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Holy Transfiguration Church
Publish Date: 2018-08-26
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Holy Transfiguration Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (907) 344-0190
  • Fax:
  • (907) 344-9909
  • Street Address:

  • 2800 O'Malley Road

  • Anchorage, AK 99507
  • Mailing Address:

  • 2800 O'Malley Road

  • Anchorage, AK 99507


Contact Information



Services Schedule

Saturday 7pm - Great Vespers

Sunday 9am - Orthros

Sunday 10 am - Divine Liturgy


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Fourth Mode

When the tidings of the resurrection from the glorious angel was proclaimed unto the women disciples and our ancestral sentence also had been abolished to the Apostles with the boasting did they proclaim that death is vanquished ever more and Christ Our God has risen from the dead and granted to the world His great mercy.
Τὸ φαιδρὸν τῆς Ἀναστάσεως κήρυγμα, ἐκ τοῦ Ἀγγέλου μαθοῦσαι αἱ τοῦ Κυρίου Μαθήτριαι, καὶ τὴν προγονικὴν ἀπόφασιν ἀπορρίψασαι, τοῖς Ἀποστόλοις καυχώμεναι ἔλεγον· Ἐσκύλευται ὁ θάνατος, ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς ὁ Θεός, δωρούμενος τῷ κόσμῳ τὸ μέγα ἔλεος.

Apolytikion for Martyrs Adrian and Natalie in the Third Mode

Thou didst deem that Faith which hath salvation to be riches never lost or plundered. Thou forsookest thy fathers' impiety, and thou didst follow thy Master, becoming rich in His divine gifts, O glorious Adrian. With the godly-minded Natalie, who emboldened thee, entreat Christ God, O Martyr, that our souls be saved.
Αναφαίρετον, όλβον ηγήσω, τήν σωτήριον πίστιν τρισμάκαρ, καταλιπών τήν πατρώαν ασέβειαν, καί τώ Δεσπότη κατ' ίχνος επόμενος, κατεπλουτίσθης ενθέοις χαρίσμασιν, Αδριανέ ένδοξε, Χριστόν τόν Θεόν ικέτευε, ομού σύν Ναταλία τή θεόφρονι.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Mode

In your holy birth, Immaculate One, Joachim and Anna were rid of the shame of childlessness; Adam and Eve of the corruption of death. And so your people, free of the guilt of their sins, celebrate crying: "The barren one gives birth to the Theotokos, who nourishes our life."
Ιωακείμ καί Άννα όνειδισμού ατεκνίας, καί Αδάμ καί Εύα, εκ τής φθοράς τού θανάτου, ηλευθερώθησαν, Άχραντε, εν τή αγία γεννήσει σου, αυτήν εορτάζει καί ο λαός σου, ενοχής τών πταισμάτων, λυτρωθείς εν τώ κράζειν σοι, Η στείρα τίκτει τήν Θεοτόκον, καί τροφόν τής ζωής ημών.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Second Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Mark 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back, for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.

Second Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Μᾶρκον 16:1-8

Καὶ διαγενομένου τοῦ σαββάτου Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ ᾿Ιακώβου καὶ Σαλώμη ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα ἵνα ἐλθοῦσαι ἀλείψωσιν αὐτόν. καὶ λίαν πρωῒ τῆς μιᾶς σαββάτων ἔρχονται ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον, ἀνατείλαντος τοῦ ἡλίου. καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἑαυτάς· τίς ἀποκυλίσει ἡμῖν τὸν λίθον ἐκ τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνημείου; καὶ ἀναβλέψασαι θεωροῦσιν ὅτι ἀποκεκύλισται ὁ λίθος· ἦν γὰρ μέγας σφόδρα. καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον εἶδον νεανίσκον καθήμενον ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς, περιβεβλημένον στολὴν λευκήν, καὶ ἐξεθαμβήθησαν. ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς· μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε· ᾿Ιησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον· ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἴδε ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἔθηκαν αὐτόν. ἀλλ᾿ ὑπάγετε εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ Πέτρῳ ὅτι προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν· ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε, καθὼς εἶπεν ὑμῖν. καὶ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἔφυγον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου· εἶχε δὲ αὐτὰς τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις, καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπον· ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Psalm 103.24,1.
O Lord, how manifold are your works. You have made all things in wisdom.
Verse: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 16:13-24.

