13 January 2013. It’s Old New Year’s Eve

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Belarusians shall celebrate the Old New Year. The tradition of observing Old New Year appeared in 1918, when the new calendar was introduced in Russia. The difference between the two styles was 13 days. This tradition is also observed in Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Serbia, and Montenegro. Click on the first URL below for a 36-second video (on the page presented, click on “watch”, it’ll download… and you can play it, and, then, delete it). Even if you don’t know Russian, it has good visuals.

In the evening of 13/14 January people will celebrate the Old New Year by singing shchedrivky. On this day, people gather as family, cover the table with a generous variety of food, and go carolling. What else does one need to do to ensure success for the whole year? Our correspondents visited a rehearsal of the celebration at the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life for the Svyatki (Holy Days). It was at a typical village house, typical of those found in Kopyl Raion, showcasing the traditional rituals of the Christmas period. One of the customs was that you’d try to “steal” your neighbour’s decorations, but, of course, you’d have to return them the next morning. It was believed that if the person who stole them wasn’t caught, they’d have good luck on their farm for the next year. Only here, in the open-air museum by village Ozertso, can you witness a folklore festival and learn how our ancestors celebrated prosperity and success in the New Year. The organisers invited groups from all parts of Belarus. One, from the north, in Lepel Raion, another, from the south, was the ensemble Chornabrytsy. Many in  the crowd warmed up dancing and singing, whilst others learned the basics of making Christmas stars, and one did a little Christmas goat… a good luck charm. From now on, for the rest of the week, the museum will present carolling with shchedrivki. Click on the second URL to download a three-minute video with interesting visuals. By the way, notice that the people are singing songs claimed by Ukie nationalists… NEVER argue with such sorts… it’s not only pointless, they use such arguments to accuse YOU of “hate speech” (what a laugh)… take that threat seriously, these people aren’t wrapped too tightly and they’re fanatics.

For the twelfth year, the Minsk House of Mercy brought together residents and visitors for a Christmas pageant. On Old New Year’s Eve, Ded Moroz is once again in the spotlight. He showed up at the House of Mercy on Frantsiska Skorina Street. Ded Moroz and Snegurochka flew in by helicopter; his landing was the highpoint of the celebration. Joyful kids met the magician after his voyage. Archpriest Fyodor Karpov, the rector of All Saints Chapel at the House of Mercy said that families coming to the House of Mercy for this pageant have started a good tradition. After all, spirituality in the family is the key to its well-being; by the way, I think that most would agree that’s the point of the holiday. Click on the third URL to download a three-minute video with good visuals.

This is how “nasty” and “dictatorial” Belarus keeps the feast. C’mon… aren’t most of you ashamed of supporting those who hate them? It’s clear that Belarus isn’t Hell on Earth… it isn’t the Lap of Luxury, either, but it isn’t the cesspit depicted by the Western media and some Western political factions. They DO have a noxious, put-on, and deceitful agenda, after all (amply illustrated by the likes of Rod Dreher, Terrence Mattingly, and Freddie M-G, amongst others)…

13 January 2013

Belteleradiocompany

http://www.tvr.by/eng/society.asp?id=81279

http://www.tvr.by/lib/news.video?id=81277

http://www.tvr.by/lib/news.video?id=81308

13 January 2013. Sergei Yolkin’s World. Holiday Week, Work Year…

Holiday Week, Work Year…

Sergei Yolkin

2013

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Every year, Russians have a holiday break from New Year’s to after Orthodox Christmas (on 7 January). That is, it’s the start not only of a new calendar year and of a new liturgical season, it’s the beginning of a new work year, too. Yolkin plays a visual joke here… the New Year ribbon seems to go on without end (and the guy’s looking backward with a wistful glance), seeming to symbolise the longing of this poor commuter for his home and holiday… that is, the poor fellow doesn’t want his holiday to end, but he knows that he has to show up onsite or else…

BMD

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This week, the long New Year’s holiday ends in Russia. There will be a short work week of only three days, from 9 to 11 January inclusive.

