God is with us! God is with us!
Give ear, O you nations!
Be humbled, for God is with us!”
I see a strange and marvelous mystery, heaven is a cave; the cherubic throne, a Virgin; the manger has become the place in which Christ the incomprehensible God lies down. Let us praise him and extol Him.
St. Michael Church in Pittston (2019) :
Scenes from Previous Years:
Great Compline & Vigil of the Nativity at St. Michael Church, Pittston (2017)
The beginning of the Great Compline. The traditional chanting of evening verses by the priest and deacon. This precedes the Christmas Eve Vigil Liturgy.
The priest and deacon enter the sanctuary following the hymn of the Incarnation. Altar servers will enter through the “deacon doors” respecting the sacred space of the Tabernacle.
Reading of the Holy Gospel by the priest; Deacon and altar servers assisting.
A partial view of the twelve apostles gracing the upper level of the iconostasis.
The reading of the Ambon prayer in traditional area of the nave. This beautiful prayer often includes references to the current saint day or feast day.
View of the Holy Table and Tabernacle through the open Royal Doors. Seen behind the Holy Table are the ripidia or ceremonial fans and the processional cross.
Anointing with blessed oil on the forehead. This takes place at the end of Liturgy on major feast days or the Sunday following any important feast day of the Liturgical year. At Christmas, parishioners respond with “Glorify Him!” or in Church Slavonic “Slavite Jeho”
Parishioners proceed to receive the festal anointing with blessed oil called mirovanije. After anointing, all accept a small piece of blessed bread symbolic of the feeding of the multitude and sharing in Christ’s abundant graces.
Our Theotokos Icon
View of Nativity in the form of a time honored Manger scene
St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church 