Church year, annual cycle of seasons and days observed in the Christian churches in commemoration of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and of his virtues as exhibited in the lives of the saints.
Origins of the church year
Religious times and seasons
The church year has deep roots in the primitive human impulse to mark certain times with sacral significance and ritual observance. These are times when conscious attention is given to the mysterious forces that surround and involve all living creatures in the natural and inexorable cycles of light and darkness; labour and rest; birth, growth, decay, and death.
Two interrelated cycles have had primary importance in the shaping of religious calendars. One is cosmic: the phases of the moon and the solar equinoxes and solstices. The other is the periodic succession of the seasons of nature that determines times of sowing and reaping. Both cycles speak to the mystery of birth, death, and rebirth and to human dependence upon the fecundity of life given in the natural creation.
The Jewish religious year, grounded in the divinely revealed Law of the Old Testament, was the foundation for the church year of Christians. It is a lunar-month calendar stemming from the primitive nomadic life of the Hebrews, with its chief festival at the first full moon of spring, known later as the Passover. Grafted onto this calendar after the settlement of the Hebrew tribes in Palestine were the agricultural festivals—dependent upon “the early and later rains”—the firstfruits at Passover, the first harvest at the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, and the autumn harvest at the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.
Of uncertain origin, but prior to the monarchical period (11th to 6th century bc), the Hebrews observed a seven-day week, of which the last day, or sabbath, was a holiday and day of rest. Whatever its original purpose, it became transformed into a sacral day, consecrated to Yahweh, the one God of the Hebrews, and increasingly surrounded with restrictions upon all activity other than worship. In the time of Jesus (1st century ad), “keeping holy the sabbath day” was a principal hallmark of adherence to Judaism.
The remarkable aspect of the Jewish religious year was its transformation, in successive codifications of the Old Testament Law, into a series of historical commemorations associated with God’s deed in creation and in the redemption of God’s people. At first, the sabbath was related to the Exodus, the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt in the 13th century bc (Deuteronomy 5:15), and, later, to the repose of God at the completion of the Creation (Exodus 20:8–11; Genesis 2:2–3). The three agricultural feasts became a sequence of remembrances of the Exodus from Egypt and the pilgrimage through the wilderness to the promised land (Exodus 12:1–20; Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 16:1–17). Through these annual celebrations the devout Jew relived the saving events of the past and anticipated the final deliverance of the people of God in the age to come. Rabban Gamaliel, a contemporary of Jesus, said, “In every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt…” (from Mishna, Pesaḥim 10:5).
Formation of the church year
In his earthly life Jesus was subject to the law of sabbath, feast, and fast prescribed in the Old Testament, but his ministry and teaching pointed to a new age, the coming kingdom of God, when the Law would be fulfilled. He was, therefore, not so much concerned with outward conformity to legal regulations as he was with the spirit in which they were observed. “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It was in the context of a celebration of the Passover feast with his disciples that he was arrested, tried, and put to death.
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Early Christians believed that the new age promised by Jesus had dawned with his Resurrection, on “the first day of the week” (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). By this event the Law was fulfilled. Now every day and time were viewed as holy for the celebration and remembrance of Jesus’ triumph over sin and death. Though many of his disciples continued to observe the special times and seasons of the Jewish Law, new converts broke with the custom because they regarded it as no longer needful or necessary. Paul, himself a dutiful observant of the Law, considered the keeping of holy days a matter of indifference, provided the devotion be “in honor of the Lord” (Romans 14:5–9). He warned his converts not to judge one another with regard to “festivals, new moons, or sabbaths” (Colossians 2:16).
From the beginning the church took over from Judaism the seven-day week. Before the end of the apostolic age (1st century ad), as the church became predominantly Gentile in membership, the first day of the week, or Sunday, had become the normative time when Christians assembled for their distinctive acts of worship, in commemoration of the Lord’s Resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). During the first two centuries ad, the Greco-Roman world in general adopted the planetary seven-day week of the astrologers.
Christian writers of the 2nd century came to view Sunday, “the Lord’s day,” as a symbol of Christianity in distinction from Judaism. Most of the churches decided to observe the Lord’s Passover (Easter) always on a Sunday, after the Jewish feast was over. In addition, local churches began to celebrate the anniversaries of the deaths of their martyrs, called “birthdays in eternity,” for these also were regarded as witnesses to the resurrection triumph of Christ in his followers. The weekly Sunday and the annual Paschal (Passover) observance of 50 days from Easter to Pentecost (the Jewish harvest festival that also commemorated the revelation of the Law to Moses) were thus the principal framework of the church year until the 4th century—reminders of the new age to be brought by Christ at his coming again in glory at the end of time, when the true believers would enter their inheritance of perpetual joy and feasting with their Redeemer and Lord.
The establishment of Christianity as a state religion, following the conversion of the emperor Constantine (ad 312), brought new developments. The Paschal season was matched by a longer season of preparation (Lent) for the many new candidates for baptism at the Easter ceremonies, and the discipline and penance of those who for grievous sins had been cut off from the communion of the church.
