Sunday after Christmas: Commemorating of David, Joseph and James

On this Sunday, we commemorate three men who had a relationship with Jesus: David, his forefather; Joseph, his foster father; and James, his brother through Joseph. Each of these man were shown mercy by God. David committed a great sin, to win the wife of Uriah, he had Uriah put into the front lines of battle, so that he was killed. The prophet Nathan brought this sin to light and David did repentance and lost his son.

Joseph found Mary pregnant and decided to divorce her, but an angel told him to take her as his wife. James was among Jesus’ relatives who did not accept him as a prophet, but after the resurrection, he repented and became the leader of the church at Jerusalem.

We might remember also three women who were among Jesus’ foremothers. Rachel was the wife of Jacob, who loved her more than Leah. However, when Jacob worked for seven years for Laban to win Rachel’s hand, Laban insisted he marry his eldest daughter Leah. Jacob then worked another seven years for Rachel. However, Rachel was barren until finally she gave birth to Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Jacob took his family and fled Laban, and Rachel stole Laban’s family icons. When Laban caught up with Jacob, Jacob cursed the thief of his icons, not knowing that it was his beloved wife Rachel. The curse was fulfilled when Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Rachel is mentioned in today’s Gospel as weeping when the children of Bethlehem are massacred by King Herod, but the gospel says, “no comfort for her, for they are no more.”

We might also mention Ruth, who was a foreigner – like the Magi. She married a Hebrew man from Bethlehem who died, and Ruth followed her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem, and there tricked Boaz into marriage, becoming the great-grandmother of David and ancestor of our Lord.

We might also mention Tamar, who lost her husband, whose brother refused to have children by her. She disguised herself as a prostitute and became pregnant with her father-in-law, Judah, who wanted to have her executed for prostitution until he was shown to be the father. So she, too, became an ancestor of Jesus through trickery.

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Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Sunday, 12/31/17 Sunday after Christmas —Commemoration of the Holy and Righteous Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God; Saint David the King
9:00 a.m. +Michael Lipcan requested by Barbara and Patrick Bagley
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Galatians 1:11:19
Gospel: Matthew 2:13-23, Tone 5

Monday, 1/01/18 Circumcision of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ; Saint Basil the Great —New Year’s Day

10:45 a.m. Lytija and Blessing of Bread
11:00 a.m. For the people of the parish
~at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy there will be a Myrovannia (anointing with oil)

Tuesday, 1/02/18 Holy Father Sylvester, Pope of Rome
9:00 a.m.  God’s blessing and health for Ulana and Volodymyr Zinych and family

Wednesday, 1/03/18 Holy Prophet Malachi
9:00 a.m. +Paraskevia Paluha requested by Jaroslaw Paluha

Thursday, 1/04/18 Synaxis of the Seventy Holy Apostles
9:00 a.m. +Theodore and Ellen Paluha requested by Jaroslaw Paluha

Friday, 1/05/18 Vigil of Theophany; Holy Martyr Theopemptus and Theonas

Saturday, 1/06/18 Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ
9:15 a.m. Great Compline
10:00 a.m. For the people of the parish
~Great Sanctification of Water AND at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy there will be a Myrovannia (anointing with oil)

Sunday, 1/07/18 Sunday after Theophany —Synaxis of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
9:00 a.m. +Mychajlo Kuchnij requested by Jaroslaw Paluha

Nativity of the Lord (Julian Calendar Christmas)

9:45 a.m. Great Compline
10:30 a.m.  For the people of the parish
~at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy there will be a Myrovannia (anointing with oil)

(Readings for Sunday after Theophany)
Epistle: Ephesians  4:7:13
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17, Tone 6

Parish Announcements this week

Christ is born!

VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Barbara and Patrick Bagley in memory of Michael Lipcan, Sr.

AFTER DIVINE LITURGY: Dear parishioners and guests, after each Divine Liturgy, coffee and hard rolls are available in the church hall.

