✦ zenith calendar · the orthodox (new calendar) almanac
the fixed feasts on the civil calendar's dates and pascha by the orthodox paschalion, in one quiet layer of your sky.
orthodox (new calendar) is one of the holiday almanacs that come with zenith calendar. it holds the orthodox churches that keep the fixed feasts by the revised julian calendar, which matches the civil calendar, and pascha by the orthodox paschalion: among them constantinople, greece, cyprus, romania, bulgaria, antioch, alexandria and the orthodox church in america.
its pascha is the same as the old-calendar churches'. the dates are copied from a published paschal calendar, not worked out on your phone. tap a feast and read three short paragraphs: what it is, where it comes from, and how it is kept.
revised julian · the fixed feasts on the civil dates, pascha by the orthodox paschalion
25 december
the birth of the son of god in the flesh, born of the virgin mary in bethlehem. it comes after a forty-day fast and opens twelve days of feasting.
carols are sung from house to house on the eve, the kalanda in greece and the colinde in romania, and the night or morning liturgy greets the birth. the greeting is christ is born, answered glorify him.
6 january
the baptism of christ in the jordan, called theophany, the showing of god, because on it the holy trinity was revealed. it closes the twelve days of the nativity.
the great blessing of water is served, and people take the holy water home. in greece, cyprus, bulgaria and elsewhere the blessing is done at the sea, a river or a lake, a cross is thrown into the water, and swimmers race to bring it back.
a sunday, by the orthodox paschalion
the resurrection of christ, the feast of feasts and the centre of the whole orthodox year. pascha means passover: the passing from death to life.
near midnight the church goes dark, the light is passed candle to candle, and the resurrection is proclaimed: christos anesti, alithos anesti. bells ring, many carry the flame home, and red eggs are cracked against each other as the long fast is broken.
the feast of the holy trinity
the fiftieth day after pascha
the day the holy spirit comes down on the apostles: the birthday of the church, and the feast of the holy trinity.
straight after the liturgy, vespers is served with long kneeling prayers, the first time the faithful kneel since pascha. in many places churches and homes are decked with green branches and flowers.
zenith calendar draws the year as an orbit round the sun. lit, orthodox (new calendar) puts its feasts on their days on that ring, in ice blue. its mark is ☧, the chi-rho.
each of its feasts 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.
orthodox (new calendar) 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.
orthodox (new calendar) 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
orthodox (new calendar) 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.
orthodox (new calendar) is waiting in the app, and the rest of the sky comes with it.
orthodox (new calendar) · the revised julian calendar ·
Pascha falls on 2 May 2027, by the Orthodox paschalion. The new-calendar and old-calendar churches keep it on the same day.
On 25 December. The Nativity of Christ is a fixed feast, and the churches on the revised Julian calendar keep the fixed feasts on the civil calendar's dates.
Theophany falls on 6 January 2027 in the churches on the revised Julian calendar.
Both keep the same Pascha. Orthodox (new calendar) keeps the fixed feasts on the civil calendar's dates, so Christmas falls on 25 December; orthodox gives them on their Julian dates, so Christmas falls on 7 January. Light the one your church keeps.
Zenith Calendar for Android comes with an almanac called orthodox (new calendar): Pascha and the great feasts as the churches of the revised Julian calendar keep them, Greece among them, drawn on the ring of your year beside your own days. Turning it on costs nothing.
The fixed feasts keep their dates every year, and Pascha and the days that move with it are copied from a published paschal calendar. Nothing is worked out on your phone.