The Twelfth Festival. All Twelve Orthodoxy Holidays

Every day the church honors the memory of a saintor celebrates an event. Every ecclesiastical celebration carries a deep meaning - this is how such celebrations differ from the secular ones: they are always edifying, educating people, encouraging them to do good things and adjusting them to the right way.

To better understand what the twelve areholidays, you should look for them in the secular calendar. For example, can there be a similar city day similar? Of course, no - this is a fun and with an excuse, but for no reason. Or the New Year? This is a celebration, loved by everyone, but empty - to sit at a table, make a noise at night, and in the morning pick up pieces of dishes broken by guests from the floor - that's the whole point! The only event, perhaps, which somehow resembles a twelve-day holiday, is Victory Day. This celebration inspires, gives life guidance, instructs. The same happens in the soul of a believer during church festivals.

Orientation of national traditions

Twelve Orthodoxy holidays are special days,which are devoted to the main events of the worldly life of Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin. In total, such celebrations are twelve, therefore they are called twelve. A thousand years ago, the tradition of their celebration arose, and now they are celebrated all over the world not only by Orthodox Christians, but also by convinced atheists. Such interest is not accidental - it is the church holidays (twelve) that expressively and perfectly reflect the customs and the national culture of society. In the Slavic land, they were established step by step, sweeping aside demonic ritual and dark prejudices and filling with elements of ancient Slavonic traditions. Their formation was lengthy and complex. Only thanks to the Orthodox Church, most of these celebrations have survived. It was she who was banned, proscribed and persecuted for more than 8 decades of the 20th century, took the Christian faith under protection and saved the people's Orthodox heritage.

What do twelve-day celebrations for people mean?

These days for believers are the peaks of jubilation in the year,the days of approaching Jesus, the days of salvation. They rejoice that the Lord turned his attention to people, that the Mother of God, being the same person as us all, became in the Kingdom of Heaven, and everyone can address her with the words: "Save us." Believers celebrate what is already here on earth, a person can connect with God. Such celebrations give people hope, strengthen faith, awaken love in their hearts.

General concepts

Twelve holidays are delimited according to:

• content - the Lord's (the Lord's), the Theotokos, the days of the saints;
• solemnity of the church service: small, medium, great;
• time of celebration: motionless, mobile

For the glorification of Jesus Christ, eightdays, to venerate the Virgin Mary - four, that's why some are called Lord's, and others - the Theotokos. Easter to such celebrations does not apply - this is the most important and beautiful festival. If twelve days are like stars, pleasing people with their twinkling, Holy Easter is like the sun, without which life on earth is impossible, and before the brilliance of which any stars fade.

Next, briefly tell about every twelve-day holiday.

September 21 - The Nativity of the Virgin

This date is the birthday of the mother of Jesus, the VirginMary. Little is known about the worldly life of a woman who gave salvation to the whole world. According to legend, the pious Anna and Joachim had no children for a long time. One day, in prayer, they vowed that if a child was born, they would designate him to serve God. After this, both had an angel dreamed, he announced that an unusual child would soon appear, and the glory of him would sound throughout the great earth. As evidenced by the events known to everyone, this prophecy has come true.

September 14 - Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord

This twelve-day festival is dedicated to worshipThe cross on which the Savior took torment and death. This Cross, as well as the burial place of Christ, were found in the holy land by Queen Helena three hundred years later.

November 21 - Introduction to the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary

When the Virgin Mary was three years old, the righteousthe parents decided that it was time to fulfill the vow given to the Lord. To consecrate God they left their only daughter in the temple, where she, immaculate and sinless, began to prepare intensively for the Mother of God.

January 7 - Christmas

This is one of the most important Christian holidays. Officially, he is declared the birthday of Jesus. In the Gospel it is told that Mary and Joseph - the parents of Christ - were forced to spend the whole night in a cave, there the baby and was born. After his birth, the cave lighted up, and in the sky the brightest star shone brightly.

January 19 - Epiphany, or Epiphany

In the year 30 of the new era in the city of Bethavar, on the shoreJordan, on that very day, the sinless, thirty-year-old Jesus was baptized. He did not have to repent, he came to sanctify the water and give it to us for holy baptism. Then the Savior went to the desert for 40 days in search of divine enlightenment.

February 15 - The Presentation of the Lord

This twelve-day festival is dedicated to meeting, thenthere is a meeting of the God-Receiver Simeon, who was waiting impatiently for the Savior of the world, with Jesus, a 40-day-old baby, whom the parents first brought to the temple for consecration to God.

April 7 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Blessed Virgin)

Apparently, in the history of the human race there are twoprimary events: this is the birth and resurrection of Christ. From the Archangel Gabriel on March 25 (according to the old style) the Virgin Mary received the good news that the birth of the Savior of the world was foreshadowed. Hence the name "Annunciation".

On the eve of Easter, on Sunday - Palm Sunday

After spending forty days in the wilderness, Jesusentered the city of Jerusalem. On this date, the believers are sad, realizing what suffering and suffering were to come in the following days to Christ. The strict post of Holy Week begins.

40 days after Easter, on Thursday - the Ascension of Our Lord

The Twelfth Festival in honor of the day whenJesus ascended to heaven, but promised to return. Note that the number 40 is not accidental. In sacred history, this is the time when all the feats are over. In the case of Jesus, this is the completion of his earthly ministry: on the 40th day after the Resurrection, he was to enter the Temple of his Father.

On the 50th day after Easter, on Sunday - Holy Trinity

Sometimes the Trinity is called Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles on this day and made them prophets. In this phenomenon revealed the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

August 19 - Transfiguration of the Lord (Savior)

Christ for a short time before the crucifixiontogether with his disciples John, Peter and James, ascended Mount Tabor to perform prayer. While Jesus was praying, the disciples fell asleep, and when they awoke, they saw that He was talking to God the Father. At that moment, Christ transformed completely: His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became snow-white.

August 28 - Assumption of the Mother of God (Theotokos)

It is a symbolic day (it is not indicated in the canonical texts) of the death of the Virgin Mary. The Theotokos lived a rather long life - seventy-two years by the standards of the first century of the new era.

Iconography

Their symbolic images have allTwelve feasts. The icon of a celebration in honor of which the temple is consecrated can be placed on the iconostasis in the second row from the bottom or in the local row. In temples where there is a complete iconostasis, icons of the twelve festivals, as a rule, are placed between the Deesis and the local rows.