Coptic Calendar

Feasts and occasions in Paopi 1740 AM

About the Coptic calendar

The Coptic Orthodox Church keeps its feasts by the Coptic calendar, the old calendar of Egypt. It has twelve months of thirty days and a short thirteenth month, Nasie, of five days (six in a leap year). Its years are counted from AD 284, when the persecution of Diocletian began, so it is called the Calendar of the Martyrs and its years are written AM (Anno Martyrum). The year begins on 1 Thout, the Feast of El-Nayrouz, in September.

Most feasts keep the same Coptic date every year, such as the Nativity on 29 Koiak (January 7) and the Theophany on 11 Tobi (January 19). Easter is reckoned each year, and the Fast of Nineveh, Great Lent, the Ascension, Pentecost and the Apostles' Fast move with it.