The Menaion

The name Menaion comes from the Greek word for month. The Menaion contains the services for every day of the twelve months of the year. One volume is dedicated to each month, and the services themselves are feasts in honor of the Lord, His holy Mother, and the Saints.

Thus the December volume includes the feast of our Lord’s Nativity on the 25th, the feast of St. Nicholas on the 6th, and so forth.

Since the feasts of the Menaion always fall on the same day each year they are called immovable, and do not change from year to year.

The feasts of the other books are moveable, since they depend on the date in which Pascha (Easter) falls in any given year. The manner of determining Pascha will be discussed next.

N.B. The diagram only has 360 days and is not intended to be strictly accurate, but only to give a visual representation that will make plain how the books work together.

To stop any diagram from advancing as a slideshow, click on the middle pause button, and on either arrow to advance or reverse at the desired pace.