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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. Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, 43 (PDF) Ordinary Time thus includes the days between Christmastide and Lent, and between Eastertide and Advent. The liturgical color assigned to Ordinary Time is green. The last Sunday of Ordinary Time is the Solemnity of Christ the King.
The word "ordinary" as used here comes from the by which the weeks are identified or counted, from the 1st week of Ordinary Time in January to the 34th week that begins toward the end of November.
Because Ordinary Time begins on a Monday, there is no day called the "First Sunday in Ordinary Time". Instead, the lowest-numbered Sunday is called the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. This block of Ordinary Time continues through the Tuesday that immediately precedes Ash Wednesday.
Ordinary Time resumes on the Monday after the Solemnity of Pentecost. The two Sundays following Pentecost are the Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, which despite being part of Ordinary Time, are not numbered. In regional calendars where Whitmonday is a Day of Obligation, Ordinary Time and the use of the liturgical colour Green may begin on the following Tuesday.
The last day of Ordinary Time is the day before the First Sunday of Advent. The last Sunday of Ordinary Time is the Solemnity of Christ the King, with the Sunday before that being the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, with the ordinal numbers counting backwards from that point.
Due to the configuration of the calendar year, Ordinary Time may have a total of either 33 or 34 weeks. As a mnemonic, if the First Sunday of Advent is in November, the previous liturgical year's Ordinary Time will have 33 weeks. If it falls on December 2 or 3, it will have 34 weeks. However, if it falls on December 1, the previous year's Ordinary Time will have 34 weeks only when it is a leap year. In a year where Ordinary Time has 33 weeks, the omitted week is the one between the weeks immediately surrounding Lent and Easter Time, which varies with the date of Easter. This is because the weeks always count forward from the first week at the beginning of Ordinary Time, and separately backwards from the thirty-fourth week at the end of Ordinary Time.
The decision to treat the whole of Ordinary Time as a unit led to abandonment of the previous terminology, whereby the Sundays of the first period were called Sundays after Epiphany and those of the second period Sundays after Pentecost.
The solemnities, feasts, and commemorations of the General Roman Calendar which may, according to the Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite, replace a Sunday of Ordinary Time are:
The Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar also lists as proper solemnities (which outrank in the relevant church building or community Sundays in Ordinary Time):
Those that have adopted the Revised Common Lectionary include churches of the Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Old Catholic and Reformed Church traditions.
Some Protestant denominations set off a time at the end of Ordinary Time known as Kingdomtide or Season of End Times. This period can range anywhere from only the three Sundays prior to Christ the King (as in the Wisconsin Synod Lutheran) to 13 or 14 weeks (most notably in the United Methodist Church). The Church of England observes this time between All Saints and Advent Sunday.
In some traditions, what in the Roman Rite is the first period of Ordinary Time is called Epiphanytide (beginning on Epiphany Day in the Anglican Communion and Methodist churches) and from Trinity Sunday to Advent is called Trinitytide. In the Church of England, Sundays during "Ordinary Time" in this narrower sense are called "Sundays after Trinity", except the final four, which are termed "Sundays before Advent". In the Episcopal Church (United States), it is normal to refer to Sundays after Epiphany and Sundays after Pentecost (not Trinity).
The total number of Sundays varies according to the date of Easter and can range anything from 18 to 23. When there are 23, the Collect and Post-Communion for the 22nd Sunday are taken from the provision for the Third Sunday before Lent.
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