Web Site Home - Theology Home - Hierarchy Home - Locations Home - Education Home - Stewardship Home - Links Home - Vendors Home - Alphabetical Index Home - Thesaurus Home - Sitemap Home - Arabic fonts Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information CenterGreat Feast of the Nativity According to the Flesh of Holy God the Son within the Holy Trinity / Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ Cycle - Preparation
The article below was written by Rev. Fr. James Graham, Pastor of Saint Elias the Prophet Melkite Greek Catholic Mission, San Jose, CA. The article appeared in THE VOICE OF THE PROPHET, News from St Elias the Prophet Melkite Greek Catholic Mission, Volume 8, Number 12, December 2002. Every Day in December is Preparation for the Nativity of ChristSometimes people ask when Advent begins in our Greek Catholic Church. The answer is that it doesn't, because the Byzantine Church does not celebrate Advent (which means the "coming") as the Latin Church does. ¡ However, in our tradition, the preparation for the Nativity of Christ begins 40 days before Christmas, with the Nativity Fast that begins on 15 November. When the Melkite Church transferred the beginning of the fast to 10 December, we lost an aspect of tradition that emphasized the importance of Christmas by assigning it a preparatory fasting period as long as the Great Lent that comes before Easter. ¡ But when we look at the weeks leading up to the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord on 25 December, we can see a pattern of spiritual and liturgical preparation that in some ways resembles the Western churches' Advent season. From 26 November, 30 days before Christmas, we sing the Kontakion of the Preparation for Christmas at every Sunday and feast-day liturgy. This Kontakion tells us, "Today the Virgin is on her way to the cave where she will give birth to the Eternal Word of God in an ineffable manner. Rejoice, therefore, O Universe, when you hear this news, and glorify, with the angels and the shepherds, Him who shall appear as new child, being God from all eternity." ¡ Commemorations of Old Testament Prophets (Nahum on 1 December, Habakkuk on the 2nd, Zephaniah on the 3rd, Haggai on the 16th, and Daniel and the Three Holy Youths Ananias, Azarias, and Mizael on the 17th) and the Ancestors of Christ (on the Second Sunday before Christmas) remind us that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the fulfillment of God's promises to His chosen people. The feast of the Maternity of Anne (the Conception of the Mother of God) shows us how God employs ordinary human beings to fulfill His Plan of Salvation. The reading of the Genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:1-25) on the Sunday before Christmas connects Jesus even more intimately with God's people, all the way back to the Patriarch Abraham, the "Father of Many Nations." ¡ In the Troparion for the Paramony of the Nativity (24 December), we sing "Christ is born to renew the likeness that had been lost of old." The coming of the Son of God into the world as a human person, we sing in the Troparion of Christmas, "has shed the light of knowledge upon the world. Through it, those who had worshipped stars learned through a star to worship You, O Sun of Justice, and to recognize You as the One who comes and rises from on high." We recognize and worship Jesus the Messiah, not as a baby, but as the new Adam, the perfect man, and the Light of the world. Kontakion, Troparion, Exapostilarion, and Vespers Sticheron or Doxastikon26 Nov. - 24 Dec., at every Sunday and feast-day liturgy.Kontakion of the Preparation (Tone 3) December 20, Feast of the PreparationTroparion (TONE 4) FastingThe Pre-Nativity Fast has Fasting Guidelines
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