John, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who with us is the Baptist, appears as the Precursor or Forerunner (Prodromos). He figures much in the services of the Church: and several days are dedicated to his honour; his Conception (Sept. 23), his Nativity (June 24), his Decollation (Aug. 29) and the great feast known as his Synaxis (Jan. 7). In addition, the first and second finding of his head is commemorated on Feb. 24, and the third finding of his head on May 25.
St Mary the Virgin is almost invariably the Theotokos, and Joachim and Anna are the Theopator and Theometor (Sept. 9).
The ‘unmercenary’ (anarguroi) saints are generally physicians who took no fees, as Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and his companion John, and Pantaleon.
The term Synaxis in such phrases as the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael (Nov. 8), the Synaxis of the Theotokos (Dec. 26), the Synaxis of the seventy Apostles (Jan. 4), the Synaxis of the Forerunner (Jan. 7), the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (March 26), the Synaxis of the twelve Apostles (June 30), is not easily rendered into English; and its precise significance (as used in the Kalendar) is not obvious. It is sometimes used for a gathering or assembly of people; but more commonly it is employed to signify a Eucharistic Communion[171].
It is customary after the great feasts of our Lord and of the Virgin Mary to subjoin on the following day the commemoration of saints associated with the event commemorated on the preceding day. Thus, the Epiphany (Theophany) in the Greek Church being chiefly concerned with the Baptism of Christ, we have on the following day (Jan. 7) the feast of St John Baptist; after the Hypapante, or meeting with Simeon and Anna in the Temple (on Feb. 2, the day of the Purification of the Virgin, in the West), we find (Feb. 3) Simeon and Anna the prophetess; after the Nativity of the Lord, the synaxis of the Theotokos, Dec. 26; after the Nativity of the Virgin (Sept. 8) we have on Sept. 9 Joachim and Anna, her parents; after the Annunciation (March 25) we have on March 26 the synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel, who made the great announcement.
It remains to be added that, as in the Orthodox Church of the East Wednesdays and Fridays are observed as strict fasts alike by the clergy, the monks, and the laity, most of the important festivals carry with them either a partial dispensation (as in some cases for the use of oil and wine, and in others for the use of oil, wine, and fish) or a dispensation for all kinds of food, when a festival falls on one of these fast days.
We now proceed to describe the annual cycle of Sundays.
II. The Dominical Kalendar of the Orthodox Church of the East.
The arrangement of the Sundays falls into two divisions, the first beginning with the Sunday before our Western Septuagesima; and the second, immediately after our Trinity Sunday, which, with the Greeks, is called the Sunday of All Saints. In the following table, opposite the names of the Sundays for the earlier part of the Dominical cycle, as given in the Greek service-books, are placed the names of the corresponding Sundays in the West, as known to English churchmen.
| Publican and Pharisee | Sunday before Septuagesima |
| The Prodigal Son | Septuagesima |
| Apocreos | Sexagesima |
| Tyrinis, or Tyrophagus | Quinquagesima |
| First of the Fasts (or Orthodoxy) | First Sunday in Lent |
| Second of the Fasts | Second Sunday in Lent |
| Third of the Fasts (or Adoration of the Cross) | Third Sunday in Lent |
| Fourth of the Fasts | Fourth Sunday in Lent |
| Fifth of the Fasts | Fifth Sunday in Lent |
| Palms | Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday) |
| Holy Pasch | Easter |
| Antipasch (or St Thomas) | First Sunday after Easter |
| Myrrh-bearers | Second Sunday after Easter |
| Paralytic | Third Sunday after Easter |
| Samaritan Woman | Fourth Sunday after Easter |
| Blind Man | Fifth Sunday after Easter |
| The Three hundred and eighteen[172] | Sunday after Ascension-day |
| Pentecost | Whitsunday |
| First after Pentecost (or All Saints) | Trinity Sunday |