Approximately 2,500 churches and monasteries comprise a melting pot of cultures and liturgical traditions that define Orthodox North America. 1,000 of those churches belong to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America, both of whom are deeply rooted in the 1,000 year history of Orthodox Russia. One of the most visible signs of similarity between these jurisdictions is the Russian style of liturgical singing, which is vastly different from the Greek and Antiochian traditions. OCA and Russian churches predominantly sing the services a cappella, which requires a choir and a competent conductor. Choir conferences and short term training courses are organized by most Orthodox jurisdictions in America, but there has not been a unified program or formal institute where conductors and singers can receive their training.

In an effort to better train church musicians, representatives from most major musical programs and seminaries in ROCOR and the OCA gathered together at the end of 2013 to form the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute (PaTRAM). The work of the newly formed institute was blessed by the Primates of the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Church Abroad. Building on the work that has been done by music educators in the past, PaTRAM strives to provide continuity through its progressive training programs at every level of Church musical development in both English and Slavonic.

In 2013, PaTRAM reached an agreement with Vladimir Gorbik, conductor of Moscow’s Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra’s Representation Church choir, to collaborate on a program designed specifically for people living in North America who want to learn church singing and directing. This program is founded on the same process used for church music and choral direction training at the Representation Church in Moscow, developed by Gorbik and representing a synthesis of the spirituality of Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and the professional education offered at the Moscow State Conservatory. Over the last ten years, this educational method has been helping people of different professions who had no prior musical or choral education become church singers and choir directors, and has been no obstacle to their professional lives.

Understanding that most choir conductors and singers in America are not able to take weeks off from their personal and work schedules, PaTRAM offers comprehensive training programs through the Internet. Weekend classes are conducted at various times and in different parts of the country, but the primary goal of PaTRAM is to create an accessible virtual institute to build competence over longer training intervals. The programs do not require the student to have a musical education, because the intent is to take anyone with musical potential and teach him to sing or conduct. Those who already have musical training can further their education through the Master’s program.

One of PaTRAM’s unique characteristics is its desire to unite professionalism with prayer. To demonstrate the potential of prayerful singing by professionals who are also believers, in September 2013 PaTRAM launched the Patriarch Tikhon Choir under the direction of Vladimir Gorbik. Three concerts were organized in New York City, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC as part of the choir’s world premiere. (Click here for a New York Times review of the concert.)

PaTRAM has also partnered with the Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR to produce a documentary about the work and goals of the institute. The 25-minute film, entitled “Uniting Musical Excellence with Orthodox Worship,” gives an overview of the important role of music in the life of the Orthodox Church and explains how PaTRAM is embarking on an endeavor that could potentially revolutionize the way that the Orthodox conductors and singers receive their musical training in North America.

For more information or to register for classes, please visit the official website of the Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute at www.patraminstitute.org.

– Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese of ROCOR

Due to the projected inclement weather for the Columbia area called for this week, we will be canceling Vespers and Church School on Wednesday evening January 29.

On Sunday, January 19, the clergy and faithful of the Eastern American Diocese joyously celebrated the great feast of the Baptism (Theophany) of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the day of the feast, when “the nature of the waters is sanctified,” it is proper to perform the Great Blessing of the Water. But the number of parishes that additionally perform blessings of local bodies of water grows every year.

Below are photographs of the feast of the Theophany in various diocesan parishes and monasteries. We ask that all parishes wishing to participate in this project send pictures to the Media Office’s e-mail address (eadwebmaster@gmail.com) at their earliest convenience.

Jordanville, NY – Holy Trinity Monastery

Nanuet, NY – Holy Dormition Convent “Novo-Diveevo”

Franklin, NY – Holy Trinity Church & St. Innocent’s Retreat Center

Dominican Republic – Kazan Mother of God Mission

Richmond, ME – St. Alexander Nevsky Church

Red Bank, NJ – St. Nicholas Church

Columbia, SC – St. Elizabeth the New Martyr Church

Wayne, WV – Christ the Savior Church (photos by Anton Shelepov)

Charlotte, NC – Reigning Mother of God Church

Mebane, NC – Holy Trinity Church

Courtesy of the Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese

Service Schedule:

Friday, January 17:
Forefeast of Theophany
6:30pm – Royal Hours & Typika

Saturday, January 18:
Eve of Theophany
9:40am – Hours (w/ Confessions)
10:00am – Liturgy
2:00pm – Great Vespers & Blessing of Waters
5:30pm – Vigil (w/ Confessions)

Sunday, January 19:
Theophany
9:40am – Hours (w/ Confessions)
10:00am – Liturgy
12:00pm – Blessing of the River
1:00pm – New Year’s Potluck Meal

About the feast of Theophany:
Troparion Hymn
“When Thou wast baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest; for the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee, calling Thee His beloved Son. And the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the certainty of the world. O Christ our God, Who hast appeared and hast enlightened the world, glory be to Thee.”

