A New Church Year

How many of us will be bringing in the harvest this month? I know some of our parish families have worked on family farms in the past, but today? I can’t think of any. (Backyard gardening is close, but on a much smaller scale.)

In the first several centuries of the Church, the harvest season was basic both to family survival and to the understanding of the seasons of the year. September meant gathering up the harvest and beginning to plant for future crops – a new beginning. With the Christian understanding that God is the giver of all blessings in life, the church established this time of year, September 1st, as the beginning of the Church year. The majority of us may no longer have much personal connection with life on the farm, but we still maintain our reliance on God, who “blesses and sanctifies all things.”

For St. Haralambos Church, this new year signals much hope and excitement with new programs along with the continuation of well-established events that begin their preparations. For our young people, we look forward to our Sunday School classes resuming, along with the addition of our evening youth program. For adults, the Spiritual Gifts seminar is being held (another is being planned during the Spring), and later in the month the beginning of the Know Your Faith classes on the teachings of Orthodox Christianity. For the ladies of our parish, the Philoptochos begins its monthly meetings and, for men and women, our choir continues its weekly rehearsal. And for the entire parish – and we really do need everyone’s help, preparations for our annual Greek Festival are moving along for the first festival on our new property.

The church calendar in September also celebrates the feastday of the Elevation of the Lifegiving Cross on the 14th. This first of the major feastdays of the church year recalls the finding of the cross our Lord Jesus was crucified upon by St. Helen, mother of St. Constantine the Great. The reading (from goarch.org) for this beloved feastday follows:

“Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the precious Cross was lifted on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, "Lord have mercy."

It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the venerable Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country. Later, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place.”