On January 7 our Parish family celebrated great holy day of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, also known as Christmas Day. We held a beautiful celebration in our temple. The Divine Liturgy was served by our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov. Following the Gospel lesson he proclaimed the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom on the Nativity.

Upon the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector and the altar servers came out of the sanctuary and performed the rite of glorification before the icon of the Nativity singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the feast.

Following the Liturgy Fr. Igor preached a short homily in Russian and congratulated parishioners on the occasion of the great holy day of the Birth of our Savior. He also handed out little presents with the sweets and candies to the parish children.

Parish Warden and Choir Director Olga Roussanow congratulated Fr. Igor on the occasion of his anniversary of priestly ordination. A short speech was also made by the altar server Andrew Malyshew who expressed his appreciation for the spiritual care provided by Fr. Igor to the faithful. An elaborated version of the Nativity kontakion, as well as traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta”) was sung in honor of Fr. Igor. The Rector expressed his gratitude to the parishioners for their heartfelt wishes and rendered thanks to the Lord who made him worthy and able to serve the faithful as a priest for 26 years.

After the service in the temple the Rector and parishioners continued celebration of Christmas at the nearby Veranda Caffe.