Feast of the Transfiguration

Transfiguration, in the New Testament, the occasion upon which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured, his face and clothes becoming dazzlingly bright. The Transfiguration […]

Tisha B’av 2027

Tisha B’av (The Ninth of Av) is a day of mourning and fasting. The holiday commemorates various tragedies that befell the Jewish people throughout history, particularly the destruction of the two […]

Dormition of the Theotokos

The feast of the Dormition or Falling-asleep of the Theotokos is celebrated on the fifteenth of August, preceded by a two-week fast. This feast, which is also sometimes called the […]

Rosh Hashanah 2027

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is one of Judaism’s holiest days. Meaning “head of the year” or “first of the year,” the festival begins on the first day of Tishrei, […]

Yom Kippur 2027

Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement—is considered the most important holiday in the Jewish faith. Falling in the month of Tishrei (September or October in the Gregorian calendar), it marks the […]

Christmas

Christmas, Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, which referred to the feast of the winter […]

Feast Day of St. Basil

Saint Basil the Great, (born AD 329, Caesarea Mazaca, Cappadocia—died Jan. 1, 379, Caesarea; Western feast day January 2; Eastern feast day January 1), Early church father. Born into a Christian family […]

Eid al Adha 2028

Eid al-Adha, (Arabic: “Festival of Sacrifice”) also spelled ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā, also called ʿĪd al-Qurbān or al-ʿĪd al-Kabīr (“Major Festival”), Turkish Kurban Bayram, the second of two great Muslim festivals, the other being Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Adha marks the culmination of the hajj (pilgrimage) rites at Minā, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca, but is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world. As with Eid al-Fitr, it is distinguished by the […]

St. James the Greater Day

St. James, also called James, son of Zebedee, or James the Greater, (born, Galilee, Palestine—died 44 CE, Jerusalem; feast day July 25), one of the Twelve Apostles, distinguished as being in Jesus’ innermost circle and […]

Tisha B’av 2028

Tisha B’av (The Ninth of Av) is a day of mourning and fasting. The holiday commemorates various tragedies that befell the Jewish people throughout history, particularly the destruction of the two […]