2025, 2026 and 2027 Orthodox holidays in the United Kingdom

2025, 2026 and 2027 Orthodox Holidays

There are a variety of Orthodox churches in the UK, with some churches originating from Russia, Greece and Romania. You may notice that some old Orthodox church observe some religious holidays on different dates than other Christian churches (Anglican and Roman Catholic) in the UK. This is because they use the Julian calendar as opposed to the Gregorian calendar, which has a difference in length of 13 days. In total, the Orthodox church celebrates the ‘Twelve Great Feasts’ in honour of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The main holiday in the Orthodox calendar is Pascha, also known as Easter. Here, the Orthodox church observes Good Friday (known as Holy Friday or Great Friday) in remembrance of the crucifixion of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is then celebrated three days later on Easter Sunday. As a major holiday, Christmas is celebrated every year to commemorate the birth of Christ. This can take place on either December 25th or January 7th, depending on the calendar being followed.

Photo credits: Moralmonke, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Apostle Timothy of the Seventy) ; Patrick Joseph Tuohy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Saint Brigid) ; Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Benedict, Abbot and Founder of Nursia) ; Public domain / Wikimedia Commons (Columban of Ireland) ; pravicon / CC0 Wikimedia Commons (Andrew, the First Called Apostle at Patras) ; Sailko, CC BY 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Ambrose, Bishop of Milan)