This is a really good question because, as you know, the word doesn’t normally show up in everyday conversation. Synaxis literally mean “assembly” or “gathering” in Greek (the word in Slavonic is sobor). It is the term used to describe the first portion of the Divine Liturgy: that time frame from the reading of the Hours just before “Blessed is the Kingdom…” through the singing of the Beatitudes – the segment of the service when the people typically assembled or “gathered together” for worship.

The word is often used to describe a feast day when a large number of saints in common are being commemorated, such as:

• The Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Hosts of Heaven
• The Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles
• The Synaxis of the North American Saints
• The Synaxis of the Three Holy Hierarchs  

or refers to the day following the celebration of many Great Feasts, such as Christmas, Theophany, Annunciation, etc. This is because on the second day of a Feast we normally pay homage by “gathering up” those persons who played a prominent or pivotal role in what happened on the day of the Feast itself, such as:

• The Synaxis of Blessed Virgin Mary on the day after Christ’s Birth
• The Synaxis of St. John the Forerunner on the day after Christ’s Baptism
• The Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel on the day after the Annunciation

The word synaxis is also the basis for a book known as the “Synaxarion,” which contains a collection or “gathering” of saints’ lives from throughout the entire liturgical year.