§ 176. Sacred Times

From the very beginning of the world man has felt the need to consecrate to God and to the contemplation of eternity, in a special way, some determined portion of the day and night, and likewise to consecrate certain days of the year to the memory of the more important sacred events. From the satisfaction of this need there arose in the Christian church, first, the hours of daily worship, then the yearly feasts, and lastly the days of fasting.

I. The chief daily service is the Liturgy. Besides the Liturgy, the apostles, either by themselves or together with other believers, gathered at fixed hours (ὥρα) of day and night to pray and glorify God in psalms, chanting, and spiritual songs.[1] This the faithful likewise did after the apostles.[2] There exist today eight daily church services, reckoning according to the church typikon: the ninth hour, vespers, compline, midnight office, matins, the first hour, the third hour, and the Liturgy. At first the faithful, together with the clergy, took part in all the services. Today this is left to the faithful’s own devotion. In monasteries and in episcopal churches all this must be unconditionally observed; while the parish clergy must perform this, apart from the Liturgy, in their own homes, if it is not convenient for them to do so in church.[3]

II. Following the example of the Old Testament church, the Christian church too began, from apostolic times, to introduce feasts (ἑορταί).[4] The first feast to be established was the Resurrection of the Lord (ἀνάστασις τοῦ Κυρίου, ἑορτὴ τοῦ Πάσχα), and, as the weekly commemoration of that feast, Sunday (Κυριακὴ ἡμέρα).[5] Gradually the number of feasts in the church increased, in commemoration of the chief events in the earthly life of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, and likewise for the celebration of the memory of the apostles and of individual saints.[6]

By present-day church usage, feasts are generally divided into movable feasts, which do not fall on the same day every year, and fixed feasts, which are always celebrated on a set day of the year. Among the former the chief is the Resurrection of Christ, on which feast the other movable feasts depend: Palm Sunday, Ascension, and Pentecost. Among the latter are, besides Sunday, all the other feasts of the year. Feasts are further divided into obligatory and non-obligatory, according to whether the church forbids or permits work on those days. What church services are to be performed on the respective feasts is precisely prescribed in the church typika. This is prescribed in particular for the Liturgy—by what rite it is to be celebrated on the respective feast days.

There exist three forms of the Liturgy in the Orthodox Church: the rite composed by John Chrysostom; the second, composed by Basil the Great; and the third, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (ἡ τῶν προηγιασμένων ἱερὰ λειτουργία). This last is served on all the weekdays of Great Lent, except Saturday and Sunday and the day of the Annunciation. The Liturgy of Basil is served on the eve or on the very feast of Christmas and Theophany, on the first day of the month of January, on the first five Sundays of Great Lent, and on Great Thursday and Great Saturday. On all the other days of the year the Liturgy of Chrysostom is served. There are days in the year on which, by the typikon, there can be no Liturgy: namely, Cheesefare Wednesday and Friday, the first two days of Great Lent, Good Friday, and the Friday before Christmas and Theophany, if these feasts fall on a Sunday or a Monday.[7]

The establishing, and likewise the abolishing, of days of celebration belongs to the conciliar authority of the church; but since this is also connected with the civil life of the faithful, the participation of the civil authority in this matter is also necessary.[8] The duties of the faithful on obligatory feast days consist, on the one hand, in this: that they must devote that day to prayer and good works and take part in the Liturgy;[9] and, on the other hand, that they must not engage in heavy labor, nor occupy themselves with trade or litigation.[10] Fairs ought not to be held on feast days, and are permitted only as an exception.[11]

III. Among the sacred times also belong the fasts (αἱ νηστείας ἡμέραι). The church introduced fasting into Christian life as a means of arousing and sustaining in man a spirit of piety and repentance. This ordinance rests on the practice of the Old Testament church and on the example of the Founder of the church and of the apostles.[12] The days on which one must fast have been established by the legislative authority of the church, and are therefore binding on all, except the sick; and if a sacred person does not observe this he is to be deposed, and a layman must be excommunicated.[13] These fasts are: every Wednesday and Friday of the week (except in those cases when it is permitted by the typikon to eat meat/dairy), the holy Forty Days of Pascha (ἡ ἁγία τεσσαρακοστὴ τοῦ Πάσχα), the Nativity fast (ἡ νεστεία τῶν Χριστογέννων), the Apostles’ fast (ἡ νεστεία τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων), the Dormition fast (ἡ νεστεία τῆς κοιμήσεως τῆς Θεοτόχου), the day before Theophany, the day of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross, and the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist.[14] How one is to fast on these days is prescribed by the church typikon.[15] State legislation, respecting the purpose for which the church has established these fasts, has come to the church’s aid in this, forbidding criminal proceedings, and likewise public entertainments, on the appointed days of fasting.[16]

CHAPTER THREE. Marriage.