Service Books
The liturgical texts for celebrations on the Menaion are contained in twelve volumes called menaia. Each menaion will contain the services for an entire month. The liturgical year for Eastern Orthodox Christians begins in September, so the Menaion for September is the first volume of the set.
The menaion contains the largest collection of liturgical texts that are used in the Eastern Church and is a very important component of the liturgical books owned by a parish or monastery. Outside of Great Lent, texts in the menaion are used in every one of the Divine Services—with the exception of the Midnight Office—and in the Divine Liturgy (Troparion, Kontakion, Stichera at the Beatitudes, etc.).
Since 1921, there have been two calendars in use within the Orthodox Church: the Julian Calendar and the Revised Julian Calendar (which aligns its fixed holy days with the Gregorian Calendar). At the current time there is a thirteen day difference between the two calendars. This means that those churches which use the New Calendar (Gregorian) will celebrate the feasts on the fixed cycle thirteen days before those who follow the Old Calendar (Julian). The other major annual cycle, the movable cycle is the same for both Old and New Calendar Churches, so all will celebrate Pascha (Easter) on the same day.
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