19th April 2025
Christian (Western Churches)
This is the last day of Lent. Special services involving the lighting of the Paschal Candle and the renewal of baptismal vows take place in the evening in preparation for Easter.
19th April 2025
Christian (Western Churches)
This is the last day of Lent. Special services involving the lighting of the Paschal Candle and the renewal of baptismal vows take place in the evening in preparation for Easter.
20th April 2025
Christian (Western Churches)
Easter Day is the most important festival of the Christian year, since this is when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus three days after his death by crucifixion in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. For Christians, Easter is a day marked by special religious services and the gathering of family members together. Easter Candles are lit in churches on the eve of Easter Sunday, as a resurrection symbol of Christ as the light of the world, though some believe that these may have originated in the Pagan customs of lighting bonfires to welcome the rebirth/resurrection of the sun God.
Theologians of all Christian traditions regard Easter as the lynchpin of Christian belief, and view faith in the resurrection of Jesus as the determining factor in assessing orthodoxy. The annual rejoicing that ‘Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!’ is common to Eastern and Western traditions alike throughout the world.
Easter and the Jewish Passover are closely related, especially in the complex method of fixing the date of Easter. The resurrection of Jesus took place during the Passover. Christians of the Eastern church initially celebrated both holidays together, but the Passover can fall on any day of the week, and Christians of the Western church preferred to celebrate Easter on Sunday, the day of the resurrection.
The name Easter comes from Eostre (pronounced yo’ster), an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honour. Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Christian spring festivals.
The Easter Bunny, a popular image of the festival, originated with the hare, an ancient symbol for the moon. According to legend, the bunny was originally a large, handsome bird belonging to Eostre, the Goddess of Spring. (Eostre is also known as Ostara, a Goddess of fertility who is celebrated at the time of the Spring equinox.) Eostre ‘resurrected’ the bird into a rabbit, which may explain why the Easter bunny builds a nest and fills it with (coloured) eggs. The first edible Easter bunnies were created in Germany during the early 1800s, made of pastry and sugar.
The white lily as a symbol of the resurrection and of purity has become the typical Easter flower. The Madonna lily was used for years as the Easter lily, but it often failed to bloom in time for Easter, and so the Bermuda, or white trumpet, lily is often used instead.
The egg is another popular symbol of Easter. Eggs were dyed and eaten during spring festivals in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. Coloured eggs were not, however, associated with Easter until the 15th century. Many churches today follow old traditions of colouring hard-boiled eggs and giving children little chocolate eggs as symbols of the resurrection.
Matthew 28:1-11, Mark 16:1-10, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-10.
20th April 2025
Christian (Orthodox)
Pascha is the name for Easter in Orthodox Christianity. Pascha is preceded by Great Lent, a time of prayer, fasting and penance, just as Easter in western Christianity is preceded by the Lenten season. Pascha is celebrated differently from Easter in that the service typically begins just before midnight with the Nocturne service, the Easter procession at midnight and then Easter matins, which are sung inside a church. The Pascha services are noteworthy for the canon hymns of St. John of Damascus. The service continues with the singing of the Easter hours and the divine liturgy and the Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom. For fuller information, see: It is Pascha – not Easter!
For Orthodox Christians Easter Day is the most important festival of the Christian year, as this is when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. A vigil is kept during the preceding night, and the resurrection of Christ is greeted with the lighting of candles and the affirmation ‘Christ is risen’. Customs include colouring and decorating of hard-boiled eggs as symbols of new life – cracking them symbolises the opening of Christ’s tomb. All Orthodox Christian communities celebrate Easter and the associated cycle of festivals at the same time.
Theologians of all Christian traditions regard Easter as the lynchpin of Christian belief, and view faith in the resurrection of Jesus as the determining factor in assessing orthodoxy. The annual rejoicing that ‘Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!’ is common to Eastern and Western traditions alike throughout the world.
Matthew 28:1-11, Mark 16:1-10, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-10.
29th May 2025
Christian (40th day after Easter) Christian (Western Churches)
Ascension Day commemorates the last earthly appearance of the Risen Christ, who, according to Christian belief, ascended into heaven in the presence of many witnesses. It is one of the four most important dates in the Christian calendar. Observed generally by Catholics and Anglicans, it is also known as the Feast of Ascension, and occurs on the Thursday 40 days after Easter. It marks the end of the Easter season and falls ten days before Pentecost.
