Church holidays in March and April. Calendar of church holidays in April

⁰

1:502 1:512

Majority church holidays came from Holy Scripture, and each of them is associated with some event from the life of Jesus Christ. Many people wonder when all these celebrations are celebrated? When in 2017: Annunciation, Palm Sunday, Lazarus Saturday, Radonitsa, Easter, Krasnaya Gorka and other major Orthodox holidays?

1:1111 1:1121

The main Orthodox holidays of April 2017

1:1215

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

1:1298

Feast of the Annunciation Holy Mother of God falls on 07.04.2017.

1:1421 1:1431 1:1435 1:1445

As you know, any work is prohibited on this day. There is very little information about the reason for the origin of such rules. As the church broadcasts, it is with this that the embodiment of the Lord's plan for the salvation of mankind begins, through the only son of Jesus Christ.

1:1909

1:9

Lazarus Saturday

Lazarus Saturday falls on 08.04.2017.

1:121

This is one of the most joyful holidays, which reminds us of the great miracle of the Lord, who resurrected Lazarus.

1:331 1:341 1:345 1:355

Jesus treated Lazarus very well, he often visited his house. Unfortunately, death does not look good man or bad. The young man was quite young and full of strength, but he was struck down by an illness and died. Already on the fourth day, Jesus was informed about the death of the guy. His family had lost all hope. Even when Christ came and asked to open the tomb, they began to dissuade him, because the body had already begun to decompose and give off a smell. Nevertheless, they opened the stone, and the Lord said: “Lazarus! Get out!". There was a shock in front of the eyes of relatives and all those who came, because a young man came out of the tomb, all in bandages and scraps.

1:1457 1:1467 1:1471 1:1481

It was this event that became the manifestation of the Glory of God. But this is precisely what prompted the Pharisees to make the final decision to execute Jesus.

1:1731

1:9 1:13 1:23

Palm Sunday

1:78

Palm Sunday is tied to the event when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Many came out to meet Him with palm leaves in their hands. But not everyone reacted to His arrival with jubilation, many considered Jesus a threat to the policy of cruel Caesar. To get rid of the problem, they accused Him of attempting the throne, and decided to execute Christ.

1:720 1:730 1:734 1:744

A week later, everyone who greeted the Savior with rejoicing betrayed him and stood in the crowd with the rest and threw stones at him while he carried the cross to Mount Calvary.

1:1040

This day is celebrated a week before Easter this year, and will fall on 09.04.2017.

1:1172 1:1182 1:1186 1:1196

Happy Easter

1:1239

Easter is the happiest and most important holiday for Christians. It is dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ, His victory over death and disease. It is a celebration of light, love and hope.

1:1555

1:9 1:13 1:23

On this day, all believers rejoice and rejoice. They bake cakes and paint eggs.

1:155

Each time, Easter falls on a different day, so it's quite difficult to predict on your own. It is calculated using the lunar calendar and this year Easter falls on 16.04.2017.

1:476 1:486

Red hill

1:529

This holiday combines Orthodox traditions, and reminders of pagan rituals. This holiday symbolizes the full arrival of spring and warmth. It falls on the first Sunday after Easter, which means 23.04.2017.

1:953 1:963 1:971 1:981

Radunitsa - Parents' Day

1:1051

It is hard to believe that the holiday, when everyone commemorates the dead, brings a joyful mood. But it is. On this day, all living people turn to their ancestors with requests for help for a fertile harvest.

1:1400 1:1410 1:1414 1:1424

This year, Radunitsa (also Radonitsa), falls on 25.04.2017 - on the ninth day after the celebration of Easter. Countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Russia call this holiday in different ways, but the most common name is Parents' Day.

1:1893 1:9 1:13 1:23

When are other Orthodox holidays in Russia in 2017

1:141 1:145 1:155

April 1, 2017 Saturday

Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos (Saturday Akathist).
Celebration of the Icon of the Mother of God "Tenderness" of Smolensk.
Righteous Sophia, Princess of Slutsk.
Continues great post.

April 2, 2017 Sunday

Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, 5th week of Great Lent.
Venerable Euphrosynus of Sinozero,
Great Lent continues.

April 3, 2017 Monday

The 6th week of Great Lent begins, the week of Vay.
Reverend Seraphim of Vyritsky.
Reverend James, Bishop of Catania.
Great Lent continues.

