THURSDAY 25 DECEMBER THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (CHRISTMAS DAY) THURSDAY 25 December *Matins 5.00 - 6.30a.m and *Divine Liturgy 6.30a.m – 8.30 a.m. BILINGUAL GREEK & ENGLISH SERVICE BOOKLETS WILL BE PROVIDED at the church too. Matins Service booklet agesinitiatives/dcs/public/dcs/p/s/2014/12/25/ma/gr-en/se.m12.d25.ma.pdf Divine Liturgy Service Booklet agesinitiatives/dcs/public/dcs/p/s/2014/12/25/li/gr-en/se.m12.d25.li.pdf *WHAT IS THE MATINS SERVICE AND DIVINE LITYRGY? MATINS SERVICE: Matins (also spelled Mattins, from the Latin, matutinae, morning), also called Orthros (from Greek, meaning morning, dawn or day break), is the longest and most complex of the daily cycle services. Matins is celebrated in the morning with psalms read from the Old Testament, Gospel reading, hymns, canons, odes, doxology, etc chanted dedicated to significant feast day eg. Christmas, Easter, etc. So for Christmas, Hymns of Christmas will be chanted and readings dedicated to Christ, hymns/canons/poems dating back from the 5th century by our Saints of our Church, St Kosmas the Melodist, St Romanos the Melodist etc. This service is a preparation & introduction leading us to the next service the Divine Liturgy. *DIVINE LITURGY: The Divine Liturgy is the primary worship service of the Church. The Divine Liturgy is a Eucharistic (Holy Communion) service. It contains two parts: the Liturgy of the Catechumens, sometimes called the Liturgy of the Word, at which the Scriptures Epistle and Gospel are proclaimed and expounded; and the Liturgy of the Faithful, sometimes called the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which the gifts of bread and wine are offered and consecrated; the faithful then partake of them in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Church teaches that the gifts truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 09:37:42 +0000