Home Blessing Service of Christmas (Theophany)
As is tradition in the Armenian Church, the service of Home Blessing is offered during Christmas, (generally from January 6th through the 13th). The priest visits the home accompanied by a deacon or acolyte to give the good news of the Holy Nativity. During the Service the hymn by St. Nerses the Graceful "Great and Wonderful Mystery" (Khorhurd mets ev sqancheli) is sung and the passage about the Nativity is read from the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 2:8-14). After the Gospel readings the priest blesses the main items of the home which are of daily importance to the physical existence of man - water (symbolizing the Sacrament of Baptism), bread or flour, and salt (symbolizing devout and divine life). He blesses these items with the Holy Gospel and the Cross in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through the home blessing Service the Son of God enters the homes of the faithful through the Holy Cross and the Holy Gospel and dwells there in the blessed bread, water and salt reminding them in their daily life to follow His commandments and messages.