According to the accounts in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus appeared to many of his disciples during the 40 days following his resurrection to instruct them on how to carry out his teachings. On the 40th day, he came again to the Apostles and led them out to the Mount of Olives where he instructed them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Then, as they were watching, he ascended into the clouds.
According to Augustine of Hippo, one of the early church fathers, the Feast of Ascension originated with the Apostles. John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa, contemporaries of Augustine, refer to it as being one of the oldest feasts practised by the Church, possibly going as far back as AD 68. There is no written evidence, however, of the Church honoring Ascension Day until Augustine’s time in the fourth century.
As an Ecumenical feast, Ascension Day is one of the six holy days where attendance at Mass is mandatory for Roman Catholics and Anglicans. The event is generally a one-day public commemoration, although the Church, in keeping with earlier traditions regarding festivals, offers devotions for seven days. The night before the feast, priests and deacons attend a vigil of prayers and scripture readings. On the day of the feast, Mass is celebrated and the Paschal candle, which was lit on Easter Sunday, is extinguished. Liturgies proclaiming the finished work of salvation and the ascension of the glorified Christ into Heaven are recited, followed later by evening prayers. At the end of the seven-day devotion, two additional days are kept by the priests, making a total of nine days (a novena). The novena allows for the preparation of Pentecost, which takes place the next day.
For many Christians, Ascension Day’s meaning provides a sense of hope that the glorious and triumphant return of Jesus is near. It is a reminder of the ever-present Spirit of God, watching over and protecting them as they spread the light of Jesus’ truth throughout the world
Ascension Day is associated across Britain with various festivals ranging from Well Dressing in Derbyshire to the Planting of the ‘Penny Hedge’ (or ‘Horngarth’) in the harbour at Whitby, Yorkshire. It is also the day for Beating the Bounds, or Boundaries, of a church’s parish. The custom was once found in almost every English parish, but now is only carried out in a few places. In modern times, it involves people in the locality walking around their farm, manorial, church or civil boundaries, pausing as they pass certain trees, walls and hedges that denote the extent of the boundary to exclaim, pray and ritually ‘beat’ particular landmarks with sticks.
In England, eggs laid on Ascension Day are said to ‘never go bad’ and will guarantee good luck for a household if placed in the roof. In Devon, it was an ancient belief that the clouds always formed into the familiar Christian image of a lamb on Ascension Day. If the weather is sunny on Ascension Day, the summer will be long and hot. If it rains on the day, crops will do badly and livestock will suffer from disease. According to Welsh superstition, it is unlucky to do any work on Ascension Day.
Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11.
11th – 17th May 2025
Christian
Initiated in 1945, this week is devoted to fund raising by members of various churches, mainly through house to house collections and sales of goods of various kinds. The money given is for work with the needy throughout the world. Christian Aid works in nearly 60 countries, helping people, regardless of religion or race, to improve their own lives and tackle the causes of poverty and injustice.
8th June 2025
Christian (Western and Orthodox Churches)
As the second most important festival in the Christian year, Pentecost is often seen as the ‘birthday’ of the Church, since this is when the disciples of Jesus first proclaimed the Gospel after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is named after the Jewish festival (Shavuot) on which this event happened, which is celebrated 50 days after Passover. The name comes from the Greek pentekoste, “fiftieth”. Pentecost for Christians accordingly falls on the Sunday 50 days after Easter. The alternative name of Whitsuntide comes from the custom of converts presenting themselves for baptism on this day dressed in white.
Clergy in church often wear robes with red in their design as a symbol of the flames in which the Bible says the Holy Spirit came to the early disciples. The symbols of Pentecost are those of the Holy Spirit and include the dove, the wind, the breath of God and flames. The Acts of the Apostles tells how the followers of Jesus found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. People passing by at first thought that they must be drunk, but the apostle Peter told the crowd that he and the other apostles were full of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is a special day for all Christian communities, but it is emphasised particularly by Pentecostal churches, which preach that the Holy Spirit is available to believers during all of their services.
The central Christian belief that God is three in one – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is at the heart of Christian teaching about the nature of God and is central to preaching and teaching both at this time and on the following Sunday, Trinity Sunday. It is the belief in the divinity of Christ and the reality of the Holy Spirit which separates orthodox Christian faith from other monotheistic religions.
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-13.
15th June 2025
Christian (Western Churches)
(Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate All Saints at this time).
