The Menaion (Greek: Μηναίον; Slavonic Минея/Minéya; "of the month") refers to the annual fixed cycle of services in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches. Commemorations in the Menaion are tied to the day of the calendar year. Page from the Spiridon Psalter in Church Slavonic. ... Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Eastern Orthodox Church... The Eastern Catholic Churches are autonomous particular Churches in full communion with the Pope of Rome. ...

Since 1921, there have been two calendars in use within the Orthodox Church: the Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar. At the current time there is a thirteen day difference between the two caldendars. This means that those churches which use the New Calendar (Gregorian) will celebrate the feasts on the fixed cycle thirteen days before those who follow the Old Calendar. The other major annual cycle, the moveable cycle is the same for both Old and New Calendar Churches, so all will celebrate Pascha (Easter) on the same day. Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world. ... The Revised Julian calendar is a calendar that was considered for adoption by the Eastern Orthodox churches at a synod in Istanbul in May 1923. ... Old calendarists may refer to either of the following: Those Eastern Orthodox churches (e. ... In the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the cycle of the moveable feast is built around Pascha, or Easter. ... Easter (also called Pascha) is generally accounted the most important holiday of the Christian year, observed March or April each year to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead (after his death by crucifixion; see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at about this time of year, almost two...

The liturgical texts for celebrations on the Menaion are contained in twelve volumes called menaia. Each menaion will contain the services for an entire month. The liturgical year for Eastern Orthodox Christians begins in September, so the Menaion for September is the first volume of the set.

The menaion contains the largest collection of liturgical texts that are used in the Eastern Church, and is a very imporatant component of the liturgical book owned by a parish. Outside of Great Lent texts in the menaion are used in every one of the Divine Services—with the exception of the Midnight Office—and in the Divine Liturgy (Troparion, Kontakion, Stichera at the Beatitudes, etc.). Great Lent is the greatest fasting period in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Easter (or Holy Pascha). Although it is in many ways similar to Lent in Western Christianity, there are important differences in the timing of Lent... Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ... The Midnight Office (Greek Μεσονύκτικον/Mesonytikon, Slavonic Полуношница/Polúnoshnitsa) is one of the Canonical Hours that compose the cycle of daily worship in the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. ... Troparion (also tropar, plural: troparia) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodoxy is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas (this may carry the further connotation of a hymn interpolated between psalm verses). ... Kontakion is a form of hymn performed in the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... A sticheron (plural: stichera) is a particular kind of hymn used in the liturgy or acolouthia of the Orthodox churches; a sticherarion is a book containing the stichera for the morning and evening services throughout the year. ... The Beatitudes (from Latin, beatitudo, happiness) is the name given to the well-known, definitive and beginning portion of the Sermon on the Mount of the Gospel of Matthew. ...

There is another volume called the General Menaion which contains services for each type of celebration (Apostles, Martyrs, etc.) with blank spaces for the name of the saint being celebrated. When a parish is not able to afford a complet set of menaia (as often happens in mision situations), or if they do not have the texts for a particular saint they wish to commemorate, it is normal to use the General Menaion to fill in for those services which are missing. Alternate meaning: See Apostle (Mormonism) The Christian Apostles were Jewish men chosen from among the disciples, who were sent forth (as indicated by the Greek word απόστολος apostolos= messenger), by Jesus to preach the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles, across the... Historically, a martyr is a person who dies for his or her religious faith. ... In traditional Christian iconography, Saints are often depicted as having halos. ...

There is also what is called the Festal Menaion which contains the texts for those Great Feasts of the Lord or the Theotokos which fall on the fixed cycle. // Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church Easter/Pascha The feast of the Resurrection of Jesus, called Easter or Pascha, is the greatest of the feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. ... Theotokos of Kazan Theotokos (Greek: , translit. ...

See also

Pentecostarion The Pentecostarion (Greek: Πεντηκοστάριον, Pentekostárion; Slavonic: Цвѣтнаѧ Трїωдь, Tsvyetnaya Triod , literally Flowery Triodon; Romanian: Penticostar) is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite during the Paschal Season which extends from Pascha (Easter) to the Sunday following All Saints Sunday (i. ...

External Links

• Menaion Translations by Archimandrite Ephrem
• General Menaion English translation by St. Sergius of Radonezh Parish
• Festal Menaion Theology Today
• Catholic Encyclopedia article, s.v., Menaion