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.
The first day of the Ecclesiastical or Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term INDICTION comes from a Latin word meaning, "to impose." It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in A.D. 312 when the Emperor Constantine (+ May 21st) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the New Year on September 1st. S781ome, however, (and this seems more likely), ascribes the institution of the Indiction to Augustus Caesar, three years before the birth of Christ. Those who hold this view offer a proof of the Papal bull issued in A.D. 781 which is dated thus: Anno IV, Indictionis LIII –that is, the fourth year of the fifty-third Indiction.
According to Holy Tradition, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ entered the synagogue on September 1st to announce His mission to mankind (Luke 4:16-22). Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, the Savior proclaimed, "The spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of Lord…" This scene is depicted in a Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Cod. Gr. 1613, p..1).
The Constantinopolitan Indiction 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 issue. 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 the crops into storehouses, and we begin anew from henceforth the sowing of seed in the earth for the production of future crops. September is considered the beginning of the NEW YEAR. The Church also keeps festival 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 the aforesaid, on this feast we also commemorated 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…"
It should be noted to the present day, the Orthodox Church has always celebrated the beginning of the New Year on September 1st. This was the custom 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 beginning the beginning of a new year. [Resources: The Great Horologion]
Tradition says that the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September.
MAY WE ALL HAVE A BLESSED AND A SPIRITUALLY REWARDING NEW CHURCH YEAR!
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"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
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 