Now is the fruit of our fast in sight: the Feast of the Nativity, the Winter Pascha, has arrived. This Sunday, as we remember the ancestors of Christ from His human lineage, we recall God’s faithfulness in redeeming His people and preparing the way to bring about the redemption of mankind through His Son, His Word. In the lives of the ancestors, we see people struggling with sin, repenting, overcoming with God’s help: persevering in their faith despite persecution and all that the evil one can throw at them. This is a timely message for us as well, living in an age where God is increasingly forgotten or consigned as a relic of some quaint but now outdated religious past. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him will never die (John 11:25). Christmas ceases to be the true holiday that it is if we cease to make Christ God the center of our festal celebrations. In celebrating this feast as Christians, worshiping God the Holy Trinity, we keep the feast, we too become participants in God’s salvific plan for His human creation. And as participants, we too can be cleansed through repentance, we too can grow in virtue and find spiritual healing, so that we too can inherit eternal life with Him who is the Life of all. So, let us keep the Feast, remembering the true reason for the season, and reminding others as well, that they too may, if even for a moment, think of the true life that is found only in Christ God.
Wishing you every blessing of the Feast to come and a very Merry Christmas, Fr. Robert+
“Come, O God-inspired faithful,
Arise and behold the descent of God from on high!
He manifests Himself to us in Bethlehem!
Let us cleanse our minds, and offer Him a life of virtue instead of myrrh.
Let us prepare with faith to celebrate His nativity,
Storing up spiritual treasure and crying:
Glory in the highest to God in trinity!
His good pleasure is now revealed to men:
As the lover of man He sets Adam free from the ancestral curse.”
–from the Royal Hours of Nativity, December 24
This week at Holy Archangels:
- Monday, Dec. 24, 10:30 a.m. , ROYAL HOURS for the Eve of Nativity
- Monday, Dec. 24, 10:30 p.m., NATIVITY of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, followed by festive Trapeza for the Feast.
- Sunday, Dec. 30, 9:30 a.m. Hours, Divine Liturgy, Sunday before Nativity, followed by Trapeza. Fr. Robert will be out of town; Fr. Mark Koczak will be serving
Looking Ahead: Save the Dates!
- Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, 5 p.m. Vigil for the Eve of THEOPHANY with the GREAT BLESSING OF WATER (strict fast day—bring a jar for holy water)
- Sunday, Jan. 6, 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy for the Feast of THEOPHANY followed by caravan to the Annapolis City Dock for the Blessing of the waters.
- Saturday, January 12, 3 p.m., Baby Shower for Nini!
- February 16,17, His Beatitude Tikhon visits Holy Archangels!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for our Mission that we may find a full-time Choir Director.
- Please for Azariah (Brian) as he looks for a teaching position.
- Pray for healing for Fr. George Johnson, Viorica, Benedict, Vera, Marina, Colette, Mary, Leah and her baby, Katherine.
Troparion (Resurrection) Tone 4
When the women Disciples of the Lord
learned from the Angel the joyous message of the Resurrection,
they cast away the ancestral curse // and elatedly told the Apostles:
“Death is overthrown! // Christ God is risen,//
granting the world great mercy!”
Troparion (Fathers) Tone 2
Great are the accomplishments of faith,
for the three Holy Youths rejoice in the fountain of flames as though in the waters of rest;
and the Prophet Daniel appeared // a shepherd to the lions as though they were sheep.//
So by their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls!
Troparion of the Forefeast Tone 4
Prepare, O Bethlehem, for Eden has been opened to all!
Adorn yourself, O Ephratha, for the Tree of Life blossoms forth from the Virgin in the cave!
Her womb is a spiritual paradise planted with the Divine Fruit;
if we eat of it, we shall live forever and not die like Adam.//
Christ comes to restore the image which He made in the beginning.
Kontakion (Fathers) Tone 1
Rejoice, O Bethlehem! Prepare yourself, O Ephratha!
The Lamb is on her way to give birth to the Chief Shepherd she carries in her womb.
The God-bearing Forefathers will rejoice, beholding Him,
and with the shepherds, they will glorify the Virgin nursing Him.
Kontakion (Forefeast) Tone 3
The Virgin cometh Today to the cave to give birth // Ineffably to bring forth the Word eternal
Therefore, rejoice, O earth, at the message, // With the Angels and Shepherds give Glory to Him
Who shall appear by His Own Will, as a young child // HE who is from eternity God.
Kontakion (Holy Archangels) Tone 2
Commanders of God’s armies // and ministers of the divine glory,
princes of the bodiless Angels // and guides of mankind;
ask for what is good for us, and for great mercy,// Supreme Commanders of the Bodiless Hosts.
