Afterfeast


An Afterfeast, or Postfeast, is a period of celebration attached to one of the Great Feasts celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Christian and Eastern Catholic Churches.
The celebration of the Great Feasts of the church year is extended for a number of days, depending upon the particular Feast. Each day of an Afterfeast will have particular hymns assigned to it, continuing the theme of the Feast being celebrated. At each of the divine services during an Afterfeast, the troparion and kontakion of the feast are read or chanted. The canon of the feast will usually be chanted on every day of the Afterfeast.
Most of these Great Feasts also have a day or more of preparation called a Forefeast. Forefeasts and Afterfeasts will affect the structure of the services during the Canonical Hours. Some of the Great Feasts of the Lord have a special canon composed of only three odes, called a Triodion, which is usually chanted at Compline on each day of the Forefeast.
The last day of an Afterfeast is called the Apodosis of the Feast. On the Apodosis, most of the hymns that were chanted on the first day of the Feast are repeated. On the Apodosis of Feasts of the Theotokos, the Epistle and Gospel from the day of the Feast are repeated again at the Divine Liturgy. For the Annunciation, the Meeting, and Palm Sunday, the Apodosis may be celebrated for part of a day, at Vespers, the remaining services of the day in question falling outside the festal period. This is indicated in the table below as a day.
The Forefeasts and Afterfeasts break down as follows:
Days of
Forefeast		Name of
Feast		DateDays of
the festal period
1Nativity of the Theotokos8 September5
1Exaltation of the Cross14 September8
1Entry of the Theotokos21 November5
5Nativity of our Lord25 December7
4Theophany of our Lord6 January9
1Meeting of our Lord2 February1–8
0Palm SundaySunday before Pascha
1Annunciation of the Theotokos25 March1–2
0PaschaSunday of the Resurrection39
0Mid-PentecostTwenty-fifth day of Pascha8
1Ascension of our LordFortieth day of Pascha9
0Pentecost Fiftieth day of Pascha7
1Transfiguration of our Lord6 August8
1Dormition of the Theotokos15 August9

Five of these Afterfeasts have a special commemoration on the day following the Feast, called a Synaxis. In this context, a Synaxis commemorates a saint who is intimately bound up with the Feast being celebrated. The four Synaxes are:
Other Great Feasts that have Afterfeasts are:
Each of these three has only 1 day of Afterfeast, and no Apodosis. These are not counted among the Twelve Great Feasts.
The Feast of the Procession of the Cross, though it is not counted as a Great Feast, has one day of Forefeast, and no Afterfeast.