HOLY THEOPHANY

The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the twelve great feasts, one which is celebrated with no less solemnity than is the Nativity of Christ. One might say that the Nativity and the Baptism are two related holidays comprising one single celebration, the Feast of Theophany, for together they present to us the appearance of all three Persons of the Holy Trinity. In the cave in Bethlehem, the Son of God was born according to the flesh, and at His Baptism, from the Heavens the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him (Luke 3:22) and the voice of God the Father was heard, saying, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased! (Luke 3: 22)

Holy Hierarch St. John Chrysostom writes that “it is not the day of the Savior’s birth that we should call His Appearance, but the day on which He was baptized. He did not become known to all by His Birth, but by His Baptism, and that is why it is not the day of His Birth that is called Theophany, but the day on which He was baptized.”

We can say the following about the actual Baptism of the Lord: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who had returned from Egypt after the death of King Herod, grew up in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee. With His Most-holy Mother, he remained in that small town until he was thirty, earning a living for himself and the Most-holy Virgin by following the craft of his supposed father, the Righteous Joseph, who was a carpenter. Upon attaining thirty years of earthly life (i.e. the age before which according to Jewish law one was not permitted to teach in the synagogues or accept the rank of priest), it was time for Him to appear to the people of Israel. However, before that moment, according to the prophets, there first had to appear to Israel the Forerunner, the one who bore responsibility for preparing the people of Israel to receive the Messiah, the one of whom the Prophet Isaiah prophesied: the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (Isaiah 40: 3). Far from the people, in the depths of the severe Judaean Desert, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias (Luke 3: 2), unto a kinsman of the Most-holy Virgin, who while still in the womb of his mother, the Righteous Elizabeth, leaped for joy to welcome his Savior, the One about Whom no one on earth except His Most-pure Mother, who had received the Good News from the Archangel, yet knew. That word of God directed John to go out into the world to preach repentance and to baptize Israel, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1: 7).

Heeding God’s word, John walked throughout the land of Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3: 3). The whole Jewish land and the residents of Jerusalem went out to hear his preaching, to be baptized by him in the waters of the River Jordan, and to confess their sins (Mark 1: 5). Among the Jews who came to John there naturally arose the question: Was he Israel’s hoped-for Redeemer and Comforter? The Baptist replied: There cometh One mightier than I after me, the latches of Whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost… (Mark 1: 7-8). And lo, on one of those ordinary days, as John was preaching to the Jews gathered at the Jordan, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and recognized among the people the One before Whom thirty years earlier he had leaped in his mother’s womb. Jesus had come from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized, along with everyone else, by John. John forbade Him, saying: I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? (Matthew 3: 14). Seeing the Son of God, Who was not subject to sin, before him, John asked that he himself, who was under the sin of disobedience, which had passed from Adam to all of mankind, be baptized by Jesus Christ. And Jesus answering said unto him: Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness… (Matthew 3: 15). Sinless and incorrupt, born of the Most-pure Virgin Mary, and in His Divinity the source of all purity and holiness, He had no need of that Baptism. However, as He had taken on Himself the sins of the entire world, he had come to the waters of the Jordan to purge them through Baptism. He came to be baptized, so as to sanctify the waters with Himself, so as to grant us the font of Holy Baptism. He also came to be baptized so that John might see the fulfillment of God’s word directing him to come out of the desert: Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. (John 1: 33).

St. John the Baptist obeyed Christ’s words, and the Jordan received into its waters the One by Whose command it had began to flow. According to the Gospels, after being baptized the Lord immediately came out of the water. Regarding that “immediately” Church tradition states that St. John the Baptist would hold anyone coming to be baptized neck-deep in the water until he had confessed all of his sins. Only after doing so would the person be allowed to come out of the water. Christ, Who was without sin, could not be held in the water, and therefore immediately came out of the river. As He was coming out of the water, the Heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased! (Luke 3: 21-22). Just as, in the days of Noah, the dove announced that the flood waters had receded, so here the dove pointed to an end to the flood of sin. The Holy Spirit appeared to the people in the form of a dove because that bird was the symbol of love, purity, and meekness. Thus the Holy Spirit is the source of purity, the bottomless depth of love for man, the teacher of humility and peace.

According to Church tradition, St. John the Forerunner’s preaching and his Baptism of the Savior took place at the site of the ancient crossing over Jordan, approximately 5 km from the river’s entrance into the Dead Sea. Already in the times of King David, a ferry had been set up there, and in the 19th Century the place was referred to as “Pilgrims’ Ford,” on account of the multitude of pilgrims coming together there to be washed in the waters of Jordan. It was by that path that 12 Centuries before the Savior’s Nativity, ancient Israel, led by Joshua son of Nun, entered the Promised Land. It was there that, one thousand years before the Divine Incarnation, King David went beyond Jordan, fleeing from his own son Absalon, who had risen up against him. It was at that site that the prophets Elijah and Elisha crossed the river. Later, already during the Christian era, Venerable St. Mary of Egypt departed by that way for the desert beyond Jordan to weep over her sins. Today, the nearby Greek Monastery of St. John the Forerunner reminds pilgrims of the events of Theophany which transpired there.

