Bishop Matthias Visits our Parish

Bishop Matthias visited our parish yesterday.  It had been five years since a bishop had been to our church. Several weeks before his visit, we held a church cleaning day, and we ended up painting the nave and rearranging the icons. The ladies “Saints Mary and Martha Guild” planned the lunch menu.

Because we are old calendar, we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration during his visit.  That meant we had him, not only for liturgy, but also for a very moving vigil the night before.  We had a meet and greet (he really is down to earth, with a great sense of humor.) before the vigil, and then the solemn--yet joyous service.  My photos are from the vigil.  The liturgy was too special to mar by taking pictures (besides, it's hard to take pictures when you're in the choir.)

My sister asked me on Saturday if the bishop was going to speak on Sunday. "I guess so," I responded.  I remember thinking, That's not the point.  It's just having him here.  But he did give the homily and it was amazing, as I knew it would be. He also made some special presentations: naming our long-time deacon as protodeacon, tonsuring a new reader (a new convert who was chrismated the same time we were), plus three unexpected awards to long-time church members who have given many hours of service to our parish.

It’s a cliché (and in this case a pun), but it really was a “mountaintop experience.”  It was hard to come down to earth again.

I’ve never been a member of a church that had a bishop.  I guess the churches I was a part of considered it too “Catholic” or something.  But the Bible mentions bishops several times.  The problem is, the Greek word episkopos  is translated “overseer” (or in one case “guardian”) in both the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version, the translations usually used in the churches I attended.  But if you remove the first letter and the last two letters of episkopos, you get “piskop,” from which we get the word “bishop.”  The good old King James Version and my favorite, the New King James, usually translate the word as bishop.  Let’s have a look:

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: (Philippians 1:1)

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; (1 Timothy 3:2)

For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, (Titus 1:7)

In addition, the church history written by Eusebius in 325, lists the bishops of the early church from the time of the apostles. But then I’d never heard of Eusebius until I became Orthodox

I’m no expert on church government,  but I can see the importance of bishops for leadership and accountability. And this weekend I experienced something else--the excitement and sense of wonder when a bishop worships with us, especially during a feast day.

Click here for more pictures of the Vigil and click here for more pictures from the liturgy (from our church's website).

Christ is Risen, Even in a Tornado!

It was time.  The lights were turned off and the candles were all blown out, save one. Slowly we spread that one flame from candle to candle as we sang a solemn chant. Then, just as we walked out the front door of the church, an eerie sound joined our singing: the menacing wail of a tornado siren. A few people ran to the church basement, but most of us carried on, singing those ancient words:

Thy resurrection O Christ our Savior

The angels in heaven sing

Enable us O Lord

To worship thee in purity of heart.

We processed around the church, as we always do at midnight on Pascha, but our words were lost in the wind and the blare of the sirens. As we stood at the door of the church, our solemn chant turned into joyous song:

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling down death by death

And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Christ is risen!

No, it wasn’t a normal way to celebrate this most joyous of Christian feasts, but somehow it was appropriate. After all, the procession commemorates Christ’s harrowing of Hades. We believe that when Christ died, he went down to Hades, the place of the dead, and preached to the souls there. My friend Ray Richards said that when the sirens went off, “it was as if Hades itself caught sight of Jesus and was shrieking out with terror . . . it was as if we were literally with the Lord during his descent and harrowing of Hades.”

Father James banged on the door of the church. The doors opened, the light streamed out and the bells rang, and we proceeded into the church. The joyous celebration that followed was punctuated by more sirens, but the choir kept on singing, even though half the congregation was out in the narthex, ready to run for the basement at a moment’s notice. And then Father Nick read those beautiful words from the Homily of St. John Chrysostom:

"Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen."

How appropriate that we were facing the fear of death in the midst of this celebration.  Just as Christ’s resurrection drowns out the fear of death, our joyous singing drowned out the wail of the sirens. To quote Ray: “we were truly immersed in the experience and reality of the redeeming works of our Savior. For scream, kick, and resist as it might, nature, sin, death, Satan and his demons are no match for God and His True Church.”

