Христос Воскресе!
For a change of pace, here is a very back to basics article going over many of the kinds of things you would encounter when looking at an entry for the Church calendar for the day.
The most obvious and the first piece of information will be the date. On most calendars, there will be two dates for each day - a civil date and a Church date. The Church date is always 13 days behind the civil calendar because the Church uses the Julian calendar, and has since the early Church. However, as most are aware, in the late 16th century, the Roman Catholic Pope, Gregory XIII, reformed their calendar to bring it into closer alignment with the solar cycle, from which the Church calendar has been slowly drifting. Eventually, as the European countries fell in line with its usage, the impracticality of conducting business across calendars as well as borders led even non-Catholic countries to use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes. However, for the Orthodox Church, ecclesiastical time proceeds according to the Julian date and according to the Paschalion (order of dating Pascha) codified in canon law at the 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicea. And while our Church calendar is indeed drifting (13 days in 2000 years), it is nevertheless more important to not drift from the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, such as the canon that forbids celebrating Pascha on or before the Jewish Passover, which happens in the Gregorian calendar (it did this year, for example). But the calendar issue is a meaty one that can be studied and argued at great length. In short, it would be desirable to have a more accurate calendar, but doing so at the expense of the canons is out of the question, so for now the issue is simply not of any interest.
Another dual date is the year. Again, here we have two years, the civil year and the Church year. The Church year is reckoned “from Adam”, as it has been continuously from our Hebrew heritage. The Anno Domini system was devised in the 6th century and did not enjoy widespread usage in the west until the 9th century.
So, today (Thursday, May 9th 2024) on the Church calendar will be reckoned as Thursday, April 26th. 7532nd year from Adam. After the date, the “tone” of the week will be indicated. Tones are eight in number, and continue for a week at a time - indicating not only what kind of singing schematic is to be followed, but also the text to be used. The book of verses for the services according to the eight tones for each day of the week is called the “Octoechos” and stretches across eight large volumes. The text of the tones was written by St. John of Damascus.
Then, the saints of the day will be listed. For today, the first listed saint is Basil, bishop of Amasea (4). When there is a number after the saint, it indicates how many stichera are read or sung for the saint at Vespers after the set of Psalms that begin with “Lord I have cried”. Stichera are verses that are sung according to one of eight “tones”. The manner of singing stichera in a tone is commonly known and is called samoglasen. The number of stichera determines the rank of the feast. Sometimes, there will be a special symbol, a red cross, indicating that there will be a polyeleos for the saint, which is when, at Matins, Psalms 134 and 135 are sung, followed by a special verse for the saint, and many assorted Psalm verses that correspond to the saint or feast. The Polyeleos ends with the veneration of the icon of the saint or feast by all the faithful. (Old Believers do not ever do a tour of the icons throughout the church, kissing and venerating each one. The icons are greeted formally at Matins, when it is appointed to do so in the Typicon). Another symbol (a red cross inside of a circle) indicates when the evening service will be an All-Night Vigil, indicating a “Great Feast”. The system of symbols involves more, liturgically, than I have indicated, but calendars, even daily ones, rarely involve more detailed liturgical information, which can be found within the typicon itself.
Often, the calendar will indicate what saints are read about in the “Prolog”, which is a compilation of short lives of saints and feasts, that also includes edifying readings for the day as well. Unfortunately, the Prolog is only available in Church Slavonic, and has never been translated, nor even digitized. (It was modernized and re-done by New Believers in their popular “Prologue of Ochrid”, which serves the same purpose). For those curious, or who understand Church Slavonic, you can listen to the Prolog readings for the day as chanted in the traditional manner at the Russian website Staroobryadci.ru. Other calendars may include lives of saints from the “Reading Menaion”, which are longer. One thing to remember is that the lives of the saints do not always correspond with the saints that are liturgically commemorated for the day.
Especially thorough calendars will include kathisma numbers. Kathismas are groupings of sequential Psalms. The entire book of Psalms is broken up into 20 kathismas, which are read liturgically throughout the week. At Vespers, for example, one kathisma is read each night (except Sunday evenings), and at Matins, two or three kathismas may be read. As these all typically change depending on the day of the week and the liturgical season, they are sometimes found in calendar information.
