Thank you for all your prayers and concern for me and my back. I feel a lot better for going to the chiropractor, I am off to the orthopedist in a little bit. Tomorrow is Theophany and I plan to blog about this feast that celebrates the baptism of Christ. On Sunday our parish will have a blessing of the waters service at a local lake, we are also planning a nice little party to follow. Pray for our little parish here, we have gone through a lot of trials and tribulations in the past two years, we are hoping to continue to grow. We still have a lot of work to do and I feel like our small parish could really be a beacon of spirituality and help the greater community, we just need more people coming to church regularly and being committed to this vision. Before I blog about Theophany I wanted to share with you another feast that occurred on Jan. 1. (I blogged earlier about Jan.1 ) In a lot of on line Christian circles, I often read about people looking for ways to celebrate the Biblical feasts. In the Orthodox Church we celebrate and remember all of the events of Christ’s life and death and His Saints. In doing so year after year we come to a better understanding of the life and death of Christ and grow closer to Him. Note that this celebration takes place on the 8th day of Christmas, the 8th day being one of the 12 days of Christmas. Have a blessed day everyone! Thanks again for all your prayers! 
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The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
On the eighth day after His Nativity, our Lord Jesus Christ, in accordance with the Old Testament Law, was circumcised, as were all male infants as a sign of the Covenant of God with the Forefather Abraham and his descendants (Gen 17:10-14, Lev 12:3).
After this ritual the Divine Infant was given the name Jesus, as the Archangel Gabriel declared on the day of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos (Luke 1:31-33, 2:21). The Fathers of the Church explain that the Lord, the Creator of the Law, underwentcircumcision in order to give people an example how faithfully the divine ordinances ought to be fulfilled. The Lord was circumcised so that later no one would doubt that He had truly assumed human flesh, and that His Incarnation was not merely an illusion, as certain heretics (Docetists) taught.
In the New Testament, the ritual of circumcision gave way to the Mystery of Baptism, which it prefigured (Col 2:11-12). Accounts of the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord continue in the Eastern Church right up through the fourth century. The Canon of the Feast was written by St Stephen of the St Sava Monastery (October 28 and July 13).
In addition to circumcision, which the Lord accepted as a sign of God’s Covenant with mankind, He also received the Name Jesus (Savior) as an indication of His service, the work of the salvation of the world (Mt 1:21; Mk 9:38-39, 16:17; Luke 10:17; Acts 3:6, 16; Phil 2:9-10). These two events, the Lord’s Circumcision and Naming, remind Christians that they have entered into a New Covenant with God and “are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Col 2:11). The very name “Christian” is a sign of mankind’s entrance into a New Covenant with God. |
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Comments (12)
Good news about your back and your chiropractor visit. Anything related to the back or spinal cord can affect your entire life – every breath you take, every step you make, every lift or sit or standing – you feel its effects. I express the same point of view about our small parish as you do, a few more people fully committed could make all the difference in encouragement and spiritual fervor. Praying for you and your small congregation from us and our small congregation. The season surrounding Theophany is rich with depth and relevance for a Christian in the 21st century. It can be very easy to separate ourselves from the fact that Christ was truly and properly God and truly and properly man. His alignment with humans in this way honors life, honors God’s impact on own life. God honors life today, not just 2000 years ago, and His activity is felt and His compassion is expressed and His Will is accomplished.
Biblical feasts celebrated with home tradition helps tie the bond tightly to the heart – this is special, this is loving, this is celebrating, this is God in my family. Enjoy your day and thank you for your provactive posts and informative connection.
I’m so sorry your back is flaring up again! :( I’m glad you found that studio – hope it works. Let us know what you think about the reformer.
re today’s post – I remember you blogging 2 years ago about all the feastdays and the rhythm of the church. This really piqued my interest in the Orthodox church. I love this built in way of remember all the important events. It’s also a constant reminder to me of who I am supposed to be in Christ without inducing guilt. I can’t wait for Theophany and I get my first bottle of holy water!
ryc: Thanks so much for your thoughts and sharing your own success – congrats! =) I think everyone has a different approach to weight loss and it’s inspiring to hear how we all go about it. It has taken me much longer to lose but I know that slow & steady can get me to the goal as well, so I just keep trekking along. I think it’s true that I’m photogenic, plus I know which angles flatter, haha.
Thanks for the nice compliment though and good luck on the journey!
I pray your back gets better.
I hope you can get some relief from your back pain soon! I have benefitted greatly from chiropractic work, but exercise is the best prevention I have found.
It’s funny you should mention Biblical Feasts, I was just having a discussion with someone on what those are and why we no longer celebrate the ones given in the Old Testament. I am looking forward to my first home blessing tomorrow!
Our church is doing the Blessing of the Waters Saturday. Sunday is our Vasilopita luncheon. I guess we always do it a week late, for whatever reason. Still, it was fun last year, and I’m looking forward to going again this year. Cade has agreed to stay for the lunch, too. Yay!
I plan to go to choir practice this Sunday, which should mark the beginning of my joing the choir. It’s been almost a year since I first spoke to the choir director about it, but I said I needed to wait until I wasn’t taking grad classes, and this is my first semester off since then. Double yay!
Get well soon. Courage about your church situation. My dad always said, “God’s not worried!”
Thanks Tamara! Your dad is exactly right and I am not worried too, I just have to learn to that my will isn’t necessarily God’s will. I had a MRI today and should know more next week. He did on the x-rays he could see some arthritis in my back.
Most Philoptochos do the Vasilopita sometime in Jan, ours isn’t until the following week. The Vasilopita is a big annual and national fund raiser of the Philoptochos for St. Basil’s Academy – the orphanage in NY. They want to make sure and do it when the Church is most populated. Hope you like the choir! Also will your church do an outside blessing of the waters too, like the cross being thrown in the water to be retrieved?
ryc: My chiro does things a little differently (all of them do). I don’t get the electrode therapy, I get massage therapy. I usally get a half hour before I go in and get adjusted. My chiro will ‘adjust’ me differently every time depending on how I am feeling that day. Generally, I go once a month. More as needed. In the beginning after my car accident, I was going three times a week. I did that for many months, then twice a week, once a week, etc. As I felt better I could go longer. Now it’s been 4 years since the accident, and getting therapy and adjusted once a month seems to keep it in check. I don’t hardly ever use medicine at all anymore. But every once in awhile, I will have a flair up, and have to go in more often. It’s been so long now that I can tell when I ‘need’ it. Hope that helps!
RYC: Our church does it inside. At least, any of the services I’ve been to were inside. They use the baptismal font to do it.
Thanks Becky, that does help! I am looking forward to going back on Tuesday. Whatever he did last night made me feel better. I liked those electrodes and the heat. I am looking forward to seeing what the MRI says. At my last MRI in 2003 I had two herniated disks. I am going to start a steroid treatment for a week and go to the chiro. I don’t like to take things if I don’t have too, I just want to get to the root of the problem and see if I can heal it. I am glad you are doing so well after 4 years. Thanks be to God!
Christ is Baptized!
I hope your back lasted well through the services. I had a major debilitating back injury two years ago. Couldn’t walk for 3 weeks etc. Take care of it!!
In Christ,
maria.
So sorry about your back. I’m glad the chiropracter is helping.
I just love your userpic. What a beautiful family you all are!