A new year is traditionally a time for reflection and resolutions. Reflection on what filled the prior year, and setting goals for the new year. A new year is also about starting afresh and realizing one’s dreams. So please join us in offering a prayer and raising a toast to a Happy New Year and to prosperous new beginnings. May your new year be richly blessed with peace, health, and happiness.
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, / And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! / Angels with shepherds glorify Him! / The wise men journey with a star! / Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVukNhhYJP4
“If we approach with faith, we too will see Jesus … for the Eucharistic table takes the place of the crib. Here the Body of the Lord is present, wrapped not in swaddling clothes but in the rays of the Holy Spirit”— St. John Chrysostom.
We extend our heartfelt prayers and blessings to each of you this Christmas. At Matins we festively chant “God is With Us” – “Съ Нами Богъ”! God appears on earth in the Christ-Child and is laid among the poor in an obscure cave. The Angels proclaim this Mystery singing “Glory to God in the Highest” and the wise men follow a star to the birth place of Christ offering gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Without deliberate and intentional effort, one can easily become caught up in the ever increasing secularization of Christmas. If at this moment we recognize that our primary focus has been on the consumerism and chaos that so often typifies the modern experience of the holiday, be of good cheer that it is never too late to offer a gift to Christ.
In one of the many traditional Orthodox hymns of the Nativity, we sing at Vespers:
What shall we offer You, O Christ,
Who for our sake has appeared on the earth as a man?
Every creature which You have made offers You thanks.
The angels offer You a song.
The heavens, their star.
The wise men, their gifts.
The shepherds, their wonder.
The earth, its cave.
The wilderness, the manger.
And we offer You a Virgin Mother.
O Pre-eternal God, have mercy on us!
Please consider committing some time over these sacred days to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. The most precious gift one can offer to God is oneself. May the peace and joy of Christmas envelop you through out this blessed season.
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.”
— from Essential Writings
by Howard Thurman, Luther E. Smith, Jr.
The Jesus you think you know might not be so! After spending years being typically depicted as a fair-skinned man with long light brown curls and light eyes, a new depiction of the man has been made.
Based on a new field of science, forensic anthropology, scientists were able to re-create an image of the biblical man. Scientists are now considering the image the most scientifically accurate image of him.
According to Esquire, researchers used well preserved specimens from that time to reconstruct the skull. Then used the bible and cultural history for clues of how Jesus would look physically.
Source: Getty Images
The National Council of Churches (NCC) welcomed its newest member communion, the Assyrian Church of the East, which was represented by His Grace Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of California and the President of CIRED (Commission on Inter-Church Relations and Educational Development).
“Our partnership with the Assyrian Church of the East has been welcomed with much excitement across our fellowship,” said Dr. Tony Kireopoulos, Associate General Secretary. “This venerable church, with its membership across the United States and its roots in Biblical lands, brings new energy to the NCC as we work together for justice and peace.”
“The suffering of Assyrian Christians is deeply felt by the millions of Christians associated with the National Council of Churches.”
Shop until you drop. Buy as much as you can… and then some. Spend money you don’t have. Max out the credit card. Buy! Buy! Buy! That seems to be the predominate message of Christmas! Unfortunately, our secular-humanistic culture suggests that expensive presents equate with love and a lot of stuff is the way to happiness, so we spend an enormous amount of time and money during December filling our lives with more stuff. As Orthodox-Catholic Christians, it is important to pause from the shopping to consider the true significance of Advent and to reflect on how we are spiritually preparing for Christmas.
Advent is the forty day period prior to Nativity during which we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Messiah. The Eastern Church considers Advent as a time of metanoia, a Greek word meaning repentance or change. It is a period of fasting, prayer and participation in the church services and sacraments to help us understand the full meaning of Christ’s coming into the world. Perhaps our change or repentence is to reduce our spending on stuff and to donate the savings to a charity. Maybe we invite someone without family into our home on Christmas Day to join us for dinner. Advent challenges us to identify the unique needs of change specific to our life, in light of Christmas as the birth of our Savior, the incarnation of God, the kingdom of heaven — and it is near and it is here.
December is dubbed by that Christmas favorite, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” True. Add to that, though, for many it’s the most frenetic and stressful time of the year. Advent calls us to prepare for Christmas by simplifying our lives, pausing to consider its true meaning through spiritual reading, quiet meditation and prayer. Advent counter-culturally reminds us to slow down and simplify!
Advent offers us additional opportunities to prepare for Christmas with worship. Together, one with another, we proclaim in our prayers and our hymns the mystery of the incarnation of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The season of Advent calls us to intentionally set aside time to worship privately and communally.
How will we spend the remaining few weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas? The Church counsels us to prepare with metanoia (repentance), simplicity and worship.
50th Commemoration of the Common Lifting of Anathemas between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches
NEW YORK – Fifty years ago, on December 7, 1965, after their historic meeting the previous year (Jerusalem 1964), Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI declared their commitment to steer the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches onto a path of mutual understanding, reconciliation, and love. Together they agreed to “remove from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication” leveled against each other in 1054 and which have divided our two Churches for centuries.
As a result, a theological dialogue between Orthodox and Roman Catholic theologians started. This dialogue continues to our days and has produced a number of significant theological documents. In addition, a number of other events like the meetings of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis contributed to the creation of mutual understanding and the clearance of the way to the desired union.
On the occasion of this 50th Commemoration, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America said: “This anniversary reminds us of the need to work diligently towards the fulfillment of the Lord’s fervent prayer before His passion that His disciples be one (John 17, 11).”
