{"id":6394,"date":"2017-12-26T14:27:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T19:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/?p=6394"},"modified":"2017-12-26T14:27:46","modified_gmt":"2017-12-26T19:27:46","slug":"st-peter-newsletter-december-26-2017-apodosis-of-nativity-st-stephen-liturgy-coming-of-theophany-st-basils-liturgy-january-1-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/st-peter-newsletter-december-26-2017-apodosis-of-nativity-st-stephen-liturgy-coming-of-theophany-st-basils-liturgy-january-1-more\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Peter Newsletter December 26, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!<\/h2>\n

Sunday before Theophany of Christ
\nApodosis (Leavetaking) of the Nativity of Christ<\/h2>\n

Venerable Melania the Younger of Rome; Hieromartyr Zotikos of Rome, the friend of
\norphans; Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid<\/h4>\n
\n\"The<\/p>\n

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is an Apodosis (or Leavetaking)?<\/h4>\n

The the apodosis (also called leavetaking) is the final day a feast is celebrated in the Church. On the apodosis, most elements of the festal services are appointed to be served again. An afterfeast is a period of time following certain major feasts of the Christian year during which the feast continues to be celebrated. The liturgical life of the Church reflects this extended celebration by continuing to express the themes of the feast in the divine services celebrated during the afterfeast.<\/p>\n

Source: Orthodoxwiki<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr (First Martyr) Divine Liturgy on December 26 at 6:30pm<\/h2>\n
\n\"The\n<\/div>\n

St. Stephen was a Jew living in the Hellenic provinces, related to the Apostle Paul and one of the first seven deacons ordained by the Apostles to serve the Church in Jerusalem (thus making him an Archdeacon). In the words of Asterias: St Stephen was “the starting point of the martyrs, the instructor of suffering for Christ, the foundation of righteous confession, since Stephen was the first to shed his blood for the Gospel.”<\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit worked powerfully through his faith, enabling him to perform many miracles and always defeat those who would dispute with him. The Jews in their hatred of St. Stephen lied about him to the people, but St. Stephen with his face illumined reminded the people of the miracles God had worked through him and even rebuked the Jews for killing the innocent Christ.<\/p>\n

The people were enraged by what they thought was blasphemy and ‘gnashed their teeth’ at Stephen. It was then that he saw his Christ in the heavens and declared it so. Hearing this, they took him outside the city and stoned him to death, with his kinsman Saul (later St. Paul) holding their coats while they did it. Afar off on a hill was the Virgin Mary and St. John the Theologian who witnessed this first martyrdom for the Son of God and prayed for him while he was being stoned. This occurred about a year after the first Pentecost.<\/p>\n

Source: OrthodoxWiki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

St. Basil and Circumcision of Christ Divine Liturgy on Monday, January 1, 2018 at 9:00am<\/h2>\n
\n\"The\n<\/div>\n

Basil was born about 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia. While still a child, the family moved to Pontus; but he soon returned to Cappadocia to live with his mother’s relations, and seems to have been brought up by his grandmother Macrina. Eager to learn, he went to Constantinople and spent four or five years there and at Athens, where he had the future emperor Julian for a fellow student and became friends with Gregory the Theologian.<\/p>\n

It was at Athens that he seriously began to think of religion, and resolved to seek out the most famous hermit saints in Syria and Arabia, in order to learn from them how to attain enthusiastic piety and how to keep his body under submission by asceticism.<\/p>\n

After this we find him at the head of a convent near Arnesi in Pontus, in which his mother Emily, now a widow, his sister Macrina and several other ladies, gave themselves to a pious life of prayer and charitable works. Basil sided with those who overcame the aversion to the homoousios in common opposition to Arianism, thus drawing nearer to Saint Athanasius the Great.<\/p>\n

He was ordained presbyter of the Church at Caesarea in 365, and his ordination was probably the result of the entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors, who wished to use his talents against the Arians, who were numerous in that part of the country and were favoured by the Arian emperor, Valens, who then reigned in Constantinople.<\/p>\n

Read St. Basil’s full biography on the Orthodoxwiki website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

Living the Orthodox Faith Class Continues Wednesday, January 10 at 7:00pm<\/h2>\n

“Living the Orthodox Faith” will look at why our Church does things the way it does, and how to do it properly. We will learn about the sign up the cross, how to enter the Church properly (candles and veneration), how to make a home altar, and more. This is a very practical class, not theological as much as how to live the Orthodox life as an Orthodox Christian.<\/p>\n

Can’t make the class? Join in on Facebook Live<\/a>! You can also view last week’s class too. <\/p>\n

Classes will be suspended during the Nativity and Theophany Season and resume in early January.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

Calendar At A Glance<\/h2>\n

December<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nativity (Christmas) Worship Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n