An Orthodox Candle-lit Christmas Eve Service

Through movies and even just the average Canadian experience, we may have often heard that on Christmas Eve there is a “Christmas Mass” or “Candlelight Service.” But is that what we do in the Orthodox Church? Well, it is similar!

Ukrainian Christmas Eve Traditions

Naturally, over the course of a thousand years of celebrating the Nativity of Christ, the Ukrainian people have developed some beautiful Christmas traditions, one of which being the 12-dish lenten (vegan) Christmas eve dinner that begins with the first star and the joyfully sung prayer and carol of “God Eternal - Бог Предвічний.” The courses are then served and often accompanied by numerous Christmas carols portraying the holy event from different perspectives.

And as it gets closer to midnight, families get bundled up and brave the cold and go to church for the special evening service that is the Great Compline - Велика повечір’я.

The Special Christmas Compline

The compline is effectively a private prayer that is read in the evenings. The great compline is an extended version that is sung on the evening before three (3) feast days - Christmas, Theophany and Annunciation - as well as during the first week of Great Lent.

Usually in a darkened church with candles flickering, the priest and reader start the service with the opening prayers and psalms, at which point the priest and choir cry out the joyous hymn “God is with us! - З нами Бог!” The service continues with the words of the prophecy of Isaiah. At compline there is also the singing of the Tropar and Kondak of the feast along with the special hymns glorifying the Saviour’s birth. There are also the special long litanies of intercession and the solemn blessing of the five loaves of bread together with the wheat and the wine of which the faithful partake and the oil with which they are anointed. This part of the festal vigil, which is done on all great feasts, is called the litia.