Trinity Sunday, sometimes known as ‘The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity’, is celebrated in the West on the Sunday after Pentecost/Whitsunday, when Christians reflect on the mystery of God, who is seen as One but is understood in and through God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Orthodox Churches have no specific recognition of Trinity Sunday.
The Church has been celebrating the Trinity in its life and worship since its earliest days. Evidence of this can be seen in Trinitarian baptismal formulae. Many early liturgies and prayers refer to the persons of the Trinity, as well as collects, benedictions and doxologies that end with a Trinitarian statement: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’. (2 Corinthians 13:14.)
The Trinity is one of the most fascinating – and controversial – of Christian teachings. It is described as a ‘mystery’. By mystery the Church does not mean a conundrum or a riddle, but rather that the Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension which we may begin to grasp, but ultimately must know through worship, symbol, and faith. It is ineffable as well as incomprehensible.
The Nicene definition of the Trinity developed over time, based on Scripture and Tradition. The New Testament calls the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ‘God’, yet the three are also clearly distinct. The problem was that the Church had to reconcile the divinity of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit with Jewish monotheism. By the middle of the 2nd century the Church began using the word Trinity to describe this relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit.
Then in the 4th century a presbyter named Arius denied that the Father and Son were both true God and co-eternal, so that his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria, challenged and deposed him. Eventually the Arian controversy spread, and the emperor Constantine, newly fascinated with Christianity, convened a council of bishops in AD 325 in Nicaea to deal with Arianism. It was there that the Church drew up the beginnings of the current Nicene Creed, the bastion of Trinitarian belief.
Christianity adopted this complex view of the nature of God because it was the only way they could make sense of belief in the One God in the context of the events and teaching of the Bible. The idea of the Trinity does not supersede monotheism; it interprets it, in the light of a specific set of revelatory events: God the Father – revealed by the Old Testament to be Creator, Father and Judge; God the Son – who lived on earth amongst human beings; God the Holy Spirit – who filled the followers of Jesus with new life and power.
It is impossible to overemphasise the importance of this doctrine that God is one in three persons. This has correctly been called ‘the distinctive teaching of the Christian faith’, that which sets apart the approach of Christians to the ‘fearful mystery of the deity’ from all other approaches and beliefs. The creed, the fundamental statement of Christian belief, sets out the Trinitarian nature of God. Baptism is carried out ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. Eucharistic prayers are firmly Trinitarian in concept. The doxology is Trinitarian.
Relevant to the day are the natural symbols of the Trinity – the shamrock used by St. Patrick to explain the Trinity to the ancient Irish; the pansy – viola tricolour – called the ‘Trinity Flower’; a candle with three flames; the triangle; the trefoil; three interlocking circles; and so many others. They all seek to explain, though with only partial success, what is an inexplicable mystery.
Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 1:18; 15:26.
19th June 2025
Christian (Roman Catholic)
In some countries, including England & Wales, the festival is celebrated on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday.
The festival of Corpus Christi, a Latin phrase that refers to the body of Jesus, celebrates the institution of the Mass/Eucharist. It falls 60 days after Easter. The feast is celebrated in the Latin Church either on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or it may be transferred to the following Sunday. Its purpose is to commemorate the institution by Jesus of the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper on the day before his crucifixion, as described in the gospels. It has been celebrated by Catholic Christians ever since 1246.
At the end of the Mass, it is customary for there to be a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament (often outdoors), followed by the ‘Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament’. Bread and wine are usually offered during Holy Communion/the Eucharist on Corpus Christi. It is also known as the Day of Wreaths, since in the ancient world it was customary to scatter flowers in the path of important people as a sign of respect and reverence, and this custom was adopted by the Church to honour the Blessed Sacrament as it was being carried in procession on this festival day.
In Spain and Provence the processions often feature saints and characters from the Bible as they follow a path decorated with wreaths and flowers. In Portugal the feast is known as Dia de Corpo de Deus and since medieval times has been one of the major religious observances. In the city of Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, the people make a flower-petal carpet almost three quarters of a mile long for the procession of the clergy and priests.
In Germany Corpus Christi is celebrated with colourful processions where the sacrament and other holy symbols are carried throughout villages, towns and even on boats on lakes, while streets are decorated with flowers and greenery. Children dressed in white wear wreaths of flowers accompanied by women in regional costume.
