The celebration of the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ starts on the evening of January 5 as the church day changes at 17:00 p.m., after the evening service. So the celebration of the feast starts in the evening of January 5 and is continued on January 6.
In the evening of January 5 candlelight Divine Liturgy is celebrated in all Armenian churches. It is interesting that candlelight Divine Liturgy is celebrated only twice during the year – on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ and on the eve of the Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the evening of that day people take to their homes candles lit in the church symbolizing the divine light and the blessing of the Church. Lighting candles symbolizes also the light of Bethlehem star leading the magi from the east to the Baby Jesus.
People greet each other saying, “Christ is Born and Revealed! Blessed is the Revelation of Christ.”
On January 6, following the Divine Liturgy, the Armenian Church also offers a special Blessing of the Waters Service to celebrate the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan. The wonder-working water blessed by means of cross and Holy Chrism is distributed to the faithful for spiritual and bodily healing.
Comments
Hi, Yana!
Thanks for your interesting blog, as you seem to have a very good factual knowledge in history. However, I personally enjoy X-mas Day because of my children & our church celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ who was actually incarnated as the Divine Human Being, but I do not follow it religiously, although I am an professing Christian.
Many denominations have different days for the Sabbath (Friday, Saturday or Sunday), such as your X-mas day, 5th of January, others, 25th of December, as all differently interprets the fact from the Origins. However, frankly speaking, I think the date is not so important anymore, but the most important fact is that whether we see & accept the actual initiative meanings from the Holy Scriptures or not.
Anyway, thanks for giving me a time to think through with this interesting subject once more!
Hi Ďřέǻ₥зЯ Ḿǻ₦, January 1 is only New Year's day, not Christmas. Here is the explanation why Catholic and Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on different dates.
Historically Christian churches celebrated Christ's birth on January 6th until the fourth century. According to Roman Catholic sources, the date was changed from January 6th to December25th in order to override a pagan feast dedicated to the birth of the Sun which was celebrated on December 25th. At the time Christians used to continue their observance of these pagan festivities. In order to undermine and subdue this pagan practice, the church hierarchy designated December 25th as the official date of Christmas and January 6th as the feast of Epiphany. However, Armenians continue to celebrate Christmas on January 6th until today.
Dear MAMIM, this event, God coming into the human world and taking a human flesh, is known as the incarnation. The incarnation is one of the major ways God has been revealed to us. And so, the Armenian Church celebrates not only the birth of Jesus Christ, but the revelation of Christ as the greatest gift ever...
"God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son. Anyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life".
John 3:16
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