Almost all calendars will include how incoming and outgoing bows are to be performed. Here is what this means: Before beginning any prayer service, and at its completion, there are a series of introductory bows that are always done. Even if someone arrives late to a service, he takes his place to stand, and then proceeds to complete these bows, silently, to himself:
God, be merciful to me a sinner. (Bow)
Thou hast created me, Lord have mercy on my. (Bow)
I have sinned immeasurably, Lord forgive me. (Bow)
It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, the ever-blessed and most immaculate, and the Mother of our God. More honourable than the Cherubim, and truly more glorious than the Seraphim, thee who without defilement gavest birth to God the Word, the true Mother of God, thee do we magnify. (Prostration)
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. (Bow)
Now and ever and unto the ages of ages. (Bow)
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord bless. (Bow)
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayer of Thy most-pure Mother, by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, through the prayers of my holy guardian angel, and of all the saints, have mercy on me and save me, a sinner, for Thou art good and lovest mankind. (Prostration without the sign of the Cross)
When the calendar information says that bows are done “to the belt” or “waist”, then the sequence is followed as written above. If the calendar indicates that the bows are done “to the earth”, then the bows are replaced with prostrations.
Also necessary is information of the food permitted for the day. Various things will be indicated here. Skoromnaya means all food is allowed. Dry-eating means that only simple, uncooked food may be eaten, and that once in a day. Other days may indicate that oil is permitted, which also indicated that food may be cooked and served hot. Other entries may include dairy, or fish, or sometimes even “strict fast” which means that food should not be eaten on that day at all.
Mondays may indicate two kinds of food restrictions: one for those (usually monastics) who fast on Mondays, as well as Wednesdays and Fridays, and another for everyone else.
I have even seen calendar entries which include “refrains” for the saint or feast of the day, such as “Holy Mother Mary, pray to God for us”. This indicates two things. The first is the refrain that is to be used during the canon served at Matins, or Compline. The second usage may be as a prayer to be repeated on one’s “lestovka” - the traditional prayer rope of Holy Russia.
One thing that is not included in calendars is the daily Gospel and Epistle reading that is done at Liturgy or Obednitsa. I am surmising that this custom, which is ubiquitous among new-believers, has never caught-on because those who would serve daily Obednitsa would already have a Gospel and Epistle book, both of which have complete calendars of readings in the back. Also, the readings done at Liturgy are not meant to serve as a private Christian’s daily reading schedule, which should be longer than what is read at Liturgy.
Obednitsa, by the way, is part of the daily cycle of services, and is a service in its own right. In an Old Believer church, the complete cycle of services is always served on Sundays and feasts, so on a Sunday morning, after the Hours are completed (including the 9th), Obednitsa will be served also prior to the beginning of Liturgy. If I am not mistaken, among New Believers, this service is no longer observed, save on days when Royal Hours are served, and is only utilized in so-called “reader services” for when they have no priest available.
As for modern Old Believer saints, I cant think of an example that would expose a gap because the dates commemorated would be on ecclesiastical time, which cannot drift from itself. Civil timekeeping is only an issue of civil convenience. Otherwise, we would live entirely without it.
So, if an Old Believer were martyred today, he would be commemorated by today's ecclesiastical date, not the civil one, because the civil date simply does not exist in ecclesiastical time.
Now where it does drift is when Church events correspond to astronomical ones. The most striking example is the Nativity of Christ, which should occur on (or at least close to) the winter solstice. This is reflected in the hymnography, but has in fact drifted.
Actually... It's not always 13 days. It's 13 days between Feb 29, 1900 and Feb 28, 2100. In reading St Sebastian Dabovich, for example, his books were published in the 1800s so they reflect the 12 day gap at the time, and in 75 years, all this modern printed material will be out of date, as the gap will increase to 14 days. Do you happen to know if feast days for modern saints that were chosen to coincide with the civil date will be changed to stay with the civil date (especially for those on them West) or will they be allowed to drift off as well?