April 4, 2017 Tuesday

Celebration of the Izborsk Icon of the Mother of God.
Hieromartyr Basil, Presbyter of Ancyra.
Great Lent continues.

April 5, 2017 Wednesday

Venerable Martyr Nikon Bishop and 199 of his disciples.
Great Lent continues.

April 6, 2017 Thursday

Prefeast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Celebration icons Mother of God"Fat Mountain".
Great Lent continues.

April 7, 2017 Friday

Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Celebration of the Icon of the Mother of God "Annunciation".

April 8, 2017 Saturday

Commemoration of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Lazarus Saturday - the resurrection of Lazarus of the Four Days.
Cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel.
Celebration of the Icon of the Mother of God "Meletinskaya".
Great Lent continues.

April 9, 2017 Sunday

Palm Sunday - Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.

1:2899

From 10 to 15 April 2017 - Holy Week

1:93

April 10, 2017 Monday

Great Monday of Holy Week.
Venerable Hilarion the New, hegumen of Pelikite.
Great Lent continues.

April 11, 2017 Tuesday

Great Tuesday of Holy Week.
Saint Eustathius the Confessor, Bishop of Bithynia.
Great Lent continues.

April 12, 2017 Wednesday

Great Wednesday of Passion Week.
Saint John of the Ladder, hegumen of Sinai.
Great Lent continues.

April 13, 2017 Thursday

Maundy Thursday (Maundy Thursday).
Saint Jonah, Metropolitan of Kyiv, Moscow and All Russia, miracle worker.
Great Lent continues.

April 14, 2017 Friday

Good Friday (Good Friday).
Remembrance of the Holy Saviors of the Passion of the Lord.
Saint Euthymius, Archimadrid of Suzdal, miracle worker.
Great Lent continues.

April 15, 2017 Saturday

Great Saturday.
Saint Titus the Wonderworker.
Icon of the Mother of God "Key of Understanding".
Great Lent continues.

April 16, 2017 Sunday

Easter - Bright Resurrection of Christ.
End of Lent.

1:2157

From 17 to 23 April 2017 - Bright Week

1:88

April 17, 2017 Monday

Monday of Bright Week.
Saint Joseph the Songwriter.
Celebration of the icons of the Mother of God "Gerontissa" and "Redeemer".

April 18, 2017 Tuesday

Tuesday of Bright Week.
Celebration of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God and the Hodegetria Shuiskaya Icon.
Transfer of the relics of St. Job, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

April 19, 2017 Wednesday

Wednesday of Holy Week.
Day of Remembrance Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius, Bishop of Moravia.
Venerable Platonis of Syria.
120 Persian martyrs.
Celebration of the Kasperovskaya Icon of the Mother of God.

April 20, 2017 Thursday

Thursday of Holy Week.
Saint George the Confessor.
Byzantine Icon of the Mother of God.

April 21, 2017 Friday

Friday of Bright Week.
Icons of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Spring".

April 22, 2017 Saturday

Saturday of Bright Week.
Martyr Eupsychius of Caesarea.
Icon of the Mother of God "Caesarius".

April 23, 2017 Sunday

Red hill.
Week 2 after Easter, Antipascha or Fomin's day.
Martyrs Terentius, Pompius, Africanus, Maximus, Zinon, Alexander, Theodore and 33 others.

April 24, 2017 Monday

Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum of Asia.
Week 2 after Easter.

April 25, 2017 Tuesday

Radonitsa, commemoration of the dead.
Murom Icon of the Mother of God.

April 26, 2017 Wednesday

Hieromartyr Artemon, Presbyter of Laodicea.
Lent day.

April 27, 2017 Thursday

Saint Martin the First, Confessor, Pope.
Vilna Icon of the Mother of God.

April 28, 2017 Friday

Apostles from the seventy Aristarchus, Puda and Trofim.
Lent day.

April 29, 2017 Saturday

Martyrs Agapia, Irene and Chionia.
Ilyinsk-Chernigov and Tambov Icons of the Mother of God.

April 30, 2017 Sunday

Week 3 after Pascha, holy myrrh-bearing women.
Reverend Zosima, hegumen of Solovetsky.
Icon of the Mother of God "The Redeemer".

1:3717

Church fasts in April 2017

Multi-day post in April 2017 - from 1 to 15 April Lent continues and ends April 15, 2017.
One day posts April 26, April 28.
A solid week in which there is no fasting - Bright Week from 17 to 23 April 2017.

Week 5 of Great Lent. Voice 8th.

