In the Orthodox Church, as throughout the Christian world from the earliest times, Sunday is the primary day of worship.  Writing in the Second Century AD, Saint Justin the Philosopher (+c.165 AD) explained that this is because Sunday, the first day of the week, is both the day of God’s creation of the world and the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  In Russian Sunday is called воскресение, the Day of Resurrection, and in Greek it is called kyriake, the Lord’s Day.

The liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church organises Sundays throughout the year as follows:

• The Sundays of Pascha
• The Sundays after Pentecost
• The Preparatory Sundays for Great Lent
• The Sundays of Great Lent

Information about each period, and about each Sunday within each period, is set out below.  It was updated on 23 June 2025 to reflect changes to the appointed Sunday readings from the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost onwards.

In addition, special readings from the Holy Scriptures are appointed for Sundays before and after certain Great Feasts of the Lord: the Exaltation of the Cross, the Nativity of the Lord, and the Baptism of the Lord.  Certain Sundays are also dedicated to commemorations of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

In the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church, regular Sundays during the year are organised in relation to the Great Feast of Pentecost.  Our liturgical tradition makes formal provision for thirty-two Sundays after Pentecost, with the Thirty-Second Sunday being the final Sunday before the period of preparation for Great Lent.  In the event of an early Pascha – and therefore a greater number of Sundays after Pentecost – the appointed readings from the Holy Scriptures are reorganised during the final weeks.

On the First Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 8.  The First Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is Hebrews 11:33-12:2 (§330, So great a cloud of witnesses) and the reading from the Gospel is Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30 (§38, Confessing and rejecting Christ).  On this day the Orthodox Church commemorates All Saints.  In the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, this day is the Day of Youth.

On the Third Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 2.  The Third Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is Romans 5:1-10 (§88, Peace with God) and the reading from the Gospel is Matthew 6:22-33 (§18, God and possessions).  On this day in the Russian Orthodox Church there are celebrations of all the saints of particular regions: Novgorod, Pskov, Saint Petersburg, and Vologda.  It is also the day of commemoration of All Saints of Belorussia, All Saints of the British Isles, and All Saints of North America.

On the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 3.  The First Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (§158, The Risen Christ) and the reading from the Gospel is Matthew 19:16-26 (§79, The rich young man).

On the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 6.  The Fourth Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is 2 Corinthians 4:6-15 (§176, Clay vessels) and the reading from the Gospel is Matthew 22:35-46 (§92, The Great Commandment, the question about the Messiah).

On the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 2.  The Eighth Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is 2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9 (§194, The vision of Paradise) and the reading from the Gospel is Luke 6:31-36 (§26, Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise).  On this Sunday in 2025 the reading will be Luke 7:11-16 (§30, Jesus raises the widow's son), read on this Sunday instead of the Twentieth Sunday.

On the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost the services are sung in Tone 8.  The Third Matins Gospel is read.  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is Ephesians 4:1-6 (§224, Walk worthy of the calling in which you were called) and the reading from the Gospel is Luke 10:25-37 (§53, The Parable of the Good Samaritan).  On this Sunday in 2025 the reading will be Luke 12:16-21 (§66, The Parable of the rich fool), read on this Sunday instead of the Twenty-Sixth Sunday.

The four Sundays before the beginning of Great Lent form a period of preparation for that season in the life of the Orthodox Church.  During this period the use of the Lenten Triodion begins, and the services incorporate some of the liturgical material and practices that are characteristic of Great Lent.   As with the Sundays of Pascha, each of the four preparatory Sundays is named according to the appointed reading from the Gospel.  The sequence of tones and Matins Gospels during this period follows on from that of the final Sunday after Pentecost for the preceding year.

