The Moveable Calendar

The paschal cycle, year by year — the date of Pascha for the years ahead, and every movable feast and fast reckoned from it.

The Feast of Feasts

The Date of Pascha

The whole movable cycle turns on Pascha — every feast and fast below is reckoned from it. Choose a year to see its dates.

Movable Feasts & Fasts

Each entry reckoned from Pascha — pick a year above for its dates

Great FeastFeastFastObservance

P−77MovableZacchaeus SundayThe Sunday whose Gospel (Luke 19:1-10) recounts the tax-collector Zacchaeus, who climbed a sycamore tree to see Christ and welcomed Him with joy. In Slavic usage it opens the approach to the Triodion, setting the tone of longing for God that precedes repentance.Observance P−70MovableSunday of the Publican and the PhariseeThe first Sunday of the Lenten Triodion. Its Gospel parable (Luke 18:10-14) contrasts the self-righteous Pharisee with the humble, repentant publican, teaching that God justifies the lowly of heart.Observance P−69→ P−63Week after the Publican and the PhariseeThe first fast-free week of the pre-Lenten season, following the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, when the customary Wednesday and Friday fast is lifted to teach humility over outward observance.Fast-FreeObservance P−63MovableSunday of the Prodigal SonThe second Sunday of the Triodion, whose Gospel (Luke 15:11-32) tells the parable of the prodigal son and the Father's merciful embrace of the returning sinner.Observance P−57MovableSaturday of SoulsThe great universal commemoration of all the faithful departed, kept on the Saturday before Meatfare Sunday. The Church prays for all Orthodox Christians fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection, on the eve of the theme of the Last Judgment.Observance P−56MovableMeatfare SundayThe Sunday whose Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46) proclaims Christ's Last Judgment, when the sheep are parted from the goats according to their works of mercy. It is the last day meat is eaten before Pascha.Observance P−55→ P−49Cheesefare WeekThe final pre-Lenten week, following Meatfare Sunday, in which the Church withdraws meat while still permitting dairy, gently preparing body and soul for the Great Fast.Dairy AllowedFast P−50MovableCheesefare SaturdayThe Saturday before Forgiveness Sunday, commemorating all the venerable and God-bearing ascetic Fathers and Mothers who shone in the monastic life, set before the faithful as guides on the threshold of Great Lent.Observance P−49MovableForgiveness SundayThe last Sunday before Great Lent, recalling the expulsion of Adam from Paradise; the Gospel (Matthew 6:14-21) teaches mutual forgiveness and hidden fasting. The faithful enter the fast reconciled to one another.Observance P−48→ P−9Great LentThe chief penitential season of the Church year, a springtime of the soul preparing the faithful for Pascha through intensified prayer, almsgiving, and fasting in imitation of Christ's forty days in the wilderness.VariesFast P−48MovableClean MondayThe first day of Great Lent, so named for the 'clean' beginning of the fast and the spiritual house-cleaning of repentance it inaugurates.Observance P−43MovableSaturday of St Theodore the RecruitThe Saturday of the first week of Great Lent, keeping the memory of the miracle of St Theodore the Recruit, who warned the faithful of the emperor Julian's plot to defile the market food and bade them eat boiled wheat instead.Observance P−42MovableSunday of OrthodoxyThe first Sunday of Great Lent, commemorating the restoration of the holy icons in 843 and the final triumph over iconoclasm, a celebration of the Church's confession of the true faith of the Ecumenical Councils.Observance P−36MovableSecond Saturday of Souls of Great LentThe first of the three Lenten Soul Saturdays, on which the Church again prays for all the departed faithful, extending the mercy sought in the fast to those who have fallen asleep.Observance P−35MovableSunday of St Gregory PalamasThe second Sunday of Great Lent, honoring St Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, who defended the reality of the uncreated divine light and the prayer of the heart. His commemoration is seen as a continuation of the triumph of Orthodoxy.Observance P−29MovableThird Saturday of Souls of Great LentThe second of the three Lenten Soul Saturdays, continuing the Church's prayer for all the departed through the weeks of the fast.Observance P−28MovableSunday