Liturgical Colors

LITURGICAL COLORS

The SIMPLE designation is a prescription which assumes that one has three sets of vestments - a set of non-metallic gold or some other pale color for general usage, a bright set of white, and a dark set of wine red or purple.

The TRADITIONAL designation is that commonly practiced in this country and which assumes multiple sets of vestments of varied colors.

Season or Feast	Simple	Traditional
September 1 Beginning of the Church Year	Bright	Gold
September 2 through 7	General or by Category
September 8 through 12 Nativity of the Theotokos through its Leavetaking	Bright	Blue
September 13 Dedication of the Church of the Resurrection	Bright	Gold
September 14 through 21 Elevation of the Cross through its Leavetaking	Dark	Red
September 22 through November 14	General or by Category
November 15 through November 20 Nativity Fast	Dark	Red
November 21 through 25 Presentation of the Theotokos through its Leavetaking	Bright	Blue
November 26 through December 24 Nativity Fast	Dark	Red
December 25 through January 14 Nativity of the Lord & Theophany through its Leavetaking	Bright	Gold
January 8 through February 1	General or by Category
February 2 through 9 Metting of the Lord in the Temple through its Leavetaking	Bright	Blue
March 25 Annunciation	Bright	Blue
February 10 through Cheesefare Sunday	General or by Category

The Great Fast & Great And Holy Week
	Simple	Traditional
Forgiveness Vespers changed during the Prokeimenon to	Bright Dark	Gold Purple
Weekdays of the Great Fast	Dark	Purple
Little Compline with Akathist Hymn	Bright	Blue
Saturdays and Sundays of the Great Fast or some retain	Bright Dark	Gold Purple
Sunday of the Cross and the week following or some retain	Dark Dark	Red Purple
Saturday of the Akathist Hymn	Bright	Blue
Services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday	Bright	Gold
Palm Sunday PM through Wednesday PM	Dark	Black/Purple
Great Thursday Vesperal Divine Liturgy	Dark	Red
Great Thursday PM through Friday PM	Dark	Black/Purple
Great Saturday Vesperal Divine Liturgy changed during "Arise, O God" to	Dark Bright	Black/Purple White

Season or Feast	Simple	Traditional
Pascha through Saturday before Pentecost	Bright	White
Pentecost through June 28	Bright	Green
June 29 and 30	Dark	Red
July 1 through 31	Bright	Green
August 1 through 5 Dormition Fast	Dark	Blue
August 6 Transfiguration of the Lord	Bright	Gold
August 7 through 12 Dormition Fast	Dark	Blue
August 13 Leavetaking of the Transfiguration	Bright	Gold
August 14 Dormition Fast	Dark	Blue
August 15 through 23 Dormition through its Leavetaking	Bright	Blue
August 24 through 28	General or by Category
August 29 Beheading of the Forerunner	Dark	Red
August 30	General or by Category

GENERAL

General means a vestment of a pale color, or a mixture of light colors, being neither particularly bright nor dark. The most common general color is a non0metalic gold. Such a vestment is worn during those periods of the year which belong to no particular liturgical or festal season.

Color by Category of Feast
	Simple	Traditional
Of the Lord	Bright	Gold
Of the Theotokos	Bright	Blue
Of the Cross, the Forerunner, Apostles & Martyrs	Dark	Red
Of other Saints, Commemorations, etc.	Bright	Gold

Color by Season
The exceptions within these seasonal color designations are listed above.
Pascha through the Saturday before Pentecost	White
Pentecost through July 31st	Green
August 1st through the 23rd	Blue
August 24th through November 14th	General
November 15th through December 24th	Red
December 25th through January 14th	Gold
January 15th through Cheesefare Sunday	General
The Great Fast	Purple
Great & Holy Week	Black