Archeparchy of Winnipeg 12 Great Feasts

UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC ARCHEPARCHY OF WINNIPEG
Українська Католицька Архиєпархія в Вінніпеґу

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Twelve Great Feasts

The following feasts are listed here to remind us of our obligation to gather with the Church and to foster means of spiritual growth and conversion.

Pascha (Easter)

The Resurrection of our Lord, Holy Pascha (“Passover”), is the greatest feast of the Church. It is the centre of the liturgical year.

The Twelve Great Feasts

There are eight great feasts in honor of our Lord and four great feasts in honor of His Mother. Together, they are called “The Twelve Great Feasts.” The immovable cycle of the liturgical year begins September 1.

September 8	The Nativity of the Mother of God
September 14	The Universal Exaltation of the Precious Cross
November 21	The Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple
December 25	The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas)
January 6	Theophany (The Baptism of Our Lord in the River Jordan and the Manifestation of the Trinity)
February 2	The Encounter of the Lord in the Temple
March 25	The Annunciation to Mary
Palm Sunday	Entry into Jerusalem (The Sunday before Pascha)
Ascension	The Ascension of the Lord (Forty days after Pascha)
Pentecost	The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Fifty days after Pascha)
August 6	The Transfiguration of Our Lord
August 15	The Dormition (Falling Asleep) of the Mother of God

Holy Days of Obligation

While the tradition of the Eastern Churches stresses the importance of the Twelve Great Feasts, the following are those holy days that constitute a kind of “minimum” for Eastern Catholics. Canon 880 par. 3 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern (Catholic) Churches states: Holy days of obligation common to all the Eastern Churches, beyond Sundays, are:

December 25	The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
January 6	Theophany of our Lord
Ascension	The Ascension of our Lord
June 29	The Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul
August 25	The Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God

Source: The Divine Liturgy: An Anthology for Worship. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Ottawa, 2004, pp. 18-19.

page updated on: April 11, 2008