Reflections After Serving The Royal Hours of Theophany

I mentioned just before Nativity the price we pay for neglecting daily Services [here]. How else will we be shaped for eternity and gain the Mind of Christ – the Mind of the Church – unless we are at least as exposed to the doctrine of the Church as we pray as we are to the “doctrines” of this world through our exposure to various media. Not to mention the need for this for our children’s sake, with a daily exposure to a world-view that is less than Christian and possibly less than human,  in so-called “children’s television”, on the internet, and in both our public and separate school systems.

This morning at 9 am I was in our simple Temple for the Royal Hours of Nativity, with my dear wife, Khouriya Debbie, at the Reader’s Stand. We exercise the option given us by our bishop to serve all the Hours and the Typica consecutively at the time of the Third Hour, in part because several of our most active parishioners live at a fair distance and it is more likely that that would drive for one Service than four.

Services like The Royal Hours of the Nativity and then, less than 2 weeks later – today – The Royal Hours of the Theophany, expose us to Prophetic readings from the Old Testament which point to the great events of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. They help us to make connections – connections we might never otherwise make – between what was promised by God either through a direct prophecy or through a type, and which has now been fulfilled as witnessed by the New Testament.

“Types” may be persons and/or events in the Old Testament (as with Jonah’s three day “burial” in the great fish) or simply phrases, like this one from the Psalms which is seen to be fulfilled in Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River, and in the Great Sanctification of Water which occurs tonight at the conclusion of the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil for the Theophany:

Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. [Psalm 73/74:13]

When such connections are made, we begin to be able to think with the mind of the Church – the Mind of Christ. With such connections, our Orthodox Christian world-view grows and develops and replaces the decidedly un-Orthodox worldviews prevalent in our society.

The same can be said for Great Vespers or the Vigil Service which is served on the Eve of every Feast. On these Feasts we find Old Testament prophecies which help us to connect with the Feast – not to mention the opportunity of sharing in the Artos Bread which is the tangible representation of the multiplication of God’s blessings:

“in the houses of those who celebrate this feast and in all thy world, and sanctify the faithful who partake of them.”

I love the way our worship enables and makes it possible for us to make these connections and grow in the attainment of the Mind of the Church. I pray for the day when more and more North American Orthodox Faithful will discover the growth that participation in Services like The Royal Hours and the Vespers/Vigil Service of Important Feasts brings to our lives.

Until then, we keep praying – and we keep making these realities available by offering these Services and trying to encourage the Faithful to participate without laying on guilt.

Glory be to Jesus Christ! May His glory be for ever!