Brethren, be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints; I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicos, because they have made up for your absence; for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men. The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Προκείμενον. Fourth Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 103.24,1.
Ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ἔργα σου Κύριε, πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας.
Στίχ. Εὐλόγει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον.

τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς Κορινθίους α' 16:13-24.

Ἀδελφοί, γρηγορεῖτε, στήκετε ἐν τῇ πίστει, ἀνδρίζεσθε, κραταιοῦσθε. Πάντα ὑμῶν ἐν ἀγάπῃ γινέσθω. Παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί - οἴδατε τὴν οἰκίαν Στεφανᾶ, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἀπαρχὴ τῆς Ἀχαΐας, καὶ εἰς διακονίαν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς - ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ὑποτάσσησθε τοῖς τοιούτοις, καὶ παντὶ τῷ συνεργοῦντι καὶ κοπιῶντι. Χαίρω δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ παρουσίᾳ Στεφανᾶ καὶ Φουρτουνάτου καὶ Ἀχαϊκοῦ, ὅτι τὸ ὑμῶν ὑστέρημα οὗτοι ἀνεπλήρωσαν. Ἀνέπαυσαν γὰρ τὸ ἐμὸν πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὑμῶν· ἐπιγινώσκετε οὖν τοὺς τοιούτους. Ἀσπάζονται ὑμᾶς αἱ ἐκκλησίαι τῆς Ἀσίας· ἀσπάζονται ὑμᾶς ἐν κυρίῳ πολλὰ Ἀκύλας καὶ Πρίσκιλλα, σὺν τῇ κατʼ οἶκον αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίᾳ. Ἀσπάζονται ὑμᾶς οἱ ἀδελφοὶ πάντες. Ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους ἐν φιλήματι ἁγίῳ. Ὁ ἀσπασμὸς τῇ ἐμῇ χειρὶ Παύλου. Εἴ τις οὐ φιλεῖ τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ἤτω ἀνάθεμα. Μαρὰν ἀθά. Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μεθʼ ὑμῶν. Ἡ ἀγάπη μου μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Ἀμήν.


Gospel Reading

13th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 21:33-42

The Lord said this parable, "There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'"

13th Sunday of Matthew
Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 21:33-42

Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τήν παραβολὴν ταύτην· ῎Αλλην παραβολὴν ἀκούσατε. ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν οἰκοδεσπότης, ὅστις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ φραγμὸν αὐτῷ περιέθηκε καὶ ὤρυξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ληνὸν καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε πύργον, καὶ ἐξέδοτο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν. ὅτε δὲ ἤγγισεν ὁ καιρὸς τῶν καρπῶν, ἀπέστειλε τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς γεωργοὺς λαβεῖν τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῦ. καὶ λαβόντες οἱ γεωργοὶ τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὃν μὲν ἔδειραν, ὃν δὲ ἀπέκτειναν, ὃν δὲ ἐλιθοβόλησαν. πάλιν ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους πλείονας τῶν πρώτων, καὶ ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς ὡσαύτως. ὕστερον δὲ ἀπέστειλε πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ λέγων· ἐντραπήσονται τὸν υἱόν μου. οἱ δὲ γεωργοὶ ἰδόντες τὸν υἱὸν εἶπον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος· δεῦτε ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν καὶ κατάσχωμεν τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ. καὶ λαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐξέβαλον ἔξω τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, καὶ ἀπέκτειναν. ὅταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τί ποιήσει τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἐκείνοις; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αὐτούς, καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐκδώσεται ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς, οἵτινες ἀποδώσουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς, λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας· παρὰ Κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη, καὶ ἔστι θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν;


