The church year begins. church year
The history of the origin of the New Year holiday in the Christian world.
The liturgical church year begins on September 1 according to the old style, according to the new - September 14. On this day, in the church service, the Church remembers the beginning of the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, when in the temple in Nazareth He read the prophecy of Isaiah (Is. 61; 1-2) about the coming of the favorable year (Luke 4; 16-22). In this indication of the Lord, the Byzantines saw His prescription to celebrate the New Year's Day, and Holy Tradition connects this event itself with the day of September 1. In the Menology of Basil II, created by him in the 10th century, it is said: "From that time on, He granted us Christians this holy holiday." In its own way, it was God's providence, which manifested itself much later than Christ's sermon in His embodied historical testimony - it was on this day, September 1, that Constantine the Great defeated Emperor Maxician, which opened the way for the free development of Christianity in all territories of the Roman Empire, which included then Byzantium. And today, at the liturgical service in the Orthodox Church on September 1, this gospel text is read about the beginning of the Savior's sermon.
Of course, it would seem logical to assume that the date of September 1/14 is set in accordance with the result of the agricultural year - the harvest is harvested, it's time to give thanks to God, and, in order to follow the ancient tradition, the New Year's Day was tried on this date. In part, this is true, but in general, the New Year is an ancient spiritual Christian tradition.
After the victory over a pagan Roman on September 1, 312, Constantine the Great declared for Christians freedom of religion, worship, and many pagan temples were given over to Christian churches. In memory of this victory at the I Ecumenical Council of 325, the feast of the Church New Year was established, otherwise - the indict.
The concept of indict was introduced much later, in the 6th century, under the emperor Justinian I, who introduced in the Christian Church calendar reckoning by indicts, or indictions (from the Latin indictio - announcement, indication). Once every 15 years, on September 1, tribute was collected across the Roman Empire.
The amount of taxes that should have been collected in a given year, the revaluation of estates were announced. Of these fees, which, by the way, began under Constantine the Great, a military pension was deducted - the service life was then 15 years. (Evaluate the difference with the current military service in the absence of war.) So the Byzantines, unlike us, measured milestones not in ten, as we do now, but in fifteen years.
However, earlier, both in Byzantium and in Rome, the March chronology was also known, dating back to the eastern, ancient chronology, reflected in the time reckoning of Egypt, Assyria, associated with the myths of Osiris, Gilgamesh, etc., with the advent of astronomical spring, so New Year 1 September - the late Byzantine reckoning of the day of this event.
The Byzantines introduced another temporary concept of the Great Indiction - 19 fifteen years, that is, 532 years. This seemingly inconvenient, non-circular date has an astronomical justification: the eastern sages were excellent astronomers and knew that every 532 years the beginnings of the orbital circles of the Sun and the Moon coincided. This state of the Earth also developed on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ went out to preach with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; for he has anointed me to preach the gospel ... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19).
This was the Lord's first witness to the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah, and that the time of the New Testament had begun. In the East, where astronomy occupied one of the first places among the sciences, it was by the star that rose at the time of the birth of Christ that the Magi determined the place of His Nativity.
“The Lord did not only come to announce a pleasant summer, but also brought it. Where is it? in the souls of believers. The earth will never be turned into a paradise as long as the real order of things continues; but it is and will be a field of preparation for a life in Paradise. Its beginnings are relied upon in the soul; the possibility of this in the grace of God; Grace, however, was brought by our Lord Jesus Christ - he brought, therefore, a pleasant summer for souls. Whoever listens to the Lord and fulfills everything commanded by Him, he receives grace and by the power of it enjoys a pleasant summer in himself,” wrote St. Theophan the Recluse about the New Year.
New Year in Russia.
Despite the fact that Russia adopted Christianity at the end of the 10th century, the process of Christianization of Russia lasted a long time and ended approximately at the end of the 15th century. Then the civic celebration New Year March 1 and New Years diverged - we find evidence of this in all the ancient chroniclers, including the venerable elder Nestor.
Since 1492, the New Year and the New Year on September 1 have been combined by a state decision. In Moscow, a platform was being built on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. From it, the Metropolitan and the Grand Duke announced the change of the year, the clergy blessed the water, and the Metropolitan sprinkled the ruler and the people with congratulations. This is how the celebration took place. Many important state events were timed to coincide with the New Year and the New Year: for example, the wedding of Boris Godunov in 1598. In the New Year, the heir to the throne was represented from the platform when he reached 14 years old - the age of majority in the old days came earlier than now.
