Liturgical Calendar

From AnglicanWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The liturgical calendar is the yearly cycle of seasons, feast days, fasts, and commemorations used by Christians to order worship around the life of Jesus Christ and the life of the Church. In Anglicanism, the liturgical calendar shapes the Book of Common Prayer, Sunday readings, saints' days, colors, collects, and the rhythm of seasons such as Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascensiontide, Whitsuntide, and Trinitytide.

Liturgical Cycle

Liturgical Colors

Colors used in by Western Churches throughout the Liturgical Year

Distinct liturgical colors are often used during different seasons of the liturgical year, dictating the color of vestments and other church decorations and ornaments.

Ordinary Time

The corresponding liturgical color of Ordinary Time is green. As the name suggests, Ordinary Time is any time when no other season is being celebrated and occurs twice; after Pentecost/Whitsunday and before Advent, and after Epiphany, and before Lent.

The Book of Common Prayer

The various Books of Common Prayer have slight variety in their liturgical calendar, but generally follow the format of:

Advent -> Christmastide -> Epiphany -> Ordinary Time -> Lent -> Eastertide -> Whitsunday -> Ordinary Time

During the Liturgical Movement in the 20th Century, there was an ecumenical effort to unify the liturgical calendars of various communions, and in order to better align the Anglican Calendar with the Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and other Western communions. For this reason the 1979 Prayerbook and the 2019 Prayerbook are more closely aligned with the Post-Vatican II Roman Rite, and use more ecumenical terms like "Pentecost" for Whitsunday.