Merry Christmas, Happy Christ Birth, Merry
Russian and Serbian Christmas!
It's 9th and it's the 3rd day of the Russian and Serbian Christmas
as well as Christmas for all those Orthodox Churches and
monasteries, who still observe the
old orthodox calendar / (star
stil)
I'm just coming back from the
Orthodox Church service in
Nijmegen .
The Church service was great, the Father there Father Sergius is a
priest for almost 30 years and is a really gracious and gentle
priest!
After the Church service it is common that the Church community
gathers together in the kitchen room (a small room in the church),
where we had a dinner, tea and coffee together.
I should say the Church community is really tight, mainly
constituted of Russians and Ukrainians but there are also quite of
Dutch people who by God's grace found the true church of Christ and
thus converted to Orthodox Christians.
It's really amazing to see a western people with a profound
interest and dedication in Orthodoxy and in Eastern Church life!
This is definitely a miracle of God!
After the Church service, one of the choire members lady had
organized a Russian like Children festival to celebrate Christmas
and the Russian New Year.
There was some children games organized for the children. After
some of the games in which children had to do some kid games.
Snegurochka and
Det Moroz had entered the Church as a
great delight for the children.
It's interesting to say that in Bulgaria we also have
Snegurochka that we call
Snezhanka and
Det
Moroz which in Bulgarian is
Dqdo Mraz
This kind of children feast and a way to complete the 3 days
Christmas festival in which we celebrate the unexplainable mystery
of our Saviour Jesus's Christ incarnation had added up to the great
joy of the Church service as well as bring back some old memories
of my youth where in the Kinder Garden when I was a kid we used to
also await and receive the two dear guests, the old man
Dqdo
Mraz and his assistans
Snehznka :)
After the children performed some singing dancing and children
exercises as well as had some songs and dances together with
Det
Moroz and
Snezhanka it was time for the end part of the
feast which is the recital of children rhymes and christmas
songs.
Since there were mostly Russian kids there, most of the children
performances was in Russian, however there were few Dutch kids so
there was some recitals and singing in Dutch and even in English!
:)
As
Det Moroz was very pleased with the great acting of the
youngsters he brought in the two sacks packed up with kid presents
and after each children performance, he gave a present to the
kid.
The kids were completely shining as a result since they were
rewarded for their parcipation in the feast and had some photos
with
Det Moroz and
Snezhanka :)
After the whole celebrations were over, we the people who left in
the Church went in the church kitchen and had a wonderful table
full of delicious foods and drinks, some of which were traditional
Christmas Russian meals including my favourite's
Russian Salad /
Ruska Salata
I had some very nice chats with some of the church members in the
mean time and after the great meal together we cleaned up the
Church, asked Father Sergii for a blessing and each one of the
church brothers and sisters headed back home.
As a matter of fact since I've started talking about the Russian
Orthodox Church in Nijmegen, maybe it will be nice to mention that
the Church Bulding is actually an Byzantine Chapel taken from Roman
Catholics, so the Church didn't really have a classical Orthodox
Church architecture, however this is not a problem at all since
everything within the Church icons, iconostasis, alter wall , icons
etc. are Russian and serbian Orthodox icons.
The alter was also reconstructed in order to be suitable with the
Church requirements for an Orthodox Church alter, it's interesting
fact that the man who sells candles and does a lot of the Russian
Church minor maintenance is a Bulgarian just like me :)
Currently the Orthodox Russian Church in Nijmegen had church
services every two weeks (9th January, 23 January, 6th February
etc.)
Although I should say that in the Church building the Serbians had
their Orthodox Church service every two weeks also, which means
that the Serbs has their Orthodox Church services in the same
Church in Nijmegen on (16,30 ,13 of January etc.)
Therefore there is an Orthodox Church service every week in
Nijmegen by God's mercy where services alternate with each other,
one week is Russian Orthodox Church and one week is the Serbian
Orthodox Church.