SOROKOUSTY: The Memorial Service for All Souls will be observed on February 3 and 17, March 3 and 10,  and May 19. Please take your book of names found at the entrance of the church, fill it out, place it in envelope and drop it in the collection basket. Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!

Know your Catholic Faith: Christ Our Pascha, the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, is now available online in English, www.royaldoors.net

KOLIADA: Dear parishioners, in this week’s bulletin you will find special Koliada Envelops. If you would like to make a donation to the Koliada (Ukrainian Christmas Carols), please enclose your donation, write your name on the envelope and drop the envelope into the collection basket during the Divine Liturgies. Thank You!

KofC: The Knights of Columbus Blessed Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Ukrainian Council will hold its next regular meeting on Monday, January  8, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the church hall. All men of parish are invited to attend to see what the Knights are all about and what they do and what you can do with them for your parish.

St. Michael’s parish and UNWLA Branch 108 will hold its annual PROSFORA, traditional Christmas luncheon on Sunday, January 21, 2018. On that day we will celebrate only one Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, free for children Ridna Shkola and altar servers. We will be running a raffle. Please donate items for raffle and sweet for coffee.

VETERANS POST 33: The next meeting of the Ukrainian-American Veteran Bishop John Stock Post 33 of N.H. will be held on Sunday, January 28, 2018, church hall, classroom 2 immediately following the second Divine Liturgy. For more information, contact the Post Commander Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076 or crharv384@optimum.net

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Blessed Hryhoriy Khomyshyn

Blessed Hryhoriy Khomyshyn was the Eparchial Bishop of Stanislaviv (modern day eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk), Ukraine. Arrested for his faith twice by the Soviet secret police; deported to NKVD prison in Kiev, Ukraine. The Bishop died in prison and considered a martyr.

During the 1930s, Khomyshyn was responsible for organizing the Ukrainian Catholic People’s Party, which briefly held seats in the Sejm and Senate. He is noted as being one of only a handful of members of the Catholic hierarchy in interwar Poland to publicly oppose anti-Semitism; his tolerance towards Galician Jews.

Khomyshyn was first arrested in 1939 by the NKVD. A critic of the Soviet system, having called the occupying forces “fierce beasts animated by the devil,” he was arrested again in April 1945, and was then deported to Kiev. In prison, he was tortured and advised to renounce the Union of Brest, which he refused to do.

He died in the Lukyanivska Prison hospital (Kiev) on 17 January 1947. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 27 June 2001, as one of Mykolai Charnets’kyi and the 24 companion martyrs.

Blessed Hryhoriy Khomyshyn pray for us, our parish, and Greek Catholic Church.

Synaxis of the Theotokos

Many Byzantine feasts have a commemoration on the day after a great feast called a “synaxis,” that is, an “assembly” or “gathering” in honor of one who participated in the feast. No more honorable person could ever be found than the holy Lady, the Mother of God.

This feast of her Synaxis was actually the most ancient, the first, celebration of her memory on the church calendar, because her giving birth to the Son of God was truly her greatest glory. It was by her free will, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38),” that our God and Creator became one of us. It was certainly her joy that she gave birth to this child, but we commemorate on this day all the suffering she bore because of her choice, the near repudiation by Joseph, the persecution of her son by Herod, causing them to flee for their lives to Egypt, until, at the end, she had to endure seeing her beloved son crucified as a common criminal on the cross. So Simeon the prophet told her, “ “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)” Truly, she became by her suffering an intercessor with her Son.

We must ask if we are prepared, as St. Paul, who wrote “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body. (Colossians 1:24)” We also have the comfort of knowing, if we unite our will with that of Mary, that we, too, can become bearers of God through Communion in his Body and Blood by our own free will.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Christmas

The Christmas Day Liturgy Gospel is the story of the Magi, the astrologers from Persia, who discover the birth of the King of Kings by observing the stars. In this way, they are brought from the pagan superstition to worship of the one true God.
 
