this more familiar, but still different. We don’t have Advent the way they do. Our pre-Christmas season is longer and stricter. We don’t have Ordinary Time. Every Sunday after Pentecost is numbered, counting down to the next Lenten cycle.
Living the Year
Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote that the liturgical year lets us enter into the Kingdom of God, not as a future hope but as present reality. When we celebrate the Nativity, Christ is born now. When we keep Holy Week, we stand at the foot of the Cross now. When we sing the Paschal hymns, the tomb is empty now.
This isn’t pretend. It’s not historical reenactment. The Church believes that in the liturgical cycle, we actually participate in these events. Time in the Kingdom works differently than time at the refinery or time in your kitchen. The calendar is how we step into that other time.
You can start simple. Get an Orthodox calendar (the OCA puts out a good desk calendar every year, and Ancient Faith sells wall calendars with beautiful icons). Notice what day it is in the church’s reckoning. If you’re still inquiring, just observe. Come to Vespers on a feast day. Try fasting on a Wednesday. Let the rhythm start to sink in.
The calendar will feel overwhelming at first. That’s normal. But after a year or two, you’ll find yourself knowing what’s coming. Your body will expect the Lenten fast. Your heart will anticipate Pascha. You’ll start to live in a different time, the time of the Church, which is really the time of eternity breaking into your Tuesday afternoon in Beaumont.
