Quiz: Christian Holy days

The feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is called Palm Sunday. This name is linked to the fact that people come to the church with branches of willow for the liturgy. The palm tree symbolizes the resurrection of life and replaces the palm branches with which the people went out to meet Christ in Jerusalem.

The Feast of the Annunciation has a fixed date of celebration on 7 April.

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is called Epiphany. On this day the trinity of God was revealed to the world: ‘And when Jesus was baptized, He immediately came up out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down upon Him. And behold, a voice came from heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ (Mt.3:16-17).

The feast commemorating the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary is called the Annunciation. On this day the good news of the coming birth of Christ, the Savior of all people, was given to the whole world.

Christ rose again on the third day after His burial. He told His disciples about it beforehand: ‘From that time Jesus began to reveal to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed, and on the third day on the third day be raised to life.’ (Mt.16:21).

The Day of the Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. This Feast also has a second name reflecting the essence of the commemoration: the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This event is described in the Holy Scripture as follows: ‘At the coming of the day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord together. And suddenly there came a noise from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house in which they were. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak." (Acts 2:1-5) On that day, after the preaching of the disciples of Christ in different languages, a great multitude of people believed in Christ.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is celebrated on 27 September. The origin of this Feast is as follows. The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine instructed his mother, Queen Helen, to go to Jerusalem, to cleanse the holy places from idols, to find the Life- giving Cross of the Lord and to build a huge and beautiful temple over the place of the Crucifixion and the Holy Sepulcher.

After many labors it was possible to find the place where the pagans had stoned the Life-Giving Cross. Having come to that place, Helen and the Jerusalem patriarch Macarius began to pray to God.

And a marvelous fragrance was smelled.

In order to recognize the Cross of the Lord, they applied the crosses in turn to the dead man. And when they applied the Life-Giving Cross, the dead man was resurrected.

Queen Helen with joy bowed to the Cross and kissed it, as well as all those who were nearby. And then the patriarch Macarius went up on the hill and began, raising the Cross, to show it to the people. And the people said, ‘Lord, have mercy,’ rejoicing and praising our Lord and Savior crucified on the Cross.

Since that time they began to celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Lazarus was resurrected by Christ on the fourth day after his death.

The Sunday before the beginning of Lent is dedicated to the remembrance of Adam's expulsion from paradise. In the evening in all churches a service is held, after which the clergy and people ask each other for forgiveness. This tradition comes from the ancient monasteries, where monks went one by one to the desert for silent asceticism during Lent, and the day before, after the service, they asked each other for forgiveness.

Christ was crucified on Golgotha.

Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin Mary, promised to consecrate their child to God.

The liturgical New Year, i.e. the Church New Year, is celebrated on 14 September. On this day the Church remembers as the Lord Jesus Christ read in the synagogue in Nazareth the prophecy of Isaiah (Is.61:1-2) about the coming of a fruitful summer (Lk.4:16-22). In this reading of the Lord the Byzantines saw His reference to the celebration of the day of the new year; Tradition relates this event itself to the day of 14 September. The New Year of the Church has a special sacramental name: indictio. Indictio (lat. indictio - announcement) in the Roman Empire was understood as a designation of the number of taxes to be collected in a given year. Thus, the financial year in the Empire began with the emperor's ‘indictio’ (indication) of what amount of taxes should be collected. The official Byzantine calculation, the so-called indictios of Constantine the Great or the Constantinople calculation, began from 1 September 312 (according to the new style).

After the beginning of the liturgical year (14 September), the first feast is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (21 September).

After his resurrection, Lazarus lived many years, later becoming a bishop on Crete.

A bipedal feast consists usually of four parts: pre-priesthood (the day before the feast), Feast (the day of the feast as such), feast (one or more days in which the remembrance of the event being celebrated continues), and leave-taking (the last day of the feast).

Twelve Great Feasts have two kinds of classification: 1) depending on the date of celebration: movable (Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost) and immovable; 2) depending on to Whom they are dedicated: Lord's feasts (dedicated to the remembrance of Christ) and Mother of God's feasts (dedicated to the remembrance of the Mother of God).

Easter is not one of the Twelve Great Feasts. As the greatest Feast, it ranks separately.

In its semantic context, the Feast of the Meeting has a double meaning. On the one hand, this feast is dedicated to Christ, because an episode from His life is remembered. On the other hand, it is dedicated to the Theotokos, because on this day Simeon the Hospitaller said important words to Her: ‘...and to You Yourself the arms shall pass through the soul, - that the thoughts of many hearts may be opened’ (Lk.2:35). With this, Simeon foretold the Experiences of the Mother of God, who saw the Sufferings of Christ and subsequently took the whole human race under Her care.

The day of Holy Easter – ‘The Feast of Feasts and the Solemnity of Solemnities’ – is the most important day for all Orthodox Christians, on which the way to the Kingdom of Heaven was reopened, death was defeated, and the salvation of all people was accomplished.

Christmas is celebrated annually on 7 January.

At the appearance of the archangel Gabriel, who announced to her the birth of her Son, Mary showed the greatest humility and obedience, saying: ‘...behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be to Me according to your word’ (Lk.1:38).

The Feast of the Meeting is dedicated to the remembrance of the day on which the Christ Child was first brought to the temple for the fulfilment of the proper rite over Him. The feast received its name from its semantic meaning: on this day the New Testament (in the person of Christ) and the Old Testament (in the person of Simeon the Hospitaller, who, according to the promise, lived about 300 years waiting for the salvation of the human race and the birth of Christ) met.

‘...Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain alone, and was transfigured before them: and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light’ (Mt.17:1-2).

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist (7 July, New Style) always falls on Apostolic Lent.

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (11 September according to New Style) is always a day of strict fasting.