From the beginning of the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, the father of the reformer Tsar Peter, in the 17th century, New Year's Day was dedicated to charity: the poor were fed, given warm clothes, shoes before the cold Russian winter, fed to the full, and given alms. Ordinary people received gifts, prisoners in dungeons also did not remain forgotten - they were visited and also left them alms and food better than ordinary prison food.
But that didn't last long. Peter I pointed out in 1699, looking at Western traditions, to postpone the civil New Year to January 1, although the spiritual festival was still preserved for September 1.
Since that time, the New Year has lost its former ancient solemnity, the rank of summer farewell - seeing off the annual church circle is now limited to a short prayer service.
The New Year, together with the civil New Year, was celebrated on the day of September 1 before Peter the Great came to the throne, who in 1699 indicated that the New Year should be moved to January 1, including a decree to decorate homes with New Year trees, again in imitation of Western tradition. But in the liturgical books, the arrival of a new spiritual summer remains for September 1st. Although this celebration has lost its former solemnity, according to the Typicon - a set of instructions for holding festive services - this day is considered a small Lord's holiday: "The beginning of the indiction, that is, the new summer." It is connected with the festive service in memory of St. Simeon the Stylite, by the coincidence of both dates. In the annual circle of Orthodox holidays, the first after the New Year comes the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos - September 8/21. It is also symbolic. With Her, a new time begins in the history of mankind, for time will pass, and through the Bride of the Bride, the Savior of all will come to him.
And on December 31, on the eve of the New Year, at about 18.00 in many churches in honor of the beginning of the civil New Year, or rather, "novozimiya", short prayers are performed.
About the New Year of the Church, the well-known Russian philosopher and theologian, Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov, said: “In the New Year, the revelation of eternity sharpens... time.
When you watch how time flows, you experience a feeling of lightness, freedom from time, taking off above it.
We live in time, but we bear the image of eternity, such is the inconsistency of our created being, but it is also a sign of freedom from it, a sign of the freedom of the children of God.
(1. Bulgakov Sergiy, archpriest. Word for the New Year. Words, teachings, conversations. Paris, 1987. P. 129.)
Troparion indictu (Church New Year), tone 4:
Give thanks to the unworthy servant of Yours, Lord, about Your great blessings on us who were, glorifying You, we praise, bless, thank, sing and magnify Your goodness, and slavishly love crying out to You: Our benefactor, our Savior, glory to You.
Glory: voice 3rd:
Your good deeds and gifts to the tuna, like a slave to indecent, vouchsafed, Lord, diligently flowing to You, we bring thanksgiving according to strength, and glorify You as a Benefactor and Creator, we cry out: glory to You, God the Most Generous.
And now: voice 2:
To the Sodeter of all creatures, times and years in Your power, bless the crown of summer
Thy goodness, Lord, preserving in the world people and Thy city with the prayers of the Theotokos and save us.
http://www.logoslovo.ru/forum/all_1/topic_12774/
September 14 (September 1, old style) The Orthodox Church in Russia will celebrate the Church New Year, or Church New Year. If according to the calendar for ordinary inhabitants of the world, the New Year comes on January 1, then the church calendar has its own characteristics.
The countdown of the new year since the period of ancient Rome was carried out from the moment of levying a tax, or indict. Traditionally, this was done in the early days of autumn, when the work in the field was over, and tax collectors could come and collect what was due to the emperor. Later, Emperor Constantine the Great, in honor of his military victory, allowed Christians to practice their faith, and did so just on the day of the indiction, or tax collection. Since that time, September 1 has become associated not only with the new year, but also with the beginning of the recognition of the Christian faith.
Since that time, the New Year is the beginning of the indiction, or the beginning of a new church year. Over time, the meaning of the indiction as the beginning of a new tax period disappeared and was replaced by the Christian concept of the New Year. And the New Year in the Slavic tradition is called "New Year", with which many folk signs are associated.
New Year according to the church calendar
Nowadays, despite the fact that we continue to celebrate the New Year traditionally on January 1, the New Year has not lost its meaning. The date of the holiday was moved from September 1 to September 14 as a result of a change in the calendar after the 1917 revolution. And exactly one week after the New Year - September 21 - believers will be able to celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the mother of Jesus Christ.
How the New Year is celebrated
Believers, despite the long-gone church tradition of celebrating the New Year in September, do not forget this holiday and continue to celebrate it. On this day, believers can attend festive services, attend the liturgy and, of course, ask God for good luck and happiness in the New Year. However, you should not ask for unthinkable monetary wealth - such a desire on a bright holiday would be inappropriate.