of the Veneration of the CrossThe third Sunday of Great Lent, at the midpoint of the fast, when the Cross is brought out for veneration to strengthen and encourage the faithful for the remainder of Lent as the Lord's Passion draws near.Observance P−22MovableFourth Saturday of Souls of Great LentThe last of the three Lenten Soul Saturdays (of the second, third, and fourth weeks), on which the Church makes her final Lenten commemoration of all the departed faithful.Observance P−21MovableSunday of St John ClimacusThe fourth Sunday of Great Lent, honoring St John Climacus, abbot of Sinai and author of 'The Ladder of Divine Ascent,' whose steps of virtue are held before the faithful as the pattern of ascetic struggle in the second half of the fast.Observance P−15MovableSaturday of the AkathistThe Saturday of the fifth week of Great Lent, on which the whole Akathist Hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos is chanted in thanksgiving for her protection of the Church.Observance P−14MovableSunday of St Mary of EgyptThe fifth Sunday of Great Lent, honoring St Mary of Egypt, the former harlot who repented utterly and lived forty-seven years in the desert beyond the Jordan, set before the faithful as the supreme image of repentance as the fast nears its end.Observance P−8MovableLazarus SaturdayThe day the Church commemorates Christ raising his friend Lazarus from the tomb after four days, a foreshadowing of the general resurrection and the Lord's own rising. It falls the day before Palm Sunday and marks the close of Great Lent proper before Holy Week begins.Observance P−7MovableEntry of the Lord into JerusalemChrist's triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, greeted by crowds spreading their garments and palm branches and crying "Hosanna," days before His Passion.Fish AllowedGreat Feast P−6→ P−1Holy Week FastThe week following Palm Sunday in which the Church accompanies Christ through His Passion, Crucifixion, and burial, culminating at the threshold of Pascha.Strict FastFast P−6MovableGreat and Holy MondayThe first day of Holy Week recalls Joseph the all-comely Patriarch, sold by his brothers as a type of the suffering Christ, and the barren fig tree that the Lord cursed as an image of a fruitless soul.Observance P−5MovableGreat and Holy TuesdayThis day brings to mind the parable of the Ten Virgins, calling the faithful to keep the lamp of the soul filled and to watch for the coming of the Bridegroom.Observance P−4MovableGreat and Holy WednesdayThe Church contrasts the sinful woman who anointed Christ's feet with costly myrrh and her tears against Judas, who on this day went to the chief priests to betray the Lord for silver.Observance P−3MovableGreat and Holy ThursdayOn this day the Church commemorates the Mystical Supper, at which Christ instituted the Eucharist, together with His washing of the disciples' feet, the prayer in Gethsemane, and the beginning of the betrayal.Observance P−2MovableGreat and Holy FridayThe Church keeps the Passion of Christ — His trial, crucifixion, death, and burial. No Divine Liturgy is served on this most solemn day of the year.Strict FastObservance P−1MovableGreat and Holy SaturdayThe Church keeps the Sabbath of Christ's rest in the tomb and proclaims His descent into Hades to free the souls held there, on the eve of the Resurrection.Observance PaschaMovablePaschaThe Resurrection of Christ from the dead, the center and crown of the whole Church year, celebrated as the passage from death to life. It is not counted among the Twelve Great Feasts but stands above them as the "Feast of Feasts."Fast-FreeGreat Feast P+1→ P+6Bright WeekThe seven days following Pascha Sunday, kept as one continuous day of Resurrection joy. The Paschal greeting 'Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!' is exchanged throughout.Fast-FreeObservance P+5MovableBright FridayOn the Friday of Bright Week the Church honors the Most Holy Theotokos under her title of the Life-Giving Spring, recalling the miraculous healing fountain near Constantinople associated with her intercession.Observance P+7MovableThomas SundayThe first Sunday after Pascha, when the Church recalls the risen Christ appearing to the Apostle Thomas, who passed from doubt to the confession "My Lord and my God" (John 20:19-31). It is called Antipascha ("in place of Pascha") because it renews the paschal joy on the eighth day.Observance P+9MovableRadonitsaA Slavic commemoration of the departed