Feasts and Saints

(†) Holy Pascha: The Resurrection of Our Lord

Orthodox Calendar, April 20 Holy Pascha: The Resurrection of Our Lord Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. (Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom, read at Paschal Matins) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the Christian faith. Saint Paul says that if Christ…

Apr 12, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Saturday; Saint Callinicus from Cernica, bishop of Râmnic (His feast day will be celebrated on Monday, the second day of Easter); Hieromartyr Antipas, bishop of Pergamum

Orthodox Calendar, April 11 Great and Holy Saturday On Great and Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. “He (Christ) gave Himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin.…

Apr 11, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Friday (Non-liturgical day. Matins); Martyrs Terence, Pompeius, Africanus, Maximus and Dima

Orthodox Calendar, April 10 Great and Holy Friday On Great and Holy Friday, Christ died on the Cross. He gave up His spirit with the words: “It is finished” (John 19:30). These words are better understood when rendered: “It is consummated.” He had accomplished the work for which His heavenly Father had sent Him into…

Apr 10, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Thursday (Matins); Martyr Eupsychius of Caesarea; Saint Vadim

Orthodox Calendar, April 9 Great and Holy Thursday Two events shape the liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples, and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is in love. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s redeeming love for man, of love as the…

Apr 9, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Wednesday (Matins); Apostle Herodion of the Seventy, and those with Him; Saint Celestine, Pope of Rome

Orthodox Calendar, April 8 Great and Holy Wednesday On Great and Holy Wednesday, the hymns of the Bridegroom Service remind us of the sinful woman who poured precious ointment on Christ’s head at Simon the leper’s house (Mt. 26:7). The disciples complained about the wasteful extravagance, for the myrrh could have been sold and the…

Apr 8, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Tuesday (Matins); Martyr Calliopius; St. George the Confessor the Bishop of Mytilene

Orthodox Calendar, April 7 Great and Holy Tuesday Great and Holy Tuesday Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – these three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective of End Times; they remind us of the…

Apr 7, 2026basilica.ro

Great and Holy Monday (Matins); Hieromartyr Irenaeus, bishop of Sirmium; Holy Hierarch Eutychios, patriarch of Constantinople; Ven. Gregory of Sinai and Platonida

Orthodox Calendar, April 6 Great and Holy Monday Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – these three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective of End Times; they remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha.…

Apr 6, 2026basilica.ro

(†) Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem (Fish permitted). Palm Sunday (Matins)

Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people to hail Him publicly as a king. A large crowd met Him in a manner befitting royalty, waving palm branches and placing…

Apr 5, 2026Sorin Ioniţe

Venerable Joseph the Hymnographer, George of Maleon and Zosimas (Lazarus Saturday; Commemoration of the departed)

Orthodox Calendar, April 4 Saint Joseph the Hymnographer  The sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church was born in Sicily in 816 into a pious Christian family. His parents, Plotinos and Agatha, moved to the Peloponnesos to save themselves from barbarian invasions. When he was fifteen, Saint Joseph went to Thessalonica and entered the monastery of Latomos. He…

Apr 4, 2026basilica.ro

Venerable Nicetas the Confessor and Illyricus

Orthodox Calendar, April 3 Venerable Nicetas the Confessor and Illyricus Saint Nicetas the Confessor was born in Bithynian Caesarea (northwest Asia Minor) of a pious family. His mother died eight days after his birth, and his father Philaretos became a monk. The child remained in the care of his grandmother, who raised him in a…

Apr 3, 2026basilica.ro

Ven. Titus the Wonderworker; Martyrs Amphianus & Edesius

Orthodox Calendar, April 2 Saint Titus the Wonderworker He displayed zeal for the monastic life from his youth. He pursued asceticism in the ninth century at the Studion monastery near Constantinople. By his deeds of fasting, purity of life and mild disposition, Saint Titus gained the love of the brethren, and at their request he…

Apr 2, 2026basilica.ro