Welcome

We welcome all visitors to our Divine Liturgy and services. While Holy Communion may only be received by prepared Orthodox Christians, our non-Orthodox guests are welcome to participate in our prayers and hymns and to join us in venerating the Cross and and receiving blessed bread at the conclusion of the Liturgy. Please sign our guest book and join us for refreshments and fellowship after the services.

Feel free to ask questions before or after the services. Any member of our Council or Congregation are glad to assist you. Literature about the Orthodox faith and this parish can be found at the candle desk.

Members of our Parish Council are:

Michael Kuziak - President
Natalie Kucharski - Secretary
Glenn PenkoffLidbeck - Vice President
Susan Egan - Treasurer
Phyllis Sturtevant - Member at Large
Sophia Brubaker - Member at Large

St. Alexis Parish Calendar

Events of the Week

October 11 to October 12, 2014

Saturday, October 11

ArchBishop Nikon

Sunday, October 12

No Church School

Marlene Melesko - B

Ed & Susan Hayes - A

9:00AM Choir Warm-ups

9:30AM Divine Liturgy

Announcements

Dates to Note

Friday and Saturday, Oct 24th & 25th - Diocesan Assembly, Cumberland, RI
Sunday, November 16, 2014 - Annual Parish Meeting

Parish Events

Fr. Steven Belonick’s mother Anne fell asleep in the Lord at age 96. Memory Eternal.

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops has designated October 19 as Orthodox College Student Sunday in support of Orthodox Christian Fellowship in its work with our college students as they deepen their own faith in Jesus Christ while sharing the Orthodox Tradition with love and humility to their peers on campus.
Please see the online-bulletin for more details.

Events

The cookbook for sale from the Holy Trinity Church in New Britain is available through Susan Davis (She will leave a sign up sheet at the candle desk with an envelope for cost of $15 per copy).
Cookbook title: 'Celebrating over 100 years - Protection of the Holy Theotokos Sisterhood Cookbook' 2014 Edition: Holy Trinity Orthodox Church; New Britain, CT.
If interested, may also email her at lad42@comcast.net
Thank you on behalf of the Sisterhood of Holy Trinity Church

The All Saints (Hartford) annual bazaar is only a month away!:
Fri, Nov 7 - 41st Annual Russian Tea Room & Bazaar - 6pm: Yale Slavic (Ladies) Chorus
Sat, Nov 8 - 10am - 4pm: Tea Room & Bazaar ~5pm: Great Vespers
Sun, Nov 9 - 9am: Pre-Communion Prayers & Hours  9:30am: Divine Liturgy, Noon - 3pm: Tea Room & Bazaar
(Please see our web site or the bulletin board for more details)

Diocesan and National Church Events

The 51st Diocesan Assembly on October 24-25th in Cumberland, RI
Vinny Melesko will by the parish delegate this year, Marlene will participate as an Observer. John Skrobat will attend as a member of the Diocesan Council and Joan Skrobat will attend as an Observer. Anyone else wishing to attend the Assembly as an observer should talk with Fr Steven as soon as possible.

The 18th All American Council will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 20-24th, 2015. We will need a “lay” representative from parish to attend. If you have any interest in participating, please talk with Fr Steven.
You should also know that there is an assessment of $12.50 per member in each parish to help cover expenses for the AAC.

Prayers, Intersessions and Commemorations

Olga, Vera, Richard, Daria, Daria, Evelyn, Alla, June, Nina, Joan, Luke, Aaron, Anne, Alex, Alan, Nadia, Glenn, Kathryn, Ivan, Elena & Jevon and their unborn child, Kyra, Roderick, Albert, Barbara, Irene, Susan, Eva, Richard, Douglas, Kathleen, Dionysia, Krystal and Ezekiel, Elisha, Sharon & William and their unborn child.

Many Years! This week we celebrate: This week we celebrate: Ed and Susan Hayes and John and Joan Skobrat on the occasion of their anniversaries and to Marlene Melesko on the occasion of her birthday.

