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St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church
Publish Date: 2017-07-16
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Hlyfthrs
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St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (316) 264-1576
  • Street Address:

  • 344 S Martinson St.

  • Wichita, KS 67213-4044


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Saturday Confessions 4:30 pm    Saturday Great Vespers 5:00 pm 
Sunday Matins 9:00 am     Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

 

St. Mary welcomes those seeking holiness and salvation through

a loving and nurturing spiritual family that manifests the presence of Christ on earth. 


Past Bulletins


Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Fifth Tone

Let us believers praise and worship the Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, born of the Virgin for our salvation; for he took pleasure in ascending the Cross in the flesh, to suffer death, and to raise the dead by his glorious Resurrection.

Apolytikion for Sun. of the Holy Fathers in the Eighth Tone

Thou, O Christ, art our God of exceeding praise who didst establish our holy Fathers as luminous stars upon earth, and through them didst guide us unto the true Faith, O most merciful One, glory to thee.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Tone

O protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the Creator most constant: O despise not the suppliant voices of those who have sinned, but be thou quick, o good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee. Hasten to intercession, and speed thou to make supplications, thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Sixth Tone. Psalm 31.11,1.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous.
Verse: Blessed are they whose transgressions have been forgiven.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15.

TITUS, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.

All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Holy Fathers
The Reading is from Matthew 5:14-19

The Lord said to his disciples, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."


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Holy Bread Offering: Esther Henry

Holy Bread offered by: Esther Henry

07/16/2017

The Orthodox servants of God, that they may have mercy, life, peace, health, salvation and visitation: Esther, Mona, Susan, Stephanie. 

The Orthodox servants of God departed this life in the hope of resurrection unto life eternalRichard, Moses, Rosa, Raymond, Amelia, Carol. 

Trisagion Prayers of Mercy will be offered today for the repose of the soul of the servant of God, Richard Henry. May his memory be eternal!

                                        YOUR PRAYERS ARE REQUESTED

Abdallah Abdayem, Tina Bnawart, Karl Beal, Terry Bentley, Virginia Bohannon, Shawn Bourgerie, Josiah Bunyard, Teresa C., Roy Clark, Eli Ferris, Maria Greene, Esther Henry, Fred Herrera, Mike Janssens, George Kaleel, Dio Kaufman, Ethan Kosjer, Nick Kosjer, Stephanie Lamone, Julia Lockwood, Donna Namee, Debra Nassif, Yvonne Nassif, Megan Patterson, Duane Rosenbaum, Virginia Rosenbaum, Annalise Shearer, Jacob Taylor, Valerie Vulgamore, Autumn  Volhein, Kim Volhein, Briana, Jameson Witzenburg, Jackie.                                                               

          May God remember all of them and us in His Kingdom.

 

 


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Announcements

LORD'S DINER

Our monthly shift at the Lord’s Diner is Tuesday, July 18, at 5:15 pm. Those who have volunteered in the past will be sent a SignUp Genius link to indicate if they plan to help on the 18th. For anyone who has not yet volunteered, but is interested in more information or would like to help, please contact Vicki Jones (vawj55@gmail.com or 650-0658).


ST TIMON SUNDAY

Each year our churches in the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America take up a collection for our sister diocese of Bosra-Hauran in Syria, which most of you know has been in a crisis situation for the past five years. Our very own Dn James is the coordinator for this project throughout the diocese. He will speak more about this collection and the situation in Syria on Sunday, July 23, when we celebrate St Timon, the Apostle who founded the first churches in the diocese of Bosra-Hauran. Please note that monies collected for our sister diocese is used to help provide humanitarian relief to all people residing in their diocese.


OCMC FALL SHORT-TERM MISSION TEAMS

Opportunities on Fall Short-Term Mission Teams Still Exist!There are still open opportunities on three OCMC medical mission teams to Guatemala and Indonesia and youth outreach teams that will be traveling to Ghana and Kenya in the fall. If you or anyone you know would be interested in joining these vital efforts of the Church, please contact Andy Lekos by phone at 904-829-5132 x140, or by e-mail at teams@ocmc.org. Teams serve in the mission field for approximately two weeks and are a great way to impact the lives of people who are in great need around the world.


GOT BREAD

GOT BREAD??  If you have not offered the holy bread lately, we invite you to do so.  You are welcome to “team up” with another person or family.  This is not at all uncommon in the life of the Church.  The book in which you may sign up is located on a table in the Fellowship Hall. Feel free to take it to your table during coffee hour.  Sunday’s as well as special feasts will be available throughout the year, so please consider signing up today to offer the holy bread for an upcoming Divine Liturgy.  Thank you.

Upcoming dates still available:  Sunday, July 23, Sunday, August 6, and Sunday August 27.


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Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays and Anniversaries This Week

06/25/2017

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES THIS WEEK: Katherine Oller (Jul 16), Lucia Hernandez (Jul 17), Elle Shippy (Jul 18), Virginia Rosenbaum (Jul 19), Darren Minks (Jul 22). Celebrating an anniversary are Subdeacon John and Jana Laham (Jul 19). God grant them good health and many years!

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Calendar

  • Looking Ahead at St. Mary

    July 16 to July 30, 2017

    Sunday, July 16

    9:00AM Matins

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, July 17

    VBS @ St Michael (Park City)

    Tuesday, July 18

    5:15PM Lord's Diner

    Saturday, July 22

    4:30PM Confession

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, July 23

    St Timon Sunday

    9:00AM Matins

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, July 24

    Antiochian Archdiocese Convention

    Saturday, July 29

    4:30PM Confession

    5:00PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, July 30

    9:00AM Matins

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

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Saints and Feasts

Hlyfthrs
July 16

Sunday of the Holy Fathers

On the Sunday that falls from the 13th to the 19th of the present month, we chant the Service to the Holy and God-bearing Fathers who came together in the Seven Ecumenical Councils, that is: the First Council, of the 318 Fathers who assembled in Nicaea in 325 to condemn Arius, who denied that the Son of God is consubstantial with the Father; the Fathers of the First Council also ordained that the whole Church should celebrate Pascha according to the same reckoning; the Second Council, of the 150 Fathers who assembled in Constantinople in 381 to condemn Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit; the Third Council, of the 200 Fathers who assembled in Ephesus in 431, to condemn Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who called Christ a mere man and not God incarnate; the Fourth Council, of the 630 who assembled in Chalcedon in 451, to condemn Eutyches, who taught that there was only one nature, the divine, in Christ after the Incarnation, and Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who illegally received Eutyches back into communion and deposed Saint Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had excommunicated Eutyches; the Fifth Council in 553, of the 165 who assembled in Constantinople for the second time to condemn Origen and Theodore of Mopsuestia, the teacher of Nestorius; the Sixth Council in 680, of the 170 who assembled in Constantinople for the third time, to condemn the Monothelite heresy, which taught that there is in Christ but one will, the divine; and the Seventh Council in 787, of the 350 who assembled in Nicaea for the second time to condemn Iconoclasm.


17_marina
July 17

The Holy Great Martyr Marina (Margaret)

This Martyr lived during the reign of Claudius II (268-270). She was from Pisidia of Cilicia and was the only daughter of a certain priest of the idols. On being orphaned by her mother, she was handed over to a certain woman who instructed her in the Faith of Christ. When she was fifteen years old, she was apprehended by the ruler of Olmbrius, and when asked her name, homeland, and faith, she answered: "My name is Marina; I am the offspring of the Pisidia; I call upon the Name of my Lord Jesus Christ." Because of this she endured bonds, imprisonment, and many whippings, and was finally beheaded in the year 270. Saint Marina is especially invoked for deliverance from demonic possession.


Allsaint
July 19

Macrina the Righteous, sister of St. Basil

Saint Macrina, the elder sister of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, was sought after by many as a bride because of her beauty, wisdom, and illustrious birth, and in tender youth was espoused by her parents to a bridegroom of fitting nobility. When her betrothed died, Macrina refused any other suitors, and devoted herself to a life of virginity, asceticism, and prayer. When her brother Basil returned from a brilliant career in the best schools of Constantinople and Athens, puffed up with not a little youthful pride-for knowledge puffeth up-it was the ardent admonitions and holy example of his blessed sister that persuaded him to turn from seeking worldly glory to the service of God. Saint Macrina founded a convent, where she ended her earthly life in the year 379, and was buried by her brother Gregory, who wrote a moving account of her last days and his grief at seeing such a light pass out of the world.


Allsaint
July 19

Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa

Our Father among the Saints Theodore was born in Edessa of Mesopotamia. At the age of about nineteen, he became a monk at the Monastery of Mar Sabbas in Palestine. After he had spent some twenty-four years there, he was chosen to become Bishop of Edessa, about the year 836. The city of Edessa at that time was beleaguered with many heresies, among them the Arian, Nestorian, Eutychian, and Manichean. Wishing to free the Orthodox of Edessa from the injustices of the many heretics, he undertook a journey to Babylon in Persia - that is, Baghdad - to ask the Persian King, who then ruled over all Syria, to use his power to protect the Orthodox of Edessa. When he arrived he learned that the King was gravely sick; but gaining admission to him, the holy Bishop Theodore restored him to health through prayer, and, after speaking to him many days in secret about the dispensation of God, converted him to Christ, baptizing him with the name of John. Returning to Edessa having accomplished his purpose, Theodore later learned by revelation that King John, with his three Arab body-guards who had been baptized with him, had professed their faith openly and received martyrs' crowns at the hands of the Persian Moslems. This was in the days when the blessed Theodora and her son Michael reigned in Constantinople. Not long thereafter, Theodore retired to the Monastery of Mar Sabbas, and ended his days.


20_elijah2
July 20

The Glorious Prophet Elias (Elijah)

Elias of great fame was from Thisbe or Thesbe, a town of Galaad (Gilead), beyond the Jordan. He was of priestly lineage, a man of a solitary and ascetical character, clothed in a mantle of sheep skin, and girded about his loins with a leathern belt. His name is interpreted as "Yah is my God." His zeal for the glory of God was compared to fire, and his speech for teaching and rebuke was likened unto a burning lamp. From this too he received the name Zealot. Therefore, set aflame with such zeal, he sternly reproved the impiety and lawlessness of Ahab and his wife Jezebel. He shut up heaven by means of prayer, and it did not rain for three years and six months. Ravens brought him food for his need when, at God's command, he was hiding by the torrent of Horrath. He multiplied the little flour and oil of the poor widow of Sarephtha of Sidon, who had given him hospitality in her home, and when her son died, he raised him up. He brought down fire from Heaven upon Mount Carmel, and it burned up the sacrifice offered to God before all the people of Israel, that they might know the truth. At the torrent of Kisson, he slew 450 false prophets and priests who worshipped idols and led the people astray. He received food wondrously at the hand of an Angel, and being strengthened by this food he walked for forty days and forty nights. He beheld God on Mount Horeb, as far as this is possible for human nature. He foretold the destruction of the house of Ahab, and the death of his son Ohozias; and as for the two captains of fifty that were sent by the king, he burned them for their punishment, bringing fire down from Heaven. He divided the flow of the Jordan, and he and his disciple Elisseus passed through as it were on dry land; and finally, while speaking with him, Elias was suddenly snatched away by a fiery chariot in the year 895 B.C., and he ascended as though into heaven, whither God most certainly translated him alive, as He did Enoch (Gen. 5:24; IV Kings 2: 11). But from thence also, after seven years, by means of an epistle he reproached Joram, the son of Josaphat, as it is written: "And there came a message in writing to him from Elias the Prophet, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the way," and so forth (II Chron. 21:12). According to the opinion of the majority of the interpreters, this came to pass either through his disciple Elisseus, or through another Prophet when Elias appeared to them, even as he appeared on Mount Tabor to the disciples of Christ (see Aug. 6).


20_stmaria
July 20

Mother Maria Skobtsova, New-Martyr of France

Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris lived a life devoted to serving the poor and the marginalized. She was born Elizaveta Pilenko in 1891 in Riga, Latvia to devout Russian Orthodox parents. Her father died when she was fourteen, and her grief led her to atheism. As a young teenager she became involved in the socialist and intellectual circles in St. Petersburg. By eighteen she was a published poet and married to a Bolshevik. Her desire to actively serve the needy - more than simply discuss social change - led her back to a faith in Christ. She then became the first woman accepted to study at the Theological Academy of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg.

After the Bolshevik Revolution, she was elected Mayor of Anapa but had to flee Russia for Paris in 1923. Elizaveta was inspired to devote her life completely to serving the poor after her daughter, Nastia, died of meningitis in 1926. After her second marriage ended in 1932, Metropolitan Evlogii of Paris tonsured her a nun with the name Maria and blessed her to live a "monasticism in the world" devoted to social service.

Initially devoted to the Russian emigres in Paris, she founded a sanatorium along with homes to serve single mothers, families, and single men. By 1937, 120 dinners were served each day. Much of the work she did herself: begging for food, cooking the soup, and even embroidering the icons for their chapel.

By 1942, Maria's work turned to assisting the Jewish population. She helped Father Dimitri Klepinin issue fake baptismal certificates for Jews that came to their aide. In a mass arrest in July of that year, 12,884 Jews were taken to a sports stadium before being transferred to Auschwitz. Maria spent three days visiting the prisoners, bringing them food, and even rescuing some of the children by smuggling them out in trash cans. She also aided Jews in escaping to Southern France which was unoccupied by the Nazis.

Maria was arrested in February, 1943, and was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. For two years, she raised the spirits of her fellow prisoners, helping them remember their human dignity. She led discussion groups on literature, history, and theology, despite her weakening health. On March 31, 1945, a short time before the camp was rescued, Saint Maria was taken to the gas chambers; some prisoners say she took the place of a fellow Jewish prisoner.

On January 18th, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognized Mother Maria Skobtsova as a saint along with her three fellow workers who also died in German concentration camps: her son Yuri, Fr. Dimitri Klepinin, and Ilya Fondaminsky. They are all commemorated in the Orthodox Church on July 20th.


Allsaint
July 21

John and Symeon the Fool for Christ

These Saints were from the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia and flourished during the reign of Justin the Younger (565-578). After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem they were moved with a desire to forsake the world; they were tonsured monks by the Abbot Nicon, and soon after left the monastery to struggle together in the wilderness near the Dead Sea. When they had passed a little more than thirty years together in silence and prayer, Symeon, having reached the heights of dispassion, departed for Emesa in Syria, where he passed the rest of his life playing the fool, saving many souls from sin while hiding his sanctity with seemingly senseless behavior. He reposed in 570; by the providence of God, John, who had remained in the wilderness, departed soon after.


22_magdelene
July 22

Mary Magdalene, the Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal to the Apostles

Saint Mary was from Magdala in Galilee on the Sea of Tiberias, and for this was named Magdalene. When the Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, from which she had been suffering, she became His faithful and inseparable disciple, following Him and ministering unto Him even to the time of His crucifixion and burial. Then, returning to Jerusalem together with the rest of the Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the fragrant spices for anointing the body of the Lord. And on the Lord's day they came very early to the tomb, even before the Angels appeared declaring the Resurrection of the Lord. When Mary Magdalene saw the stone taken away from the tomb, she ran and proclaimed it to Peter and John. And returning immediately to the tomb and weeping outside, she was deemed worthy to be the first of the Myrrh-bearers to behold the Lord arisen from the dead, and when she fell at His feet, she heard Him say, "Touch Me not." After the Lord's Ascension, nothing certain is known concerning her. Some accounts say that she went to Rome and later returned to Jerusalem, and from there proceeded to Ephesus, where she ended her life, preaching Christ. Although it is sometimes said that Saint Mary Magdalene was the "sinful woman" of the Gospel, this is nowhere stated in the tradition of the Church, in the sacred hymnology, or in the Holy Gospels themselves, which say only that our Lord cast seven demons out of her, not that she was a fallen woman. "Madeleine" is a form of Magdalene.


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Wisdom of the Fathers

"But whosoever shall do and teach," said He, "shall be called great." For not to ourselves alone, should we be profitable, but to others also; since neither is the reward as great for him who guides himself aright, as for one who with himself adds also another.
St. John Chrysostom
Homilies 15 and 16 on Matthew 5, 4th Century

For as teaching without doing condemns the teacher so doing but not guiding others, lessens our reward. One ought therefore to be chief in either work, and having first set one's self right, thus to proceed also to the care of the rest.
St. John Chrysostom
Homilies 15 and 16 on Matthew 5, 4th Century

The Lord says to His disciples, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven' (Matt. 5:16). He does not say this to urge them to show off, but to urge them to organize their lives as is pleasing to God. Just as light effortlessly attracts people's gaze, so a way of life pleasing to God draws their minds along with their eyes. We do not praise the air which shares in the brilliance of the sunlight, but the sun which is the source of this brilliance and bestows it on us. Even if we do praise the air for its brightness, we praise the sun much more. So it is when someone makes the brilliance of the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2) visible through his virtuous deeds. As soon as anyone looks at him, they are immediately led towards the glory of the Father in heaven of Christ, the Sun of righteousness.
St. Gregory Palamas
Homilies Vol. 1, Homily Ten para. 14; Saint Tikhon's Seminary Press pgs. 110-111, 14th century

Every work which does not have love as its beginning and root is nothing.
St. John Chrysostom
Unknown, 4th century

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Weekly Bulletin Inserts

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