A new focus of celebration, to commemorate the birthday of Christ, the world Redeemer, was instituted at ancient winter solstices (December 25 and January 6) to rival the pagan feasts in honour of the birth of a new age brought by the Unconquered Sun. Later the Western churches created a preparatory season for this festival, known as Advent. Many new days were gradually added to the roster of martyr anniversaries to commemorate distinguished leaders, the dedication of buildings and shrines in honour of the saints, and the transferral of their relics.
The major church calendars
Unlike the cycle of feasts and fasts of the Jewish Law, the Christian year has never been based upon a divine revelation. It is rather a tradition that is always subject to change by ecclesiastical law. Each self-governing church maintains the right to order the church year according to pastoral needs of edification. The pattern of the year therefore varies in the several churches of the East and of the West. The subtle adjustments of a lunar-month calendar, with its movable date of Easter, and a solar calendar of fixed dates require many rules to avoid conflict of observances.
In the Western churches periodic reforms of the church year have occurred, notably in the Reformation era and again in the 20th century. The Protestant reformers of the 16th century took differing attitudes toward such reforms. With their strong sense of the prime authority of Scripture and of the freedom of the gospel from all legalisms in liturgical matters, they revised the church year with varying degrees of radicalism. Lutherans and Anglicans took a conservative position, retaining the traditional seasons but eliminating commemorations that had no connection with the biblical record.
The Reformed churches, on the other hand, allowed only those feasts with a clear basis in the New Testament: Sundays, Holy Week and Easter, Pentecost, and in some cases Christmas. The Church of Scotland and Anabaptist and Puritan groups abolished the church year entirely, except for Sundays. In recent years this attitude has been very much modified. Their protest has been a reminder to the church that all days are regarded as belonging to Christ in the freedom of his Spirit, who cannot be controlled by rigid systems of fixed special observances.
In the late 20th century in the Western churches the church year was being subjected to an overall revision comparable in scope only to that of the 16th century. This was due to a number of currents of interest that were converging; i.e.—advances in historical and liturgical studies, changes in theological perspectives, and ecumenical encounters.
The basic structure of the church year was the creation of the ancient churches in the varied cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea that were embraced in the Roman Empire. Christian missionaries have carried the church year throughout the world—first in the Northern Hemisphere and, since the 16th century, in the Southern Hemisphere, where the natural seasons are reversed. It is unlikely that the dates of the two major feasts, Easter and Christmas, which control the seasons of the church year, will be changed. But new symbols and popular customs associated with them will emerge in areas where, for example, Easter is celebrated in the autumn rather than as a spring festival.
The church year consists of two concurrent cycles: (1) the Proper of Time (Temporale), or seasons and Sundays that revolve around the movable date of Easter and the fixed date of Christmas, and (2) the Proper of Saints (Sanctorale), other commemorations on fixed dates of the year. Every season and holy day is a celebration, albeit with different emphases, of the total revelation and redemption of Christ, which are “made present at all times” or proclaim “the paschal mystery as achieved in the saints who have suffered and been glorified with Christ” (Second Vatican Council, “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy”). The church year is an epitome in time of the history of salvation in Christ.
The Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition recall the Resurrection of Christ every Sunday. Many Sundays take their title from the Gospel lesson for the day. In addition to Easter, “the feast of feasts,” there are 12 other major feasts: Christmas, Epiphany, Hypapante (Meeting of Christ with Simeon, February 2), Palm Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, Transfiguration (August 6), Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), and four feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary—her Nativity (September 8), Presentation in the Temple (November 21), Annunciation (March 25), and Falling Asleep (August 15).
The principal cycle consists of (1) 10 weeks before Easter, contained in the Triōdion (pre-Easter liturgical service book)—the first four of these Sundays prepare for the Great Fast, or Lent (i.e., the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican; the Sunday of the Prodigal Son; Meat-Fast Sunday, after which abstinence from meat is enjoined; and Cheese-Fast Sunday, after which the fast includes cheese, eggs, butter, and milk)—and (2) eight weeks after Easter, contained in the Pentēkostarion (post-Easter liturgical service book), including the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after Easter, and concluding with the Festival of All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost. Other special commemorations of the period are the Feast of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday in Lent, recalling the end of the Iconoclastic Controversy in 843, and the feast of the Fathers of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 on the sixth Sunday after Easter.
The schedule of fixed holy days in the Menaion (liturgical service book for each month) begins on September 1, the New Year’s or Indiction Day of the Byzantine Empire. It includes the invariable feasts of Christ, St. Mary and other Christian saints, and many Old Testament saints.
The separated churches of the East (those not accepting the jurisdiction of Orthodox patriarchs or bishops) have calendars basically similar to the Byzantine. West Syrians (Jacobites) and East Syrians (Nestorians) begin the year with a series of Sundays devoted to themes of the Dedication of the Church (consecration by a bishop) and the Annunciation (of the angel Gabriel to Mary that she would bear the Son of God)—the West Syrian sequence starting on November 1, the East Syrian on December 1. There are few saints’ days in the Nestorian calendar. The Copts (Egyptians) and Ethiopians date their year from August 29, considered the beginning of the Christian era in the persecution of the emperor Diocletian (ad 303–311). They have some 32 feasts of the Virgin Mary and many feasts of angels. The Armenian Church follows the Byzantine in beginning the year with the preparatory Sundays before Lent, but it commonly observes fixed holy days on the nearest Sunday. It is the only ancient church that never adopted the feast of Christmas on December 25 but celebrates the Incarnation only on Epiphany, January 6.