The Christmas Troparion is about these Magi: “Your birth, O Christ our God, has shed upon the world the light of knowledge; for through it, those who worshipped the stars have learned from a star to worship you, the Sun of Justice, and to know you, the Dawn from on High. Glory to you, O Lord!”
 
The psalms of the antiphons are chosen both because they are together in the Book of Psalms (Psalms 109-110-111) and because they shine light on the feast. The Entrance Hymn, Psalm 109:3-4) are a prophecy of Christ, “From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you. The Lord has sworn and he will not repent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedek.” Of Melchisedek, because, as the Vigil Ambon Prayer says, Christ is “without father (according to the flesh), without mother or ancestry (in his eternal birth from the Father, though he is born of a virgin mother, and of the house of David).
 
The Ambon Prayer explains, “For in your eternal birth a woman had no part, nor a man in your becoming flesh in time.” People today sometimes have an “allergic reaction” against dogma, but this dogma tells us what the birth of Christ means for us. It is, as St. Paul tells us, “Christ in you, the hope for glory. (Colossians 1:27)” We all come from a human father and mother, we all have a human ancestry, but our lives are limited by these circumstances. We come into the world by birth from a mother, and in the end we all must die, but the birth of Christ now gives an infinite value to the lives of each and every one of us. Psalm 86, sung at the Royal Hours, proclaims, “Zion shall be called ‘Mother’, for all (each and everyone of us) shall be her children (we are children of the one God).” The Psalm continues “It is he, the Lord Most High, who gives each his place. In his register of peoples he writes ’These are her children.’” The census of Jerusalem at the birth of Christ is thus made eternal.
 
We are all now “Christians,” registered in the name of Christ forever. Christmas, therefore, is a baptismal feast, for by baptism we are registered in the name of God, “the servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” At this Liturgy, then, we sing “All you who have been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ!” Truly “Alleluia!” Melchisedek also means that Christ is our High Priest. It is he alone who mediates between God and humankind, he alone is the Savior who reconciles God and humankind, and he offered the one true sacrifice, now and forever. We see his sacrifice in his death on the Cross and his Resurrection, for sacrifices do not end in annihilation, but in life. Christ’s sacrifice as the one High Priesthood, in which we all share, brings life, and it begins today, for in his very coming into this world, the sacrifice is initiated. Today, he begins to offer himself to the Father, as he prays before his passion, “not my will, but yours be done, O Father.” This is why the dogma that he is “the Transcendent One,” the “Unapproachable,” now made approachable as a homeless Baby in the cave, is essential to an understanding of the feast. It is the way we “come to share in the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)” Christ comes from eternity, “from before the morning star,” he alone is the light of the world, “the Dawn from on High.” All of this, in every detail, is reaffirmed in the Epistle, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7)
 
The Ambon Prayer is again our profession of faith, “O Christ our God, from before all ages, you shone forth from the eternal Father and were not liable to suffering.” To the one now, “encompassing all things” in his divinity and making it possible for us to be God-like, (though we were in the image and likeness of God from creation) to the one now born in the cave and wrapped in restricting swaddling clothes, we offer our simple praise, like the gifts “of the praise of the shepherds and the worship and gifts of the Magi.”
 
The worship of the Magi is mentioned first, because although they brought very expensive gifts: gold (because gold was a gift for kings); frankincense (for incense is a gift for priests, who offer incense as a sign of mediation before God), and myrrh (because myrrh was used to bury the dead, and Christ was to die for our salvation), their greatest gift is simply their worship and praise. If we can offer Christ the gift of our faith, this makes the expensive gifts of the Magi mere trifles. “O Son of God, born of the virgin, save us who sing to you, alleluia.”
Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Holy Supper on Christmas Eve

A twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper is traditionally prepared in many Eastern European and Northern European cultures, especially those that were formerly part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian. The meal (Lithuanian: Kūčios, Polish: Wigilia or wieczerza wigilijna, Ukrainian: Свята вечеря, Sviata vecheria) consists of twelve meatless dishes representing the twelve months of the year. The tradition of the supper can be traced back to pre-Christian times and connected with remembrance of the souls of deceased ancestors.

