When go to church for Christmas - 6 or 7 January?

On great holidays, the so-called Twelve, every Orthodox Christian tries to visit the church and take part in the solemn divine service.

Are there many services in Orthodox churches?

On holidays even the smallest temples and chapels open their doors to believers. The services, with small interruptions, go one after another. They begin sometimes very early, even before seven in the morning, and end at midnight. People are full. To an unaccustomed person to spend all day in church is very difficult. Even votserkovlennye, and they do not always advocate all services. But the Byzantine tradition presupposed a round-the-clock service to God, without interruptions. For a long time, the ranks of liturgies were preserved in Rus, lasting for 8-10 hours. Gradually, the readings of prayers, canons and Holy Scripture have significantly decreased, now even the longest service does not last longer than three to five hours. After it, there is a break, followed by another, laid down by the rule.

How can I make it all?

Many baptized people rarely visit the church in the rush of everyday affairs, but they always try to get to it even on the main and most important days - at Christmas, Easter, Trinity, Annunciation, Assumption, Baptism, Exaltation, Sentence, etc.

If with all other holidays it is clear on what day to plan a campaign to the church, on the eve of Christmas , those who rarely visit churches, the question arises: when go to church for Christmas? January 6 - a holiday that does not pass. By the secular calendar this is a normal working day. How to plan it? For many, every year is a solution to a difficult rebus. There is no way to the first star, that is, until six in the evening. On this day you need to have time to cook 12 ritual dishes, work on the main workplace and visit the temple. It's indecent for a church to stop for a minute. If he came, then he must defend the whole service. The Lord usually supports and gives more power on this day than usual. The main thing is not to panic ahead of time.

If the day is working, then you can do so. In one of the long New Year holidays, during the Christmas celebration, one should visit the church, calmly confess, receive the Holy Gifts and ask the priest for blessing to attend the most important Christmas services.

On Christmas Eve everyone waits for the star to rise, do not eat anything, prepare 12 ritual dishes, read or listen to prayers.

The holiday of Christmas, a day off, falls on the calendar on January 7, and the star, announcing the coming to the world of the Savior, everyone is looking in the sky on the evening of the 6th. In this there is some strange paradox and some inconvenience.

What if I want to bring a child to the festive service?

When they go to church (for Christmas or some other bright holiday), they notice that all services, though long, but very beautiful and solemn. There are many people in the churches, it is stuffy, but you want to go with the whole family, with the children. If an adult can make an effort and bring the Lord at least such a sacrifice, then the children are not able to do it. And is it necessary that they have unpleasant feelings from observing Orthodox traditions? Good parents want Christian holidays and visits to temples for their children to become the most enjoyable days. And if the kids have to stand for hours on end in the crowd and a thick crowd of people?

During the service it is not accepted to walk, talk, and engage in extraneous matters. You have to stand with your head down and listen to the church texts. In addition, visits to the temple should be prepared in a special way. It is very important to plan everything correctly and to teach children to attend church on a big holiday. If you see that the child does not stand, quietly go out with him to the street. Do not take a visit to the temple as an unpleasant duty. He is not so sinful to bring such a heavy sacrifice, which is not in everyone's strength for adults.

The main thing is for the children to understand for what purpose and to whom they come when they go to the temple.

Visiting temples by unchurched Christians

Unchurched people, when they go to church on Christmas Eve, treat this event with special care. Many even refuse to participate in the Christian holiday, if they have profaned themselves on the eve of fast food or the state of health prescribes a ban on visiting the Abode of the Holy Spirit. Many are stopped by the fear of condemnation for not knowing the text of prayers or being able to behave correctly in the church. This is a whole science. And on a big holiday temples are filled with different people, and you can not be afraid that the most zealous and fanatical believers will drive them or condemn them. It's no secret to anyone that on ordinary days, when there are few people in the church, it happens.

How to know the schedule of services

If an unchurched person asks in the temple: "When people go to church on Christmas Day - January 6 or 7?" - they may not give him a definite answer. After all, those who serve in the temple, on this day are present at all services. They have a lot of other concerns at this time. After all, it is necessary to turn quickly behind a candle-box and cleanliness in the House of God is supported, and other duties, most often voluntary, are full. Those people who work in the temple, do not receive a salary for their work. Accordingly, the parishioners can not demand anything from them. So, if you get a sensible and free person working in the temple and thus making a sacrifice to God, consider that you are lucky.