. .
.
.
. .
Shmch. Vladimir Piksanov presbyter (1918) 22; ssmch. Vasily Sokolov deacon (1938).

Morning – Ev. 8th,
Lit. -
Prp.:
22 Name of msmch. Vladimir Piksanov was included in the calendar according to the definition of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of July 15, 2016.

Sunday troparion and kontakion of the 8th tone(see annex 1) Troparion of Saint Mary of Egypt, tone 8: In you, mother, you are known to be saved even in the image, / having accepted the cross, you followed Christ, / and the working ones taught you to despise the flesh, it passes away, / lie down about souls, things are immortal. / the same with the Angels Come on, Reverend Mary, your spirit. Kontakion of the Monk Mary of Egypt, tone 3: First full of all kinds of fornication, / Christ's bride has appeared today in repentance, / imitating Angelic life, / destroys the demons of the Cross with weapons. / This bride has appeared for the Kingdom, / glorious Mary.

Today we remember the memory of St. Mary of Egypt. Same amazing life. A young woman who has lived a life of sin goes into the wilderness. She did not prepare herself for a day, not a minute for this feat; she did not go through the tests of her abilities and through physical training, but simply decided one day to cross the Jordan and go into the wilderness, having nothing - no food supplies, no clothes. Mary spent there long years, being honored that her flesh changed, and she, as the elder Zosima testifies, crossed the Jordan as if on dry land. What kind of phenomenon is this - St. Mary of Egypt? It is quite obvious that similar people conquered themselves. They managed to master the most important art and comprehended the highest wisdom of complete control of oneself, one's faith, one's will, one's thought. They controlled their body. They subordinated the carnal elements to their will and their mind.

Liturgical instructions awaiting

At its core, the Orthodox Church Paschal calendar consists of two parts - fixed and movable.
fixed part church calendar- This Julian calendar, diverging by 13 days from the Gregorian. These holidays fall every year on the same date of the same month.

The movable part of the church calendar moves along with the date of Easter, which changes from year to year. The very date of the celebration of Easter is determined according to lunar calendar and a number of additional dogmatic factors (do not celebrate Easter with the Jews, celebrate Easter only after the spring equinox, celebrate Easter only after the first spring full moon). All holidays with variable dates are counted from Easter and move in the time of the "secular" calendar along with it.

Thus, both parts of the Easter calendar (movable and fixed) together determine the calendar of Orthodox holidays.

The following are the most significant for Orthodox Christian events - the so-called Twelfth Feasts and Great Feasts. Although the Orthodox Church celebrates holidays according to the "old style", which differs by 13 days, the dates in the Calendar for convenience are indicated according to the generally accepted secular calendar of the new style.

Orthodox calendar for 2017:

Permanent Holidays:

07.01 - Christmas (twelfth)
14.01 - Circumcision of the Lord (great)
19.01 - The baptism of the Lord (twelfth)
02.15 - Meeting of the Lord (twelfth)
07.04 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
May 21 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
May 22 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, Wonderworker
07.07 - Nativity of John the Baptist (great)
12.07 - Holy First. Apostles Peter and Paul (great)
19.08 - Transfiguration of the Lord (twelfth)
28.08 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
11.09 - Beheading of John the Baptist (great)
21.09 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (twelfth)
September 27 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross (twelfth)
09.10 - Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
14.10 - Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos (great)
04.12 - Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos (twelfth)
December 19 - St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, miracle worker

Days of Special Remembrance for the Dead

02/18/2017 - Universal Parental Saturday (Saturday before the week of the Last Judgment)
03/11/2017 - Ecumenical parental Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent
03/18/2017 - Ecumenical parental Saturday of the 3rd week of Great Lent
03/25/2017 - Ecumenical parental Saturday of the 4th week of Great Lent
04/25/2017 - Radonitsa (Tuesday of the 2nd week of Easter)
05/09/2017 - Commemoration of the deceased soldiers
06/03/2017 - Trinity Parental Saturday (Saturday before Trinity)
10/28/2017 - Dmitrievskaya parent Saturday (Saturday before November 8)

ABOUT ORTHODOX HOLIDAYS:

TWENTH HOLIDAYS

In worship Orthodox Church twelve great feasts of the annual liturgical cycle (except for the feast of Pascha). Subdivided into Lord's, dedicated to Jesus Christ, and Theotokos, dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos.