In some parts of Poland a similar tradition of thirteen meatless dishes on Christmas Eve is practiced.

The specific dishes may differ from country to country, but many of them are universal. Due to the Nativity Fast, no meat, eggs or milk (including cheese) are allowed during the supper. Thus fish, mushrooms and various types of grain are the main offerings.

In Poland and Ukraine the supper begins with eating soup. Kutia, poppy milk (aguonų pienas) together with kūčiukai are served as a dessert and forms a significant part of the Lithuanian Christmas Eve menu. Poppy seeds are widely used for Christmas Eve dishes, because they symbolize abundance and prosperity.

Regarding the fish dishes, usually herring, carp or pike are eaten. In Lithuania herring (Lithuanian: silkė) dishes are rich and variable. Usually silkė su morkomis (herring with carrots), or silkė su grybais (herring with mushrooms) are served on Christmas Eve.

Mushrooms, especially dried or pickled, are also one of the main dishes eaten on Christmas Eve. Sauerkraut (Polish: Kiszona kapusta, Russian: Ква́шеная капу́ста, Kváshyenaya kapústa) with wild mushrooms or peas, red borsch, mushroom or fish soups are eaten in Poland and Ukraine.

Boiled or deep fried dumplings (Polish: pierogi, Ukrainian: вареники, varenyky, Lithuanian: auselės) with a wide variety of fillings (including sweet cabbage, mushrooms and crushed poppy seeds), are among the most popular dishes. Doughnuts filled with jam (Polish: pączki, Ukrainian: пампушки, pampushky) are served for a dessert in Ukraine, but in Lithuania sweet dishes are not common, as they are believed inappropriate for the atmosphere of the evening.

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Ukrainian Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a very special celebration for Ukrainians. Many traditions and rituals are observed, and each aspect of Christmas has a special meaning. Everyone is wearing their best clothes and the house has been cleaned top to bottom for the day, although all spider webs are left untouched. Legends about the generosity of spiders at Christmas mean they are not to be disturbed. What else is going on in the house?

Icons and Didukh

Didukh is the Ukrainian name for the wheat sheaf brought into the house on Christmas Eve. It is home for spirits of the ancestors for the season and is made of the very best wheat of the harvest.

Icons are a centerpiece of traditional Ukrainian homes and are usually decorated with rushnyky (embroidered or woven ritual towels). Nativity icons have special significance since they represent beliefs surrounding the birth of Jesus.

Sviatyi Vechir (Holy Supper)

There are many dishes on the table. Usually twelve meatless dishes are served during the Christmas Eve Supper or Sviatyi Vechir (Holy Supper). The food vary from region to region and from family to family, the most common include: kutia (wheat and poppy seed dish), borshch (beet soup), varenyky (perogies), kolachi (braided bread). The dishes are all meatless due to the belief that a Lenten meal cleanses the soul in preparation to welcome the Christ child into ones heart and home.

The Table

There are two tablecloths on the table. The plain bottom one is for the visiting spirits of the dead, while the top one is where the family eats. The blessing of straw is placed between the tablecloths and on the floor under the table to represent the manger. Sometimes candy and coins are hidden in the straw for the children to find after the meal. Gifts are received weeks earlier on St. Nicholas Day.

The Oven

The entire meal is prepared that day on a large oven, or pich; none of the food is prepared in advance.

The First Star

When the first star appears in the sky, like it did that first Holy Night when Christ was born, the Holy Eve. Once it is seen, the meal may start, but not a moment sooner! Supper begins with the lighting of a candle.

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