If you come to the Temple on the eve and ask beforehand about the order of worship, ask when you go to church for Christmas from 6 to 7, then, again, you can not answer, because usually the schedule appears no more than a few days before the holiday, and Services in all temples begin not simultaneously.

In the post-Soviet times there were few functioning churches, and there was much more difficulty in participating in the festive services than now, when there are so many churches, large and small, and chapels that you do not need to go through the whole city to defend the festive Mass.

What affects the duration of the service?

What determines the beginning of the ceremonial service? For example, from such a factor as the sacrament of confession. Before the festive services, so that the parishioners began to cleanse them, the priests hold a confession. How many people will participate in it, and how long will repent, it is impossible to predict. The number and duration of the next service is also affected by the number of communicants. Usually, when they go to church at Christmas, they try to confess and receive Communion on this day. To the holiday brought joy from the introduction to the great sacrament, peace of mind and well-being of the family, one must prepare for it in advance.

To understand when people go to church at Christmas, you need to find out what services are being carried out at that time. And to know this once and for all is impossible, because this holiday is a passing one, and it can happen on any day of the week.

Colors of Christmas robes

In the annual circle of the most important Christian holidays, there is a certain system and hierarchy. All of them are divided into the Lord's, that is, most of all related to Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, dedicated to His Most Pure Mother. The Lord is the most important.

Robes of priests, sewn from yellow brocade, decorated with gold embroidery and braid, cause association with power and power and symbolize God. The Orthodox, when they go to church for Christmas from 6 to 7 January, note that the festive vestments of the priests are painted in the colors of the Virgin Mary, symbolizing purity and purity - white and blue. Although this is the feast of the Lord. It is the second most important. The first is Easter. The Sunday of Christ is the main holiday, and Christmas is the largest in terms of the number of days during which festive services are held.

The longest holiday

By great holidays, the church and the entire Orthodox people are preparing long, sacrificing fasts, purifying the soul with repentance and prayers. A joyful event also does not end in one day. After the most significant dates, the positions that are mandatory on Wednesdays and Fridays are canceled, entertainment measures are allowed. It is not by chance that weddings are always planned for this time.

By the number of days, when the great event is celebrated, the twelve holidays are also different. The Nativity of Jesus Christ is the longest of all. Each celebration is divided into three stages - pre-celebration, funeral and surrender. All together lasts for almost two weeks.

The Christmas celebration lasts five days. In the church for Christmas, go and on the eve of the Great event, and the 6th, and the 7th, and all next week. The celebration lasts from one day to eight, depending on the closeness to the posts or the next holiday, and ends with giving away.

This is the most solemn service. It recalls all the most significant circumstances of the event.

When is it better to go to the temple - before or after the rising of the star of Bethlehem?

Do people go to church for Christmas after the appearance of a star in the sky that ushered in the birth of the Christ Child? This question does not make sense. Of course they do. Visiting temples on Christmas days is like a visit to a close relative in the maternity home that has successfully produced or is about to produce a baby. If it is permissible to draw such a parallel.

The arrival of each of us in the temple is an expression of gratitude to the Creator for the fact that on this day He presented to us all, to all mankind, for the salvation of us from death in the Gehenna of the fiery Only-Begotten Son. And on the question of whether people go to church for Christmas to the star, and if they walk, then what is the point of visiting the temple before the birth of the God-child, one can answer the following.

Preparing for any holiday, we choose elegant clothes, make a beautiful hairstyle, etc. While waiting for the arrival of the innocent child (the future sacrifice for our sins), we try to get rid of our sins as much as possible, hoping that the less vicious we will be, The purer the soul, the less suffering the Savior will experience in his earthly incarnation.

Thus, the question "when people go to church for Christmas: 6 or 7" can not be considered significant.

The Lord is stronger, kinder and more intelligent than we think

Undoubtedly, this day is enveloped in many secrets, superstitions and accepts. This manifests our spiritual immaturity. The Lord sees the soul of each of us individually. And He sees whether we have come to the temple to meet and communicate with Him, or because someone said that on that day all the desires of those who visited the church are surely fulfilled. And can it really be the truth? For the mercy of God is so great!

When they go to church for Christmas on January 6 in the morning, they do not eat anything and do not drink until confession. Having received the remission of sins and the blessing to Communion, the parishioners participate in the great Vespers and Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. Before communion anything in the mouth can not be taken, even water. If you do not take communion on this day, then until the first star rises in the sky, you can drink only water.

Finally, we note that many of the prescriptions are announced by the priest, who takes care of the temple, after the sermon is over. You just need to listen carefully.