The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King, Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday, is a feast in the

liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be obse ...

which emphasises the true kingship of Christ. The feast is a relatively recent addition to the liturgical calendar, instituted in 1925 by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

for the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 1970, its Roman Rite observance was moved from October to the last Sunday of

Ordinary Time Ordinary Time () is the part of the liturgical year in the liturgy of the Roman Rite, which falls outside the two great seasons of Christmastide and Eastertide, or their respective preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent. Ordinary Time thus inc ...

and thus to the end of the liturgical year. The earliest date on which the Feast of Christ the King can occur is 20 November and the latest is 26 November. It typically marks the end of Ordinary Time, which continues up until

Advent Sunday Advent Sunday, also called the First Sunday of Advent or First Advent Sunday, is the first day of the liturgical year in the Western Christian Churches and the start of the Christian season of Advent; a time of preparation for the celebration of ...

, the first day of

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

. Depending on the year,

Saint Andrew's Day Saint Andrew's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Andrew or Andermas, is the feast day of Andrew the Apostle. It is celebrated on 30 November, during Scotland's Winter Festival. Saint Andrew is the disciple in the New Testament who introduc ...

, significant in some cultures, may fall prior to Advent Sunday. Thus, Christ the King is typically the last or second-to-last calendrical feast of the liturgical year. Christ the King Antipolo Cathedral 2023-11-26

Christ the King Antipolo Cathedral 2023-11-26

The

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, Moravian,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, Nazarene,

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

and

United Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denomination ...

churches also celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, which is contained in the

Revised Common Lectionary The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) is a lectionary of readings or pericopes from the Bible for use in Christian worship, making provision for the liturgical year with its pattern of observances of festivals and seasons. It was preceded by the Com ...

; the

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Churches often observe this as part of the liturgical season of Kingdomtide, which runs between the Fourth Sunday before

and the Feast of Christ the King. It is also observed on the same computed date as the final Sunday of the ecclesiastical year, the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent, by

Western Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe wh ...

parishes of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

. Roman Catholics adhering to the

Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite In the Catholic Church, preconciliar Latin liturgical rites ("preconciliar": before the Second Vatican Council, which began in 1962) coexist with postconciliar rites. In the years following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI initiated sign ...

use the

General Roman Calendar of 1960 This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as approved on 25 July 1960 by Pope John XXIII's '' motu proprio'' '' Rubricarum instructum'' and promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Rites the following day, 26 July 1960, by t ...

and continue to observe the

Solemnity In the liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite, a solemnity is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Mary, his legal father Joseph, or another important ...

on the date established in 1925, the final Sunday of October.

Origin in patristics

According to

Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria (; or ⲡⲓ̀ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲕⲓⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲥ; 376–444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He was enthroned when the city was at the height of its influence and power within the Roman Empire ...

, Christ "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature. His kingship is founded upon the

hypostatic union Hypostatic union (from the Greek: ''hypóstasis'', 'person, subsistence') is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual perso ...

. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures."Pope Pius XI, ''Quas primas'', Nr. 7, Libreria Editrice Vaticana
/ref> The Feast of Christ the King has an

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...

dimension, pointing to the end of time when the kingdom of Jesus will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth.

Observance

Roman Catholic Church

instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

Quas primas (from Latin: "In the first") is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI. Promulgated on December 11, 1925, it introduced the Feast of Christ the King. Purpose and content ''Quas primas'' followed Pius's initial encyclical, ''Ubi arcano Dei consilio'', w ...

'' of 1925, in response to growing secularism and secular ultra-nationalism, and in the context of the unresolved

Roman Question The Roman question (; ) was a dispute regarding the temporal power of the popes as rulers of a civil territory in the context of the Italian Risorgimento. It ended with the Lateran Pacts between King Victor Emmanuel III and Prime Minister Be ...

. In November 1926, Pope Pius XI gave his direct assent for the priest of a promising young parish in Mount Lookout, Cincinnati, to establish the first church dedicated to Christ under the title of King. In May 1927, a purpose-built sanctuary was consecrated. 1956 saw the construction of the current church, led by the architect

Edward J. Schulte Edward J. Schulte (April 27, 1890 – June 7, 1975) was an architect who designed a number of mid-twentieth-century churches notable for their blending of a modern idiom with traditional function. Inspired by an encounter with Ralph Adams Cram, he ...

. The campus is an unapologetic love letter to its royal namesake, featuring a towering

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

mosaic of Christ, crowned and robed, above the high altar where Catholic practice usually expects a crucifix (most Protestant institutions simply employ symbolic crosses). This instance illustrates a marked change of tone that arose as a product of the Vatican's endorsement of this feast and the associated devotional. The title of the feast was ''Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Regis'' ( fOur Lord Jesus

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where Christ is described as being seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one o ...

), and the date was established as "the last Sunday of the month of October – the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints". In his

motu proprio In law, (Latin for 'on his own impulse') describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a document issued by the pope on h ...

