Holidays of the Eastern Churches

This article lists the ecclesiastical holidays in the Orthodox and Oriental churches, as well as in the Eastern churches.

Main festivals

• September 1st: Beginning of the church year in the Orthodox Church , in the Byzantine Empire at the same time the beginning of the fiscal year
• September 8: Birth of the Theotokos (corresponds to the birth of Mary )
• September 14: Exaltation of the Cross (formerly a kind of national holiday of the Byzantine Empire, dedicated to the veneration of the Cross of Christ) Beginning of the year in Ethiopia and the beginning of the liturgical year in the Ethiopian Church
• November 21: Presentation of the Theotokos in the temple
• December 25th: Christmas (except Armenians)
• January 6th: Baptism of Christ or Theophany (corresponds to Epiphany or Epiphany); Christmas (Armenian Apostolic) with Great Consecration of Water (Russian Orthodox)
• February 2nd: Meeting of Christ ( Lk 2,22–39 EU ) (corresponds to the measurement of the  Virgin Mary )
• March 25: Annunciation of the birth of Christ ( Lk 1.26–38  EU , corresponds to the Annunciation )
• Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (corresponds to Palm Sunday ) (movable, depending on the date of Easter)
• Easter (movable, calculated according to the Julian calendar ) the highest Christian festival
• Ascension Day (movable, depending on the date of Easter)
• Pentecost (movable, depending on the date of Easter)
• August 6: Transfiguration of Christ ( Mt 17 : 1–13  EU )
• August 15th: Dormition of the Theotokos (corresponds to the Assumption of Mary, however the actual Ascension is not a dogma in the Orthodox Church), national holiday in Greece

Special church holidays

• February 9: Saint Marron , Maronite Church , national holiday in Lebanon
• August 16: Hagion Mandylion , Orthodox memorial day of the transfer of the Shroud from Edessa to Constantinople (944)
• September 24: Saint Thekla (Orthodox Church, Catholic Church September 23)
• 30 November: Saint Andrew (Orthodox Church)

Local holidays

• St. Elie in Antelias

Special memorial days

• April 24 : Mets Eghern (Armenian for Great Bloodbath), genocide against Armenians in the 1910s and 20s, memorial services and commemorations in Armenia , Nagorno Karabakh and in the Armenian diaspora (Lebanon)