Quoting St. John Chrysostom: “Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen."

In the end, no tornadoes touched down. Perhaps it was our singing that kept the tornadoes away.

In this video you can hear the sirens:


Here's a video of our choir singing excerpts from "Christ is Risen" and "The Angel Cried": No sirens in this one, just joyful singing.

Why Do Orthodox Christians Sometimes Celebrate Easter on a Different Day?

This has long been confusing to people.  Some years the Orthodox celebrate Easter (which we call Pascha) on the same day as the west, and some years it is later.  It is never earlier.  Why the difference?

The first council of Nicea established Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or after the Vernal Equinox. But all Orthodox Christians use the old calendar to calculate the date of the Equinox.  (See my post on the Old Calendar.) This means that the Old Calendar and New Calendar Orthodox are united for the Paschal season (from the start of Great Lent through Pentecost), even though they are 13 days off for the liturgical calendar and the rest of the great feasts.

During 2010 and 2011 Easter and Pascha fell on the same day.  This year and for the next few years the dates are different.  Here are the dates:

Year	Western/Gregorian	Eastern/Julian
2012	April 8	April 15
2013	March 31	May 5
2014	April 20	April 20
2015	April 5	April 12

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

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 is born as a Little Child!
(the Kontakion of the Nativity)


Thy Nativity, O Christ our God,
has shone to the world the light of wisdom;
for by it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star,
to worship Thee the Sun of Righteousness,
and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high;
O Lord, glory to Thee.
(The Troparion of the Nativity)

The Old Calendar Orthodox – Why Some Orthodox Celebrate Christmas on January 7

It’s confusing.  Especially around Christmastime, when I tell people that in our church we celebrate Christmas (which we call the Feast of the Nativity) on January 7. 

“Oh, that’s because of the 12 days of Christmas, right?”

Or

“So you celebrate Christmas Eve on Epiphany?”

To add to the confustion, some people have heard of something called “Old Christmas,” which is celebrated on January 6.

Closely related is the question of why we celebrate saints’ days on different days from Western liturgical churches.  For instance, we celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 19^th instead of December 6. 

When people asked me about this, I would usually mumble something about the “old calendar,” but I never really understood it myself.

Enter Father Joseph Honeycutt and his podcast, “Orthodixie.”  (No, I did not misspell that word.  Father Joseph’s program is called OrthoDIXIE” because he lives in the South.)  I love his off-beat humor, and his programs are often thought provoking.  In this podcast called “Meletius Metaxakis Makes A Maalox Moment,” Father Joseph finally helped me understand what “Old Calendar” means.

Until the time of Julius Caesar, the calendar year was organized around the phases of the moon, which didn’t work very well.  So Julius Caesar, with the advice of his astronomers, instituted a new calendar based on the sun.  The problem was that they overestimated the length of the year by 11 minutes and 15 seconds, which comes to one day every 128 years.  So by the 16^th century, the calendar was 10 days off.

In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII corrected the calendar by taking off the extra 11 minutes and 15 seconds from the year and adjusting the dates.  His new calendar is often referred to as the Gregorian Calendar.

Protestant England did not want to follow a calendar instituted by the Pope, so they continued with the old calendar. By the middle of the 18^th century, England was 11 days ahead of the continent.  Then in 1751, England passed a calendar act, which brought England into line with the Gregorian Calendar. So September 14 followed September 2 that year.  Many people didn’t understand and complained that the government had stolen 11 days of their lives.  There were riots with shouts of “Give us back our 11 days!”

Before the calendar act, England celebrated Christmas on January 6 (by the Gregorian calendar). After the reform, January 6 became known as “Old Christmas.”  Some Americans of British descent also referred to January 6 as “Old Christmas,” and some customs surrounding “Old Christmas” still exist in Appalachian communities.