Mysterii Paschalis ''Mysterii Paschalis'' is an Ecclesiastical letter#Letters_of_the_popes_in_modern_times, apostolic letter issued ''motu proprio'' (that is, "of his own accord") by Pope Paul VI on 14 February 1969. It reorganized the liturgical year of the Rom ...

'' of 1969,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

amended the title of the Feast to ''Domini Nostri Iesu Christi universorum Regis'' (Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe). He also moved it to the new date of the final Sunday of the liturgical year. Through this choice of date "the

importance of this Sunday is made clearer". The feast was assigned the highest rank of solemnity. The liturgical vestments for the day are white. In the extraordinary form, as happens with all Sundays whose liturgies are replaced by those of important feasts, the prayers of the Sunday on which the celebration of the feast of Christ the King occurs are used on the

feria In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, a feria is a day of the week other than Sunday. In more recent official liturgical texts in English, the term ''weekday'' is used instead of ''feria''. If the feast day of a saint falls on such a day, the ...

s (weekdays) of the following week. The Sunday liturgy is thus not totally omitted. Since 2021, the diocesan-level celebrations of

World Youth Day World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for the youth organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where dur ...

have taken place on the Solemnity of Christ the King. The most common

breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, published by the Basilian Fathers, contains propers for the "Feast of Christ the King" which is "celebrated on the last Sunday in October or on the fifth Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord."

Moravian Church

In the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

, Reign of Christ Sunday is the feast marking the end of Pentecostide. White is the liturgical colour associated with the Reign of Christ.

Lutheran Churches

In the Evangelical-Lutheran

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

and the Church of Finland, this day is referred to as Judgement Sunday, previously highlighting the final judgement, though after the Swedish Lectionary of 1983 the theme of the day was amended to the ''Return of Christ''. A distinct season of Kingdomtide is or has been observed by a number of churches on the four Sundays before Advent, either officially or semi-officially. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, this day is referred to as "Christ the King Sunday," or, alternatively, the "Realm of Christ/Reign of Christ" Sunday, and is observed on the last Sunday of the liturgical year.

Anglican Churches

In the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, the Feast of Christ the King falls on "the Sunday next before Advent," when " e year that begins with the hope of the coming Messiah ends with the proclamation of his universal sovereignty." In the

Episcopal Church (United States) The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

, Christ the King Sunday "is unofficially celebrated in some Episcopal parishes, but it is not mentioned in the Episcopal calendar of the church year." However, the collect for that Sunday, which mentions Jesus as "King of kings and Lord of Lords" indicates an affinity with the feast day, something that has led to its wider celebration within the Episcopal Church.

Reformed Churches

The

Continental Reformed Church Continental Reformed Christianity or Continental Reformed Protestantism is a part of Reformed Christianity within Protestantism that traces its origin to continental Europe. Prominent subgroups are the Dutch Reformed, Swiss Reformed, French Hug ...

es, such as the

Christian Reformed Churches The Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands () is a Protestant church in the Netherlands. History The original name of the church was Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands (''Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederland'', CG ...

, assign the following hymns to be used on the Feast of Christ the King: "

Crown Him with Many Crowns "Crown Him with Many Crowns" is an 1851 hymn with lyrics written by Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring and sung to the tune 'Diademata' by Sir George Job Elvey. The hymn appears in many hymnals. The full twelve verses of the song (which has t ...

", "

Lo! He comes with clouds descending "Lo! He comes with clouds descending" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley (1707–1788), based on an earlier hymn, "Lo! He cometh, countless Trumpets" by John Cennick (1718–1755). Most commonly sung at Advent, the hymn derives its theological ...

", and "Rejoice, the Lord Is King". In the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

es, such as the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

, at the Feast of Christ the King (Feast of the Reign of Christ) "the church gives thanks and praise for sovereignty of Christ, who is Lord of all creation and is coming again in glory to reign (see Revelation 1:4-8)." In the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

, a Congregationalist denomination, the Feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday of the liturgical season known as the Time of the Church.

Methodist Churches

The Feast of Christ the King is observed in the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

es, such as the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

, as the last Sunday of the liturgical season of Kingdomtide. The season of Kingdtomtide itself starts on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

and culminates in the Feast of Christ the King. Some Methodist parishes have been dedicated to Christ the King.

United Protestant Churches

Churches, such as the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

Uniting Church of Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united and uniting churches, united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together most of the Protestant churches working in northern India. It i ...

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

and

Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India. With a membership of over 4.5 million, it ...

, the Feast of Christ the King (Reign of Christ), is observed as the last Lord's Day of the liturgical calendar.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Catholic holy days Christ the King Christian Sunday observances Church of Sweden Festivals established in 1925 Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) November observances October observances Pope Pius XI Recurring events established in 1925

Origin in patristics

Observance

Roman Catholic Church

Moravian Church

Lutheran Churches

Anglican Churches

Reformed Churches

Methodist Churches

United Protestant Churches

See also

Explanatory notes

References

Further reading

External links