St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church

Serving Emmaus and the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania

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Christmas 2016 & Theophany 2017 Schedule

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annunciation-nativity-meeting

December 25 is the feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ! We will celebrate the feast at the following services:

Friday, Dec. 23
8:30am – Royal Hours of the Nativity

Saturday, Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve
8am Matins for Christmas Eve
9am Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
5pm Great Vespers for the Nativity with Litia and Artoklasia

Friday, Dec. 25 – Christmas
8am – Festal Matins
9am – Festal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great (followed by festal potluck brunch)

Notes on the Feast
Although the Festal Divine Liturgy is what most of us think of as the “primary” service for this feast, it is the other services that really contain the wealth of our Holy Church’s teaching about the Nativity of our Lord and its significance. If you have never attended these other services, please take the opportunity to do so this year. They are among the most beautiful services of the festal cycle.

If you would like to read more about this great feast, click here.

The Outdoor Water Blessing for Theophany at Little Lehigh Creek in Emmaus
The Outdoor Water Blessing for Theophany at Little Lehigh Creek in Emmaus

Theophany is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, when He began His public ministry by being baptized by St. John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) in the Jordan River. This act not only introduced Him to the world, but also made Christian baptism possible (by His blessing of the waters) and made plain the three Persons of the Holy Trinity—the Father speaking from the heavens, the Son being baptized and the Holy Spirit descending on the Son in the form of a dove. Theophany means “the appearance of God” and refers to this revelation of the Holy Trinity.

As part of the celebrations of this great feast—which is second in rank only to Pascha (Easter) and thus more important than Christmas!—holy water is blessed for use throughout the year, especially for the blessing of all parishioners’ homes.

Following is the schedule of services for Theophany 2016:

Thursday, Jan. 5 – Paramon (Eve) of Theophany
8:30am – Royal Hours of Theophany
10am – Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

Friday, Jan. 6 – The Feast of Theophany (times moved due to winter weather)
8am – Festal Matins for Theophany
9am – Festal Divine Liturgy for Theophany with the Great Blessing of Water (bring your holy water bottles!)

Sunday, Jan. 8
12pm – Outdoor Blessing of Water at the Emmaus Wildlands Conservancy (3701 Orchid Pl., Emmaus, PA 18049)

Please note that the eve of Holy Theophany (January 5) is appointed to be kept as a strict fast day—no meat, poultry, fish with backbones, dairy, wine or oil are to be consumed.

To read more about Holy Theophany, click here.

Nativity 2016 Message of Bishop Thomas

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“The Word became flesh:” in this is the ultimate joy of the Christian faith. In this is the fullness of revelation. The same incarnate Lord is both perfect God and perfect man. The full significance and the ultimate purpose of human existence is revealed and realized in and through the Incarnation. He came down from Heaven to redeem the earth, to unite man with God for ever. “And became man.” The new age has been initiated. We count now the “anni Domini [years of the Lord]!” As St. Irenaeus wrote: “the Son of God became the Son of Man, that man also might become the son of God.” Not only is the original fullness of human nature restored or re-established in the Incarnation. Not only does human nature return to its once lost communion with God. The Incarnation is also the new revelation, the new and further step. The first Adam was a living soul. But the last Adam is the Lord from Heaven (1 Cor. 15:47).

– Protopresbyter Georges V. Florovsky, Incarnation and Redemption

Although with the Annunciation we have the moment of the Incarnation itself, the public appearance on this earth of the Lord of Heaven at His Nativity is celebrated most festively in December as the beginning of the story of our salvation. And it is right that we should celebrate. Can there be anything, other than the divine moment of Pascha, which should bring us more joy than the coming of our God?

But our celebration has to be based in an understanding of what is actually happening with the revelation of the Son of God as the Son of Man. It is not the moment where He steps into a story already known and already revealed. It is the moment when the final chapter of the story itself has begun, when we begin to discover how the story will be consummated, how the divine Hero and conquering King makes His appearance and what He is about to do.

This moment of the Nativity of Jesus Christ is fundamentally new content, new narrative, new history. It is in a sense even a “surprise ending,” for neither death nor the devil—nor much of mankind—expected that the Lord from Heaven should come to us as a babe, a babe Whose mission is to destroy death itself. That is why we cry out: Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Yours in Christ,

Rt. Rev. Bishop THOMAS (Joseph)
Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic

Pascha 2016 Message of Bishop Thomas

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GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA 2016

Beloved brother Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, God-fearing Monastics, and all my Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ our True God:

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us— you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our Dignity; let us honor our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.

