Merry Christmas!
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Ancient Church » Merry Christmas!
One of the things I’ve had trouble with as an Orthodox Christian is explaining my faith to people who are of some other religious persuasion. I think the most difficult has been the look of suspicion — the narrowed eyes, the furrowed brows, the smirks, the almost spoken, “You’re not really Orthodox like you claim, are you?” — when I correct those who do know a little about Orthodoxy regarding the date for Christmas.
Frankly, I’d much rather have been able to take leave starting today, old Christmas Eve, and enjoyed Christmas Liturgy tomorrow with my church in Lexington.
Merry Christmas to all my brothers and sisters on the other Orthodox calendar.
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3 Responses to “Merry Christmas!”
Copyright © 2002–2011 Kevin Robert (Basil) Fritts, all rights reserved.
January 7th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
What else would they think you are if you say, “I go to an Orthodox parish and am a member of that parish”? I’m just asking ‘cuz I don’t understand.
January 8th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Imagine we’re in a foreign country, and I tell you I’m Canadian. Then, since it’s 26 December, you wish me a happy boxing day. When I tell you, “Oh, I’m not THAT kind of Canadian. We celebrate boxing day tomorrow, because we use a different calendar than other Canadians,” you’d probably just think I’m not really Canadian and a bad liar rather than that you don’t really know Canadians well enough.
Explaining all the weirdness of Orthodoxy does not admit an analogy very well (and of course, some people hate analogies altogether anyway), but that will give you an idea of what my interlocutor thinks every time I tell him we celebrate Christmas on the same day as everyone else, but no, we do celebrate Easter later, with the rest of the Orthodox.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Christ is Born!