Orthodox Western Rite Advent Mass | St. Stephen’s Church | Dec 3, 2023

Advent Mass | December 3, 2023 St. Stephen’s Antiochian Orthodox Western Rite Church – Springfield, Massachusetts This video captures the Holy Mass for the First Sunday in Advent, celebrated on December 3, 2023, at St. Stephen’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, according to the Western Rite of the Orthodox Church. The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Michael Heningham, with the homily delivered by Abbot Theodore, superior of Ladyminster Orthodox Benedictine Monastery, a monastic community devoted to restoring the Orthodox spiritual and liturgical life of the West. St. Stephen’s is a bi-ritual parish, serving under the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The parish celebrates both the English Use and the Tridentine Use of the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great, faithfully preserving the Orthodox West’s liturgical heritage. The season of Advent—a time of prayerful expectation and preparation—was historically observed in both East and West as a penitential and hopeful season. In the Western Rite, this period is marked by solemn liturgy, violet vestments, and scriptural readings that focus on the coming of Christ in both His Nativity and His glorious return. This liturgy bears witness to the fullness of Orthodox tradition: reverent, rooted, and universal. The presence of Abbot Theodore affirms the deep continuity between monasticism and liturgy in the Orthodox West. Parish: St. Stephen’s Orthodox Church Location: Springfield, Massachusetts Date: December 3, 2023 Celebrant: Fr. Michael Heningham Homilist: Abbot Theodore of Ladyminster Jurisdiction: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese (Western Rite Vicariate) Rite: Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great (English and Tridentine Use) Liturgical Season: First Sunday of Advent “Stir up Thy power, O Lord, and come, that we may be found ready for the glorious appearing of Thy Son.” Where East and West are one in Christ, in the Orthodox Catholic Faith. Parish YouTube:    / @st.stephenorthodoxchurchsp3167   Parish Website: https://www.orthodoxspringfield.com/