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Dear Parish Faithful,
"O strange mixture! O paradoxical mingling! He who Is becomes, the Uncreated as created, and the Unlimited is limited by means of a rational soul which mediates between the divinity and the grossness of the flesh. He who is rich becomes poor, for He becomes poor through my flesh that I may become rich through His divinity."- St. Gregory the Theologian Oration 45
The Final Five Days
The final five days of the Nativity Fast - December 20-24 - leading up to December 25 and the Nativity of Christ, are sometimes likened to a "holy week" before the Feast. The pattern is derived, of course, from Holy Week and Pascha.
If you have been observing the Nativity/Advent Fast with consistency, then I simply encourage you to stay with it for these final five days. No reason to falter now. If you have not consistently observed the fast, then make a point of doing so now as the Feast draws near. Practice your Faith.
In the secular celebration of Christmas, people generally "party" up to and including Christmas. The unavoidable office Christmas party comes to mind. In this approach, besides opening gifts, nothing really different on Christmas Day.
From within the Church, we fast before we feast. That is a basic principle of our liturgical life. In fact, the fast is somewhat intensified these last five days if you check your church calendar. "Breaking the fast" on December 25, finds us enjoying our festal meals as well as exchanging gifts. Holding on has its rewards. Different principles involved, leading to different practices. Overall, a meaningful discipline and challenge to embrace.
Difference in Celebration
Perhaps I should make a comment on how differently - at least relatively speaking - our Orthodox celebration of the Nativity is from the general type within our Christian culture (or what's left of it) - Roman Catholic or Protestant. Many new "converts" to Orthodoxy may be surprised, and perhaps more than a little disappointed to one degree or another, when making the transition from one form of Christmas worship to another.
Simply put, for an Orthodox Christian there is no special "candlelight service" punctuated with the traditional repertoire of traditional Christmas carols known from childhood. (These carols are, of course, not only melodic but very rich in theological content). Admittedly, this can be a challenging transition, as it is very human to loyally adhere to long-standing traditions.
Orthodox worship for the Nativity is a matter of "filling in" the traditional liturgical services with specifically festal material, in this case based on the rich hymnography prescribed for our celebration of the Incarnation.
Leading up to December 25, we have a series of pre-festal Vespers services that prepare us for the coming of Christ in the flesh (we will serve two of them, the one from yesterday evening, and the other on Monday evening). The Royal Hours, with the identical structure to the Royal Hours used for Pascha, are prescribed for the Eve of Nativity, with different psalms, scriptural readings, and hymns related to the Nativity. The festal Matins sung/chanted on the evening of the Eve of the Feast, is structurally the usual Matins service, but greatly enhanced with the same type of festal hymnography. And the Liturgy on Christmas Day is the usual Liturgy but again with unique festal Antiphons, scriptural readings and prayers related to the Birth of Christ.
On a pastoral level, I appreciate the changed experience of the Lord's Nativity those of you new to the Church have to make. At the same time, I hope there are also some new rich discoveries made as we profoundly bring to mind through worship the glory of the Word made flesh.
Do You Know the Scriptures?
Attached/appended below is an old "warhorse," that is, a test of your knowledge of the two Nativity narratives of Sts. Matthew and Luke respectively. There are twenty questions with a simple one letter answer as you will discover.
Nativity Narrative Test (PDF) - Scroll down for in-line version.
My suggest is this: Take the text and see how well - or poorly - you do. Then read the relevant scriptural texts (Matt. 1-2; Lk. 2; Jn. 1:1-18), take the test again, and see how well you improve. (Or keep rereading until you get all twenty questions right!).
We should all be able to distinguish one Gospel from another, as each evangelist has his own emphases when narrating the Nativity of Christ. This also makes for an animated dinner table (or after dinner) group discussion. No arguing allowed!
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Nativity Narrative Test
The following test questions should be answered by using the following key:
M – St. Matthew
L – St. Luke
ML – Sts. Matthew & Luke
N – Neither Gospel
1. This Gospel contains a sequence of revelatory dreams to St. Joseph _____
2. This Gospel has an ox and an ass by the manger of the Christ Child _____
3. This Gospel mentions the census that takes Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem _____
4. This Gospel contains the genealogy of Christ that begins with the Patriarch Abraham _____
5. This Gospel narrates the massacre of the Innocents _____
6. This Gospel narrates the visit of three magi who bring gifts to the Christ Child _____
7. This Gospel narrates the angelic visitation to shepherds watching their flocks _____
8. This Gospel contains references to King Herod _____
9. This Gospel narrates that Christ was born in the Hebrew month equivalent to Dec. _____
10. This Gospel contains the prophecy of Isaiah that a “virgin” shall conceive _____
11. This Gospel narrates the journey of the “Holy Family” to Egypt and back to Israel _____
12. This Gospel narrates that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths _____
13. This Gospel refers to Jesus as the Word of God _____
14. This Gospel tells us that the name of Christ’s mother is Mary _____
15. This Gospel narrates the circumcision of the eight-day old Jesus _____
16. This Gospel narrates that Jesus was born in a cave/stable/house _____
17. This Gospel informs us that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem _____
18. This Gospel tells us that after His birth, Jesus returned to Nazareth _____
19. This Gospel refers to the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus _____
20. This Gospel mentions women in the genealogy of Christ _____