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Wisdom of the Fathers

Many things does He intimate by this parable, God's providence, which had been exercised towards them from the first; their murderous disposition from the beginning; that nothing had been omitted of whatever pertained to a heedful care of them;...
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 68 on Matthew 21, 4th Century

And observe also both His great care, and the excessive idleness of these men for what pertained to the husbandmen, He Himself did ... and He left little for them to do; to take care of what was there, and to preserve what was given to them.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 68 on Matthew 21, 4th Century

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Parish News & Events

MEMORIALS TODAY

08/26/2018

Today at the end of the Liturgy we will serve a Memorial for Ioannis Manolakakis and Barbara Kouris.


LOOKING FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL HELP

08/19/2018

We are looking to add two more teachers for our Sunday School classes, specificially the Junior High and High School classes. Curricula is provided and you will be part of a team. If you are interested please see Melissa or David Parker ASAP. Thank you!


REGISTER YOUR CHILDREN FOR Y.G. AND SUNDAY SCHOOL

08/12/2018

If you would like your children to participate in Youth Group and Sunday School you need to fill out a registration form before September 9th. You can get a form on the candle stand (one form for each child - sorry, "yes, this is necessary"). If your child is not registered they will not be able to attend any Sunday School or Youth Group functions. This is a mandate that we must follow. Thank you!


SAVE THE DATE!

08/12/2018

Save Sunday, September 9th for our Annual Youth Group Family Hike and Sunday School Kickoff! We will offer a special prayer for all of our Sunday School participants and their teachers before we serve Holy Communion, and then, weather permitting we will go on our annual hike following Coffee Hour.


WEDDING INVITATION

08/26/2018

John and Alena Coon would like to invite you to their Orthodox wedding and reception on September 16th at 4 PM. Cake, wine and appetizers will be served. If you plan to attend, please RSVP John Coon by phone or text 907-242-3829.


CLASS ON THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

08/26/2018

From Christ to Chalcedon, a study group of the early church as seen through the writings of the early church fathers, is restarting September 20.  The Spring 2018 study group ran five-months, one night per month, and was well received and attended. The Fall 2018 study group will meet for three-months, and covers the writings of Hermas, St. Melito of Sardis, St. Theophilis of Antioch, St. Athenagoras of Athens, and St. Irenaeus of Lyons. The study volume is ‘The Fathers of the Church’ 3rd Edition by Mike Aquilina. Participants purchase the book on their own. The study group is sponsored the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Studies, Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, and churchvisits.com. Dr. Lisa Unterseher, and Fr Vasili Hillhouse are faculty, and the moderator is Chris Thompson. The format will be lecture and Q&A. Course fee is $25 payable at the first session. If you are interested, please contact Chris Thompson at churchvisits@gmail.com. This study promises to fill in major gaps in understanding the early development of the Christian Church.


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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
August 26

Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir

In all probability, the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir was painted in Constantinople. In the twelfth century, Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges sent it to Kiev to Great Prince Yuri Dolgruky. The icon was kept in the convent at Vyshgorod, whence the holy Prince Andrew of Bogoliubovo brought it to Vladimir. The icon is one of the most venerated in Russia, having been carried by princes in military campaigns, prayed before by rulers for the welfare of the people, and flocked to by the faithful of all walks of life. At the election of the metropolitans and patriarchs, the names of the candidates were placed before this holy icon, and after prayer, the lot chosen; Patriarch Tikhon the Confessor was elected this way. The icon is celebrated also on June 23 and May 21, the last feast being established to commemorate the deliverance of Moscow in 1521 from the onslaught of the Tartar Khan Makhmet-Girei.


