Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter).
Divine Liturgy or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, a liturgical rite developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox, the Greek Catholic Churches, and the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. Although the same term is sometimes applied in English to the Eucharistic service of Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, they use in their own language a term meaning "holy offering" or "holy sacrifice". Other churches also treat "Divine Liturgy" simply as one of many names that can be used, but it is not their normal term.
In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell is an Old English and Middle English term referring to the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. In triumphant descent, Christ brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world.
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the announcement by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Christian Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation. Gabriel told Mary to name her son Immanuel, meaning "God is with us".
Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Sabado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.
Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
A troparion in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas.
Easter Saturday, on the Christian calendar, is the Saturday following the festival of Easter, the Saturday of Easter or Bright Week. In the liturgy of Western Christianity it is the last day of Easter Week, sometimes referred to as the Saturday of Easter Week or Saturday in Easter Week. In the liturgy of Eastern Christianity it is the last day of Bright Week, and called Bright Saturday, The Bright and Holy Septave Saturday of Easter Eve, or The Bright and Holy Septave Paschal Artos and Octoechoes Saturday of Iscariot's Byzantine Easter Eve. Easter Saturday is the day preceding the Second Sunday of Easter.
"Victimae paschali laudes" is a sequence prescribed for the Catholic Mass and some liturgical Protestant Eucharistic services on Easter Sunday. It is usually attributed to the 11th-century Wipo of Burgundy, chaplain to Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, but has also been attributed to Notker Balbulus, Robert II of France, and Adam of St. Victor.
Radonitsa, also spelled Radunitsa, Radonica, or Radunica, in the Russian Orthodox Church is a commemoration of the departed observed on the second Tuesday of Pascha (Easter) or, in some places, on the second Monday of Pascha. In the Ukrainian tradition it is called Provody (Проводи).
The Copts, who belong mostly to the Coptic Orthodox Church, observe fasting periods according to the Coptic calendar. These fasting periods are exceeded by no other Christian community except the Orthodox Tewahedo. Out of the 365 days of the year, Copts often fast between 210 and 240 days. This means that Copts abstain from all animal products for up to two-thirds of each year. Coptic Orthodox fasts have evolved over time to become more lengthier and severer. A lifestyle involving such fasts may have contributed to the pacifist mindset of the Coptic people for centuries.
The Gospel in Christian liturgy refers to a reading from the Gospels used during various religious services, including Mass or Divine Liturgy (Eucharist). In many Christian churches, all present stand when a passage from one of the Gospels is read publicly, and sit when a passage from a different part of the Bible is read. The reading of the Gospels, often contained in a liturgical edition containing only the four Gospels, is traditionally done by a minister, priest or deacon, and in many traditions the Gospel Book is brought into the midst of the congregation to be read.
The Pentecostarion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches during the Paschal Season which extends from Pascha (Easter) to the Sunday following All Saints Sunday.
Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity refers to the moveable feast before Palm Sunday to which it is liturgically linked. It celebrates the raising of Lazarus of Bethany. Bethany is recorded in the New Testament as a small village in Judaea, the home of the siblings Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper.
The Ypakoë is a troparion chanted at Orthros (Matins) and the Midnight Office on Great Feasts and Sundays throughout the liturgical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Ypakoë which is chanted on Sundays is found in the Octoechos and there are eight of them, according to the Tone of the Week. The Ypakoë used at one of the Great Feasts will be written in the tone of the hymnographer's choice.
The Matins Gospel is the solemn chanting of a lection from one of the Four Gospels during Matins in the Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic churches which follow the Byzantine Rite.
The entrance prayers are the prayers recited by the deacon and priest upon entering the temple before celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite.
The Paschal Hours are the form in which the Little Hours are chanted on Pascha (Easter) and throughout Bright Week in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches.
Absolution of the dead is a prayer for or a declaration of absolution of a dead person's sins that takes place at the person's religious funeral.
Clean Monday, also known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, Monday of Lent or Green Monday, is the first day of Great Lent throughout Eastern Christianity and is a moveable feast, falling on the sixth Monday before Palm Sunday which begins Holy Week, preceding Pascha Sunday (Easter).