You should not celebrate the New Year alone, because this is a family holiday that needs to be spent with loved ones. Gather your family, invite your friends. The warm and family atmosphere will really create a New Year's mood.
Unlike the traditional New Year, which falls in the midst of Lent, there are no bans on the festive table on the New Year. On this day, you can treat yourself and your loved ones to the best treats. According to the sign, the richer the table, the more wealth there will be next year.
Don't forget gifts. There is no need to bring something expensive as a gift. An ordinary modest gift from a pure heart will be a suitable sign of attention in the church new year.
On New Year's Eve, September 14, many churches will hold festive divine services dedicated to the holiday. Despite the fact that the New Year is not celebrated magnificently and solemnly, like the traditional New Year, for Orthodox believers this holiday marks the beginning of a new life, a new year that will bring its joys and sorrows. be happyand don't forget to press the buttons and
11.09.2017 04:59
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All creatures to the Sodetel, putting times and years in His power,
bless the crown of the year of thy goodness, O Lord, keeping in the world
people and your city through the prayers of the Mother of God and save us.
Troparion of the Indicta (Church New Year)
Again and again the Holy Church calls us to enter into the yearly circle of sacred remembrances, where the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition are preserved in all their depth and fullness.
A new liturgical circle of the main, twelve church holidays begins with the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is celebrated on the seventh day after the Church New Year, September 21. The liturgical year begins. It was the Most Holy Theotokos who was the Door through which God entered our lives. The Feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, on August 28, ended the yearly circle of services.
The New Year is the most inconspicuous Orthodox holiday, which in the church calendar is called the beginning of the indiction. Unfortunately, we do not know very well when our Orthodox church year begins and why is it so named?
Some may wonder - why in the Orthodox Church the new year comes on September 1, at the beginning of autumn? Indeed, at first glance, it would be more logical to consider the beginning of the new year the first day of spring, and not autumn. But this is only at first glance, from which the root causes of the existence of this world elude.
And the logic here is the same as that which underlies the calculation of the beginning of the church liturgical day not in the morning, as is customary in secular, civil calculation, but from the evening of the previous day. Therefore, in Orthodox churches, church holidays do not begin with the morning service, but with the All-Night Vigil, which takes place the night before.
The Holy Scripture, which tells about the creation of the world, testifies to us: “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep: And God said: let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day” (Genesis 1:2-5). That is why the servants of God, even from the most ancient times of the Old Testament, determined the beginning of the liturgical day to be precisely the evening, and not the morning. Why does the Church New Year begin precisely in the evening of the cycle of the seasons, and not in the morning: that is, with the onset of autumn, and not spring. In such a definition of the beginning, both of the earthly day and of the year, lies a deep thought about the creation of this world and its primary non-existence.
It should be said that the Jewish civil new year from ancient Old Testament times also comes in September, or rather, in the month of Afanim, or, as it began to be called after the Babylonian captivity, Tishri, which, due to the displacement of the Jewish lunar calendar, comes in the middle of our September. This month of Tishri is the seventh from the month of the creation of the world, which is called the month of Aviv or Nisan.
The New Year holidays among the Jews were holidays not only for people, but for all nature; they brought with them peace not only to man and cattle, but also to the plow and the sickle, the scythe and the knife that cleans the vine.
The month of September is also the most important in the course of nature, the most sacred in the structure of the Old Testament Church. On the first day of the seventh month, when New Summer was celebrated in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ read in the synagogue of Nazareth the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2) about the coming of an auspicious year. In the Lord's reading (Luke 4:16-22) the Byzantines saw His indication of the celebration of the New Year's Day. Tradition connects this event itself with the day of September 1. The Menology of Basil II (10th century) says: “From that time on, He gave us Christians this holy feast” (PG. 117, Col. 21). And to this day in the Orthodox Church on September 1 (according to the old style) at the Liturgy it is precisely this gospel conception about the preaching of the Savior that is read.
The very name of the month of September comes from the Latin word "septem", which means "seven", thus the month of September is called the seventh. The word "indict" is also of Latin origin and means "announcement". In this case, it is the announcement of the beginning of a new liturgical year.