on the Tuesday after Thomas Sunday, when the paschal proclamation of the Resurrection is carried to the graves of the faithful. Its name derives from the word for joy, for the Church announces Christ's victory over death even at the tomb.Observance P+14MovableSunday of the Myrrhbearing WomenThe third Sunday of Pascha honors the women who came at dawn bearing myrrh to anoint the Lord's body and were the first to learn of His rising (Mark 15:43-16:8), together with the righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who took Him down from the Cross and buried Him.Observance P+21MovableSunday of the ParalyticThe fourth Sunday of Pascha recalls Christ's healing of the man paralyzed for thirty-eight years at the Sheep's Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15), a sign of the risen Lord who raises up the infirm and forgives sin.Observance P+24MovableMid-PentecostFalling on the Wednesday midway between Pascha and Pentecost, this feast recalls Christ teaching in the Temple at the middle of the feast and calling the thirsty to come to Him for living water (John 7:14-30), joining the theme of the Resurrection to the coming gift of the Spirit.Observance P+28MovableSunday of the Samaritan WomanThe fifth Sunday of Pascha tells of Christ's meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4:5-42), to whom He revealed Himself as the Messiah and the giver of living water; she later evangelized and died a martyr, honored as St. Photini.Observance P+35MovableSunday of the Blind ManThe sixth Sunday of Pascha recounts Christ giving sight to the man born blind (John 9:1-38), who came to confess Him as Lord -- an image of the light of Christ opening the eyes of the soul.Observance P+38MovableApodosis of PaschaThe leavetaking of Pascha on the Wednesday before Ascension, when the paschal services are celebrated one last time in their fullness and the Church bids farewell to the feast of the Resurrection before the Lord's ascent into heaven.Observance P+39MovableAscension of the LordForty days after Pascha, Christ's ascent into heaven from the Mount of Olives in the presence of the Apostles, taking up human nature to the right hand of the Father.Great Feast P+42MovableSunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical CouncilKept on the Sunday after Ascension, this day honors the 318 God-bearing Fathers who gathered at Nicaea in 325 to confess the Son as consubstantial with the Father and gave the Church the Creed. The Gospel is Christ's high-priestly prayer for the unity of His disciples (John 17:1-13).Observance P+48MovableSaturday of Souls before PentecostThe universal commemoration of all the departed on the eve of Pentecost, when the Church prays for the repose of the faithful of every age as she prepares to celebrate the descent of the life-giving Spirit.Observance P+49MovablePentecostFifty days after Pascha, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in tongues of fire, the birth of the Church and the completion of the Paschal season. The following day honors the Holy Spirit.Fast-FreeGreat Feast P+50→ P+56Trinity WeekThe fast-free week following Pentecost, when the Church rejoices in the gift of the Holy Spirit before resuming the fasting cycle with the Apostles' Fast.Fast-FreeObservance P+50MovableMonday of the Holy SpiritThe day after Pentecost is dedicated to the All-Holy Spirit, honoring the third Person of the Holy Trinity who descended upon the Apostles and continues to sanctify the Church.Observance P+56MovableSunday of All SaintsThe first Sunday after Pentecost gathers into one commemoration all the saints of every time and place, known and unknown -- the fruit of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost, and a witness to the holiness to which every Christian is called.Observance P+57→ Jun 28Apostles' FastA fast in honor of the chief apostles Peter and Paul, following the descent of the Holy Spirit and preparing the faithful for their feast on June 29.Fish AllowedFast P+63MovableSunday of All Saints of the Local ChurchOn the second Sunday after Pentecost many local Churches keep a synaxis of their own saints -- the holy men and women of a particular land or monastic mountain -- following the commemoration of all the saints the week before.Observance

Dates follow the New (Revised Julian) calendar. Fasting is described at the season-summary level and differs by jurisdiction — please consult your parish priest about how to keep the fasts.