Christmas Liturgy

[GoingByzantine]

Hello,

So for Christmas (regardless of date) does your church still use the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or do you use the liturgy of Saint Basil instead? I imagine it is different depending on what Eastern Orthodox Church you belong to...but alas I am ignorant.

I have heard most Orthodox Churches use Basil on Christmas, but I have no clue

 

[Anhelyna]

You've actually made me go and look this up

As far as I can see [ but I'm no Liturgist ] it's St John - but the 'Propers' are specific to the Feast of the Nativity.

Having said that - on the whole the congregation are not aware of the differences when St Basil is used during the Sundays of the Great Fast except for the change in the Irmos -when " it is truly right......" is not sung and instead we sing " In you, O Full of Grace ...." .

There are specific times when St Basil is used and one of these is on the Eve of the Feast of the Nativity when a Vesperal Liturgy [ and some shudder at the thought of this ] is served which is indeed the Liturgy of St Basil.

Does this help ? Or have I just muddled you all the more.

 

[GoingByzantine]

You've actually made me go and look this up

As far as I can see [ but I'm no Liturgist ] it's St John - but the 'Propers' are specific to the Feast of the Nativity.

Having said that - on the whole the congregation are not aware of the differences when St Basil is used during the Sundays of the Great Fast except for the change in the Irmos -when " it is truly right......" is not sung and instead we sing " In you, O Full of Grace ...." .

There are specific times when St Basil is used and one of these is on the Eve of the Feast of the Nativity when a Vesperal Liturgy [ and some shudder at the thought of this ] is served which is indeed the Liturgy of St Basil.

Does this help ? Or have I just muddled you all the more.

Actually that helped a hack of a lot!

Are the propers longer then normal during the Feast of the Nativity, at my UGCC, during the divine liturgy, the propers don't usually take all that much time.

 

[WisdomTree]

Actually that helped a hack of a lot!

Are the propers longer then normal during the Feast of the Nativity, at my UGCC, during the divine liturgy, the propers don't usually take all that much time.

You Eastern Catholic?

 

[Kristos]

Hello,

So for Christmas (regardless of date) does your church still use the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or do you use the liturgy of Saint Basil instead? I imagine it is different depending on what Eastern Orthodox Church you belong to...but alas I am ignorant.

I have heard most Orthodox Churches use Basil on Christmas, but I have no clue

The liturgics of the Nativity celebration are similar to the Pascha - Royal hours then a Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil on the Eve (which is normally done the morning of the day before), then Liturgy of St John C. on 12/25 (scheduling may vary widely - somewhere between 6pm on 12/24 and 10am on 12/25) Many bishops won't allow the Christmas day liturgy before 10pm. Some parishes may also do Matins before the Christmas Liturgy (which is more correct, but sometimes skipped)

 

[Kristos]

Looking at the OP again - there are some variations if Christmas is on a Monday - in this case the Royal hours is moved to Friday, then the Sunday Resurrectional services are celebrated as usual (with some specifics), Sunday night is Vespers with enhancements (gospel reading etc) but no liturgy - Monday is Liturgy of St Basil for Christmas.

 

[Anhelyna]

Where I will be, we will be having Great Compline followed by the Community Holy Supper on the Eve of Nativity and then St John's Liturgy on Tuesday morning.

Sadly I suspect most of the Community will be at work and their children will have returned to School after the Christmas and New Year Holidays

 

[wynd]

Having said that - on the whole the congregation are not aware of the differences when St Basil is used during the Sundays of the Great Fast except for the change in the Irmos -when " it is truly right......" is not sung and instead we sing " In you, O Full of Grace ...." .

And the priest's prayer in the anaphora is MUCH longer

 

[Anhelyna]

Yes - agreed - that is very very true - but it's a beautiful prayer

 

[ArmyMatt]

The liturgics of the Nativity celebration are similar to the Pascha - Royal hours then a Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil on the Eve (which is normally done the morning of the day before), then Liturgy of St John C. on 12/25 (scheduling may vary widely - somewhere between 6pm on 12/14 and 10am on 12/15) Many bishops won't allow the Christmas day liturgy before 10pm. Some parishes may also do Matins before the Christmas Liturgy (which is more correct, but sometimes skipped)

this is what I have seen for Nativity

 

[Anhelyna]

I must admit that though I know what I'm doing where I will be for Nativity , I still don't know what my own parish will be doing - hopefully Father will tell me this Sunday as I have to prepare the copy of the Propers for the singing rehearsal and that's a bilingual sheet/s

 

[GoingByzantine]

Thank you all for the enlightenment! It's very confusing trying to figure out all the services and feast days etc. especially during this time of year.

 

[Anhelyna]

And when you have to prepare things in a language you don't speak - it's even worse

 

[Joseph Hazen]

Thank you all for the enlightenment! It's very confusing trying to figure out all the services and feast days etc. especially during this time of year.

It really is. I just show up for whatever is on the schedule that I can make.

So, speaking of which, can anybody tell me which service it is where we sing the song that repeats "For God is with us!"? It challenges nations to try to attack us and such, but points out that their attempts are futile, because God is with us? It's one of my favorites, and I can never remember when we sing it except that its near Christmas.

 

[Kristos]

Vespers

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I must admit that though I know what I'm doing where I will be for Nativity , I still don't know what my own parish will be doing - hopefully Father will tell me this Sunday as I have to prepare the copy of the Propers for the singing rehearsal and that's a bilingual sheet/s

Hoping it'd be amazing for ya...

 

[Damaris]

It really is. I just show up for whatever is on the schedule that I can make.

So, speaking of which, can anybody tell me which service it is where we sing the song that repeats "For God is with us!"? It challenges nations to try to attack us and such, but points out that their attempts are futile, because God is with us? It's one of my favorites, and I can never remember when we sing it except that its near Christmas.

It's actually from Great Compline, which is done in parishes on Christmas Eve, and during the first week of Great Lent.