✦ zenith calendar · the byzantine (catholic) almanac
the great feasts and fasts in one quiet layer of your sky, each one explained in the church's own words.
byzantine (catholic) is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the great feasts and fasts of the byzantine catholic church, eastern catholics of the byzantine rite. each eastern catholic church keeps its own calendar; this one follows the gregorian reckoning.
its days are copied from the church's own published calendar and reach as far as that calendar is printed: past it, the almanac shows nothing rather than a guessed day. tap a day and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
gregorian · the byzantine rite's great feasts and fasts
from the day after st philip's feast on 14 november to christmas eve
the days of prayer and fasting that make ready for the nativity of our lord, named for the apostle philip.
it is a quieter fast than the great fast, kept with prayer, almsgiving and abstinence, each household as its devotion and the church's discipline allow. it ends on christmas eve with the holy supper.
21 november, within st philip's fast
the child mary is brought by her parents to be raised in the temple; the church sees her becoming herself the living temple of god.
at its matins the first hymns of the nativity are sung, christ is born, glorify him, so the feast of the mother turns the church toward the birth of her son.
25 december
the birth of our lord, god and saviour jesus christ in the flesh, born of the virgin mary in bethlehem. it comes after st philip's fast and opens the days of christmas feasting.
on christmas eve the family shares the holy supper when the first star appears, a meatless meal of many simple dishes with bobalky, small pieces of bread with poppy seed and honey. the vigil or the divine liturgy greets the birth, and the greeting is christ is born, answered glorify him.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, byzantine (catholic) puts its feasts and fasts on their days on that ring, in ice blue. its mark is ☨, the cross of lorraine.
each of its feasts and fasts carries three short paragraphs in its notes: what it is, where it comes from as its own tradition tells it, and how it is kept.
byzantine (catholic) arrives locked, so nothing in it changes by accident. the lock guards your hand, not your eye: you can still read it, shine it or eclipse it. one tap unlocks it, and then it is yours to rename, recolour or add to.
tap its chip in the legend to eclipse it (kept, but not drawn) and tap again to bring it back. nothing is deleted either way.
byzantine (catholic) shares one sky with your own commitments. like every almanac that comes with the app, it never counts toward the almanacs you can make for free, and it lives on your phone: zenith calendar has no server of its own.
✦ zenith calendar · the sky around it
byzantine (catholic) is a single layer. beneath it is a whole calendar drawn as the sky, your year an orbit round the sun, and every part of it answers your touch.
the sun stands at the centre and the year rings round it, with today's earth riding at today's place, its small moon beside it. tap the ring anywhere else and a faint ghost earth waits on that day.
drag along the ring and the days pass under your finger, the big date and the day's list following as you go. lift, and the day you stopped on stays picked.
tap the small moon beside today's earth and you dive into the week. the moon above shows its phase, named underneath; swipe the dates and each week brings its own.
tap the sun and the ring tips on its edge into a ladder of years. in the week, pull the moon firmly down and the month opens, the moon resting half off its foot.
zenith calendar has no server of its own. tap the gear and switch on "nothing comes in" or "nothing leaves this phone"; lift them, and every almanac is back exactly as it was.
byzantine (catholic) is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
byzantine (catholic) · eastern catholics of the byzantine rite ·
St Philip's Fast begins on 15 November 2026, the day after the apostle Philip's feast, and runs to Christmas Eve, 24 December.
It falls on 21 November 2026, within St Philip's Fast. At its matins the first hymns of the Nativity are sung.
The byzantine (catholic) almanac in Zenith Calendar follows the Gregorian reckoning, so the Nativity of Our Lord falls on 25 December. Each Eastern Catholic church keeps its own calendar.
Catholic is the Roman calendar. Byzantine (catholic) is the calendar of Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine rite, with its own great feasts and fasts. They are separate almanacs, so you light the one your church keeps.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called byzantine (catholic): the great feasts and fasts of the Byzantine Catholic Church, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
They are copied from the church's own published calendar, not worked out on your phone. The almanac reaches as far as that calendar is printed, and shows nothing past it rather than a guessed day.