Waterloo Record, Canada
Jan 6 2006
Christmas comes but twice a year
Orthodox and eastern-rite faiths are celebrating this weekend
MIRKO PETRICEVIC
PHOTO:
MIRKO PETRICEVIC, RECORD STAFF
Rev. Gomidas Panossian stands in the sanctuary at Soorp Nishan
Armenian Apostolic Church in Cambridge where he will be conducting
three masses this weekend. Armenians celebrate Christmas today. Other
Orthodox churches observe Christmas tomorrow.
WATERLOO REGION (Jan 6, 2007)
While most Christian clergy can take a breather after the busy
Christmas season, Rev. Gomidas Panossian’s workload is just reaching
its peak.
Last night he planned to conduct mass at the Soorp Nishan Armenian
Apostolic Church in Cambridge, where he serves as pastor.
Today he is serving mass. Tomorrow, another mass. And during the next
month he will visit about 100 homes where he will bless parishioners’
water, bread and salt, as per tradition.
No matter, he said in an interview earlier this week.
"It’s our job. No problem. We’re ready all the time."
About half-a-dozen congregations in Waterloo Region are celebrating
Christmas this weekend.
Armenians celebrate today. Other eastern-rite churches mark the birth
of Jesus tomorrow.
Orthodox and eastern-rite churches in the region include Armenian,
Serbian, Coptic (Egyptian Christians), Ethiopian, Ukrainian-Catholic
and Ukrainian-Greek congregations.
Although most churches in the West follow a calendar refined by Pope
Gregory XIII in the 16th century, many eastern churches observe holy
days according to the Julian calendar, which was commanded by Roman
dictator Julius Caesar in 46 BC.
Not all Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas this weekend. Some,
like most western churches, mark Christmas on Dec. 25.
Priests aren’t the only busy people this week. Many lay people —
choir directors and other volunteers — are scrambling to organize
family dinners or church celebrations.
Nick Skomorowski, 86, helped erect the Christmas tree at the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Sophia in Waterloo earlier this
week.
Mary, his wife, had already started preparing a meal for their five
children and eight grandchildren planned for tomorrow.
But Christmas this year is a bit more relaxed than in other years
because it falls on a Sunday.
In years that it falls on a weekday, some people have to cut back on
the celebrations and continue to go to work, Nick Skomorowski said.
"You can’t just drop it. You have to go to work."
In years when Christmas falls on a weekday, there are fewer
volunteers available to help get the church ready for Christmas, said
Mike Buzadzija, longtime member of Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox
Church in Kitchener.
But there’s always enough help to get the church and dining hall
prepared for tonight’s Christmas Eve mass and communal supper, he
said.
The Waterloo man has been busy all week helping put on the
festivities.
On Tuesday, Buzadzija drove to a friend’s property in Goderich and
collected a van-load of oak branches.
Children from the church’s folklore dance troupe tied the branches
and strands of straw into hundreds of little bundles. Parishioners
will take them home after tonight’s service.
Volunteers shuffled tables and chairs in the church hall for
tonight’s dinner of fish, beans and bread.
Tonight, Buzadzija and three other men will brew a special Serbian
tea made of plum brandy and boiled water mixed with a bit of sugar.
As parishioners file from the church into the dining hall tonight,
most will take a cup of the special tea which is only made on
Christmas Eve, he said.
"That’s the old tradition," he said. "It’s to keep you more warm this
evening — usually it’s cold (outdoors)."