Sunday of the Holy Forefathers

Icon was likely painted in the village of Palekh, one of only a few major centers of icon-painting in nineteenth-century Russia, near the city of Vladimir. It depicts the Resurrection of Christ and the Twelve Church feasts.

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers or Sunday of the Holy Forefathers of Jesus Christ is a Christian holiday that is always celebrated on a Sunday and always on the second Sunday before Christmas in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Catholic Churches using the Byzantine Rite. The beginning of the celebration is December 11.[1] If December 11th were to be a weekday then the holiday is postponed until the following Sunday. These cases can be perceived in the year 2019, December 11 was a Wednesday, therefore, the holiday was celebrated four days later on Sunday, December 15.

The Sunday that is usually from December 11 to 17 is known as the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers. The ancestors of the Old Testament. Those who lived before and under the Law, and those of the flesh, namely the Patriarch Abraham whom the Lord said unto “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3; 22:18).[2]

  1. ^ The Orthodox Church in America. "Lives of the Saints: Sunday of the Forefathers". www.oca.org.
  2. ^ The Orthodox Church in America. "Lives of the Saints: Sunday of the Forefathers". www.oca.org.