Saturday, January 10, 2015

Nativity Sermon and Presentation (song and music) of the Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle

From: info@saintedwardbrotherhood.org
Subject: Fwd: Nativity Sermon and Presentation (song and music) of the Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015
To:

Begin forwarded message:

From: CTOS <
Subject: Nativity Sermon and Presentation (song and music) of the Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle
Date: 9 January 2015

Clergy, Faithful, and Friends of the Metropolis of Etna,

Χριστὸς γεννᾶται! Δοξάσατε! • Христос Рождается! Славите!

Христос се роди! Ваистину се роди! • Hristos se naşte! Slăviţi-L!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

In the spirit of these continuing days of the Nativity Season, which will culminate with the Feast of Light (Ἑορτὴ τῶν Φώτων), Theophany (Epiphany), or the Baptism of Christ, we would like to distribute two items from the website of the Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle, which is headquartered at our Mother Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, just outside Athens, Greece.

I. The first item is a beautiful sermon for the Feast of the Nativity by His Eminence, the Most Rev. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Oropos and Phyle

a. The text in English, translated here at our monastery, may be found at:

http://www.hsir.org/pdfs/2014/01/06/E20140106aMinimaXristougennon2014 Folder/E20140106aMinimaXristougennon2014.pdf

b. The original Greek text may be found at:


II. The second item is a short video of the annual Nativity Program (Χριστουγεννιάτικη Ἐκδήλωσις) of the Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle, featuring the children of the Metropolis, who are students in the schools of iconography, traditional folk music, and chanting at our Mother Monastery. They present a selection of κάλαντα (carols sung from house to house during this Nativity period) that can be found at:


For those without Greek, you can simply forward past the spoken portions and readings. At the beginning of the film you will see Metropolitan Cyprian as he enters the hall, in downtown Phyle, where the program was presented. The musical director is Hieromonk Dionysios, a gifted musicologist, chanter, and musician, who is the First Psalte[i]s (Cantor or Chanter) of our Mother Monastery's choir, which is well known in Greece.

We convey to the blessings of His Eminence, Metropolitan Chrysostomos and His Grace, Bishop Auxentios, as well as those of our Abbot and brotherhood of the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies.

Report from the loyal ROCA Moscow parish of St. John, for Nativity Services, with Photos

*found on:<http://internetsobor.org<

*humanly smoothed out, descriptional texts, of the machine translation......
 Congratulations With the Feast! and a report from the Nativity services in the ROCA parish of St. John, in  Moscow Author: Rev. Eugene Korjagin incl. January 9, 2015. Published in the ROCA (Views: 61)
Dear in the Lord, archpastors, priests and parishioners of our Russian Orthodox Church living in the Russian homeland and in the Diaspora !
Take our heartfelt congratulations for the grand phenomenon into the world of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the bright days of Christmas is to all of you, have been  days of strengthening in our hearts to His holy will.
I cordially congratulate you all with a joyful Christmas day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With love in Christ, rector and parishioners in honor of St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco.,Moscow Parish.
Eve of the Nativity (Christmas Eve Rozhdestvensky).
Thy Nativity O Christ our God, has shone forth to the world the light of wisdom, for by it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, O Lord, GLORY TO THEE!
Great Compline, Matins and Divine Liturgy in the parish, traditionally at night. At a festive service, the congregation prayed also for the GOC of  Greece.
"Orthodox Bishopric of the persecuted Russian Church, Vladyka Metropolitan Agafangel , to remember his Episcopate  in His kingdom ..."
After the service, the sisterhood of the parish,  treated all to traditional pies[pierogies].. And then, all listened to Christmas kalyadki.[carols[.
On this holiday we  practice singing Christmas carols in English. 
All performers received a "reward" for their work ...
And for the holiday was celebrated Vespers at 15.00 hour.

January 8, we went to the Monastery of the Epiphany, to congratulate the abbot and brothers and our beloved Archbishop  Sophronius, and all brothers and sisters on Christmas. Report on this trip will wait till Sunday.

The Yolka in ROCA's Holy Prophet Elias Parish, in the Vologda region, with photos

found on:http://internetsobor.org

 ROCA: The Yolka-'Christmas tree' party,  in the parish of the Holy Prophet Elijah in ROCA's  Vologda diocese (PHOTOS) Author: Metropolitan Agafangel incl. January 9, 2015. Published in the ROCA (Views: 3)
The Yolka, "Christmas tree" celebration,  in the parish of Holy Prophet Elijah in the Vologda diocese of ROCA.


Friday, January 9, 2015

Weird video of Nativity in recent Bethlehem


A Curious Sharing:-barely controlled semi-chaos: A Glimpse of Orthodox Nativity in Bethlehem A Few Years ago



The services inside the church are chanted  in Greek and Arabic.
The loud  pounding on the floor with their.. threatening ...heavy walking sticks (which can easily be used as clubs on top of unruly heads), is because of the traditional red fez wearing 'Turkish' guardians,  meant  to keep order- a hangover from the Ottoman Empire rule.
Why there is periodic  loud interruptive chanting among the gathered  congregation, while the service or various readings is proceeding, -I do not know.