9 January 2013

Sergei Yolkin

RIA-Novosti

http://ria.ru/caricature/20130109/917408503.html

12 January 2013. A Photo Essay. It Happened on Orthodox Christmas in 2013…

Most Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on 7 January. Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos Giannopoulos of Jerusalem served on Christmas Eve in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in Palestine.

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Coptic Orthodox believers came to St Mark Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo for a service led by newly-elected Patriarch Tawadros Sulayman of Alexandria and all Africa.

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Ethiopian Orthodox believers celebrated the holiday.

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In Šabac, west of the Serbian capital of Belgrade in Mačva Okrug (Šumadija and Western Serbia Region), believers took part in the badnjak, a traditional Serb Christmas Eve custom.

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Believers in Verbovichi (Gomel Oblast. Narovlya Raion), a town south-east of the Belarusian capital of Minsk, at Christmas services. Most Orthodox Christians follow the Julian Calendar for calculating the feasts of the Church Year. There isn’t any such thing as the “Revised Julian Calendar”… that’s just a cobbled-together pseudo-intellectual abortion consisting of the Julian Calendar for calculating Easter and the Gregorian Calendar for fixed feasts… neither fish nor fowl, it isn’t defensible in scholarly terms, nor is it logically-sound in its argument or application, and it shows a lack of charity towards the faithful majority of Orthodox believers who continue to follow the Received Tradition.

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Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias served at Christmas at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (he visited Maternity Home nr 3 afterwards to bring holiday cheer to the mothers, families, and staff).

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Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev was amongst the believers that attended Christmas services at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

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Fireworks were part of the celebrations outside the newly-built Church of the Nativity of Christ in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.

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In Gaza, Greek Orthodox believers attended Christmas service at St Porfirios Church.

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Over 80 percent of all Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on its traditional date. The rest should reconsider their position. Don’t you want to be in union with the rest of Christ’s Church? What the heterodox do is of no moment to us… they do what they do, and that’s that, and it has NO relevance to the Church. There are three midwinter holidays called “Christmas”:

• Xmas: C S Lewis used this term for the secular midwinter holiday… it’s a good distinction. When most people wish you “Merry Christmas”, this is what they refer to. Show them kindness and charity… say, “Thank you, and the same to you and yours”. Orthodox can keep this as a secular holiday… we keep all the rest of ‘em like the Fourth of July, Fête du Canada, Australia Day, and the May Day Bank Holiday, don’t we? In any case, to give your kids some gifts on this date is good, as it allows them not to feel out-of-place amongst their mates at school. It’s a secular bank-holiday… keep it as such.
• Catholic Christmas: This is the 25 December religious holiday. The Proddies keep this date, too, as they’re the bastard children of Rome. This is a heterodox celebration, and the Church enjoins us to show respect to other religions and their believers. If you’re wished “Merry Christmas” in this sense, again, show charity (for that’s what Christ’s Church COMMANDS you to do), and say, “Thank you, and the same to you and yours”. Many religious people will be hip to the fact that Orthodox Christmas is a different day. Be kind… show respect to their holy day. Oh… don’t forget to break the opłatek with the Soloniewiczs down the street and get the scungilli and calamari for Nona Sophia next-door (she’ll call ‘em scungil and calamad in Sicilian). You might get an invite to the feast… accept and show your gratitude… that’s what real true-blue down n’ dirty Christians do.
• Orthodox Christmas: This is on 7 January on the civil calendar for the rest of this century (it’ll be 8 January in 2100). Most Eastern and Oriental Orthodox believers keep this date; this is Orthosphere Christmas. Don’t you wish that all of us celebrated together on this day?

If you’re not keeping Orthodox Christmas… you should. Most Orthodox who follow Catholic Christmas are guiltless… they didn’t decide to do such… that was the work of notional and misguided heretics such as Meletios Metaxakis and Aleksandr Schmemann. All Russian Orthodox believers in the diaspora should follow the Mother Church… we should not only celebrate when she celebrates, we should be as one, and scrap all the foolish divisions that split us now. The OCA, Paris Exarchate, ROCOR, and MP Abroad are false and pernicious artificial constructs. We should be as one, under the omofor of our Mother Church. God willing, that day will be soon…

Христос раждается!

Славите его!

