Feasts of Jesus Christ

Feasts of Jesus Christ are specific days of the year distinguished in the liturgical calendar as being significant days for the celebration of events in the life of Jesus Christ and his veneration, for the commemoration of his relics, signs and miracles. While Easter is treated everywhere as the central religious feast in the Christian liturgical year,[1] the other feasts differ in the liturgical practice.

Jesus. Mural painting from the catacomb

In the Catholic Church

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic liturgical calendar distinguishes four ranks of celebrations: solemnities, feasts, memorials, and optional memorials. Most of the celebrations of events in the life of Christ are ranked as solemnities. However, there are a few celebrations related to titles or mysteries of Christ which are ranked as feasts, and these are known collectively as "Feasts of the Lord." In the current General Calendar from the Third Edition of the Roman Missal,[2] these are:

In the pre-Vatican II usage, the term feast denoted any celebration, not just a specific rank. Hence, also celebrations which are today termed solemnities of the Lord (e.g. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Christ the King) were once deemed Feasts of the Lord.

In the Orthodox Church

Three main categories of feasts, distinguished in the Orthodox liturgical practice, namely

While Easter is treated as Feast of Feasts, the following eight feasts of Christ are assigned the highest rank of the Great Feasts in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic liturgical calendars:

Though some sources place the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple among the Great Feasts of Christ, including the above list, these sources are likely incorrect. This feast is most accurately described as a combined Great Feast of the Lord and Great Feast of the Mother of God. As such, liturgically, it does not have the same place of honor as the other seven purely Great Feasts of the Lord, which includes, among other things, the complete suppression of all Resurrectional elements from the Octoechos/Parakalitiki in all services related to a typical Sunday when one of the pure Great Feasts of the Lord happens to fall on a Sunday (e.g. Feast of the Cross, Christmas, Baptism of Jesus, and Transfiguration of Jesus) and those that already only occur on Sunday (e.g. Palm Sunday and Pentecost). On the contrary, when the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple falls on a Sunday, the typical Resurrectional Sunday elements from the Octoechos/Paraklitiki are not suppressed; instead, they are combined with the Menaion elements of the feast, as clearly discussed in the Typikon (the rubric rule book). Furthermore, as is the case with other Great Feasts of the Mother of God, when the Presentation of Jesus falls on a typical Wednesday or Friday fast day, fasting is not completely suppressed, but merely lessened, in contrast to other pure Great Feasts of the Lord that do not fall within a general fasting period, where fasting would be completely suppressed (with the obvious exception of the Exaltation of the Cross, which always requires fasting). Of course, further evidence of its combined status as a Feast of the Lord and Feast of the Mother of God can be found in the antiphonal verses chosen for the Divine Liturgy and the fact that its communion hymn for the Divine Liturgy is the most common one used for Feasts of the Mother of God. As such, liturgically and from a fasting perspective (two key elements that define all Orthodox feasts), the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple should be placed with the other four Great Feasts of the Mother of God as opposed to the Great Feasts of the Lord.[6]

Lesser Feasts

Civil commemorations[7]

Literature
  • Настольная книга священнослужителя (Nastol’naya Kniga Sviashchenno-sluzhitelia), Volume 4, Moscow, 1983. Translated in «The Messenger» of St. Andrew's Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Philadelphia, June, July–August, September, 1990.

See also

References
  1. Aveni, Anthony (2004). "The Easter/Passover Season: Connecting Time's Broken Circle", The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays. Oxford University Press. pp. 64–78. ISBN 0-19-517154-3.
  2. Roman Missal Third Edition. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2011. ISBN 9780814633755.
  3. "General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar". Congregation for Divine Worship. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  4. Ordo Lectionum Missae, Editio Typica Altera (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1981).
  5. "General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar". Congregation for Divine Worship. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  6. Παπαγιαννι, Κωνσταντινου. Συστημα Τυπικου: των ιερων ακολουθιων του ολου ενιαυτου καταρτισθεν επι τη βασει της τυπικης παραδοσεως της Ορθοδοξου Ανατολικης Εκκλησιας (Αθηνα: Αποστολικη Διακονια της Εκκλησιας της Ελλαδος, 2012): 331-2.
  7. "ГОСПОДСКИЕ ПРАЗДНИКИ". www.pravenc.ru. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
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