The Orthodox Church has established many holidays in memory of the most significant events in the holy history. Of course, the most important of them is the Easter of Christ, the day of the resurrection of our Savior from the dead. But the next of the most revered holidays is Christmas - the day on which the Baby Jesus appeared in the world from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You can say a lot about the significance of this holiday, but it’s enough to notice only one thing: there would be no Christmas - there would be no Easter, so every prayer on Christmas night is imbued with the joy of a miracle.
Beginning of the festive service
The day before the holiday is called "Christmas Eve", this is the last day of Christmas Lent. It ends with a service in the temple, called the Majesty, or Vespers.
She is the beginning of the festive All-Night Vigil. At the Vespers, excerpts from the
Old Testament are read
, which contain predictions about the birth of the Messiah. The whole service as a whole and each prayer on Christmas night is filled with a single meaning - the One came about the world, about whom the Old Testament prophets foretold.
Morning Chants
At the end of Vespers, the so-called sticheras are performed at the verse. These are poetic expositions of individual psalms put to music that are directly related to this holiday. After the festive Consecration follows Matins. It consists of a number of chants, the content of which reveals the idea of the Incarnation.
On Matins, the Christmas troparion is sure to be performed. This is a joyful hymn praising God. But this is not just a prayer on Christmas night, it is a poetic exposition of the dogmas of Orthodoxy. The dominant place in them is the idea of love as the main driving force.
Echoes of pagan times
In the popular mind, Christmas night was always full of mystery and mysticism. This was the reason that in large numbers there were always conspiracies on Christmas night. It is hard to imagine which aspects of life they did not touch.
Among them were conspiracies for material well-being and well-being, and for health, for family happiness, and for safe birth. You could ask for anything, but you always had to keep in mind that we are turning to good and bright forces that can only help in a good deed. You can’t ask them anything bad. Yet conspiracies are a concession to paganism. His time has passed, and on this holiday nothing can be better for an Orthodox person than sincere prayer on Christmas night.