—St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 1.4

The great sacrifice that Christ our High Priest has made for us on the Cross, the sacrifice which enables our sanctification when we partake of it worthily, has been fulfilled for us in the resurrection of Jesus, the first-born from the dead (Col. 1:18). What has been offered is shown to be a perfect Offering well-pleasing to God, as Jesus Christ is both Offerer and Offering, the One Who both distributes and is distributed in this sacrifice given for us.

In the context of that mystery of sacrifice, St. Gregory the Theologian urges us to offer not gold or silver or other earthly possessions but rather ourselves. When we are also sacrificially offered with Christ on the altar by being crucified with Christ, when our true dignity is revealed of being sanctified as brothers and sisters with the One Who sanctifies (Heb. 2:11), then we know “the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.” He died so that we might rise and be glorified together with Him, that the resurrection He inaugurated may be continued even in us.

Yours in the Risen Christ,

Rt. Rev. Bishop THOMAS (Joseph)
Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic

Christmas 2015 & Theophany 2016 Schedule

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annunciation-nativity-meeting

December 25 is the feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ! We will celebrate the feast at the following services:

Thursday, Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve
8:30am – Royal Hours of the Nativity
10am – Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
6:30pm – Akathist for the Nativity

Friday, Dec. 25 – Christmas
8am – Festal Matins
9am – Festal Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

Notes on the Feast
Although the Festal Divine Liturgy is what most of us think of as the “primary” service for this feast, it is the other services that really contain the wealth of our Holy Church’s teaching about the Nativity of our Lord and its significance. If you have never attended these other services, please take the opportunity to do so this year. They are among the most beautiful services of the festal cycle.

If you would like to read more about the hymnography of the Church for this great feast, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia has put together a wonderful website here.

If you would like to read more about the feast of the Nativity, go here.

The Outdoor Water Blessing for Theophany at Little Lehigh Creek in Emmaus
The Outdoor Water Blessing for Theophany at Little Lehigh Creek in Emmaus

Theophany is the feast of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, when He began His public ministry by being baptized by St. John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) in the Jordan River. This act not only introduced Him to the world, but also made Christian baptism possible (by His blessing of the waters) and made plain the three Persons of the Holy Trinity—the Father speaking from the heavens, the Son being baptized and the Holy Spirit descending on the Son in the form of a dove. Theophany means “the appearance of God” and refers to this revelation of the Holy Trinity.

As part of the celebrations of this great feast—which is second in rank only to Pascha (Easter) and thus more important than Christmas!—holy water is blessed for use throughout the year, especially for the blessing of all parishioners’ homes.

Following is the schedule of services for Theophany 2016:

Tuesday, Jan. 5 – Paramon (Eve) of Theophany
8:30am – Royal Hours of Theophany
10am – Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

Wednesday, Jan. 6 – The Feast of Theophany (times moved due to winter weather)
8am – Festal Matins for Theophany
9am – Festal Divine Liturgy for Theophany with the Great Blessing of Water (bring your holy water bottles!)

Sunday, Jan. 10
12pm – Outdoor Blessing of Water at the Emmaus Wildlands Conservancy (3701 Orchid Pl., Emmaus, PA 18049)

Please note that the eve of Holy Theophany (January 5) is appointed to be kept as a strict fast day—no meat, poultry, fish with backbones, dairy, wine or oil are to be consumed.

To read more about Holy Theophany, go here.

Annual Parish Liturgical Calendar published

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Worship is the central focus to the life of an Orthodox Christian parish, especially corporate worship.

With the coming of the ecclesiastical new year on September 1, St. Paul’s has published the parish’s festal liturgical calendar for the 2015-2016 liturgical year. In addition to the full slate of services for the Great Feasts, the fasts (including Great Lent), and Holy Week, the parish will be adding some additional festal celebrations to those already being celebrated, especially for saints’ days.

This should assist in planning personal calendars in synch with the liturgical calendar.

Download the entire 2015-2016 calendar at this link (legal sized PDF).

The above calendar represents festal and other special services. The schedule is subject to minor revisions. Always check the weekly bulletin and parish website for the most up-to-date calendar. If you would like services for your nameday or another feast celebrated that you do not see here, talk to Fr. Andrew.

See the live, always updated parish Google calendar here.

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