According to the time of celebration, the Twelfth Feasts divided into motionless(non-passing) and mobile(passing). The first are constantly celebrated on the same dates of the month, the second fall every year on different numbers, depending on the date of the celebration Easter.

ABOUT MEAL ON HOLIDAYS:

According to the church charter on holidays Christmas And Epiphany that happened on Wednesday and Friday, there is no post.

IN Christmas And Epiphany Christmas Eve and on holidays Exaltation of the Holy Cross And The Beheading of John the Baptist food with vegetable oil is allowed.

On the feasts of the Presentation, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Assumption, the Nativity and Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, John the Theologian, which happened on Wednesday and Friday, as well as in the period from Easter before Trinity fish is allowed on Wednesday and Friday.

ABOUT LOSTS IN ORTHODOXY:

Fast- a form of religious asceticism, an exercise of the spirit, soul and body on the path to salvation within the framework of a religious outlook; voluntary self-restraint in food, entertainment, communication with the world. bodily fasting- restriction in food; spiritual post- restriction of external impressions and pleasures (solitude, silence, prayerful concentration); spiritual post- the struggle with their "corporal lusts", a period of especially intense prayer.

Most importantly, you need to be aware that bodily fasting without spiritual fasting brings nothing to save the soul. On the contrary, it can be spiritually harmful if a person, abstaining from food, becomes imbued with the consciousness of his own superiority and righteousness. “The one who thinks that fasting is only abstaining from food is mistaken. true post, - teaches St. John Chrysostom, - there is a removal from evil, curbing the tongue, putting off anger, taming lusts, ending slander, lies and perjury. Fast- not a goal, but a means to distract from the pleasure of your body, to concentrate and think about your soul; without all this, it becomes just a diet.

Great Lent, Holy Forty Day(Greek Tessarakoste; Lat. Quadragesima) - the period of the liturgical year preceding Holy Week And Easter, the most important of multi-day posts. Due to Easter may fall into different calendar numbers, great post also each year starts at different days. It includes 6 weeks, or 40 days, therefore it is also called St. Forty-cost.

Fast For Orthodox person- This a set of good deeds, sincere prayer, abstinence in everything, including food. A bodily fast is necessary to perform a spiritual and spiritual fast, all of them in their union form post true, contributing to the spiritual reunion of fasting with God. IN days of fasting(days of fasting) the Church Charter prohibits modest food - meat and dairy products; fish is allowed only in some fast days. IN days of strict fasting not only fish is not allowed, but any hot food and food cooked in vegetable oil, only cold food without oil and unheated drink (sometimes called dry eating). The Russian Orthodox Church has four multi-day fasts, three one-day fasts, and, in addition, a fast on Wednesday and Friday (excluding special weeks) throughout the year.

Wednesday and Friday established as a sign that on Wednesday Christ was betrayed by Judas, and on Friday he was crucified. Saint Athanasius the Great said: "Allowing me to eat fast food on Wednesday and Friday, this person crucifies the Lord." In the summer and autumn meat-eaters (periods between the Petrov and Assumption fasts and between the Assumption and Rozhdestvensky fasts), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. In winter and spring meat-eaters (from Christmas to Great Lent and from Easter to Trinity), the Charter allows fish on Wednesday and Friday. Fish on Wednesday and Friday is also allowed when the feasts of the Meeting of the Lord, the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Nativity of the Virgin, the Entrance of the Virgin into the Temple, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostles Peter and Paul, the Apostle John the Theologian. If the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and the Baptism of the Lord fall on Wednesday and Friday, then fasting on these days is canceled. On the eve (eve, Christmas Eve) of the Nativity of Christ (usually the day of strict fasting), which happened on Saturday or Sunday, food with vegetable oil is allowed.

Solid weeks(in Church Slavonic a week is called a week - the days from Monday to Sunday) mean the absence of fasting on Wednesday and Friday. They were established by the Church as an indulgence before a multi-day fast or as a rest after it. Solid weeks are as follows:
1. Christmas time - from January 7 to 18 (11 days), from Christmas to Epiphany.
2. Publican and Pharisee - two weeks before Lent.
3. Cheese - a week before Lent (allowed the whole week of eggs, fish and dairy, but without meat).
4. Easter (Bright) - a week after Easter.
5. Trinity - a week after the Trinity (week before Peter's fast).

