Calendar of saints (Anglican Church of Southern Africa)

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The calendar of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa is published in An Anglican Prayer Book 1989.[1][lower-alpha 1]

Liturgical seasons

The church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which is the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. The church year begins on 01 December 2024 and 30 November 2025

The church year is divided into a number of seasons:

  • Advent, Advent is the period which anticipates, prepares for, and builds up to Christmas. There are four Sundays in Advent.
  • Christmas, the Christmas season begins on Christmas Day which falls on the 25th of December each year. There are 12 days in Christmas.
  • The period of Ordinary time after Epiphany, Epiphany falls on the 6th of January each year, but is usually celebrated on the Sunday between the 2nd and 8th days of January.
  • Lent, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024 and 5 March 2025)
  • Easter lasts 50 days, using inclusive counting and begins on the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord (31 March 2024 and 20 April 2025)
  • The period of Ordinary time after Pentecost.

The preface to the calendar in the prayer book describes its purpose: The Church's year both commemorates and proclaims how God came down from heaven to earth in Jesus Christ, who still lives among us by the Holy Spirit until he comes again at the end of time. The yearly observance of the holy days of the calendar is a celebration of what God has done and is doing for our salvation.

Holy days are distinguished as Great Festivals (being the principal celebrations), Festivals (celebrating New Testament events), Commemorations (recalling particular individuals and events), and other Special Days - the observance of the former taking precedence over the latter in the event of clashes. The preface to the calendar describes the commemorations as occasions: when the Church thankfully recalls the work and witness of men and women through whom Christ's saving victory has been manifested from the time of the apostles to the present day.

Great Festivals

Each and every Sunday in the year is a Great Festival, in addition the following days are Great Festivals:

  • Christmas Day which is celebrated on the 25th of December each year.
  • Epiphany which falls on the 6th of January each year, but is usually celebrated on the Sunday between the 2nd and the 8th of January.
  • Ascension Day (9 May 2024 and 29 May 2025).
  • Corpus Christi also known as the Commemoration of the Holy Communion and falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (30 May 2024 and 19 June 2025).
  • All Saints' Day which falls on the 1st day of November each year.

The following Sundays (also Great Festivals) have special significance:

Festivals and commemorations

Festivals are shown in bold text and commemorations are shown in regular type. While this list shares many similarities with other calendars in the Anglican Communion, it is specific to Southern Africa and is determined by the Southern African Synod of Bishops.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Special Days

Days of Special Devotion are Ash Wednesday, the weekdays of Holy Week (including the Easter Vigil), and the weekdays of Easter Week. Additionally Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are fast days.

Ember Days fall on the following Sundays (and include the Wednesday and Friday prior): the Third Sunday in Advent, the Second Sunday in Lent, Trinity Sunday, and the Twenty Sixth Sunday of the Year. On these days particularly prayers are offered for theological institutions, the ordained, and those preparing for ordination.

Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following the Twenty Eighth Sunday of the Year and can be moved to suit local custom. On these days God's blessing is asked for the fruitfulness of the earth and peoples labour.

The Harvest Thanksgiving is celebrated according to local custom.

Evening Prayer on the eve of Christmas, Pentecost, and Ascension are services of special preparation for those Festivals.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ The Anglican Church of Southern Africa publishes a lectionary each year. This lectionary is now based on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). The naming of some of the festivals in the RCL is different from the names given in An Anglican Prayer Book 1989; the main change is that the nth Sunday of the Year is now named the mth Sunday after Epiphany or the kth Sunday after Pentecost, as the case may be.[citation needed]
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