Back in Apostolic times the Holy Church had already been celebrating the day of Holy Theophany; among its ordinances it bequeathed the direction: “may you hold in great reverence the day upon which the Lord showed us Divinity.” Since antiquity, and in remembrance of the Baptism in which Jesus Christ descended into the waters of Jordan, the Orthodox Church has performed the Great Blessing of the Waters, both on the eve of the Feast and on the actual Feast. The Order of Service for the Blessing of the Waters, and the grace imparted to the water on the Sochel’nik, the Eve of Theophany, and on the actual Feast of Theophany, are one and the same. The solemn Blessing of the Waters stems from the tradition of the Church of Jerusalem, where already in the first centuries of Christianity; solemn processions to the River Jordan for Blessings of the Waters to commemorate the Savior’s Baptism were made. From antiquity in the Church of Russia as well, there have been solemn Blessings of the Waters both on the Eve and on the Feast of Theophany.
-Courtesy of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Washington DC

Most Reverend fellow archpastors, most honorable fathers–concelebrants, 
God-loving monastics, dear brothers and sisters!

Motivated by the best thoughts and deepest feelings of brotherly love and spiritual joy, I greet the faithful children of the Russian Church Abroad, scattered worldwide as God’s wheat, with the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. I send my sincere wish from remote Australia that the coming new 2014th year bring rich spiritual fruit for each of us individually and for the entire Church!

In their writings the Holy Fathers of the Church portray the Feast of the Nativity as great, universal and joyful; the beginning and basis for all other Feasts. It is no wonder the Holy Church sings: “Christ is born, give ye glory, Christ cometh from the heavens. Meet ye Him, Christ is on earth, be ye exalted …”

The Holy Church calls upon us to worthily celebrate the Nativity of Christ. It was not that long ago that in many countries Christians laid aside worldly and earthly cares. Government offices shut down, trade ceased and everyone hurried to God’s churches for festive services during which all prayed and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After the services many engaged in works of piety, visiting hospitals and prisons, providing substantial assistance to the poor. Philanthropic assistance to the poor and orphaned was inherently characteristic of our ancestors. Not a Feast went by without being accompanied by attention to those that struggle and are heavy laden (Matt 11:28).

With the simplicity of the shepherds, let us go to the cave in Bethlehem to worship the living God Who became a living Man. In other words, let us go to church bringing the Infant Christ the gift of warm tears of compunction, a heart enlivened with delight and boundless devotion; and to our neighbors and the needy – benefaction and love.

It is time for us, beloved, to bless ourselves with the Cross of Christ — the cross of self-sacrifice and love in the spirit of light filled Christian understanding. It is time for us to improve in all aspects of our lives. Let us contemplate this during these holy days, referred to as “Christmas-tide”, and make a firm decision to become better, closer to God and to each other.

I take this opportunity with great pleasure to announce the upcoming XIII All-Diaspora Youth Conference to be held in San Francisco from June 27 to July 4 this year. This forum will be devoted to missionary work in the field of philanthropy and will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the glorification of St. John the Wonderworker (Maximovich) by the Russian Church Abroad. This great hierarch of the Russian diaspora exemplified a life of prayer, a life active in selfless good deeds. On behalf of the Synod of Bishops and Archbishop Kyrill, the ruling bishop of the Western American Diocese, I extend a heartfelt invitation to our clergy and representatives of our youth to this gathering. I hope that this conference called “In the Footsteps of St. John” will spiritually and intellectually enrich all the participants. Concurrent with the Youth Conference a Council of Bishops will be held to discuss the pressing issues of internal Church life and the external ministry of our dear Church. This will also give our Archpastors the opportunity to participate in important discussions with our young people. May these general Church gatherings, for which we prayerfully prepare, vouchsafe us the mercy and blessings from God: inexhaustible heroism, courage, vigilance of spirit, a selfless, captivating and inspiring faith, and other gifts of grace, so necessary in serving the Church, in serving God and people in our complex world.

May the coming New Year, beloved Archpastors, pastors, brothers and sisters, be one of Christian renewal of our hearts – a year of spiritual sobriety and ennoblement of our entire life! Let us become genuinely and deeply aware of the necessity of spiritual struggle, dictated by the spirit of life, and concern ourselves with the conscientious fulfillment of all our Christian duties: whether they are personal, family or employment responsibilities, or our duty as Orthodox Christian members of the Church, i.e. performing generous charitable works. May the feast be for us a time of prayer, the strengthening of our internal energies, the refreshment of our soul with Christian ideals, feelings and activities!

With love in the new-born Christ and requesting your holy prayers,

†Hilarion, 
Metropolitan of New York & Eastern America, 
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Nativity of Christ
2013 / 2014