The feast of the Church New Year itself was established by the Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, in memory of the official cessation of the three-century persecution of the Christian Church by the Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine the Great, which followed in 313. This decision of the first Christian Roman emperor followed his miraculous victory over the tyrant of Rome, Maxentius, whose troops and malice far outnumbered those of Constantine. This happened on September 1, 312. Therefore, the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council established to celebrate the New Year as the beginning of Christian freedom, and at the same time not forgetting the biblical Old Testament tradition. Since that time, the circle of the year in the Roman Empire began in September. This chronology was dominant throughout almost Europe until the middle of the 15th century. Together with the Christian faith, the Greek Church transferred its chronology to the Russian, which still preserves this chronology.
From the time of the baptism of Russia and in our Fatherland, the New Year was celebrated on September 1 until the reign of Peter I, who in 1700 moved the beginning of the civil year to January 1. The Church is not in a hurry to follow the changing spirit of this world, but, in accordance with the biblical tradition, continues to consider the beginning of the Indict, that is, the Church New Year, the first day of the seventh month from the creation of the world, that is, September 1, according to the old style.
The fundamental principles of the Orthodox Church are the inviolability of sacred things and dogmas. The history of the Church knows what powerful heretical movements arose in an attempt to improve any dogma accepted by her conciliar mind. Equally inviolable is the shrine of the Great Indiction, consecrated by the Church - the Julian calendar. Therefore, adopted in 1582 with the best of intentions (to achieve greater astronomical accuracy and avoid the gradual shift of the Easter holiday from spring to summer), the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII led to a distortion of the sequence of events that is unthinkable for the Orthodox consciousness. Easter, calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, often coincides with the Jewish Passover, and sometimes ahead of it.
The calendar is a rhythm that connects each person with God and the historical memory of all mankind.
With the beginning of each new liturgical year, the Church again testifies to the world about the Coming of Christ, His holy Incarnation from the Virgin Mary into our human nature, His heavenly teaching about sacrificial love to which we are called; His Divine Sacrifice on Golgotha for human sin, His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and then sending down from the Father all-sanctifying and regenerating us to eternal life in God the Holy and Divine Spirit.
Happy New Church Year to you, dear brothers and sisters!
Archpriest Nikolai Matviychuk
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The last holiday of the ending year is the Assumption, and the first holiday of the new year is the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Even in the Old Testament, the Lord our God commanded every year to especially celebrate the onset of the seventh month, so that people on this day, freed from worldly fuss, would serve the One God. In this very month, when the waters of the flood began to subside, Noah's ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat. In the same month, the holy prophet Moses descended from the mountain with his face illumined with Divine glory, and brought new tablets, on which was inscribed the Law given by the Lord Himself. And in the same month, the consecration of the Temple of the Lord, built by King Solomon, took place, and the Ark of the Covenant was brought there. There are many other indications in the Old Testament about the great significance of the seventh month (this September), counting the creation of the world in the month of March according to the Biblical chronology.
In the 6th century, during the reign of Justinian I (527–565), the Christian Church introduced calendar reckoning by indictions or indictions (from Latin indictio - announcement), 15-year periods of tribute. Under the indictio in the Roman Empire was understood the designation of the number of taxes that should be collected in a given year. Thus, the financial year in the empire began with an “indication” (indictio) by the emperor how much taxes needed to be collected, while every 15 years the estates were revalued (according to V.V. Bolotov, indictions were of Egyptian origin). The official Byzantine reckoning, the so-called indictions of Constantine the Great or the Constantinople reckoning, began on September 1, 312.
In Byzantium, the church year did not always begin on September 1 - both in the Latin West and in the East, the March reckoning was well known (when March 1 or March 25 (the date of the Annunciation) is considered the beginning of the year). In general, the solemn celebration of the New Year on September 1 can be considered a late Byzantine phenomenon.
In Russia, each new year of a fifteen-year interval, and the fifteenth anniversary itself, was also called an indict. In addition, after 532 years, the circles of the Sun and the Moon begin together again, that is, the natural situation of the day of the feat of Jesus Christ is repeated, when the full moon happens on Friday. The time interval of 532 years is called the indiction. September 1, 2007 (September 14, New Style) marks the year 7516 from the creation of the world.
Since 1492, the New Year was celebrated in Russia as a church and state holiday. The meaning of the service in the New Year was the recollection of the Savior's sermon in the Nazareth synagogue, when Jesus Christ said that He had come "to heal the brokenhearted ... to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
In Russia in the 17th century, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and after him the boyars and all the people of Moscow, devoted the New Year's Day to works of mercy. Not a single beggar left their homes without consolation - they were all richly clothed with alms, clothes and shoes, fed with a hearty festive dinner. Ordinary people were endowed with gifts and gifts, visited prisoners in dungeons.
