parish recording – Blisswood

Let Us Rejoice!

Crow Rejoicing in Sakura Blossoms~ Photo shared by Veronika S.

Christ is Risen! Happy Bright Saturday!

2023 – MP3 of Parish Youth Choir Singing Paschal Tropar:
Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing Life!

2017 – Parish Youth and Adults Sing Christ is Risen

More Musical Easter Eggs!

Paschal Poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich
(As Serbian Orthodox Song YouTube)

Rejoice O ye people, all nations listen:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Dance all ye stars, O sing hills and mountains:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Whisper ye forests and blow all ye breezes:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Roar all ye beasts, proclaim all ye oceans:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Buzz all ye bees, sing all ye birds:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
O little lambs, exult and be merry!
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Nightingales joyous, singeth their praises:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Ring O ye church bells, everyone listen:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
All angels join us, singing this chorus:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Come down O ye heavens sing with us on earth:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Glory to Thee, O Lord God, Almighty!
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Glory, to Thee O God in the Highest:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!

Hristros Voskrese Radost Donese

Palcici Hristos Voskrese

For God is With Us (Appalachian)

Paschal Stichera (Virtual recording during pandemic)

Let God Arise

Spiritual Fragrance

Roses of Spiritual Friendship from Olga

Today is the Feast Day of St. Xenia! (A very special Saint who has greatly helped our family) Congratulations also, to goddaughter Xenia on your Saint’s Day. May God grant you many years!

Yesterday, after service, our youth choir rehearsed It is Truly Meet to Bless Thee, O Theotokos… a hymn they’ll be singing for an upcoming liturgy. Sung from the heart, their pure, prayerful voices filled the air with spiritual fragrance – and arose like incense.

It is Truly Meet – Parish Youth Choir 2023

It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos,
Ever blessed and most pure,
And the Mother of our God.
More honourable than the cherubim,
And more glorious beyond compare
Than the seraphim,
Who without corruption gavest birth
To God the Word,
True Theotokos we magnify thee.

May the Mother of God keep you and your family.

In the Form of a Dove

Beautiful Dome Painting on round canvas, by Marie Proe ~ Niagara Falls, New York

January 19/6

Greetings on Holy Theophany!

Christ is Baptised! In the Jordan!

Today’s Great Feast commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. Today the Heavens are opened. Today the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. Today God the Father’s Voice from heaven declares Jesus Christ is His beloved Son. Today the Illuminating Light and Mystery of the Holy Trinity appears to the inhabited earth!

May blessings abound
With God’s gracious Love,
So let our hearts soar
On wings like a dove!

Good Day and Good Feast to you!

Epiphany Carol from Patmos, Greece.

Then Will Come the 2nd Feast!

Detail of Parish Mosaic Icon – St. Bail the Great

…that will be St. Basil’s Feast; rejoice!

One of my favourite quotes from St. Basil the Great ~ A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

May we all plant a Perennial Crop of Kindness and Share the Harvest from the Garden of God’s Love!

Happy St. Basil’s Day – January 14/1

Greetings on the Feast – with St. Basil the Great Quotes

St. Basil’s Day Cake Recipe

Sharing our parish choir’s (a cappella) 2014 recording of the Christmastide Carol – We Wish You Good Evening. We sing of the coming 3 feasts! Holy Nativity, St. Basil the Great’s Day, and Holy Theophany.

O rejoice all the world, the Son of God is born!

Magnifying the Virgin Mary Theotokos

Detail from small paper icon our spiritual Fr. Vladimir gave to our son at his baptism, and which, for a time, shared our son’s crib.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Happy Third Day of the Nativity!

Greetings on St. Stephen’s Day!

Beautiful a cappella Nativity Hymn – Magnifying the Virgin Mary Theotokos, followed by Ode 9 of the Nativity Canon… as recorded by our parish in 2014.

Below is one of my favourite Christmastide readings which I also take special delight in remembering each year, on Great and Holy Friday.

A Story of the Divine Christ-Child and the Flight Into Egypt

When the holy family fled before Herod’s sword to Egypt, robbers leapt out on the road with the intention of stealing something. The righteous Joseph was leading the donkey, on which were some belongings and on which the Most-holy Theotokos was riding with her Son at her breast. The robbers seized the donkey to lead it away. At that moment, one of the robbers approached the Mother of God to see what she was holding next to her breast.

The robber, seeing the Christ-child, was astonished at His unusual beauty and said in his astonishment: If God were to take upon Himself the flesh of man, He would not be more beautiful than this Child!

This robber then ordered his companions to take nothing from these travellers. Filled with gratitude toward this generous robber, the Most-holy Virgin said to him: Know that this Child will repay you with a good reward because you protected Him today.

Thirty-three years later, this same thief hung on the Cross for his crimes, crucified on the right side of Christ’s Cross. His name was Dismas, and the name of the thief on the left side was Gestas.

Beholding Christ the Lord innocently crucified, Dismas repented for all the evil of his life. While Gestas reviled the Lord, Dismas defended Him, saying: This man hath done nothing amiss. (St. Luke 23:41).

Dismas, therefore, was the wise thief to whom our Lord said: Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise (St. Luke 23:43). Thus the Lord granted Paradise to him who spared Him in childhood.

~ St. Nikolai Velimirovich from the Prologue of Ohrid

Hail the Blest Morn!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Happy Second Day of Nativity!

Sharing our parish choir’s women’s (a cappella) recording of this beautiful carol – Star of the East. ⭐️

Parish Recording 2014

Hail the blest morn, see the great Mediator,
Down from the regions of glory descend.
Shepherds, go worship the Babe in the manger,
Lo, for His guard the bright angels attend.

Refrain:
Brightest and best, of the stars of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid.
Star in the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our Infant Redeemer was laid.

Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining,
Low lies His bed, with the beasts of the stall.
Angels adore Him, in slumbers reclining,
Wise men and shepherds before Him do fall.

Say, shall we yield Him in costly devotion
Odours of Eden and offerings divine,
Gems from the mountain and pearls from the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine.

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gold, we His favour secure,
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
Nearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

Text by Reginald Heber (1783-1826)
Musical Arrangement by John H. Hickok (1832)

Meriġe Crīstesmæsse
Blessed Christmastide!