One day posts, except Wednesday and Friday (days of strict fasting, without fish, but food with vegetable oil is allowed):
1. Epiphany Christmas Eve (Eve of Theophany) January 18, the day before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day, believers prepare themselves for the acceptance of the great shrine - Agiasma - baptismal Holy water, for purification and consecration by it at the upcoming holiday.
2. The beheading of John the Baptist - September 11. On this day, a fast is established in memory of the abstemious life of the great prophet John and his lawless murder by Herod.
3. Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 27. This day reminds us of the sad event on Golgotha, when the Savior of the human race suffered on the Cross "for our salvation". And therefore this day must be spent in prayer, fasting, contrition for sins, in a feeling of repentance.

MULTI-DAY POSTS:

1. Great Lent or Holy Forty Day.
It begins seven weeks before the feast of Holy Pascha and consists of Forty days (forty days) and Holy Week (the week leading up to Pascha). Forty days was established in honor of the forty-day fast of the Savior Himself, and Holy Week - in remembrance last days earthly life, suffering, death and burial of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The total continuation of Great Lent along with Holy Week is 48 days.
The days from the Nativity of Christ to Great Lent (until Shrovetide) are called the Christmas or winter meat-eater. This period contains three continuous weeks - Christmas time, Publican and Pharisee, Shrove Tuesday. After Christmas time on Wednesdays and Fridays, fish is allowed, up to a continuous week (when you can eat meat on all days of the week), coming after the "Week of the publican and the Pharisee" ("week" in Church Slavonic means "Sunday"). In the next, after a continuous week, fish is no longer allowed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but vegetable oil is still allowed. Monday - food with oil, Wednesday, Friday - cold without oil. This establishment has the goal of gradual preparation for Great Lent. The last time before fasting, meat is allowed on the "Meat Week" - the Sunday before Shrovetide.
In the next week - cheese (Shrovetide) eggs, fish, dairy products are allowed all week, but meat is no longer eaten. Heading for Great Lent ( last time they eat fast food, with the exception of meat) on the last day of Shrovetide - Forgiveness Sunday. This day is also called "Cheesefare Week".
It is accepted with special strictness to observe the first and Holy Weeks of Great Lent. On Monday of the first week of Lent ( Clean Monday) the highest degree of fasting is established - complete abstinence from food (pious lay people with ascetic experience abstain from food on Tuesday as well). On the remaining weeks of fasting: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday, Thursday - hot food without oil (vegetable, cereal, mushroom), on Saturday and Sunday vegetable oil is allowed and, if necessary for health, a little pure grape wine (but in no case vodka). If a memory of a great saint happens (with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before), then on Tuesday and Thursday - food with vegetable oil, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without oil. You can inquire about the holidays in the Typicon or the Followed Psalter. Fish is allowed twice for the entire fast: on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (if the holiday did not fall on Holy Week) and on Palm Sunday, on Lazarus Saturday (the Saturday before Palm Sunday) fish caviar is allowed, on Friday of Holy Week it is customary not to eat any food until the shroud is taken out (our ancestors on Good Friday did not eat at all).
Bright Week (the week after Easter) - solid - modest is allowed on all days of the week. Starting from the next week after the solid up to the Trinity (spring meat-eater), fish is allowed on Wednesdays and Fridays. The week between Trinity and Peter's Lent is continuous.

2. Petrov or Apostolic post.
Fasting begins a week after the feast of the Holy Trinity and ends on July 12, on the day of the celebration of the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, established in honor of the holy apostles and in remembrance of the fact that the holy apostles, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, dispersed to all countries with the good news, always being in the feat of fasting and prayer. The duration of this post is different years different and depends on the day of the celebration of Easter. The shortest post lasts 8 days, the longest - 6 weeks. Fish in this post is allowed, except Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday - hot food without oil, Wednesday and Friday - strict fast (cold food without oil). On other days - fish, cereals, mushroom dishes with vegetable oil. If the memory of a great saint happens on Monday, Wednesday or Friday - hot food with butter. On the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist (July 7), according to the Charter, fish is allowed.
In the period from the end of the Petrov fast to the beginning of the Assumption fast (summer meat-eater), Wednesday and Friday are days of strict fasting. But if the holidays of a great saint fall on these days with an all-night vigil or a polyeleos service the day before, then food with vegetable oil is allowed. If temple holidays occur on Wednesday and Friday, then fish is also allowed.