Roman Catholic Church
The church year begins on the first Sunday in Advent, which is the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. Until 1969, after Advent and Christmas there followed the seasons of Epiphany, Pre-Lent, Lent, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday, being the 40th day (exclusive of Sundays) before Easter. A special festival of the Holy Trinity occurs on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Corpus Christi, a feast celebrating the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist (Communion meal, or the Lord’s Supper), was instituted in 1264 by Pope Urban IV and is observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. In 1925 Pope Pius XI created the Feast of Christ the King, assigned to the last Sunday in October.
Until 1969, the fixed holy days began with St. Andrew (November 30), the nearest to the beginning of Advent. The three days before Ascension Day, called Minor Rogation Days (“Days of Asking”), are devoted to special prayers for fruitful harvests. Found only in the Roman Catholic Church are the fasts of the four seasons (quatuor tempora), known as Ember Days, and especially associated with ordinations to the ministry. They occur on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after the third Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday in Lent, in the week of Pentecost and the week after Holy Cross Day (September 14).
A revised calendar was issued by Pope John XXIII in 1960. The “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” of the Second Vatican Council called for further reforms. These have been completed in the new calendar and lectionary promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969.
The most important feature of the new calendar was the restoration of all Sundays as feasts of Christ. No saints’ days, even of the Virgin Mary, may take precedence of a Sunday. In the Proper of Time, the season of Pre-Lent was eliminated, and two cycles were provided: (1) the principal seasons, Sundays, and holy days from Advent to Pentecost and (2) a schedule of 33 Sundays per annum to be observed in numbered sequence in place of the Sundays previously designated “after Epiphany” and “after Pentecost.” The ancient Roman Feast of St. Mary was restored to January 1, a new Feast of the Baptism of Christ was assigned to the first Sunday after Epiphany, and the Feast of Christ the King was shifted to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time. All octaves were eliminated. Fixed holy days are now arranged from January 1.
A considerable simplification, reclassification, and in many cases shifting of dates were made in the Proper of Saints. Except for 13 “solemnities” (including major feasts of Christ and Mary) and 25 “feasts,” all other saints’ days and holy days were reduced to “memorials,” either obligatory or optional—with the right of national and regional episcopal conferences to alter their rank. Ember and Rogation Days were assigned as votive masses to be observed according to regional directives.
Regulations regarding holy days and processes leading to the canonization of saints are controlled by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship (formerly the Congregation of Rites). Certain feasts, in addition to all Sundays, are designated “holy days of obligation,” when all the faithful must attend mass. In the United States these are: Christmas Day (December 25), the Feast of St. Mary (New Year’s Day), Ascension Day, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15), All Saints’ Day (November 1), and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8). In addition to these, “days of obligation” observed elsewhere include: St. Joseph’s Day (March 19), the Annunciation (March 25), Saints Peter and Paul Day (June 29), and the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Lutheran and Anglican churches preserve in their liturgies the seasons of the Roman Catholic calendar, but, in general, they reduced the fixed holy days to primary feasts of Christ and the Apostles and evangelists, Michaelmas Day (September 29), and All Saints’ Day (November 1). In the second half of the year, Sundays were named “after Trinity.” In the late 20th century the revisions of Lutheran and Anglican service books were influenced by the new designs of the Roman Catholic calendar, notably proposals to eliminate Pre-Lent and to name Sundays “after Pentecost” instead of “after Trinity.” Anglican and Lutheran calendars were also enriching their entries with many nonbiblical saints and holy days, but for optional observance. Lutherans celebrate a festival of the Reformation on October 31 or the Sunday preceding that date.
In other Protestant churches, only Sunday observance remains obligatory, including Easter and Pentecost. Holy Week is frequently observed, and Christmas is commonly celebrated liturgically on the Sunday preceding December 25. Among these Protestant churches, new service books and hymnals have exhibited interest in recovering the major seasons of the Proper of Time, from Advent to Pentecost, and in some cases the Feast of All Saints. Especially significant was the restoration of the seasons in the Reformed (Presbyterian) and Methodist churches.
Many Protestant churches devote Sundays to special themes of a religious, charitable, or civic nature, such as Race Relations, Rural Life, Christian Home, and Labour Sundays. Harvest festivals, common in the Western churches since the Middle Ages, have a distinctive American tradition in Thanksgiving Day, on the fourth Thursday in November. Traditionally held to have originated in the Plymouth (Massachusetts) colony in 1621, it was first proclaimed a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Ecumenical services, now worldwide, are observed during the Octave or Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18–25—a custom started by Paul James Wattson of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and developed by Abbé Paul Couturier. The week is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.