The cessation of the rite of summer conduct is associated with the issuance of a decree by Peter I on the postponement of the beginning of the civil new year to January 1. The last time the rite was performed on September 1, 1699, in the presence of Peter, who, sitting on a throne set in the Kremlin Cathedral Square in royal clothes, received a blessing from the Patriarch and congratulated the people on the new year. On January 1, 1700, the church celebration was limited to a prayer service after the liturgy, but the rite of the feast was not performed.
Since that time, the celebration of the church new year on September 1 has not been celebrated with its former solemnity, although the Typicon still considers this day a small Lord's holiday "The Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the new summer", combined with a festive service in honor of St. Simeon the Stylite, whose memory falls on the same date.
Troparion, tone 2
To the Creator of all creatures, having put times and years in Your power, bless the crown of the summer of Your goodness, Lord, preserving people and Your city in the world, with the prayers of the Mother of God, and save us.
Kontakion, same voice
In the highest living Christ the King, all visible and invisible Creator and Builder, Who created days and nights, times and years, now bless the crown of summer, observe and preserve in the world the city and Your people, Many-merciful.
"Auspicious Year of the Lord"
Without a doubt, everyone is well aware that we celebrate the New Year in January, moreover, twice, and our high logic is inaccessible to rational foreigners who cannot understand how this “new” year can be “old” at the same time? But it turns out that that January New Year is a Peter's innovation, and today's date has a long and venerable tradition with us. It is no coincidence that in some churches the prayer service at the beginning of the teaching is repeated today, because in our church () calendar it is still only September 1st. Indeed, here we read: "The beginning of the indiction is the church new year." Based on the title, it can be assumed that the starting point of this purely ecclesiastical New Year is associated with some mysterious "indicate". What is it?
Historians know that indicator- this is the ordinal number of the year within a regularly repeating fifteen-year period of time (the so-called "indiction"), from one indication (census) to another. The indiction cycles themselves are not numbered, but are used to correlate with another dating system.
Initially, “indication” (Latin indictio - “proclamation”) is an announcement of mandatory supplies of food supplies to the government. The origin of the indicative cycle remains unclear (possibly of Egyptian origin), but already under the persecuting emperor Diocletian (284-305), who radically reformed the system of government, every 15 years in the Roman Empire property was revalued to establish the amount of tax levied. The need for the population to know the tax year led to the calculation of years by indicts. Officially, this account of time was introduced by the emperor (in 312/3). At first, the indiction began on September 23 - the date of birth of the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus, but in 462, for practical reasons, the beginning of the year was moved to September 1. The dating of years according to indicts became mandatory from 537, having become widespread in civil and church office work. It was used by the Supreme Court of the Holy Roman Empire until its collapse in 1806 and is still used in some calendar systems. For applied chronology, dating by indicts is of great importance. "Among the chaos of medieval dating, these were at least stable" ( Bikerman E. Chronology of the ancient world. M., 1975. S. 73).
In the modern Russian Orthodox calendar, as already mentioned, under September 1/14 is "The beginning of the indiction - the church new year", celebrated in churches with a thanksgiving service. This New Year (the so-called "September style") - together with the era from the Creation of the world, "apotu kosmu, apotu Adam" - was at the same time the state in Russia until 1700. It should be remembered that this Church New Year according to the Julian calendar falls on September 14 according to the Gregorian only in the XX-XXI centuries (in the XIX century it fell on September 13, and from 2100 it will fall on September 15, etc.).
The indict of the year corresponds to the remainder of dividing the number of the year of the Byzantine era from the creation of the world (with a reference point of September 1, 5509 BC) by 15. When using the chronology from the Nativity of Christ (AD), 3 is added to the number of years and the result is also divide by 15. (Since the change of indiction occurs on September 1 according to the Julian calendar, when working with dates according to the January and March calendar styles, it is necessary to make appropriate adjustments.) So, September 14, 2000 AD. e. \u003d September 1, 7509 from the creation of the world, the 9th year of the indiction; September 14, 2006 = September 1, 7515 from the creation of the world, the 15th year of the indict; September 14, 2007 = September 1, 7516 from the creation of the world, the 1st year of the indiction; September 14, 2017 = September 1, 7526 from the creation of the world, the 11th year of the indiction, etc. (See also on the website of the concept, Era.)
Lit.: Klimishin I. A. Calendar and chronology. M., 1990; Bolotov V.V. Lectures on the history of the Ancient Church. M., 1994. T. 1.