3. Assumption fast (from August 14 to 27).
Established in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mother of God herself, preparing to depart for eternal life constantly fasting and praying. We, the spiritually weak and weak, all the more should resort to fasting as often as possible, turning to Virgin for help in every need and sorrow. This fast lasts only two weeks, but in severity it is consistent with the Great. Fish is allowed only on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), and if the end of the fast (Assumption) falls on Wednesday or Friday, then this day is also fish. Monday, Wednesday, Friday - cold food without oil, Tuesday and Thursday - hot food without oil, Saturday and Sunday - food with vegetable oil. Wine is prohibited on all days. If the memory of a great saint happens, then on Tuesday and Thursday - hot food with butter, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - hot food without butter.
The charter about food on Wednesdays and Fridays in the period from the end of the Dormition Fast to the beginning of the Christmas (autumn meat-eater) is the same as in the summer meat-eater, that is, on Wednesdays and Fridays, fish is allowed only on the days of the Twelfth and Temple holidays. Food with vegetable oil on Wednesday and Friday is allowed only if these days fall in memory of the great saint with an all-night vigil or with a polyeleos service the day before.

4. Christmas (Filippov) fast (from November 28 to January 6).
This fast is set for the day of the Nativity of Christ, so that we purify ourselves at this time by repentance, prayer and fasting and with a pure heart meet the Savior who has appeared in the world. Sometimes this fast is called Filippov, as a sign that it begins after the day of celebration of the memory of the Apostle Philip (November 27). The charter on food during this fast coincides with the charter of Peter's fast until the day of St. Nicholas (December 19). If the feasts of the Entrance into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos (December 4) and St. Nicholas fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, then fish is allowed. From the day of memory of St. Nicholas to the pre-feast of Christmas, which begins on January 2, fish is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, fasting is observed in the same way as on the days of Great Lent: fish is forbidden on all days, food with butter is allowed only on Saturday and Sunday. On Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve), January 6, a pious custom requires not to eat food until the first evening star appears, after which it is customary to eat kolivo or sochivo - wheat grains boiled in honey or boiled rice with raisins, in some places boiled dry fruits with sugar are called sochivo. From the word "sochivo" comes the name of this day - Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is also before the feast of the Epiphany. On this day (January 18) it is also customary not to eat food until the adoption of Agiasma - baptismal holy water, which they begin to consecrate on the very day of Christmas Eve.

April is one of the busiest months for church holidays and fasts, for the entire calendar period, during which a considerable number of festive events fall. Let's get acquainted with all Orthodox holidays and fasts for April 2017.

Church Orthodox holidays in April 2017

April 07 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. According to the Scriptures on this day, St. The Virgin Mary learned the good news that she would soon give birth to the Son of God - a man who would become the messenger of the Lord and salvation for the entire human race. Orthodox holiday belongs to the twelfth and is honored with special care. It is not customary for people to work on this day.

April 08 - Lazarus Saturday. On this church holiday, it is customary to remember one of the most bright events biblical times - the resurrection of Lazarus. The holiday falls on the time of Great Lent, therefore it is allowed to add caviar to the usual meal.

April 09, 2017 - Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Otherwise named Palm Sunday. This church holiday is usually held in a church in which willow branches are sanctified.

One of the climactic holidays Orthodox Church . In some countries it is considered state. Christians remember the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion and the opening of the gates of heaven for all true believers.

April 16-22 - Continuous bright Easter week. During this period, the traditional Orthodox post set on Wednesdays and Fridays. All week it is customary to hold religious processions and sprinkle with holy water.

From April 23 until the end of the month - Spring meat-eater. The period that usually follows after the end of the fast. It is allowed to eat products of animal origin.

April 23 - . vernacular name the first Sunday after Easter. People celebrate the final arrival of spring. On this holiday, it is customary to eat egg dishes, sing songs and dance.

April 25, 2017 - . It is customary to go to the cemetery, clean the graves, commemorate the dead, leave treats.

Calendar of church holidays for April 2017

Multi-day and one-day church fasts in April 2017

It should be noted that Orthodox Great Lent will last from the beginning of the month until April 15. All week until this day - Holy Week(cm. orthodox calendar higher). The most crucial period before the onset of the Bright Feast of Christ's Resurrection. Today it is customary to illuminate Easter food and remember the stay of Jesus Christ in the tomb during the service.

In addition, in April 2017, there will be one-day posts on Wednesdays and Fridays. At the same time, the days of Great Lent and Easter week are an exception. Thus, one-day fasts in April should be observed only for two days: on the 26th and 28th.