THE MAGAZINE OF THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER The ecclesiastical year is different from the liturgical one There is a difference between the ecclesiastical year and the liturgical one within the Orthodox Church ritual. If the ecclesiastical year begins on 1 st September, the liturgical one starts on Great and Holy Pascha. The Gospels and the Sundays during the ecclesiastical year are counted since Great and Holy Pascha. The ecclesiastical year includes 52 weeks, unlike the liturgical one, which counts weeks ac cording to the Feast of Great and Holy Pascha or the Feast of Pentecost. During the liturgical year, certain Sundays are re peated and, implicitly, the Gos pels that are uttered at that time are also repeated, according to rules established by the Church economy. The ecclesiastical year includes three periods that re flect the triple activity of the Sa viour Jesus Christ on earth, spe cifically the teaching, episcopal and imperial one. The Oc toechos period, which is the longest one during the ecclesi astical year (its length of time varying from 40 to 46 weeks), corresponds to the teaching activity of the Lord; it can be first seen in the evangelical peri copes that are established to be read on the Sundays during this period; many of them are the Parables of the Saviour or the Sermon on the Mount. The Oc toechos is said to commemorate and celebrate the events that had happened before the com ing of the Saviour until on the eve of His Passion, in other words it renews the prophetic, teaching activity within which He gave the divine teaching of His Gospel to the faithful. The second period is the Triodion one, which refers to the episcopal activity of the Lord, focusing on the sufferings and the redeeming sacrifice of the Saviour. It lasts from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee to Great and Holy Pascha, totalising ten weeks, including Great Lent, a time for preparation through prayers, repentance and fasting for the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. The last period during the cycle of the ecclesiast ical year, the Pentecostarion one, represents the time from the Resurrection of the Lord to Pentecost (the Descent of the Holy Spirit) and celebrates the Saviour Jesus Christ as a Glorified Emperor, Who defeated death and sin. 22
LIGHT OF CHRISTIANITY | VOLUME 1, 2012