St. Athanasius Orthodox Church • Nicholasville/Lexington Kentucky

Feasts & Preparation for Lent

Featured

With the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, the complex of services preceding Christmas & following Epiphany draw to a close. Notable in the season that has past is the Nativity Fast, Christmas, the festal days between Christmas and Epiphany, Theopany, the Great Blessing of Waters, the blessing of homes (throughout January.) We now turn to the two final feasts: the Feast of the Three Hierarchs and the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, which marks the dedication of Christ in the Temple, forty days after his birth.

Looking beyond these feasts into February, we begin the pivot to Great Lent with five pre-Lenten Sundays, which are much-loved in the Orthodox Church. (We will publish our full Lenten calendar in pdf form in mid-February, but until them, our google calendar has been fully updated through Holy Week & Pascha.)  Looking at these Sundays and into Great Lent and beyond, please note the following dates:

  • Sunday, Feb 10: our first Pre-Lenten Sunday (“Zacchaeus Sunday”)
  • Sunday, March 2: our spring Visitors’ Sunday
  • Sunday, March 9: Forgiveness Sunday (5pm Forgiveness Vespers)
  • Monday, March 10: Clean Monday (beginning of Clean Week & Great Lent)
  • Saturday, March 16: Lenten Retreat with Fr. John Erickson (full schedule TBA)
  • Sunday. March 17: Sunday of Orthodoxy Services with Fr. John Erickson
  • Palm Sunday, April 21: Baptisms & Visit of Archbishop Alexander
  • Holy Week: April 22-27
  • PASCHA of our Lord: April 28

Stay tuned for more information and publications as this sacred season draws near!