The following Sundays are numbered the Second, Third, Fourth after Pentecost, and so on, till we reach the Sunday of the Publican (the Sunday before Septuagesima) in the following year. But while the numbers are continuous, special names are given to certain Sundays. Thus we find the Sunday before and the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14); the Sundays before and after the Nativity; the Sundays before and after the Lights (i.e. the Epiphany).
Again, we sometimes find the Sundays after Pentecost referred to as the First, Second, Third, etc., of Matthew; because the liturgical Gospel on these Sundays, on to the Exaltation of the Cross, is taken from St Matthew. Similarly, after the Exaltation of the Cross and on to Apocreos the liturgical Gospel for the Sundays is taken from St Luke, and the Sundays are named First, Second, Third, etc., of Luke.
It is the subject-matter of the Gospel for the day which gives its name to the Sundays called the Publican, the Prodigal, St Thomas, the Myrrh-bearers (i.e. the women bringing spices to the tomb), etc.
On the Sunday of Orthodoxy (the first in Lent) some sixty anathemas against heresy of various kinds are recited, including several against the Iconoclasts who were condemned at the second Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787). Tyrinis (or Tyrophagus) and Apocreos are explained elsewhere[173].
The name ‘Antipasch,’ for the first Sunday after Easter (Low Sunday; Dominica in Albis), implies that it is ‘over against’ or ‘answering to’ the Pasch. On the Sunday of the Three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers of Nicaea a canon (or metrical hymn) in honour of the Council is sung.
The naming of the week in relation to the Sunday is peculiar, and does not follow, as in the West, a consistent rule. In some cases, the week preceding a Sunday is given its name: in other cases the week is called after the Sunday with which it begins. And when the determination of dates is in view the student should be on the alert. Thus, the week of Apocreos (the last week of flesh-eating) precedes the Sunday Apocreos; the week of Tyrine (when cheese, butter and milk are allowed) precedes the Sunday of that name; and the first week of the Lenten fast precedes the Sunday that is the first in Lent. On the other hand, after Antipascha and on to the second Sunday after Pentecost the weeks are named from the Sunday which they follow: while the naming the week from the Sunday which follows is resumed at the latter date[174].
The period from the Sunday of the Publican to Easter Eve inclusive is sometimes called the time of the Triodion (Τριῴδιον), because the propria for that time are contained in a service-book which bears that name; while the period from Easter Day to the Sunday of All Saints (first Sunday after Pentecost), both inclusive, is called the time of the Pentekostarion (Πεντηκοστάριον) from the name of the service-book used at that time.
A few words must be said on certain week-days observed with special dignity, the position of which in the almanack varies with the position of Sundays as affected by the incidence of Easter. It will be remembered that in the East the Sabbath (Saturday) is reckoned as a day of special religious observance; and some Sabbaths are distinguished by special names. The Sabbath of Apocreos is a day for the solemn commemoration of all the faithful departed; and vigils are kept during the night. It is known as the Sabbath of the Dead. The next following Sabbath serves for the commemoration of religious and ascetics; it is named the Sabbath of Ascetics. On the Sabbath of the first week of Lent (known as the Sabbath of Kollyba) there is a commemoration of St Theodore Tyro, martyr, who, according to the legend, in the time of Julian the apostate, appeared to the bishop of Constantinople, and ordered him in a great emergency to make Kollyba and distribute them to the people. The bishop said in reply that he did not know what Kollyba were, and the saint explained that they were wheaten cakes. We need not pursue the story further. The Sabbath before the fifth Sunday in Lent is the Sabbath of the Akathist. A hymn, so called, in honour of the Virgin, was sung throughout the night by the people, not sitting down. The Sabbath before the Sixth Sunday commemorates the raising of Lazarus, and is called the Sabbath of Lazarus. Easter Eve is the ‘Great Sabbath.’
It may be observed that while in the West the word Parasceve is used exclusively for Good Friday, in the East the word is used for every Friday, and Good Friday is distinguished by the epithet Great.
A detailed exhibition of the Byzantine Kalendar cannot be attempted here, but the student will find it treated by J. M. Neale in the General Introduction to his History of the Holy Eastern Church (vol. II.) and with great fulness in Nilles’ Kalendarium manuale utriusque Ecclesiae.