Natalia
August 26

The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie

The holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie confessed the Christian Faith during the reign of Maximian, in Nicomedia, in the year 298. Adrian was a pagan; witnessing the valor of the Martyrs, and the fervent faith with which they suffered their torments, he also declared himself a Christian and was imprisoned. When this was told to his wife Natalie, who was secretly a believer, she visited him in prison and encouraged him in his sufferings. Saint Adrian's hands and feet were placed on an anvil and broken off with a hammer; he died in his torments. His blessed wife recovered part of his holy relics and took it to Argyropolis near Byzantium, and reposed in peace soon after.


Allsaint
August 28

Moses the Black of Scete

Saint Moses, who is also called Moses the Black, was a slave, but because of his evil life, his master cast him out, and he became a ruthless thief, dissolute in all his ways. Later, however, coming to repentance, he converted, and took up the monastic life under Saint Isidore of Scete. He gave himself over to prayer and the mortification of the carnal mind with such diligence that he later became a priest of exemplary virtue. He was revered by all for his lofty ascetical life and for his great humility. Once the Fathers in Scete asked Moses to come to an assembly to judge the fault of a certain brother, but he refused. When they insisted, he took a basket which had a hole in it, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. When the Fathers saw him coming they asked him what the basket might mean. He answered, "My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and I am come this day to judge failings which are not mine." When a barbarian tribe was coming to Scete, Moses, conscious that he himself had slain other men when he was a thief, awaited them and was willingly slain by them with six other monks, at the end of the fourth century. He was a contemporary of Saint Arsenius the Great (see May 8).


Jobpochaev
August 28

Job of Pochaev

Saint Job of Pochaev was born about 1551 in southwest Galicia of a pious Orthodox family. In his tenth year the Saint departed for the Ugornitsky Monastery of our Saviour in the Carpathian Mountains. Tonsured after two years, he was ordained hieromonk about 1580. Renowned for his meekness and humility, Job was invited by the great zealot for Holy Orthodoxy in the Carpatho-Russia, Prince Constantine Ostrozhky, to be Abbot of the Monastery of the Cross in Dubno. In his zeal for the preservation and propagation of the Orthodox Faith, and to counteract the propaganda of the Uniates, he printed and widely disseminated Orthodox spiritual and liturgical books. About 1600 he removed to the Mountain of Pochaev where at insistence of the brethren, he became Abbot of the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, which he enlarged and made to flourish. Through his labours, a large printing works was founded at Pochaev and greatly assisted in the nurture of the Orthodox faithful in that region. His monastery became the center of the Orthodox Church in western Ukraine. The Saint reposed, having taken the schema with the name of John, in 1651, at the advanced age of one hundred.


Jbaptbhd
August 29

Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

The divine Baptist, the Prophet born of a Prophet, the seal of all the Prophets and beginning of the Apostles, the mediator between the Old and New Covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the God-sent Messenger of the incarnate Messiah, the forerunner of Christ's coming into the world (Esaias 40: 3; Mal. 3: 1); who by many miracles was both conceived and born; who was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb; who came forth like another Elias the Zealot, whose life in the wilderness and divine zeal for God's Law he imitated: this divine Prophet, after he had preached the baptism of repentance according to God's command; had taught men of low rank and high how they must order their lives; had admonished those whom he baptized and had filled them with the fear of God, teaching them that no one is able to escape the wrath to come if he do not works worthy of repentance; had, through such preaching, prepared their hearts to receive the evangelical teachings of the Savior; and finally, after he had pointed out to the people the very Savior, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world" (Luke 3:2-18; John 1: 29-36), after all this, John sealed with his own blood the truth of his words and was made a sacred victim for the divine Law at the hands of a transgressor.

