The prayers and hymns appointed for all these feasts, which tell us of the significance of the celebration, are found in a twelve volume series of books called the Menaion (one volume for each month). For convenience, for the Great Feasts there is a special volume called the Festal Menaion. The greater the feast the greater the number of hymns composed for its celebration. On the middle-ranking and lesser feast days, there are fewer hymns appointed for the feast itself, but troparia, contakia, canons and verses from the Octoechos are also appointed to be used. This usage of the Octoechos and the Menaion together means that through the day we are following the three cycles of services mentioned much earlier in this work (§ 52); the daily cycle, the weekly cycle and the annual one.

The festivals are also sometimes distinguished by the places in which they are celebrated. General feasts of all three ranks are celebrated by the whole Orthodox Church. Local ones are celebrated by the Local [i.e. national] Orthodox Churches, thus the Russians celebrate St Alexander Nevsky, the Greeks St Nectarius of Pentapolis, the Serbs the New Martyrs of Prelak, but these feasts might not be observed throughout the Orthodox world. And thirdly there are feasts of a particular church - [for example, here we keep the feast of St Edward with a Vigil Service, although this would not be done in every Orthodox church. He is our church saint.]

The feasts are distinguished again, a distinction being made between immovable feasts - those which fall on the same day every year, and the moveable ones, whose celebration depends on the date of Pascha. Essentially all the feasts are celebrated to the glory of God, in honour of the Mother of God or in honour of the saints, and thus they are sometimes designated, feasts of the Lord, feasts of the Theotokos, and saints’ days.

In Orthodox countries, besides church feasts, there are also some celebrations which are both churchly and national, which commemorate events in the life of the people, which though they are not primarily ecclesiastical celebrations, manifest the close bond between the the Church and society in general or the state. Among these we may mention the civil New Year (1st January), and celebrations connected with the Ruling House, Accession Days, the Anniversaries of Coronations, the birthdays and namedays of the Sovereign and his/her Consort, and perhaps of the Heir to the Throne. Often these days were public holidays, but were also marked with church celebrations. Often there were celebrations for the patron saints of various regiments, days commemorating famous victories or what we would now know as Remembrance Days.

§ 120. The Components of the Services which Express the Feast’s Meaning. Many of the Twelve Feasts originated in the first centuries of Christianity. From the fourth century onwards their celebration was widespread throughout the Church. Gradually over time the services were elaborated with special chants, prayers and rites. The inner meaning of the Twelve Great feasts is principally expressed in the following: 1) in all the appointed verses (on “Lord, I have cried,’ the aposticha, the liti, and the praises); 2) in the Old Testament readings; 3) in the troparia and contakia; 4) in the canon; 5) in the prokeimenon and the antiphons; 6) in the Apostle reading and Gospel; 7) in the irmos of the ninth ode which is appointed to be chanted instead of the usual magnification of the Mother of God during the Liturgy; and 8) in the various special rites and customs associated with the feast.

…to be continued with “The services of the Feast of Pascha”