Happy New Year!! Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the beginning of the new Ecclesiastical Year and also, the day of the protection of our natural environment. The Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1. This was the custom of the Empire in Constantinople until its fall in 1453. September 1 is still festively celebrated as the Ecclesiastical New Year in all Orthodox Churches. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, our Mother Church, which we are honoured to belong to, conducts the indiction ceremony, (an ancient Roman and Byzantine tradition that was carried out by the Emperors) on the 1st of September every year. The church service for January 1 is for our Lord’s Circumcision and for the memorial of Saint Basil the Great, without any mention of it being the beginning of a new year. Also, our mother Church declared and devoted the commencement of the Ecclesiastical year, September 1st, as a day of prayer and supplication for the preservation of God’s creation, our natural environment.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 06:54:33 +0000
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