Advent to Epiphany

The Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. decreed that the date for Easter would be the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. The range of dates for Easter is from March 22 to April 25. Lent begins six weeks before Easter. Ash Wednesday was introduced in the 7th century, adding four days before The First Sunday in Lent, to make forty days of fasting for the weekdays of Lent. There are seven weeks in Easter. The total number of weeks in Lent and Easter is always thirteen.

December-January-February-March-April-May-June-July-August-September-October-Nov.

Winter Advent to Epiphany 13 Weeks (+2 to -3)

Spring Lent & Easter 13 Weeks

Summer Pentecost 13 Weeks (-2 to +3)

Autumn Kingdomtide 13 Weeks

From the earliest centuries, Sundays after Pentecost Sunday were numbered in sequence. Due to the varying date of Pentecost Sunday which is fifty days or seven weeks after Easter, a given numbered Sunday after Pentecost one year would be earlier or later than that same Sunday in another year.

In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church changed this with the Lectionary for Mass¾ the greatest revision of the Scriptures used in the Catholic Church since 1570! In order to free this half-year period of Sundays after Pentecost from being bound to a lunar, Easter reference, a new term was introduced for this time as well as for the time after Epiphany. They were called "Sundays in Ordinary Time," or "Sundays of the Year." The Bible readings for worship were linked to a Sunday nearest a certain date by a solar reckoning, rather than a lunar one.

Many Protestant churches soon heralded this new arrangement of readings for worship. Though some changes were made in the selection of the first readings from the Hebrew  Scriptures, the Gospel selections were retained. The result was The Revised Common Lectionary .  The time “Ordinary Time” was not adopted—many churches simply continuing to name "Sundays after Pentecost" for purposes of worship.  However the Lectionary readings relate to a Sunday near a given date, and not to the varying number of a particular Sunday Pentecost. In other words, by saying that a Sunday is "The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost," it is not possible to know what the readings are, since that Sunday varies from year to year, but the readings do not.

The Bible through the Seasons follows the basic weekly design of the Lectionary. However, the following system is presented as a way to continue honoring the name Pentecost for the season after Lent and Easter, without linking the numbering of the Sundays to those "after" Pentecost Sunday. Here is how it works.

The Sunday nearest June 1 is named “The First Sunday in Pentecost.” By following the arrangement outlined above under “Lent and Easter,” variation is allowed for the changing date of Easter, at the same time constancy is maintained in structuring the weekly readings. Except for some minor changes at the beginning of the season of Pentecost, the numbering of the Sundays in Pentecost is the same for every year, since they all relaxed to a Sunday nearest a fixed date. The last week in Pentecost is always the thirteenth, followed by the season of Kingdomtide, as explained below.  This adjustment allows every Sunday in the year to be given a liturgical name that is consistent with the Lectionary readings and provides a structure for the creation of the daily lectionary which is The Bible Through the Seasons.