On the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent we commemorate Saint John Climacus (“Of the Ladder”) (+649 AD).  Saint John was the Abbot of Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai and author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent, one of the defining texts of Orthodox Christian spiritual life.  He is assigned a Sunday in Great Lent because in his way of life and in his work he exemplifies Christian self-discipline and spiritual effort.  At Divine Liturgy the readings from the Apostol are Hebrews 6:13-20 (§314, The secure basis for hope is God’s promise, for the Sunday) and Ephesians 5:9-19 (§229, Darkness and light; Abstinence from sin, for the Saint), and the readings from the Gospel are Mark 9:17-31 (§40, An epileptic boy healed, for the Sunday) and Matthew 4:25-5:12 (§10, The Beatitudes, for the Saint).  The service appointed for this Sunday also includes a canon reflecting on the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) in which the Christian, wounded by sin, is likened to the man who fell among thieves, and Christ is likened to the Good Samaritan.

On three Sundays in the course of each year, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils.  The Ecumenical Councils were seven church councils convened between 325 AD and 787 AD.  They are the Councils of Nicaea I (325 AD), Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431 AD), Chalcedon (451 AD); Constantinople II (553AD), Constantinople III (680), and Nicaea II (787 AD).  In The Orthodox Church (London: Penguin, 1997) Timothy (Metropolitan Kallistos) Ware describes these councils as having “defined once and for all the Church’s teaching upon the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith – the Trinity and the Incarnation.”

Church councils are gatherings of bishops convened to make authoritative decisions about matters of faith and order.  The Orthodox Church considers the first such council to have been the meeting of the Apostles described in Chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles.  The Ecumenical Councils gathered bishops from throughout the oikumene, the ‘inhabited earth’; it is from this Greek word that the English adjective ‘ecumenical’ is derived.  The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) states that the Seven Ecumenical Councils “are recognised by Orthodoxy as the supreme doctrinal authority of the church’s tradition after the scripture.”  It is for this reason that such attention is given to the Holy Fathers of the Councils in the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church.

The Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, Nicaea I, are commemorated on the Seventh Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday that falls between the Great Feasts of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost.   They are commemorated on this day for two reasons.  The first is that the Council commenced on 20 May, during the Paschal season.  The second is that the doctrinal expressions of the Council reflect all that the Church has just celebrated concerning the saving work of Christ, truly God and truly man, culminating in His Ascension into heaven and His sitting at the right hand of the Father.

The appointed readings from the Holy Scriptures at Vespers are Genesis 14:14-20 (Abraham rescues Lot with the help of three hundred and eighteen trained men, Melchizedek blesses Abraham); Deuteronomy 1:8-15 (Wise and experienced men); and Deuteronomy 10: 14-21 (The essence of the Law). At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is Acts 20:16-18,28-36 (§44, Paul bids farewell to the Ephesians) and the reading from the Gospel is John 17:1-13 (§56, Jesus’ prayer for Himself, for the disciples, and for unity amid opposition)

In the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox Churches that follow the Slavic Typikon, the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils are commemorated on the Sunday on or immediately after 26 July (13 July on the church calendar).  This day was originally a commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, 451 AD), and so it remains in Orthodox Churches that follow the Greek Typikon.  The Holy Fathers are remembered on this day in connection with the miracle of Great-Martyr Euphemia at the Fourth Council; Saint Euphemia’s miracle is commemorated on 24 July (11 July on the church calendar).

The appointed readings from the Holy Scriptures at Vespers are Genesis 14:14-20 (Abraham rescues Lot with the help of three hundred and eighteen trained men, Melchizedek blesses Abraham); Deuteronomy 1:8-15 (Wise and experienced men); and Deuteronomy 10: 14-21 (The essence of the Law).  At Divine Liturgy the reading from the Apostol is Hebrews 13:7-16 (§334, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God) and the reading from the Gospel is John 17:1-13 (§56, Jesus’ prayer for Himself, for the disciples, and for unity amid opposition).  These readings are appointed in addition to those of the Sunday.

The Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council are commemorated on the Sunday nearest 24 October (11 October on the church calendar).  The Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council are commemorated on this day because the Council was held from 24 September to 13 October.  According to the Menaion, the task of the 365 Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council was “the repudiation and eradication of the godless teachings of the Christ-hating and Christian-persecuting iconoclasts [Constantine V] Copronymus and those of like mind with him.”  Constantine V Copronymus (+775 AD) was a Byzantine Emperor.  The appointed readings are the same as those for the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils.