Theophany Services

Tomorrow – Sunday, Jan 5th – after our Theophany 10:30am Divine Liturgy and potluck lunch, we will go down to the bottom (North East end) of Baker Park (Corner of 14 Ave. and 1st St. South) at 1:30pm or so and bless St. James Creek at the foot bridge.

Monday at 10:00am right after our regular Monday morning ( 7:30 – 9:30am) free breakfast program, we will have our Theophany day St. Basil’s Liturgy.

About House Blessings:

After the Monday Theophany St. Basil’s Divine Liturgy, the 2025 house blessing season will begin. This is a very ancient and wonderful Orthodox practice. Give Fr Andrew a call to discuss or send him an e-mail to book a time when you would like to arrange to have your house blessed!

House blessings are one of his favorite activities as an Orthodox priest! It is a chance to be able to spend a little time visiting with you and your family in your home, answer any questions and hear about any blessings or concerns or you might have, and to spread the blessing of God to you and your family and throughout your home. There is a very tangible sense of peace and renewal after the short house blessing service! Booking a house blessing is also a good motivator to do a needed after Christmas house cleaning!

The priest will bring the holy water and brush to use to bless all the rooms of the house with holy water, an icon of the Theophany, a veneration cross, and some copies of the actual house blessing service. You should have available a bowl of cup to pour the holy water into, a candle and candle holder, (the priest will bring one as well in case you don’t have one available), a prayer list of family with departed in a separate column, and a good clean spot to set up at, either at your icon corner, or a table with a small cloth to set the house blessing items on and begin the prayers – usually facing east. The actual service is quite short, Probably about 5 to 15 minutes depending upon how large your house is. We begin with some initial trisagion prayers, a gospel reading, and a prayer of blessing. A list of the names of your family (with their saint’s names), all who live in the house, and departed relatives that you want to have included in prayer should be available for the prayer. Then you or one of your children take a candle and perhaps an icon, and lead the priest around your home into every room as we bless it with Holy water as we sing the Theophany Troparion: (Tone 1)

When You, O Lord were baptized in the Jordan,

The worship of the Trinity was made manifest.

For the voice of the Father bore witness to You

And called You His beloved Son.

And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,

Confirmed the truthfulness of Hos word.

O Christ, our God who have revealed Yourself,

And have enlightened the world: Glory to You!

Then everyone gathers again at the table, icon corner and all venerate the cross and get blessed by holy water.

We can then usually have time for a cup of tea or coffee and a short visit. You may invite others to join you at the house blessing service if you wish. It is a nice custom in some larger parishes to team up with some (3 or 4 ) other families and then go together to each one’s home and have a longer visit together at the last home.

Fr Andrew is greatly looking forward to getting to come and bless as many of our St. Aidan family’s homes as possible this year!

Fr. Edward is also available but has a much more restricted schedule, so you would need to explore his availability with him to book a time.

Photo: Fr Andrew blessing St. James Creek, 2017, -22C