The feast was introduced to England from Belgium at some stage between 1318 and 1325. Before the Reformation, there was a famous procession in London on this day. Although the feast of Corpus Christi is no longer observed as a public holiday in England, there was a time when the city guilds were involved in processions and often performed what was known as ‘Corpus Christi’ plays. In medieval times it was a time for the performance of mystery plays.
Symbols that portray the feast may include images of: the host (the consecrated bread and wine); the chalice (to depict the Blood of Jesus); an altar; a ciborium, which is a chalice-like container used to store the consecrated host of the sacrament; or the simple elements of bread and wine.
Corpus Christi is primarily celebrated by the Catholic Church, but it is also included in the calendar of a number of Anglican churches, such as the Church of England. The feast is celebrated by some Anglo-Catholic parishes even in provinces of the Anglican Communion that do not officially include it in their calendars. In English-speaking Roman Catholic parishes, the feast is known as ‘The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)’. In the Church of England it is known as ‘The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)’.
For Catholics the change of the substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Jesus and of the substance of wine into the substance of his Blood is known as Transubstantiation. They hold that the changes are brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, the outward characteristics of the bread and wine remain unaltered.
8th June 2025
Christian (Orthodox Churches)
An important festival in the Christian year, Pentecost is often seen as the ‘birthday’ of the Church, since this is when the disciples of Jesus first proclaimed the Gospel after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is named after the Jewish festival day on which this event happened.
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-13.
19th August 2025 (Christian)
19th August 2025 (Orthodox Julian Calendar)
This festival commemorates the occasion when Jesus went up a mountain with three of his disciples, Peter, James and John; here, as his death approached, they saw in a vision how his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white; they witnessed him in conversation with Moses and Elijah, and heard a voice saying, ‘This is my own dear Son with whom I am pleased – listen to him’. For many Christians this account confirms the divine nature of Jesus.
For Orthodox Christians this is an especially important festival, pointing to Christ as both human and divine. Although Moses and Elijah had died centuries before, they could both live again in the presence of the Son of God, implying that a similar return to life can apply to all who face death.
Most scholars date the transfiguration of Jesus to the time of the Festival of Booths, the Jewish feast of God dwelling with his people. The celebration of the event in the Church became for Christians the New Testamental fulfilment of the Jewish feast of Sukkot in a way remarkably similar to the influence of the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost on Christian celebrations.
The feast of the Transfiguration is currently observed on the 6th of August. The summer celebration of the feast lends itself well to the concept of transfiguration. The blessing on this day of grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables, relates effectively to the paradisal view of God’s Kingdom where the whole earth will he transformed by the glory Jesus reveals here to his disciples.
The timing of the transfiguration is significant in the ministry of Jesus. Matthew 15:29 tells of the healing of the multitudes and the feeding of the 4000. This apparently prompted the Pharisees to wonder if Jesus was the Messiah, for they came to him asking for a sign (16:1ff). Jesus knew the disciples were harbouring the same expectations of him (cf. Luke 22:37-38 and Acts 1:6), and posed the famous question ‘But who do you say that I am?’
Peter’s answer in Matthew 16:16 was a great break-through, and Jesus commended Peter for it (v.17). He wanted his disciples to believe that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. Then, immediately after Peter’s confession, Jesus announced, for the first time in an explicit way, his coming death and resurrection (Matt. 16:21), indicating the nature of his Messiahship.
It is in this context of this discovery made by the disciples that the transfiguration story falls. Six days went by after Peter’s confrontation with Jesus. Then he took Peter, James, and John up ‘to a high mountain’ (possibly Mount Tabor?) where they witnessed a wonderful sight: Jesus was glorified before their eyes. (Matt. 17:2).
Then there appeared Moses and Elijah. These two characters fit perfectly into this scene. Moses was the great lawgiver in Israelite history, but he was also the first of God’s great prophets (cf. Deut 18:14ff). Elijah was a great prophet too. Furthermore, both of them saw an appearance of God in their lifetimes (Moses: Exod 33:17ff; Elijah: 1 Kings 19:9ff), and both of these occurred on a mountain (Mt. Sinai). Both of them, like Jesus, had performed mighty works in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and both had experienced, to some degree, the rejection of their own people. These two characters have symbolic significance. Together they represent the Law and the Prophets, both of which pointed forwards to Jesus (cf. Rom. 3:21) and to his future suffering and exaltation.
Matthew 17:1-17, Mark 9:2-13 and Luke 9:28-36.