In addition to all the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemorate our Savior’s entry into the synagogue in Nazareth, where He was given the book of the Prophet Isaiah to read, and He opened it and found the place where it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for which cause He hath anointed Me…” (Luke 4:16-30).

It should be noted that to the present day, the Eastern Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1. September 1 is still festively celebrated as the New Year at the Patriarchate of Constantinople; among the Jews also the New Year, although reckoned according to a moveable calendar, usually falls in September.

What is the Liturgical Year?

In a pastoral letter issued at the close of the Second Vatican Council (1965), our bishops, together with Major Archbishop Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, defined the Liturgical Year as “A liturgical cycle of the Universal or some particular Church, that consists of Sundays, weekdays, the feasts of our Lord, the Mother of God, the saints and the periods of fasting and forbidden times.”

The Beginning of the Indiction-A Church Feast

Later, when the first day of September was designated as the beginning of the Church Year, or as it was called in the Church Calendar, the beginning of the “New Year”, it assumed a religious character and became a feast of the Church, i.e., a day which had its own special liturgical service. On this day our Church commemorates the day on which Christ entered the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the scrolls the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord has been given me, for He anointed me. . . to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.” (Luke 4, 18-19)

(edited from various sources, including A Byzantine Rite Liturgical Year by Julian J. Katrij, OSBM translated by Father Demetrius E. Wysochansky, OSBM)

Aster is the flower for the month of September. It is found in a number of colors – pink, red, white, lilac and mauve. The name of the flower which looks like a star is derived from the Greek word for star. The flower symbolizes love, faith, wisdom and color.