Traditionally, Orthodox homes are blessed by the priest in the days and weeks after Theophany.
This act is the central sign of God's sanctification of all things through Christ's baptism in the river Jordan and his epiphany to the world. The sanctification of the home takes place with prayer and the sprinkling of holy water. The priest, at this annual visit, asks God to have mercy on the house, to rid it of every evil and to fill if with every blessing. Everyone of the house, prays together for the living and the dead of the family, and all who live and have lived in the house. They all sing the hymn of salvation and process from room to room while the priest blesses the house. It is not a long service, taking around 15 minutes depending on the number of names to commemorate and the size of the house.
If you would like to have your house blessed this season, please fill out the below form and click Submit. If you do not wish to have your house blessed, you do not need to fill out the form.
In churches with a lot of people or where it covers a large geographical area, the driving can quickly get overwhelming for the priest.
To make this process efficient for everyone, I am creating this sign-up sheet. My goal is to divide our map of parishioners into four quadrants and aim for one Sunday after Divine Liturgy for each quadrant. I realize that will not work for everyone, but I'm hoping I can get 80% of the parish who wants a house blessing using this method. Here is my proposed schedule: - Sunday, Jan 21st: NW Quadrant: Clermont, Celebration, Kissimmee, SW Orlando
- Sunday, Jan 28th: SW Quadrant: Poinciana, Davenport, Haines City, Auburndale
- Sunday, Feb 4th: NE Quadrant: Buenaventura Lakes, Lake Nona, SE Orlando
- Sunday, Feb 11th: SE Quadrant: St. Cloud, Harmony
- Sunday, Feb 18th: Makeup dates for those who aren't available on the above schedule.
I will also be available by appointment during my normal Tuesday-Friday 9am-2pm "office hours" for a house blessing or if none of those times work for you we can find another time as well.
May God bless your faithful life in our mission church!