Yuri Ruban,
cand. ist. Sciences, Cand. theology
Application
From the Divine Liturgy
Apostolic Reading (new years)
And having rolled up the scroll, He gave it to the minister and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. He began to tell them that today this word of Scripture was fulfilled before them.
And they all confirmed (testified) this to Him and marveled at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth, and asked: “Is not He the son of Joseph?”
Commentary on the Gospel Reading
"Summer of the Lord" in the Russian Synodal Bible (both in the prophecy of Isaiah and in the quote of this prophecy in the Gospel of Luke) is a Slavic word left without translation, literally meaning "year". In the biblical context, we are talking about the time called the "Day of the Lord." This is the time when “God will visit His people,” that is, send the long-awaited Messiah, and He will establish a theocratic Messianic kingdom on earth. When the familiar “son of Joseph” (who until recently worked here as a carpenter and carried out their orders!) makes it clear that the famous prophecy refers to Him, this is perceived as blasphemy and causes indignation (“everyone ... was filled with rage”). Jesus is driven out of the city and they even want to push him down the mountain. We read about this in Luke a little further. The nationalistic and politicized consciousness of the Jews cannot accept the "Kingdom is not of this world." “Lord, has the time come when You will return the kingdom to Israel?” (), - the apostles of their Teacher ask with hope even on the day of His ascension!
“The word of the prophet Isaiah, which the Lord Jesus reads in the Nazareth synagogue, is one of the most famous Messianic prophecies. For centuries it has been read in Jewish assemblies and filled the hearts of believers with joy and hope. Through all the vicissitudes of history, through all the disasters and tragedies, falls and uprisings, Israel carried the hope that Someone would come, Who would give healing to the brokenhearted and liberation to the captives, Who would set the tormented to freedom. Over the centuries of foreign oppression, such prophecies have also become the banner of painful patriotism, which understood “the favorable year of the Lord” too mundane. And now, not for the first time, a preacher appears in Israel, performing miracles and proclaiming the unheard.<…>And therefore, when He sat down, the eyes of all were fixed on Him. The Greek text speaks here more vividly than the synodal translation: "the eyes of all fixed themselves on him." Everyone is waiting, what He will say more. And on this day from the lips of Jesus sounds what has been expected for centuries: “Today this word of Scripture has been fulfilled.” In Him the expectation of people was fulfilled, in Him our hope for life, truth and love is fulfilled to this day.
And then something terrible happens. As soon as Jesus, the Savior sent by God, says that salvation is given to everyone, and not just to the Jews, He is driven out to be killed. This is a dire warning to all of us.<…>("Thinking Out Loud" on).
Word on the first day of the indict, or new year
King of the ages, the Lord our God, "put times or summers in his power"(), He Himself established various holidays at these times for His glorification and for the rest of people from their worldly affairs. Even in the Old Testament, He commanded to especially celebrate the onset of the seventh month every year, so that people, freed from the bustle of life, would serve the One God on this day. For thus it is written in the books of Moses: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Say to the children of Israel, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, let there be rest for you: do no work on this day in all your dwellings, but offer sacrifice to the Lord.' ( ) . As once the Creator Himself, who in six days created the world with His Word, blessed and sanctified the seventh day, having rested from the works of creation ( ; ; ); and as afterwards he gave the commandment to man: "Six days work, on the seventh day - the Sabbath of the Lord your God, do not do any work you"(), so He blessed and sanctified the seventh month and commanded people at this time to rest from worldly affairs. The Lord commanded Moses about this a second time, "saying, the seventh month, when you gather the produce of the earth, celebrate the feast of the Lord"( ) .
What is the reason for this celebration?
In this very month, when the waters of the flood began to sell, Noah's ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat.
This month, the holy prophet Moses descended on the mountains, with his face illumined by the glory of the Divine, and brought new tablets on which the law given by the Lord Himself was inscribed ().
This month, the construction of the Tabernacle of the Lord among the camp of the Israelites began ().
In the same month, the high priest, for the only time during the whole year, entered the Holy of Holies. "Not without blood, which he brings for himself and for the sins of ignorance of the people" .
In this month, the people of God, humbling their souls with fasting and offering the Lord a burnt offering, received cleansing from their sins committed during the year.
This month, the solemn consecration of the magnificent temple of the Lord, created by King Solomon, took place, and the Ark of the Covenant () was brought into this temple.
