Christ is Born!
This week’s vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Halia Lodynsky and family in memory of Stefan Jurchak.
Schedule for New Years, Epiphany and Christmas (Julian Calendar).
- New Year’s Day: 10:00 a.m. The Divine Liturgy
- Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ—January 6: 9:15 a.m. Great Compline and at 10:00a.m. The Divine Liturgy; 11:00 a.m. Great Sanctification of Water
- Christmas (Julian Calendar) —January 7: 9:45a.m. Great Compline and 10:30 a.m. The Divine Liturgy
Merry Christmas to all of our parishioners. May the blessings of the Christ Child be upon you and your families this Christmas and throughout the New Year!
With the upcoming Holidays of Christmas, New Year and Epiphany our best wishes to our bishop His Excellency Paul Chomnycky our Parishioners, Trustees, Choir Director and members of the church choir, Altar Boys, Knights of Columbus members, Sestretsi members, all Ukrainian and American Organizations in our parish, all benefactors and members of our parish that every day donate their time, work and money for good of our Church.
May the new born Jesus Christ bless our Parish.
Fr. Iura Godenciuc and Family
All donations and contributions must be received by Wednesday, December 25th to be recorded on the annual statement for the year 2019.
The Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Branch 108 New Haven and St. Michael Parish will be preparing a Prosphora, a traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal, on Sunday, January 19, after the only one Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, free for students Ridna Shkola and altar boys. We will be running a raffle. Please donate items for raffle and cakes for desert. You can buy tickets after each Divine Liturgy in the church hall or contact Anna Salemme 203-934-6520, or purchase tickets at SUMA credit Union.
The Ukrainian Ridna Shkola invites children young and old to its annual St. Nicholas pageant on Sunday, December 29th at 12:30 p.m. in St. Michael’s church hall, 569 George street, New Haven. Come greet St. Nicholas on the eve of the Christmas holidays. Refreshments and gifts for all. Meet our teachers and visit our classrooms during our open house.
The Feast of the Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Children [in the fiery furnace] has always been closely connected with Christmas. Proper for them are found on the two Sunday before Christmas and today we sing, “Come, O faithful, let us celebrate the forefeast of the birth of Christ; offering a spiritual canticle by way of a star. Let us join the Magi and shepherds in their hymns of praise: Behold, the Savior has come from a virgin’s womb to call back to himself the whole human race.”
The prophet Haggai, in 520 B.C., preached that the temple must be rebuilt for the sake of the faith of the people. In this way he foreshadowed that Jesus, the Messiah to come, would be the Temple of the New Covenant in his body. His birth, then, is the completion of God’s promise to make his dwelling among his people.
St. Spiridon is commemorated with special solemnity in the Greek Church. The Synaxarion tells us, that “he led the peaceful life of a simple shepherd. He was a plain, unpolished countryman and yet without equal when it came to love of neighbor, meekness, acts of kindness, almsgiving and the practice of virtues.” He was a man of hospitality, who would break his ascetic fast to feed a stranger in need. He was a man of simple and plain words, who put to shame the vain eloquence of a prelate “who wanted to show off by altering certain words of the Gospel too common for his taste.” He was a perfect example of a saint, for through him the love of Christ manifested itself, raising the dead, stopping droughts, looking into the hearts of sinners and forgiving them. Because of his Christ-like virtues, he was called from being a shepherd of sheep in the field, to being the bishop pastor of Christ’s rational sheep in Tremithus. In this way, he was the fulfillment of the shepherds who came to Christ at his birth.
December 8 (December 9) THE MATERNITY OF THE HOLY ANNA