SEPTEMBER 1st IS THE BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION, THAT IS, THE NEW ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

SEPTEMBER 1st IS THE BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION, THAT IS,
THE NEW ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR.

BEGINNING OF THE INDICTION: For the maintenance of their armed forces, the Roman emperors decreed that their subjects in every district should be taxed every year. This same decree was re-issued every fifteen years, since the Roman soldiers were obliged to serve for fifteen years. At the end of each fifteen-year period, an assessment was made of what economic changes had taken place, and a new tax was decreed, which was to be paid over the span of the fifteen years. This imperial tax decree, which was issued before the season of winter, was named INDICTIO, that is, Definition, or Order. This name was adopted by the Emperors in Constantinople also. It is commonly held that Saint Constantine the Great introduced the Indiction decrees in A.D. 312, after he beheld the Sign of the Cross in heaven and vanquished Maxentius and was proclaimed Emperor in the West. There are three types of Indictions: (1) That which was introduced in the West, and which is called Imperial, or Caesarean, or Constantinian, and which begins on the 24th of September; (2) The so-called Papal Indiction, which begins on the 1st of January; and (3) The Constantinopolitan, which was adopted by the Patriarchs of that city after the Fall of the Eastern Empire in 1453. This Indiction is indicated in their own hand on the decrees they, without the numeration of the fifteen years. This Indiction begins on the 1st of September and is observed with special ceremony in the Church.

Since the completion of each year takes place, as it were, with the harvest and gathering of hte crops into storehouses, and we begin anew from henceforth the sowing of seed in the earth for teh production of future crops, September is considered the beginning of the New Year. The Church also holds a festival on this day, beseeching God for fair weather, seasonable rains, and the abundance of the fruits of the earth. The Holy Scripture (Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1-2) also testify that the people of Israel celebrated the feast of the Blowing of the Trumpets on this day, offering hymns of thanksgiving. In addition to all the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemorate OUR SAVIOR’S ENTRY INTO THE SYNAGOGUE IN NAZARETH, WHERE HE WAS GIVEN THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH TO READ, and He opened it and found the place where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for which cause He hath anointed Me…" (Luke 4:16-30).

It should be noted that to the present day, the Orthodox Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1st. This was the tradition in Constantinople until its Fall in 1453 and in Russia until the reign of Peter Ist. September 1st is still festively celebrated as the New Year at the Patriarchate in Constantinople; among the Jews also the New Year, although reckoned according to a moveable calendar, usually falls in September. The service of the Menaion for January 1st is for our Lord’s Circumcision and for the memorial of Saint Basil the Great without any mention of its being the beginning of a new year.

On the Saints that are celebrated today, OUR RIGHTEOUS FATHER SYMEON was born about the year 390 A.D. in a certain village named Sis, i the mountain region of Cilicia and Syria. Having first been a shepherd, he entered the monastic discipline at a young age. After trying various kinds of ascetical practices, both in the monastery and then in the wilderness, he began standing on pillars of progressively greater height, and heroically persevered in this for more than forty years; the greater part of this time he spend standing upright, even when one of his fee became gangrenous, and other parts of his body gave way under the strain. He did not adopt this strange way of life out of vainglory, a charge that some of his contemporaries made against him a the first: because he was already famous for his asceticism and holiness before ascending his first pillar (in Greek, STYLE, whence he is called "STYLITES"), many pious people came to him wishing to touch his garments, either for healing or for a blessing; to escape the continual vexation they caused, he made a pillar about ten feet high, and then higher and higher, until the fourth and last was about fifty feet high. The Church Historian Theodoret of Cyrrhus, an eyewitness of his exploits who wrote of him while Symeon was yet alive, called him "THE GREAT WONDER OF THE WORLD." God gave him the grace to persevere in such an astonishing form of asceticism that multitudes came to see him from Persia, Armenia, South Arabia, Georgia, Thrace, Spain, Italy, Gaul, and the British Isles. Theodoret says that he became so famous in Rome that the entrances of the workshops were adorned with small icons of him for a blessing and protection. Nomadic Arabs by the thousands believed in Christ and were baptized because of him; the king of Persia sent envoys to inquire into his way of life, and the Queen asked to be sent oil that he had blessed. He also was a great defender of sound doctrine, and confirmed the Orthodoxy of the Holy Council of Chalcedon for many who had been beguiled by the teaching of the Monophysites, including the Empress Evdocia, widow of Theodosius the Younger (see January 20). After a life of unheard-of achievements and struggles, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine, in the year 459 A.D.

THE SYNAXIS OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS OF MIASENAE is celebrated today because of the wonder or miracle that was wrought when her holy icon, which has been cast into the lake called Zaguru in order to prevent it from being desecrated by the Iconoclasts, miraculously arose intact from the depths of the lake after many years.

JESUS (JOSHUA) OF NAVI was born of the Tribe of Ephraim in Egypt, in the seventeenth century before Christ. When he was eighty-five years of age, he became Moses’ successor. He restrained the River Jodan’s flow and allowed the Israelites to cross on foot. He caused the sun to stop in its course when he was waging war against the Amorites. He divided the Promised Land among the Twelve Tribes of Israel and governed them for twenty-five years. He wrote the Old Testament Book that bears his name, and having lived 110 years in all, he reposed in the 16th century B.C. His name means "GOD SAVES."

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Indiction. Second Tone

O MAKER of all creation, Who has established the times and the
seasons in Thine own power: Bless the crown of this year with
Thy Goodness, O Lord, and keep our rulers and Thy flock in peace,
by the intercessions of the Theotokos, and save us.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of Saint Symeon. First Tone

THOU becamest a pillar of patience and didst emulate the Forefathers, O
righteous one: Job in his sufferings, Joseph in temptations and the life of
the bodiless while in the body. O Symeon, our righteous Father, intercede
with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Theotokos. Grave Tone

REJOICE, thou who art full of grace, O Virgin Theotokos, haven and
protection of the race of man; for the Redeemer of the world became
incarnate of thee; for thou alone art both mother and virgin, Ever-Blessed
and Glorified. Intercede with Christ God that peace be granted unto
the world.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hym of the Prophet. Second Tone

AS we celebrate the memory of Thy Prophet Jesus of Navi, O Lord,
through him we beseech Thee to save our souls.

Kontakion Hymn of the Indiction. Forth Tone

O GOD OF ALL, Thou has made all the ages, O Sovereign Lord,
truly transcendent in essence, bestow Thy grace and blessing on
the year to come; and, O Most Compassionate, in Thine infinite
mercy save all them that worship Thee, Who alone art our Master,
and that with fear, O Savior, cry to Thee: Grant unto all men a
fruitful and godly year.

[Resources: The Great Horologion]

A BLESSED, A PEACEFUL, A HEALTHY AND FRUITFUL NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George