This month, all the tribes of the people of Israel from everywhere flocked to Jerusalem for the feast, fulfilling the commandment of the Lord: "This is for you the Sabbath of rest, and humble your souls" ( ).
From this month they began to count the years, special for every fifty years. While the people of Israel were entering the promised land, the Lord commanded that the people should especially celebrate every fiftieth year; and not only did they themselves participate in this celebration, but also servants and cattle; even the very land where the Israelites settled was commanded to be left alone, not to plow, not to sow, not to collect ears, vines, or garden fruits: all this was provided as food for poor people, as well as animals and birds. This is how it is written in the books of Moses: “Blow the trumpet over all your land and sanctify the fiftieth year, and declare freedom on the earth to all its inhabitants; do not sow and do not reap what will grow on it by itself, and do not reap berries from its uncircumcised vines, so that the poor of your people eat, and the beasts of the field feed on the remnants of them, do the same with your vineyard and your olive tree "(; ). In this fiftieth year, debtors were forgiven their debts, slaves were set free, and each person took special care of himself, so as not to anger the Lord with any sin, so as not to sadden his neighbor. It was the year of forgiveness and cleansing from sins. This fifty-year circle, by the command of the Lord, was divided into seven annual weeks (that is, seven times seven years) and every seventh year was called Sabbath or rest. The Lord gave the following command about this through Moses: “For six years sow your field, and for six years trim your vineyard, and gather their produce; in the seventh year, let there be a Sabbath of rest for the earth, the Sabbath of the Lord; do not sow your field, and do not trim your vineyard. If you say: "What shall we eat in the seventh year, when we will neither sow nor gather our produce," I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it will bring production for three years" ( ). All these years, in which the Lord established a festive rest both for people and for the earth, began, also at the command of the Lord, from the month of September. "And blow", said the Lord, "year of rest in the seventh month"( ), i.e. in September, since September from March, the first month from the creation of the world, is the seventh month.
But the year began on the first of September, not only according to the laws of the Old Testament, but also according to the pagan indiction. The following is said about this indiction.
The feast of the new year was established by the holy fathers at the First Ecumenical Council, in Nicaea. It was at the very time when Tsar Constantine the Great, having defeated Maxentius, enlightened the universe with the light of piety, uprooted idol festivals, freed the faith of Christ from severe persecution, and established his own indictions. Then the holy fathers established the celebration of the New Year as the beginning of Christian freedom, in remembrance of Christ's visit to the Jewish synagogue on that day and His preaching about the pleasant year of the Lord. Since that time, we have been celebrating the first day of the month of September. But this is no longer a holiday of the Old Testament, but of the new grace. For on this day the Lawgiver Himself, who descended from heaven and bearing the Spirit of the Father within Himself, revealed Himself to the world and inscribed the law of God not with a finger, but with His Divine tongue and sweet lips, and not on tablets of stone, but "on the fleshly tablets of our hearts"() . Building His Church, which was only foreshadowed by the Old Testament tabernacle, He offered to God the Father for our sins a sacrifice not without blood, Himself. The Great High Priest Himself, who passed heaven (), having cleansed us from sins with His blood shed for us, made us holy temples, according to the apostle: "God's temple is holy, and that temple is you" () .
Bringing thanks to the Lord for all these, we celebrate the summer of the Lord is pleasant We have received from Him many unspeakable blessings; let us hasten to be pleasing to Him ourselves. After all, we are celebrating the indiction, not established by the Roman kings, but legitimized by the Heavenly King of glory - Christ. Christ's indiction is His holy commandments, which we must observe and fulfill. Our King Christ does not demand from us either copper, or iron, or silver, or gold, as David explained, who once said: "You are my Lord; You do not need my blessings"() . But instead of iron and copper, the Lord requires from us the virtue of firm and strong, Orthodox faith in God. For our faith is based on the blood of the holy martyrs tormented by iron and copper weapons, of whom it can be said of each that "the iron went through his soul"(). The Heavenly King and our God commanded us that we believe in Him with a right heart and piously: "because with the heart they believe unto righteousness"() . Let us also defeat the enemy with this faith, as with a weapon with an iron and copper shield. Let us follow our holy forefathers, who "by faith conquered kingdoms, did justice, received promises, blocked the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, avoided the edge of the sword, were strengthened from weakness, were strong in war, drove away the regiments of strangers" ().