BMD

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev: Televised Christmas Message 2013

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Every year when Christmas arrives, when we try to grasp the meaning of this event, we can feel that we’re approaching a mystery. The mystery of God’s birth… the mystery of God’s entry into human history. St John Chrysostom wrote, “God became man, without any diminution of His Godhead. Therefore, He became flesh, so that He Whom the heavens couldn’t contain was received on this day in a lowly manger”. Indeed, the Creator of all that’s around us became equal to us; he became flesh and blood in human history.

From the beginning, people received this unfathomable event differently. Some greeted Him joyfully, with hope and with love. Such were the shepherds of Bethlehem, the Eastern Magi, those who were around the Saviour… Mary and Joseph the Betrothed. Probably, there were those with open minds and pure hearts who looked at the babe miraculously born in a cave in Bethlehem. However, there were those who, from the beginning, didn’t accept Christ… those who denied shelter to Mary and Joseph the Betrothed, those who had no place for them. They didn’t want to let in these people off the street, they didn’t want to disturb any other of their guests, they didn’t want any problems, and they didn’t want to put anyone out of place. For others, the birth of the Saviour was a challenge, not only their well-being, but to their power and position, and, most importantly, their sinful way of life.

Pass over the next 2,000 years… almost nothing’s changed. The world is divided into those who gladly accept the Saviour, who do their best to take upon themselves His point of view, who give their hearts and minds to Him, and find peace, serenity, joy, and meaning in Him. However, some people can’t accept the Saviour, because for them it means reconsidering their way of life, it means that they must reject things that are very dear to them. Nevertheless, accepting Christ requires not only speculative agreement with the fact of His Incarnation, but also a change of life, therefore, many people aren’t prepared for such a change. Throughout its history, the Church dealt with this. Those who don’t accept Christ aren’t the Church’s enemies. They are brothers and sisters, too; Christ was born for their sake. The task of the Church is to help nonbelievers accept Christ, to believe in Him with all their hearts, to realise that the Lord came for them.

However, here’s what you can learn from the whole story of Christmas, the events surrounding the Nativity. If the Lord was received by shepherds, by ordinary people, therefore, doesn’t that mean that, today, we have to look for Him not where there’s glitter and gold, not where there’s power and force, but rather in weakness and need? That’s why the Lord turned to His followers and said that if they wished to achieve the Kingdom of God, they must aid the sick, visit prisoners, and share whatever they had with those who need our help (see the Gospel according to St Matthew 25.34-40). Primarily, today, this means the disabled, the elderly, and children.

Of course, orphans are a most significant priority for the Church these days. We have many children who lack parents, including those abandoned by their parents. It’s important that our people take orphans into their families with joy and with special gratitude to God, giving them not only a home and education, but most of all, their love. Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me (the Gospel according to St Matthew 19.14). These words should make us all aware of how meaningful children are in God’s eyes. On the holy feast of Christmas, my request is that all who’re capable of taking the important step of adopting children or helping orphans… do it, take this step! There should be no orphans in our country. Those who have no parents should find them among sympathetic, upright, and open people.

May God’s blessings surround all of you, strengthening every one of you on your Christian path. For those who are only just coming closer to understanding the mystery of the Nativity, I wish success in this difficult but soul-saving journey toward the true essence of life, which is revealed to us in the Nativity of Christ the Saviour. Once again, I give you my holiday greetings and ask that God’s blessings be upon all of us.

7 January 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_07/Patriarch-Kirill-s-Christmas-Message/

Patriarcia.ru

Official MP Website

http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2692219.html

Editor’s Note:

HH, after services, as is his tradition and wont, visited Maternity Home nr 3 in Moscow. He didn’t visit a rich clinic… he went to a home serving ordinary people. HH is a firm supporter of universal health coverage and a firm defender of the state social safety net (that is, HH opposes the Culture of Death and Mammon worship espoused by the Republican Party). Politically, HH is a man of the Left, and that’s that. All the rightwing bloviation that you hear from the konvertsy is wrong and evil. You can follow oligarch-loving pied-pipers such as Rod Dreher and Terrence Mattingly… or you can follow HH. I’ve chosen. It’s your turn now… choose well.

BMD