The Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania
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Please visit our Covid-19 Information page or click here for a PDF copy of our December 2020 Reactivation Update.
(pdf copy of the 2020 Nativity Season Schedule)
Beloved Parish Faithful,
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
I say those joyous words to you at the close of what has been the most trying year in recent memory.
It has been a trying year for numerous reasons: pandemic, separation, isolation, political and social issues, the list goes on.
However, at this Christmas time, we Christians are blessed with a knowledge and a certainty that exists nowhere else.
The first part of this knowledge is that we live in a world that is broken by sin and wickedness. That the stain of the fall spreads to every nook and cranny of our very being. This is what is often called the “curse” of the Fall.
That’s the bad news. However, the greatness of the Christian message is the next part: Christ Himself is the good news.
It was prophesied centuries before, that the birth of Christ would herald the reconciliation between God and His fallen creation. That our messiah would be Emmanuel, literally “God with us.”
And when God Himself comes to be with us in the womb of the Virgin, He accomplishes something amazing.
All of us know the opening verse to the Christmas hymn, Joy to the World:
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!”
Less known, though, is the third verse. This glorious verse says this:
“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make his blessings flow,
far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.”
Christ comes in His great love for us to “make His blessings flow,” and to destroy the curse. To fill with the blessings of God those nooks and crannies where the fallenness of man brings us misery! And, indeed, to make them go “as far as the curse is found!”
This Christmas, this trying and difficult Christmas, be encouraged, my dear ones, by the truth that none of this difficulty will last. Our King has overcome the world, and He will set all things to rights!
He has come to bring us joy, fullness of life, salvation from our sins, and union with Him by the Holy Spirit, in the love of the Father.
May His joy, grace, majesty, and truth be a comfort to you this year, and every year!
A very Merry Christmas!
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
-Fr. Matthew Joyner
2020 Nativity Season Schedule
Please note that due to Covid-19 precautions, all confessions will be heard by appointment only. Please contact Fr. Matthew by phone or text to schedule.
Friday, November 20, 2020 Forefeast of The Entry of the Most-Holy Theotokos into the Temple
7:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Saturday, November 21, 2020 The Entry of the Most-Holy Theotokos into the Temple
8:50 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:00 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, November 22, 2020 24th Sunday after Pentecost, After feast of the Entry into the Temple
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Wednesday, November 25, 2020 7:00 pm – Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
Thursday, November 26, 2020 9:00 am Moleben of Thanksgiving (Live Stream will also be available)
Saturday, November 28, 2020 6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, November 29, 2020 25th Sunday after Pentecost, Martyr Paramon and 370 Martyrs in Bithynia
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 7:00 pm – Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
Saturday, December 5, 2020 6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, December 6, 2020 26th Sunday after Pentecost, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 7:00 pm – Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
Saturday, December 12, 2020 6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, December 13, 2020 27th Sunday after Pentecost, Repose of Ven. Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America; Sunday of the Forefathers
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Wednesday, December 16, 2020 7:00 pm – Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
Saturday, December 19, 2020 6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, December 20, 2020 28th Sunday after Pentecost, Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 7:00 pm – Reading of the Royal Hours of Nativity – (Live Stream will also be available)
Thursday, December 24, 2020 Eve of The Nativity of Christ
7:00 pm – Vigil of the Nativity (Live Stream will also be available)
Friday, December 25, 2020 Nativity of Our Lord
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am - Divine Liturgy - (Live Stream will also be available)
Saturday, December 26, 2020 Synaxis of the Theotokos
8:50 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:00 am - Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, December 27, 2020 Sunday after the Nativity of Christ – Feast of St. Stephen
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Friday, January 1, 2021 The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; St. Basil the Great
8:50 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:00 am – Diving Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Saturday, January 2, 2020 5:15 pm – Monthly Panikhida (Live Stream will also be available)
6:00 pm – Great Vespers (Live Stream will also be available)
Sunday, January 3, 2021 Forefeast of the Theophany
9:10 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30 am – Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Tuesday, January 5, 2021 Theophany Eve
9:00 AM – Reading of the Royal Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
6:00 PM - Great Compline with Great Blessing of Water
Wednesday, January 6, 2020 Holy Theophany
8:50 am – Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:00 am - Divine Liturgy (Live Stream will also be available)
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Welcome to St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church.
St. Nicholas Church is a parish of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). It is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the beautiful and growing Lehigh Valley.
Led by the Rev. Father Matthew Joyner, we are a vibrant, growing community with 99 households, of which there are 123 adult members and 23 children and babies.
All are welcome to join us for any of our services!
If you are looking for a new Church home, or are curious about the Orthodox Church and ancient Christianity, we encourage you to “come and see.” (John 1:46)
We hope to see you soon!
7:00pm Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
6:00pm Great Vespers (RSVP required, Live Stream will also be available)
9:10am Reading of the Hours (Live Stream will also be available)
9:30am Divine Liturgy (RSVP required, Live Stream will also be available)
10:45am Communion for Parish Children (see COVID page for details)
7:00pm Readers Vespers (Live Stream only)
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The Orthodox Church is evangelical, but not Protestant. It's Orthodox, but not Jewish. It's Catholic, but not Roman. It isn't non-denominational, it's pre-denominational. It has been believed, taught, preserved, defended and died for. The Faith of the Apostles, since the day of Pentecost 2000 years ago.