Instead of silver, our King Christ demands from us a second virtue, an undoubted hope in God. This virtue, more than silver, provides a person with a prosperous life. If he who has become rich in much silver is sure that he will receive all worldly goods, and, trusting in wealth, spends his days merrily; then all the more rich in undoubted hope in God and in Him alone, having placed all his hope, he will receive everything he wants, and will live in joy, neglecting all the disasters and sorrows that come from the world, the flesh and the devil, and enduring all this with pleasure for the sake of retribution. in the future life. Often silver deceives its master and, accidentally disappearing, leaves him in poverty; and the one who hoped to see abundance in everything until the end of his life suddenly loses his daily bread. - Trusting in the Lord "as Mount Zion will never be moved"() : "does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out"(). It is precisely this immaterial silver that the Lord desires from us and commands that we should not place our hopes on fleeting wealth, "but against the living God" (), "The words of the Lord are pure words, refined silver"() . He unfailingly promised us unspeakable eternal blessings in His Kingdom, so that we might have His goodness to us, which we believed with our hearts, confessed with our lips, "But with the mouth they confess to salvation"() . Let us, like the good warriors of Christ, encourage ourselves to great deeds with the hope of retribution. After all, the hope for a reward excites the warrior to fight, as St. John of Damascus says about the martyrs: Thy martyrs, Lord, having established themselves in faith and strengthened themselves with hope, defeated the torment of enemies and received crowns.
Instead of gold, Christ our King demands from us the most precious virtue, unfeigned love for God and neighbors. In its lofty significance, love is always represented by the Doctors of the Church under the image of gold; for as gold is more precious than silver, copper, and iron, so love is higher than hope and faith. "Now", said in Scripture, "these three remain: faith, hope, love; but love is the greater of them"() . It is precisely this kind of gold that the Lord desires from us and commands us to pray to Him without hypocrisy, not only believing with our hearts and confessing with our lips, but demonstrating this love in deeds. We must be willing to sacrifice our souls for Him and accept death for the sake of His divine love for us. Moreover, we must also love our neighbors, as the beloved disciple of Christ, John the Theologian, teaches. "My Children" he said, "Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth"() . Such love is accepted for adornment by the most beautiful, more than the sons of men, Christ our God, as God's Wisdom Itself says: it was adorned and became beautiful before the Lord and people; it is like-mindedness between brothers and love between neighbors ().
This is what Christian indiction is now celebrating, instead of the ancient pagan one, the Orthodox Church, "having put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new, which is renewed in the image of Him who created him" (). Let us celebrate the New Year as the Apostle advises us: we walk in the renewal of life, so that we may serve in "renewal of the spirit, and not according to the old letter"() . Let us celebrate the indiction, obeying the commands of the Lord our God, given through Moses, in whose books it is now read: "If you will walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them: then I will give you rains in due time, and the earth will give my growth, and I will send peace into your land, and you will drive away your enemies, and I will look upon you, and I will bless you, and my soul will not disdain you, and I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you will be my people" ( ) .
Hymns of the 3rd tone for Vespers on Wednesday.
The apostle gives preference to love as a virtue that combines both the root of faith and the fruits of hope, but at the same time, placing faith and hope next to it, he also shows their great dignity.
The apostle commands not feigned love, love in words only, but pure and true, which is evidenced by the deed itself.
The word wisdom, as used in Holy Scripture, has a very broad meaning and sometimes means Christ Himself, the eternal and everlasting Word of God (see ; and Cor. 1:24, 30, etc.).
The Old Testament law, like a letter, without any inner strength, only binds a person with its prescriptions, not giving strength to fulfill them, but now that the spirit of life has appeared, we must serve God in accordance with this new spirit of life, serve freely and joyfully with the hope of help God's.
These words of Holy Scripture are read during the divine service on the day of the indiction in one of the proverbs, of which there are three. 1st of the book. prophet Isaiah 61:1-9, - a prophecy about Jesus Christ, as the Anointed One, Teacher, Savior and restorer of all those who suffer on earth, about the spread of His Church among the nations, about the blessedness and glory of those who belong to it. This prophecy, as we saw above, was read by the Savior Himself in the Nazareth synagogue. - 2nd Paremia (from) contains the promises of the Lord to the executors of the Commandments of the Lord and threats to violators; zealous fulfillment of these commandments is the main condition for prosperity on earth, which we usually wish for ourselves and our neighbors when the new year comes. - The 3rd proverb (from Sol.4:7-25) is related to the memory of St. Simeon the Stylite, who realized in his life the lessons of true wisdom and showed the triumph of piety, glorified in the book of Wisdom. - In the VIII century. St. John of Damascus wrote many hymns on the 1st day of September.
