Ecclesiastical New Year
The Reading is from Luke 4:16-22
At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
On September 1st, we celebrate the Ecclesiastical New Year. This feast has its roots
in 4th century Constantinople, when Emperor Constantine introduced an imperial decree,
or Indiction, following his vision of the Holy Cross in the sky and subsequent victory over
Maxentius. The Indiction established a new taxation period for the Roman army and
marked the beginning of a new year. Taking the Indiction as a reference to God’s cre-
ation of the world (the beginning of time), the Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council
set September 1st as the beginning of the Church year. Since then, the late Ecumenical
Patriarch Demetrios I, declared September 1st, 1989, the first annual “Day of Prayer for
Creation.” Later, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew named September
1st the “Day of the Protection of the Environment,” encouraging the faithful to rediscover
their commitment to protecting the environment.
His All-Holiness continues the early Church’s practice of praying for the environ-
ment on September 1st. The new Ecclesiastical year marks a time when farmers finish
harvesting crops from the previous year and prepare to plant new seeds for the coming
year. On this feast day, the Church thanks God for the rich harvest He granted the prior
year and prays for favorable weather in the coming year.
Just as the Church blesses the earth to yield abundant fruits in the coming year
on September 1st, so does the Church bless us to produce abundant spiritual fruit. The
Apostle Paul writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good-
ness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). As we begin a new year,
we can ask ourselves if we bear these fruits. We can reflect, seeing if we have love for
God and others, peace in our hearts, kindness toward others’ suffering, goodness in our
thoughts, faithfulness in our relationships, gentleness in our speech, and self-control in
our actions. With the new Ecclesiastical year, the Church calls us to grow these virtues by
orienting our lives to eternity.
In the Gospel reading, Christ stands up to read in the middle of the synagogue.
Opening the book given to Him, He turns to the prophecy of Isaiah and says: “The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor…to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” All eyes in the synagogue are on this unassum-
ing Jewish Man as He sits back down. Simply, humbly, and gently, He says: “Today, this
scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Christ begins His public ministry with these
few words, proclaiming a new era—a new “acceptable year of the Lord.”
By saying “Today,” He sanctifies time. He is the Word that came forth out of si-
lence, leaving the bosom of the Holy Trinity to create all things out of nothing. He is the
Word of God, Who took on human nature as a divine person and became like us in every
way—except sin. He is the anointed One Who appears in the midst of the synagogue as
a humble Man to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy. His presence in time redeems time, transform-
ing it into a meeting place with Him, a vehicle of salvation. His presence in time brings
eternity into the present. “Today” becomes an eternal today. Christ gives humanity a new
perspective—a perspective of eternity. On September 1st, the Church calls us to adopt
this perspective of eternity.
To guide us, the Church gives us a clearly devout example: Saint Simeon the Styli-
te, commemorated on September 1st. He lived in intense prayer and fasting. Later, he
built a tower upon which to live and increase his dedication to God. That is, he wanted
to focus his mind on God alone and not on the things below. Progressively, he made the
tower higher and higher as people flocked to him for guidance. As he fled from people,
he drew closer to God, so great was his longing to be with Him. Still, on earth, he had an
eternal perspective. While Saint Simeon’s way of living is challenging, we can still strive to
imitate his longing for God by orienting our lives toward eternity.
Many of us find it challenging to be present. Our homes are full of technology that
steals our attention. The news drowns the sound of birds singing in the early morning
hours. Social media consumes us with scrolling from image to image, each one prompting
us to look at “just one more.” How difficult it is to come home from work or school ex-
hausted, unable to focus on our families, friends, or loved ones, let alone God. How easy
it is to lose sight of God, of eternity. How easy it is to lose perspective.
The Church calls us to regain perspective, to see eternity amid all our cares and
difficulties. Like Saint Simeon the Stylite, we need a pillar from which we can look down
upon our many worldly cares and see that God is there amid them. What pillar can lift us
above our worldly cares? Prayer.
Prayer makes us present to God’s presence in our lives. He is present in our prob-
lems because He cares for us. Prayer fills us with God’s presence, with the grace of the
Holy Spirit. In turn, we bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
says, “We must become filled, replete with the Holy Spirit. This is where the essence of
spiritual life lies. This is an art––the art of arts. Let us open our arms and throw ourselves
into Christ’s embrace.” The Holy Tradition of the Church says that we learn to pray by
praying. The art of prayer takes time and practice. We can perfect it in all our daily diffi-
culties by surrendering ourselves to “Christ’s embrace.”
Many people set New Year’s resolutions on January 1st. With the Ecclesiastical
New Year, we can set a resolution to pray more––not with more words, but with more of
our heart. We can set an intention to turn all the difficulties we face into prayer by putting
“Lord” in front of every thought and feeling we have. For example, “Lord, I am sad. Lord,
I am angry. Lord, I do not know what to do.” In this way, the Lord becomes present in
our sadness, anger, and confusion. Similarly, we can call on the Holy Spirit to “come and
dwell” in our inner pain––whether it is anxiety, depression, or any difficult state of being––
so that He transforms it into peace beyond understanding and joy that cannot be taken
from us. May God bless the coming year with spiritual fruit and help us orient our lives to
eternity in every moment.