This means that for really vigilant Orthodox Christians which want
to be each week in an Orthodox Church service there is possibility
in Nijmegen!
Here is the time to say that there is an
Schizmatic Orthodox
Russian Church Abroad here in Arnhem but beware this is a
schizmatic Church!
Just in case if you wonder what a schizmatic Orthodox Church means,
it means it is not officially in communion (e.g. recognized by
other local Orthodox Churches and thus the local country Orthodox
Churches!).
This means that the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Arnhem is in
schism with the rest of the Orthodox Churches and therefore it's
considered like a sect, as the Holy father has previously told
there are many dangers for our souls and mental wealthness in
attending a sect Church ( an Orthodox Church in schism), so before
you decide to go to the Russian Orthodox Church in Arnhem try to
consult yourself with your spiritual father or any other regular
Church priest to ask him if that is a good step to take in your
spiritual life.
Before I found out that the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad here
in Arnhem is not okay e.g. is in schism I used to attend this
church for a life and I've experienced a really tough period in my
life, where I had also even some increased paranoias, fear and a
false belief that I've been constantly spied.
Even for a while I had this insane idea that the
Starostilci
or the
The Old Church calendar observers are the only true
Orthodox Christians, I do questioned the validity even of our home
country Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as partially a priest who served
in the Orthodox Church in Arnhem had told me that the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church is an ecumenistic Orthodox Church and in that
manner of thoughts the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is corrupted which
is complete lie!
I'm tealling all this in order to give you some idea if you're a
dedicated Orthodox Christian where is it safe for you to go to a
Church here in the province of Gelderland.
Just to conclude the only safe and legal Orthodox Church nearby
Arnhem is the
Russian
Orthodox Church in Nijmegen
Just to give you some more idea why the Orthodox Russian Church in
Arnhem is not truly an Orthodox Church I want to tell you that the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad until
the May 1997 had been a
separate Church which had the belief that the Russian Orthodox
Church in Russia had been infiltrated by KGB and therefore not a
regular Orthodox Church anymore.
However the biggest part of he Russian Orthodox Church Abroad had
dropped this weird idea in May 17 2007 and had become a self
governing Church part of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Russia.
Nevertheless some minor part of the Church doesn't recognized the
decision of the major part of the Russian Orthodox Church's vladici
(Metropolitans) that the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad should get
back to the Russian Orthodox Church and therefore they went on
their own splitting up from the Official Russian Orthodox Church
and become a church in schism.
The case with the Russian Orthodox Chuch abroad in Arnhem is
exactly the same, they have split up from the Official Russian
Orthodox Church and had continued on their Church life without
unity with the rest of the Russian Orthodox Church and without
unity or recognition by the rest of the local Orthodox Churches
around the world.
The Church community in the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in
Arnhem is really good though I belief most of the people their are
lacking the knowledge to recognize that this church from a legal
Church perspective is out of regular communion with the other
orthodox churches.
I've especially asked Father Sergii (the Priest from the Russian
Orthodox Church in Arnhem) about the current status of the
Russian Orthodox Church abroad here in Arnhem and he had
confirmed that it's not good for an Orthodox Christian to go to the
Russian Orthodox Church abroad in Arnhem.
Father Sergii said I quote as far as correct as I can remember:
"The Russian Orthodox Church abroad in Arnhem is not
okay"
Anyways thanks to God I've succesfully travelled to Nijmegen from
Arnhem and back with a train. I do so every two weeks in order to
attend the Church service in the Russian Orthodox Church in
Nijmegen.
In conclusion if you're an orthodox Christian believer in Arnhem,
check out the website of
Orthodox Nijmegen and see
where the Church is located on their website, catch the train like
me and go there
If you decide to go to the Orthodox Russian Church Nijmegen, you
will need to catch the bus that goes to
Dobbelmannweg 3 (for
this you will need to catch the autobus number 7 - This is the bus
going to Kan Mijilinckstraat
Hope this info is helpful to somebody!
Again Merry Russian and Seribna Christmas! Cheers!