The Orthodox countries were also slow to adopt the Gregorian calendar.  Russia used the Julian Calendar until 1917, and Greece used the Julian calendar until 1923. Many Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar to mark their liturgical year.  Our church is one of them.  By now, the Julian calendar is 13 days off the Gregorian calendar.  Hence we celebrate Christmas on January 7.

Personally, I like celebrating the Feast of the Nativity on a separate day from the day of gift giving and other festivities.  The Nativity Feast is day focused on the Incarnation and worship. 

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Pascha – Eastern Orthodox Easter is a Celebration Extraordinaire

Everyone should experience Pascha. Even if you’re not Orthodox. Even if you’re not Christian. Even if you don’t care anything about religion. Pascha is beautiful.

Orthodox Lent

Lent precedes Pascha, of course. Lent is a time for introspection and repentance. It’s no accident that it starts with Forgiveness Vespers, a beautiful service in which we ask forgiveness of every member of the congregation Lent is also a time of fasting (that means being totally vegan for the faithful), and solemn services with prostrations. We repeat the prayer of St. Ephrem:

O Lord and Master of my life
Take from me the spirit of sloth
faint-heartedness,
lust of power
and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility,
patience,
and love to thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King
grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother;
for Thou art blessed unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

We also sing this beautiful prayer:

Let my prayer arise in thy sight as incense and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.
.
Holy Week Starts with Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday features a procession around the church with palm branches. I love processions. Our church is on a busy street, and it’s funny to see the reactions of drivers during a procession.
During Holy week there are services every morning and every evening, and some of them are very long. Remember, Orthodox traditionally stand for their services, though there are pews for those who can’t stand the entire time.

Good Friday Burial Vespers

On Good Friday (which we call Holy Friday) we have another procession, this time with a cloth painted with an icon of Christ’s body taken from the cross. We sing a beautiful, haunting melody:

Noble Joseph
Taking down Thy most pure body from the tree
Wrapped it in fine linen and sweet spices
And laid it in a new tomb.

We lay the cloth, which represents the shroud of Christ on a frame decorated with flowers.

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is an amazing day. Traditionally, the church reserves that day for baptisms and chrismations. Chrismation means anointing with oil, or holy chrism, and is the final step in becoming fully Orthodox. This year eight people (including my husband and myself) were chrismated, and we were the first to receive the eucharist in the service that followed.

Orthodox Pascha!


And then comes the great Pascha service. The service starts at about 9 p.m. with the chanting of the book of Acts, but most people come in at about 11 p.m. That’s right – p.m., as in evening. We start with prayers and the lighting of candles. Then, just before midnight, we begin a solemn candlelight procession. Using the same tune as we did for “Noble Joseph,” we sing:

Thy resurrection O Christ our Savior,
the angels in heavens sing.
Enable us on earth
to glorify thee in purity of heart.

This year, as we were processing, a passerby paused, removed his hat, and waited while we finished. It was very touching.

Once we’ve processed around the church, we begin to sing those glorious words of resurrection:

Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Then the priest bangs on the door with a cross, and then the doors are open wide. Light streams out, bells ring, and we continue singing as we enter the church.

What follows is a joyous celebration of music! The priests shout “Christ is risen!” and we reply, “Indeed He is risen.” We repeat this in several languages.

Following the praise service comes another liturgy and then—at about 2 a.m—we go downstairs to a big feast. It’s time to partake of everything we’ve been fasting from – so there’s plenty of meat, cheese and even wine. We finally get home about 4:30 a.m.

But that's not the end of the celebration. There's agape vespers the next day. (This year we celebrated with the Greek Orthodox Church, which included another feast. And then we keep on celebrating. For the next seven weeks (until Pentecost), we greet each other with "Christ is risen" "Indeed He is risen!" and continue to sing the joyous songs of Pascha.

Here is a video of our church’s celebration:



And just to show you how Pascha is celebrated in other countries, here is a video of a celebration in Ghana: