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'''Liturgical colors''' are those specific colors which are used for [[vestment]]s, [[altar]] covers, and [[analogion]] covers within the context of services of the Church. The symbolism of colors may serve to underline moods appropriate to a season of the [[Church Calendar|liturgical year]] or may highlight a special occasion.
There is not a distinction between the colour of the vestments worn by the [[clergy]] and their [[cassock]]s, which with a few exceptions does not change with the liturgical seasons.
==Byzantine practice==
==Slavic practice==
{{Cleanup|This section needs to combine its two ot three articles into a whole.}}
Slavic practice was influenced by western liturgical practice, and developed a fairly complex color scheme, though there are a number of variations based on regional or local customs.
#The group of feasts and days commemorating the most holy [[Mother of God]], the [[angels|bodiless powers]], and [[Virgin-Martyr|virgins]]. Vestment color: light blue or white.
#The group of feasts and days commemorating the [[Cross]] of our Lord. Vestment color: purple or dark red.
#The group of feasts and days commemorating [[martyr]]s. Vestment color: Red. [On Great and [[Holy Week|Holy Thursday]], dark red vestments are worn, even though the church is still covered or not with black and the holy ([[altar]]) table is covered with a white cloth.]
#The group of feasts and days commemorating [[monastic|monastic saints]], ascetics, and [[fool-for-Christ|fools for Christ]]. Vestment color: green.<br>The Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem ([[Palm Sunday]]), [[Holy Trinity]] Day ([[Pentecost]]), and [[Holy Spirit]] Day (Monday after Pentecost) are, as a rule, celebrated in green vestments of all shades.
#During the Lenten periods, the vestment colors are: dark blue, purple, dark green, dark red, and black. This last color is used essentially for the days of [[Great Lent]]. During the first week of that Lent and on the weekdays of the following weeks, the vestment color is black. On Sundays and feast days of this period, the vestments are of a dark color with gold or coloured ornaments.
Note: In earlier times, there were no black vestments in the Orthodox Church, although the everyday clothing of the clergy, especially the monastics, was black. In ancient times, both in the Greek and in the Russian Churches, the clergy wore, according to the Typikon, "Crimson Vestments": dark (blood) red vestments. In Russia, it was first proposed to the clergy of St. Petersburg to wear black vestments, if possible, to participate in the funeral of Emperor Peter II (1821). From that time on, black vestments became customary for funerals and the services of Great Lent.
White is worn for the feasts and post-feasts of [[Epiphany]], [[Transfiguration]], and [[Pascha]]. In antiquity, [[Christmas]] and Epiphany were celebrated as one feast, the Theophany of the Lord, so, in some places, white is worn on Christmas Day, but gold is worn from the second day of Christmas until Epiphany.
In Russia, at [[Liturgy]] on Holy Thursday, a white altar cover is used to represent the linen tablecloth of the Mystical Supper [the priest wears dark red, and the church remains in black until after Liturgy, when the priest's vestments return to black]. The church cloths and the vestments of the priest are changed to white at the [[prokeimenon]] of Holy Saturday Liturgy. In Muscovite custom, white is worn for Paschal [[Matins]], bright red is worn at Pascha Liturgy. In some places white is worn from [[Ascension]] to Pentecost. In Carpatho-Russian style, white, exclusively, is worn in the Paschal season. White, the color of the [[Resurrection]], is worn at funerals and memorial services.
Green is worn for Pentecost and its post-feast, feasts of prophets, and angels. In some places, green is worn for the [[Elevation of the Holy Cross]] in September. In Carpatho-Russian bulgarian practice, green is worn from Pentecost until [[Apostles Fast|Ss. Peter and Paul fast]]. Green is often worn for Palm Sunday.
Gold is worn from Christmas to Epiphany, and in some places, during Advent. Gold is worn when no other colour is specified. In one tradition, gold is worn on all Sundays (except when white is worn), including even the Sundays in all the fasting periods.
