What are the major feasts of our Lord?

The feasts that celebrate important events in the life of our Lord can be categorized as major or minor, depending on their role in the salvation offered by the Lord Christ. The major feasts of the Lord are below. Three have set dates in the Coptic calendar while the other four have moveable dates that change each year.

• a. Annunciation (29[th] Paremhotep / 7[th] April). The evangelist repeats the word “virgin” to affirm her virginity and declare that the Lord Christ was not born of the seed of man. This the prophet Ezekiel also declares (Ezek. 44:2–3). St. Mary heard the angel say to her, “The Lord is with you,” an expression with a unique meaning when applied to her. She tasted God’s presence on a unique level, for she carried the Word of God in her womb and offered Him her body and blood!

618 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letters 19.1 (NPNF II/4:544).

St. John Chrysostom says, “When therefore you are told that the Son of God is Son of David and of Abraham, do not doubt any more that you too, the son of Adam, shall be son of God. For not at random, nor in vain did He abase Himself so greatly, only He was minded to exalt us. Thus He was born after the flesh, that you might be born after the Spirit; He was born of a woman, that you might cease to be the son of a woman.”⁶¹⁹

• b. Nativity (or Christmas, 29[th] Kiahk / 7[th] January). The newborn Baby in the manger was unknown to humanity, yet He was already working to serve humanity:

• i. He sent an angel in the form of a star to a group of Magi. St. Jacob of Sarug says, “They became His evangelists as they journeyed on the road, preaching that a King of the whole world had dawned. Their preaching spread for miles on the road, and they broke the hearts of the kings whose borders they crossed. Truth impelled them to be His preachers.”

• ii. He opened the gates of heaven and sent a choir of angels praising, to preach to the unknown shepherds.

• iii. He went to Egypt to meet the unknown Egyptians to make of them a blessed people.

• iv. He sent the cavalcade of unknown children of Bethlehem to preach to those in Hades that His coming to them was near, when He would free them from darkness and chains.

• c. Theophany (11[th] Tobe / 19[th] January). Just as the Lord Christ went down into the Jordan River, so every believer feels that he went down into the Jordan when he was immersed three times in the baptismal font, in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He receives adoption and truly becomes a new child born of the Spirit who then develops to enjoy the fullness of his rights as a child of God till he reaches maturity and attains the right to partake of glory with the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

The believer sees the gates of heaven open and hears the voice of His heavenly Father announcing that he has become a beloved son and a dwelling place of His joy, for he has become a member of the body of Christ. The heart of the believer is inflamed, longing to cast the whole world under his feet and concern himself with nothing other than being in the bosom of the Father.

• d. Palm Sunday. The Lord Christ looked forward to the procession of Palm Sunday for it is the procession of glory through the cross: “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (John 12:23). In offering Himself as our paschal lamb for

619 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 2.3 (NPNF I/10:10) amended.

the whole world, He liberated the faithful from the bondage of Satan and took them to heaven. The people of the Old Testament looked out from Hades to see the fulfillment of their types and prophecies, and finally the time had come for Him to burst them out of Hades and carry them to Paradise as the spoils of heaven. The disciples looked upon the procession but understood nothing. They fell into a state of great confusion. The chief priests and the Pharisees looked upon the procession and saw only the complete destruction of their standing and personal interests. The crowds looked upon the procession as the beginning of a new era in which one had come who would free them from Roman occupation and restore their temporal glory. And those in heaven looked upon the procession and were astonished by the humility of the incarnate Word of God, the King of heaven and earth, sitting on a colt, and being celebrated by weak men: “what is behind His humility and His love for humanity?”

• e. Resurrection Sunday. The resurrection of Christ transformed His crucifixion and death from painful history into an occasion that changed human history, understanding, and aspirations. The rite of Good Friday, in which the melody of the new Pascha predominates, evokes divine consolations. When it concludes, the rite of Bright Saturday begins, which is the natural extension of Good Friday. As we remember the death and burial of the Lord Christ, we see Him descending to Hades to meet all those who died in hope. Imagine the joy of Adam and Eve, of Abraham who received the covenant, of Sarah, of Jacob and his children, of David the prophet, and of all the other prophets! The true nature of their prophecies was revealed to them, and they saw Him who is called “the Desire of All Nations” (Hag. 2:7). They saw Him coming to crush the gates of Hades with His cross and to carry them as holy spoils on His shoulders through the high and everlasting doors!

By His resurrection, Christ destroyed the power of death and freed us from the bondage of the fear of it. St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “He made the world free by the blood of the Saviour; then, again, He has caused the grave to be trodden down by the Saviour’s death, and furnished a way to the heavenly gates free from obstacles to those who are going up.”⁶²⁰

• f. Ascension. The scene of the Ascension never leaves the eyes of the true believer. Before it, we invite our souls to hasten to take up the harp of the spirit and transform the whole of life in all its circumstances into a never-ending spiritual symphony. Here, the faithful live like a young bride singing of the greatness of her Bridegroom; the soul cooperating with the body and all its powers in experiencing the joy of heaven as she anticipates the day of her eternal wedding.

The second Adam, “the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47), set out to return the lost jewel to the Father. Now, we no longer hear with the first Adam: “For dust you are,

620 St. Athanasius, Festal Letters 5.3 (NPNF II/4:518).

and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19), but when we conceal ourselves in the second Adam, we hear, as the scholar Origen says, “You are heaven, and to heaven you shall return.”⁶²¹

• g. Pentecost Sunday. Some Fathers and commentators find a strong connection between the confusion of languages that occurred after the flood in the days of Noah (Gen. 11:1–9) and the receiving of the gift of speaking in many tongues given to the disciples and apostles. The people of Babel assembled and planned to build a tower, their goal being to challenge God Himself. As for the disciples and those with them in the upper room of Zion, they were in a state of weakness as they waited for the divine promise to be fulfilled through the descent of power from on high. Then they would preach the gospel of salvation and restore humanity, from all nations, peoples, and tongues, to God in love, humility, and submission to His holy will.

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “God apportioned languages among the humans, and these same languages He granted to the apostles, His disciples. Without learning or practice, by the Holy Spirit, the disciples uttered all languages. He bestowed this wealth upon the disciples so that they might speak in new tongues without having learned them.”⁶²²