Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center Feasts of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha Date Press Release

"I signed the decree at the beginning of September for Greek Catholic faithful in Syria," Greek-Melkite Patriarch Gregory III told the online edition of Inside the Vatican magazine.

On May 5, when he was visiting Damascus, John Paul II proposed that Christians in the East and West celebrate Easter on the same day, as a visible sign of the quest for full unity.

The difference in Easter dates was the result of Pope Gregory XIII´s reform of the liturgical calendar in 1582. Eastern Christians, most of them Orthodox, continued to calculate the date of Easter according to the old Julian calendar.

Now, the 350,000 Greek Catholics in Syria will return to celebrating Easter according to the Julian calendar. From 1724 to 1857 their Church used the Julian calendar and then changed to the Roman calendar.

The new move is an effort to build better relations with the Orthodox. "Seeing the necessity of the local Church, I find it´s better that we go back to the other calendar," Gregory III explained.

The patriarch said he hopes that other rites will follow and that eventually the whole Catholic Church will celebrate Easter together with the Orthodox.

Liturgical Cycle

Liturgical Cycle
Calendar 2001 / 2002 Liturgical Cycle

Great Feast Days

Feasts Days - Specific

Holy God the Son within the Holy Trinity / Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ
The Theotokos
The Holy Prophet and Glorious Forerunner John the Baptist

Theology Home - Hierarchy Home - Locations Home - Other Information Home - Alphabetical Index - Thesaurus - Sitemap - Arabic fonts - Home

Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center
Martha Liles
Web URL address: Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center or http://www.mliles.com/melkite/
E-mail: mliles@mliles.com or mliles@mliles.com

Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is an unofficial Melkite Greek Catholic Web site and has not been reviewed or approved by any Melkite clergy person.
Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center contains a range of World Wide Web sites on Melkite faith, belief, practice, history, etc. Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center does not endorse any World Wide Web site nor takes any responsibility for the contents of any World Wide Web site. Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center offers these links with the understanding that Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center can not vouch for any of the contents on each site. Listing a site does not indicate acceptance nor endorsement of the doctrines / ideas / theology of the World Wide Web site. Please remember that Web sites will change their content and their location. It is the user's responsibility to decide whether or not the content on a particular World Wide Web site is appropripate.

Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is dedicated to my cousins: Bucky (Richard C. Liles) and Shirley (Shirley Jean Liles Buck). Bucky fell asleep in the Lord on Dec. 12, 2000 and Shirley fell asleep in the Lord on Nov. 8, 2001.
O God of all spirits and of all flesh, who have destroyed death, overcome the devil, and given life to the world: grant, O Lord, to the souls of your servants Bucky and Shirley, who has departed from this life, that it may rest in a place of light, in a place of happiness, in a place of peace, where there is no pain, no grief, no sighing. And since You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, forgive him/her every sin he/she has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin : You alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting, and your word is true. You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the repose of your departed servants Bucky and Shirley. O Christ our God, and we send up glory to You, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy, good and life-givng Spirit, now and always and for ages upon ages. Amen.

This site copyright©2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008 Martha Liles. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: Sunday, June 11, 2006, 17:27:33, PDT
The current date and time is: Thursday, January 08, 2009, 05:12:49, PST or Thursday, January 08, 2009, 13:12:49, GMT