Advent, 2004

The Church Year and the Advent of Christ

Following upon our Sundays of the Holy Cross , which recapitulate our communion in the graces of the Resurrection, we arrive at The Sunday of Sanctification of the Church, Koodhosh Eetho. Here begins the Oriental Orthodox Church's liturgical year of seasons and feasts -- on the 8th Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord.

This 8-week period is our Advent -- and thus the birth of the liturgical year is a typos of the birth of Christ in history.

We commonly regard the 12 days of Christmas, from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6, as the summit of the feast. But the Oriental liturgical calendar, beginning as it does on the first Sunday of Advent, provides us a sign that the entire "Anno Domini, the Year of the Lord" belongs to all the Mysteries of Christ revealed in His birth in Bethlehem.

The Scriptures proclaimed in the Sanctification Sunday liturgy announce the Mysteries of the Kingdom, and over the coming Sundays we encounter preparations of the New Israel in our own lives and the whole of salvation history. Each Gospel reveals a particular dimension of the indwelling and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, a particular typos of Pentecost:

Sanctification Sunday (Koodhosh Eetho)
Dedication & Renewal Sunday (Hoodhosh Eetho)
Annunciation to St. Zechariah
Annunciation to St. Mary
St. Mary visits St. Elizabeth
Birth of St. John the Baptist
Annunciation to St. Joseph
Sunday of the Genealogy of Christ
Christmas

May the Spirit prepare our hearts in faith, hope, and charity~
Fr. Michael +