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Eastern Liturgical Colors

Inspired by ~adou's post at tilde.club, I've written something about liturgical colors in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

Liturgical Colors by ~adou

Strictly speaking, the canons only require a festal and non-festal set of vestments, i.e. liturgical colors are not as emphasized as they are in the West. Some parishes don't change colors throughout the year, instead sticking to the festal/non-festal distinction. However the church I attend, like many others (especially those following the Slavic tradition), does have a cycle of colors throughout the year.

Green (all shades) -- this is the color of Pentecost and any feast day associated with the Holy Spirit, monastics, ascetics, and fools for Christ. Palm Sunday also calls for green cloth.
Blue (bright) -- this color is associated with feast days commemorating the Theotokos and all the bodiless powers (e.g. the Synaxis of the Archangels)
Gold (all shades) -- This color is worn on feast days commemorating Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the prophets, the apostles, holy hierarchs, and any time another color isn't called for. In some churches, gold is worn from Christmas to Theophany.
Purple -- Worn throughout Great Lent (especially on weekends), and on feasts of the Cross
Red -- Dark red is on Great and Holy Thursday while the church is covered in black, bright red is worn on feasts commemorating the martyrs
Black -- Holy Week, can be supplanted by the older tradition of wearing dark (blood) red
White -- Great and Holy Pascha, and for days and days after. Also worn for the afterfeasts of Theophany and Transfiguration. Some places wear white for funerals, others wear red or black

Some of this info comes from my own experience at various Orthodox churches, and some of it comes from an OrthodoxWiki article which goes into a lot more detail than I did about the different customs.

Liturgical Colors -- OrthodoxWiki (accessed 2022-04-03)

Some examples of the colors

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