Today is the beginning of the
Pre-Feast of Christmas – that is to say, the time when we get even more serious
about our preparation for the celebration of the Holy Nativity of our Lord,
God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It’s sad that so many Orthodox
Christians only experience the most difficult part of the Pre-Feast – the ascetical
discipline – the intensifying of the Nativity Fast. Most of the Nativity Fast
is fairly relaxed when compared to the requirements of Great Lent, but these
last four days, December 20th through the 23rd, along
with the Paramon – Christmas Eve – are as strict as any Lenten days.
Today at Orthros there were
Sessional Hymns (Kathismata), a Canon by St. Romanos the Melodist, hymns at The
Praises, and Aposticha hymns dedicated to the Pre-Feast, that is, dedicated to
helping the ordinary Christian (there really are no other kinds) enter into the
joy of the days leading up to the celebration of Nativity.
Proceed, O angelic powers!
go to Bethlehem; prepare the manger,
for the Word cometh to be
born.
Wisdom proceedeth from the mouth
of the most high!
Receive, O Church of God, the
announcement of salvation;
enter into the joy of the Theotokos!
Let us sing with gladness, O
people:
Blessed is He Who cometh: O our God, glory to Thee!
Out of Jacob the star ariseth,
illumining the cave!
Come, let us celebrate in
anticipation!
Let us run with the Magi;
let us assemble with the
shepherds;
let us see God wrapped in
swaddling clothes;
let us behold the Virgin giving
milk to the Lord!
O fearful sight!
Christ the King of Israel,
draweth near!
Let the hills drop down sweetness
from on high!
Behold, God cometh from the dark
and shady mountain!
Let the nations submit themselves!
Rejoice, O prophets; leap for
joy, O patriarchs;
dance, O families of the
nations,
Christ, the great Ruler, cometh
to be born;
the King of heaven appeareth on
earth!
Let us rise up from the
earth!
He Who fashioned mortals cometh
now to renew His royal image!
Rejoice and make merry, ye powers on high!
The
light dawns for those who await salvation!
The middle wall of partition shall
be destroyed!
Christ, the King of Israel,
draweth near!
December
20 - Praises at Orthros
I left Orthros this morning with a sense
of lightness that I don’t usually associate with strict fasting days. That
sense of lightness came from having sung these wonderful hymns in preparation
for the Feast. There is a sense of being able to endure anything for the sake
of the joy that is coming on the 25th and which, even now in the
Pre-Feast, has begun.
Today is also the Feast of St.
Ignatius the God-bearer of Antioch.
He, too, knew what it was to endure suffering for the sake of the joy that was
set before him. Because he was united to Christ our God he no longer feared
death – even death at the hands of sinful men enacted by the teeth and claws of
wild beasts. His hymns – Sessional Hymns and a Canon – bear witness to his joy
in Christ Jesus, a joy which turned away fear and displaced pain and suffering.
In several of his hymns he is compared to the Holy Spostle St. Paul, who penned
these words:
Wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews
12. 1-2
May we be filled with joy even before the joy of the Nativity, for He comes that we may know joy that has no end. Glory be to God!
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