45 minutes




Thursday, January 8, 2015

**Nativity** Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow: Two Spiritually Nourishing Sermons



Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2015
Subject: **Nativity** Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow: Two Spiritually Nourishing Sermons
From: Sbn. Ilarion Marr
To: 



Sermon on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow, Rector, Holy Trinity Church, Astoria, NY
[which was on the Sunday before the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ] 
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

          I enter the church and hear the hymns of the Church.  Their meaning, their words I repeat as if they were my own.  I am as one with them and share their meaning, as the sacred writer of these prayers expresses thoughts and feelings that I recognize as my own thoughts and feelings.  His writings, though his own, have been accepted as the fabric of Christ’s Church, that is confirmed by Christ.

          Christ accepted them as His own.  Therefore, when I live my life according to the hymns of the Church, I live a life in Christ.  I take joy in the coming feast days.  The Church calls me to this, the Church desires that we rejoice in its feast days. 

          For what reason?  Simply to provide us with pleasure?  No.  That is not enough, it would have no value and not be worthy of the Church.  Our pleasures are transient and ordinary, while the Church is devoted to the eternal and actual.  All the feast days of the Church are filled with one joy or another; complete, sincere, edifying and soul-nurturing.  The joys experienced in one or another historic moment by the more worthy of us.  Those who have joined with Christ and become one with Him, and in so doing, laid the path to Christ for us. 

          In that way the Church desires that we in our commemorations of the feast days experience that which they lived through and join them in what they endured and in that way become one with Christ.  The regimen of the Church is dedicated to that purpose.  A person bound by his body cannot experience that which is experienced by the heavenly angels.  We must try in any way we can to be like them.  That is the purpose of the high moral standards of Christianity, as only the pure in heart will come to see God.  Amen

Nativity Epistle Archpriest Vsevolod Dutikow Rector, Holy Trinity Church, Astoria, NY       
 In the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit,

Dear brothers and sisters!

Our Lord was born on this day, let us rejoice and be glad.  No one may be sad on this day, no matter what sorrow, what loss they may be suffering, for this day is a feast of life for everyone.  Fear of death is no more, because in the love that was revealed to us by Christ there is no fear and He bestows upon us all the joy of eternal life.  Everyone will partake of this joy, for the reason for this joy is shared by all.  May all the saints rejoice today, for this is their day of celebration.  May sinners rejoice, for they are called to receive absolution.  May those who do not know God cease their despair, for they are called to life.  May the angels in their joy become even more joyful and intone “Glory be to God in the highest” and bestow peace on earth to those who love God.

            The love of God, our Savior was revealed to us on this day.  If this had not happened, we would not know of God’s ways in this world and His intentions for mankind.  What is left to us as we stand in this church bright as the sky and in this world dark as hell?  We must confess that the Nativity of Christ is that of God.  We may not separate ourselves from the world, as God sent His Son to save this world.  No matter how disfigured this world is by sin, we may not despise nor avoid it.  No matter what may happen in this world, it is still the world which He created and which He loves so much that He came to save it.  We must be a part of it and toil and pray and confess that God is present in it.

            May we never forget that to be a Christian means to be with Christ and to go with Him to the poor and bear their joys and pains.  May we learn to pray such a prayer so that the prayer may reveal to us the sufferings of mankind and that these sufferings, when we share them, be illuminated by the light of the Nativity night and the dawn of the Resurrection.  The Nativity of Christ is called the Pascha of the Lord by the Holy Church.  We understand God as we have never understood Him before and we understand mankind as we could never have even imagined.

            The miracle of the Nativity of this Child, whom the Mother of God holds in Her embrace, is that God and man became one.

            Amen.

festal Greetings


 For the celebration of The Nativity In The Flesh, of Our Lord, God, and Saviour, JESUS CHRIST, the God-Man



And, festal Greetings to all on this great holy day!
S' Prasnecum!
Rd. Daniel Everiss in Oregon

Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2015 09:51:10 -0500
Subject: The Nativity of Christ-Bishop Alexander [ROCA-reposed 2005]
From: Sbn. Ilarion Marr
To:



Christ Is Born! Glorify Him!
 
The Nativity
of Christ
The Great Mystery of Piety
Bishop Alexander (Mileant).
Translated by Seraphim Larin and Daniel Olson



Friday, January 2, 2015

As Languages Change


(humour in the real life category)- The EU will abandon its other optional choice of German to a phonetic shortened, "English" as its official language (or will it?)-



 Subject: As Languages Change ...
The next to the last sentence is precious!


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. 

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English". 

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c".. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. 

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. 

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. 

By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". 

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl. 

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. 

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. 

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.