Christ is Born!...again

Date: 07 January 2006 02:20:05

We Orthodox(*) can be a strange lot: as Jack was befuddled in terms of "Orthodox Christmas", I imagine quite a few would be.

Basically, there are two calendars in operation in Orthodoxy: the Julian and the Gregorian. From what I've read, I believe the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Romania and the Orthodox Church in America have moved to the Gregorian Calendar -- hence our celebrating Christmas at the same time as the "western" churches. The Churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine, and "Old Calendar Orthodox" (any of the previous list who have decided to stick to the Julian Calendar), are on the Julian Calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian -- hence the difference.

In terms of Pascha (Easter), things are more streamlined -- with one exception I know of. I'm unsure as to all the rules on working out the dates, but all Orthodox Churches follow the same formulas and hence celebrate Pascha at the same time -- though a different time to the Western Easter: it can be the same date, as it was two years ago I think, or it may be as much as five weeks after. The one exception, I think, is the Church of Finland, which celebrates at the same time as the west.

Thoroughly confused??? Join me. ;-)

Today I went to a parish in our diocese that is actually on the Julian Calendar. Yes, we are Antiochians, but this parish joined us from another jurisdiction and has kept its calendar. Thanks be to God, though: it was a great blessing to attend the parish and to attend the service for the Feast of the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One can never celebrate it enough.

The service was an Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, which means the Bishop was in attendance. The choir ably and beautifully chanted in Slavonic and there were several prayers by the priest in Slavonic also. Our sub-deacon, who was there, prayed the litanies in English and the Bishop gave his sermon and chanted his prayers in English also. It may sound confusing, but it all came together: languages were switched between with ease. As well as the Bishop, our sub-deacon and the parish priest (Fr Mitko), Fr Petru-Ilie and a seminary graduate from Macedonia who has been coming to our parish assisted.

His Eminence gave a wonderful sermon,exhorting us to remember to and to not be ashamed to proclaim Christ, especially at Christmastime. Christ is our all, everything we have; He has given us all we have and is our source of life and joy: how can we hide this?

The parish itself, an old hall, will be restored in the coming year (years), but it feels very warm and is beautiful. Icons and Eastern European religious art (some looking like Western art, others looking like a cross between Eastern and Western art) seemed to fill every available space, and one could feel the warmth of the (at least) 150 candles -- though I'd guess nearer to 200 -- burning brightly.

It was interesting to note that the congregation was very quiet in terms of their liturgical participating, excluding the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. I don't think I heard as much as an "Amen" from anyone. However, they were all very eager to venerate the icons (some people I think ensured they venerated every single one in the church) and get the Bishop's blessing, as well as crossing themselves regularly. Very different to our parish, where vocal congregation participation is very noticeable. I'd be interested to hear from Orthodox readers what their parish is like.

In terms of the quietness of liturgical participation from the people, the Bishop did "pause" the Liturgy after the epiclesis [invocation of the Holy Spirit], which in the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom is:

Priest: And make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ.
People: Amen!
Priest: And this which is in this cup, the precious Blood of Your Christ.
People: Amen!
Priest: Changing them by your Holy Spirit.
People: Amen! Amen! Amen!

The Bishop appeared from the altar. He then told the congregation they were the Church and their participation was of prime importance: it was necessary for them to give their "Amen" and to participate in the service. He told them to try better next time. And the service continued...

It was a wonderful and beautiful service, and it was a joy and blessing to participate with our Eastern European brothers and sisters on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity.

Christ is Born!

(*)after all this time saying the Orthodox, it sounds strange to say we now -- but nice as well.