Grade 5 Lesson 1 Draft
Textbook
Learning Outcomes
- G5.LO48 - Examine how the Liturgical Calendar helps us grow as Christians.
- G5.LO49 - Discuss the different grades of Feasts.
- G5.LO50 - Contrast West Syriac Liturgical calendar with that of other Orthodox Churches.
- G5.LO51 - Explain the importance of the Liturgical calander in the Orthodox Church, and give an overview of the seasons of the Church.
Talmido Resources
- Conclusion
- Another reason for variance of the Liturgical calendars is that there are two systems: the Gregorian calendar (or “new calendar”) and the Julian calendar (or “old calendar”). All Orthodox Churches had their calendar based on the Julian system. However, there were problems with the Julian Calendar as it did not correctly reflect the actual time it takes the Earth to circle once around the Sun and therefore there were frequent “leap days” that had to be added for correction. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in October 1582 by commission of Pope Gregory XIII. It was generally not adopted by Orthodox Churches and therefore the majority of other Oriental and Byzantine Orthodox Churches still base their Liturgical Calendar on the Julian calendar. Our Church in India switched entirely to the Gregorian calendar in 1953 soon after the Independence of India. The Feast of Resurrection was on the same Sunday for both the Julian and Gregorian Calendar in that year, which helped this transition to be smooth and seamless. HH Baselios Geevarghese II, Catholicose and Malankara Metropolitan issued necessary orders in agreement with the Holy Episcopal Synod for this transition. Through his Encyclical No. 620/1952 Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem I, dated December 1952 made the same system to follow in the Syriac Orthodox Church as well.
- Activity
- Find a prayer during Holy Qurbana that changes based on the Liturgical calendar.
- Other Materials
- it would be interesting to provide links to other OO and EO calendars, in Talmido, for those curious