This was Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great. This man had a lawful wife, the daughter of Arethas (or Aretas), the King of Arabia (that is, Arabia Petraea, which had the famous Nabatean stone city of Petra as its capital. This is the Aretas mentioned by Saint Paul in II Cor. 11:32). Without any cause, and against every commandment of the Law, he put her away and took to himself Herodias, the wife of his deceased brother Philip, to whom Herodias had borne a daughter, Salome. He would not desist from this unlawful union even when John, the preacher of repentance, the bold and austere accuser of the lawless, censured him and told him, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife" (Mark 6: 18). Thus Herod, besides his other unholy acts, added yet this, that he apprehended John and shut him in prison; and perhaps he would have killed him straightway, had he not feared the people, who had extreme reverence for John. Certainly, in the beginning, he himself had great reverence for this just and holy man. But finally, being pierced with the sting of a mad lust for the woman Herodias, he laid his defiled hands on the teacher of purity on the very day he was celebrating his birthday. When Salome, Herodias' daughter, had danced in order to please him and those who were supping with him, he promised her -- with an oath more foolish than any foolishness -- that he would give her anything she asked, even unto the half of his kingdom. And she, consulting with her mother, straightway asked for the head of John the Baptist in a charger. Hence this transgressor of the Law, preferring his lawless oath above the precepts of the Law, fulfilled this godless promise and filled his loathsome banquet with the blood of the Prophet. So it was that that all-venerable head, revered by the Angels, was given as a prize for an abominable dance, and became the plaything of the dissolute daughter of a debauched mother. As for the body of the divine Baptist, it was taken up by his disciples and placed in a tomb (Mark 6: 21 - 29). Concerning the finding of his holy head, see February 24 and May 25.


Creation_adam
September 01

Ecclesiastical New Year

For the maintenance of their armed forces, the Roman emperors decreed that their subjects in every district should be taxed every year. This same decree was reissued every fifteen years, since the Roman soldiers were obliged to serve for fifteen years. At the end of each fifteen-year period, an assessment was made of what economic changes had taken place, and a new tax was decreed, which was to be paid over the span of the fifteen years. This imperial decree, which was issued before the season of winter, was named Indictio, that is, Definiton, or Order. This name was adopted by the emperors in Constantinople also. At other times, the latter also used the term Epinemisis, that is, Distribution (Dianome). It is commonly held that Saint Constantine the Great introduced the Indiction decrees in A.D. 312, after he beheld the sign of the Cross in heaven and vanquished Maxentius and was proclaimed Emperor in the West. Some, however (and this seems more likely), ascribe the institution of the Indiction to Augustus Caesar, three years before the birth of Christ. Those who hold this view offer as proof the papal bull issued in A.D. 781 which is dated thus: Anno IV, Indictionis LIII -that is, the fourth year of the fifty-third Indiction. From this, we can deduce the aforementioned year (3 B.C.) by multiplying the fifty-two complete Indictions by the number of years in each (15), and adding the three years of the fifty-third Indiction. There are three types of Indictions: 1) That which was introduced in the West, and which is called Imperial, or Caesarean, or Constantinian, and which begins on the 24th of September; 2) The so-called Papal Indiction, which begins on the 1st of January; and 3) The Constantinopolitan, which was adopted by the Patriarchs of that city after the fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453. This Indiction is indicated in their own hand on the decrees they issue, without the numeration of the fifteen years. This Indiction begins on the 1st of September and is observed with special ceremony in the Church. Since the completion of each year takes place, as it were, with the harvest and gathering of the crops into storehouses, and we begin anew from henceforth the sowing of seed in the earth for the production of future crops, September is considered the beginning of the New Year. The Church also keeps festival this day, beseeching God for fair weather, seasonable rains, and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. The Holy Scriptures (Lev. 23:24-5 and Num. 29:1-2) also testify that the people of Israel celebrated the feast of the Blowing of the Trumpets on this day, offering hymns of thanksgiving. In addition to all the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemorate our Saviour's entry into the synagogue in Nazareth, where He was given the book of the Prophet Esaias 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 Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1. This was the custom in Constantinople until its fall in 1453 and in Russia until the reign of Peter I. 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. The service of the Menaion for January 1 is for our Lord's Circumcision and for the memorial of Saint Basil the Great, without any mention of its being the beginning of a new year.


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