The Liturgical Year
Time itself rehearses the gospel — from Advent's longing to Pascha's dawn
The liturgical year is the annual cycle of seasons and feasts — such as Advent and Nativity, Lent and Pascha, and Pentecost — that structures Christian worship. It grew from the weekly Lord's Day and the annual Pascha and took form by the fourth century. Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental, Anglican, and Lutheran churches keep a full calendar (differing on Julian versus Gregorian dating), while many Reformed, Puritan, and Free churches rejected it beyond Sunday.
How it traveled
- Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His LifeAlexandria · c. 373 CEexplains
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LIV. Styled also Book I. of Replies to Questions of Januarius. (a.d. 400.) To His Beloved Son Januarius, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord. Chap. I. 1. In regard to the questions which y
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Book V · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles
XIII. Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the birthday which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month; after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
I. Festal Letters. Letter I.—For 329. Easter-day xi Pharmuthi; viii Id. April; Ær. Dioclet. 45; Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII. Constantinus Cæs. IV; Præfect. Septimius Zenius; Indict. II. Of Fasting,
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
Thanks be to Divine Providence for those things which, at all times, it vouchsafes to us; for it has vouchsafed to us now to come to the season of the festival. Having, therefore, according to custom,
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
Again, my brethren, is Easter come and gladness; again the Lord hath brought us to this season; so that when, according to custom, we have been nourished with His words, we may duly keep the feast. Le
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On Fasting. · Tertullian: Part Fourth
Chapter XIV.—Reply to the Charge of “Galaticism.” Being, therefore, observers of “seasons” for these things, and of “days, and months, and years,”Galaticize. Plainly we do, if we are Jewish ceremonie
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
1 Cor. v. 7. Ps. xxxi. 7, LXX. Cf. Letter iii. 2. Ps. cxix. 62, 164. Exod. xv. 2. But what sprinklings shall we now employ, while we celebrate the feast? Who will be our guide, as we haste to thi
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Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life · Athanasius of Alexandria
5. We begin on the first of Pharmuthi (Mar. 27), and rest on the sixth of the same month (Apr. 1), on the evening of the seventh day; and the holy first day of the week having risen upon us on the sev
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Letters The first fourteen of these Letters have been once edited; i.e. by Zacagni (Rome, 1698), from the Vatican ms. See Prolegomena, p. 30. They are found also in the Medicean ms., of which Bandinu
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The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon XC. We have received from our divine Fathers the canon law that in honour of Christ’s resurrection, we are not to kneel on Sundays. Lest therefore we should ignore the fulness of this observanc
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The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret · Theodoret of Cyrus
LXXII. To Hermesigenes the Assessor. “Nullus est sive temporis sive personæ index.” Garnerius. At the time when men were whelmed in the darkness of ignorance, all did not keep the same feasts, but c
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The First Ecumenical Council: The First Council of Nice · The Ecumenical Councils
On the Keeping of Easter. From the Letter of the Emperor to all those not present at the Council. (Found in Eusebius, Vita Const., Lib. iii., 18–20.) When the question relative to the sacred festiv
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Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men · Jerome
Chapter LXXX. Musaeus, presbyter of the church at Marseilles, a man learned in Divine Scriptures and most accurate in their interpretation, as well as master of an excellent scholastic style, on the
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Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh · Ephrem the Syrian
Hymn III. Blessed be that first day of thine, Lord, wherewith this day of Thy Feast is stamped! Thy day is like Thee, in that it shows mercy unto men, in that it is handed down and comes with all gen
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The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods · The Ecumenical Councils
Balsamon. From this canon it is evident that in ancient times not only bishops but also priests were voted for by the multitude of the people. This is here forbidden. Aristenus. Bishops are elected
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The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV · John Cassian
Rom. xii. 1. Lev. xix. 36. Prov. xx. 10, 11. Ib. 23. Of the time and measure of refreshment. So then we should keep the observance of the days mentioned in such a way that the relaxation allowed
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, As stated above (A[1]), in the celebration of this mystery, we must take into consideration the representation of our Lord's Passion, and the participation of its fruits; and the time s
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Decrees of Fabian. · The Decretals
Decrees of Fabian. ———————————— Taken from the Decretal of Gratian. I. That the man who refuses to be reconciled to his brother should be reduced by the severest fastings. If any injured person r
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The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods · The Ecumenical Councils
None of the priesthood nor of the clergy may go on a journey, without the bidding of the Bishop. Canon XLII. None of the priesthood nor of the clergy may travel without letters canonical. Notes. A
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter XX.—The Festal Epistles of Dionysius, in which he also gives a Paschal Canon. Dionysius, besides his epistles already mentioned, Upon Dionysius of Alexandria, see Bk. VI. chap. 40, note 1, a
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