On the Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (of the Holy Fore-Fathers), which coincided with the last day of the calendar year, December 31, 2023, His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldova, celebrated the Holy and Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral “Nativity of the Lord” in Chisinau.
The Archpastor was assisted at the service by Protopriest Vadim Cheibaș, Metropolitan Secretary and Dean of the Cathedral, the clerics of the holy place, and the lay church-goers, who came to thank God for all the good gifts and to ask the Heavenly Father to bless the new year of His goodness.
The liturgical responses were offered by the mixed choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral conducted by Mrs Angela Angheni.
This Sunday, the last before the Feast of the Incarnation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, is also called the Sunday of the fore-fathers of the Saviour Jesus Christ, and today’s Gospeal Reading presents the Genealogy of the Lord, that is, the list of the ancestors after the flesh of the Saviour. This list was drawn up by the Evangelist Matthew and it goes from Jesus to David, his ancestor, to Abraham.
The whole period is divided into three stages, each of 14 generations. This list of names is more than a list of ancestors by body, it is a text that refers us to the symbolic values that St. Matthew had in mind when he listed the 42 generations.
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