NEW YEAR

The Russian Orthodox Church, Mount Athos, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Serbian, Georgian, and Polish Orthodox Churches adhere to the old Julian calendar and therefore celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Armenian Apostolic Church and other Eastern Churches, in accordance with an extremely ancient tradition, combine Christmas and Epiphany, which falls on the 6th of the same month. The Orthodox in America, who number several million, mostly follow the new calendar and therefore celebrate Christmas on December 25. New Year’s Eve stands as a bridge between the “two Christmases,” and many Christians perceive it as part of a single festive period.

1 The most family-oriented, long-awaited, and solemn holiday in Russia and its neighboring countries is, of course, New Year’s Eve. Historians tell us that before the 1917 Revolution, New Year’s Eve was not celebrated as solemnly as it was during the Soviet era. This is because pre-revolutionary Russia was a very religious country, and the most important holiday for everyone was, of course, Christmas. In an era when religion was persecuted, New Year’s absorbed all the mysterious and religious meanings that people could no longer express. Thus, it became a kind of secular Christmas. Jesus Christ is not mentioned by name, but he is very much present as the expectation of everything overwhelming, mysterious, supernatural, and new.

2 Secular and everyday things have an invisible theological foundation. For example, in the Orthodox Christian understanding, the New Year’s tree is not just a “random” decoration chosen for the holiday. The evergreen tree symbolizes Jesus Christ—the living and life-giving Son of God, who came into the world so that people would never again be without God. Thus, New Year’s is a “secret,” mysterious, “natural-sacramental” Christmas. Grace is communication, and the Church is a community of interpreters.

3 “God is the future of man,” said the greatest Christian theologian of the twentieth century, priest and professor Edward Schillebeeckx (1914–2009). In this sense, New Year’s is a holiday that proclaims God as “the beautiful far away.” Let us remember that this is exactly how children refer to their future in a touching song that became the signature tune of the 1985 film “Guest from the Future”. “Beautiful far away, don’t be cruel to me. From a pure source, I begin my journey into the beautiful far away, “ goes the chorus. ” I hear a voice from the beautiful distance, it calls me not to paradise,” adds the author, as if reminding us that back then, at the dawn of Perestroika, the action was still taking place in atheistic times. Nevertheless, it is hard to disagree that the lyrics of this song are a true Christian prayer.