Christmas in the Eastern church

what is held on the Eve of the Nativity? What is this to represent?

Services that last all night are done. They are intentionally parallel to those held on Good Friday, to illustrate the theological point that the purpose of the incarnation was to make possible the crucifixion and the resurrection

what does the service ‘The Hours’ entail?

Special Psalms, hymns and Biblical readings prescribed for each hour proclaim the joy and power of Christ's birth

what does the service ‘Vespers’ include?

8 biblical readings celebrate the incarnation and show that Christ is the fulfilment of all prophecies

what does the service ‘The Liturgy of St Basil the Great’ entail?

In the past the baptismal Liturgy at which catechumens’s were baptised and integrated into the Body of Christ

what does the service ‘The Vigil’ begin with?

the Great Compline

what does the service ‘Matins’ entail?

The words ‘Christ is born’ are sung while the congregation venerates an icon of the Nativity

what may be lit to represent the light of Christ?

Candles

what represents the end of fasting?

The festive Christmas meal

what does the white linen on the dinner tables symbolise?

The cloth in which the baby Jesus was wrapped

what may be placed on the linen to represent the stable where Jesus was born?

Straw

what do some Orthodox Christians do with lakes?

They walk to seas, rivers and lakes as part of the Christmas Day Liturgy and make holes in the frozen ice to bless the water

what is there little present in the Western Church?

Little emphasis on the sharing of gifts, and little of the consumerism that characterise the Western Christmas