We commemorate: Fathers of the 7th Ecumenical Council. Martyrs Probus, Tarachus, and Andronicus, at Tarsus in Cilicia (304). St. Cosmas the Hymnographer Bishop of Majuma (ca. 787). Ven. Amphilókhy, Abbot of Glushétsk (1452). Martyr Domnica of Anazarbus (286). St. Martin the Merciful, Bishop of Tours (ca. 400). The “JERUSALEM” Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos (48 A.D.).

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 1st Tone

When the stone had been sealed by the Jews and the soldiers were guarding Thine immaculate Body, Thou didst arise on the third day, O Saviour, granting life unto the world. Wherefore, the powers of the Heavens cried out to Thee, O Lifegiver: Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Christ. Glory to Thy Kingdom. Glory to Thy dispensation, O only Friend of man.

Apolytikion for Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council in the 8th Tone

Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our Fathers as luminous stars upon the earth, and through them didst guide us all to the true Faith. O Most Merciful One, glory be to Thee.

Seasonal Kontakion in the 2nd Tone

O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.

Saints and Feasts

October 12

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and Theophilus.

October 12

Symeon the New Theologian

Saint Symeon became a monk of the Studite Monastery as a young man, under the guidance of the elder Symeon the Pious. Afterwards he struggled at the Monastery of Saint Mamas in Constantinople, of which he became abbot. After enduring many trials and afflictions in his life of piety, he reposed in 1022. Marvelling at the heights of prayer and holiness to which he attained, and the loftiness of the teachings of his life and writings, the church calls him "the New Theologian." Only to two others, John the Evangelist and Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople, has the church given the name "Theologian." Saint Symeon reposed on March 12, but since this always falls in the Great Fast, his feast is kept today.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Wisdom of the Fathers

For by seed here He means His doctrine, and by land, the souls of men, and by the sower, Himself .... For as the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly; but He discourses unto all, fulfilling His part, although foreknowing the results.

St. John Chrysostom

Homily 44 on Matthew 12, 4th Century

When you see life's pleasures, beware that they might not distract you, for they conceal death's snares. Likewise a fisherman casts not his hook to no purpose. As bait for his hook, the enemy uses the delusion of sensuality to arouse desire, that he might thereby catch men's souls and subject them to himself. A soul which has been caught to serve the enemy's will then serves as a snare for other souls, for it conceals the grief of sin with its apparent delight.

St. Ephraim the Syrian

A Spiritual Psalter no 43, pg. 74, 4th century

Since there are certain people who find great fault with us for adoring and honoring both the image of the Savior and that of our Lady, as well as those of the rest of the saints and servants of Christ, let them hear how from the beginning God made man to His own image. For what reason, then, do we adore one another, except because we have been made to the image of God? As the inspired Basil, who is deeply learned in theology, says: "the honor paid to the image conveys to the original.," and the original is the thing imaged from which the copy is made.

St. John of Damascus

The Orthodox Faith, 4.16. Catholic University of America Press in Washington D.C. Translated by Frederic H. Chase, Jr. volume 37, page 370., 8th Century

His is truly the Sower of all that is good, and we are His farm. The whole harvest of spiritual fruits is by Him and from Him. He taught us this when He said, 'Without me you can do nothing.'

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Commentary on Luke, Homily 41. Taken from: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Vol: Luke. Downer's Grove: Intervarsity Press, 132.

Community

Russian Tea Room and Bizaar

All Saints Orthodox Church, Hartford

CT Bible Lecture Series

The Connecticut Bible Lecture Series (CBLS) is pleased to announce the fourteenth of its highly successful Semi-annual Lecture Series. Its mission is to educate, inspire, and challenge participants of all backgrounds and education levels to recognize the centrality of sound biblical interpretation for reading, hearing and understanding the Word of God.

Lenox Adult Retreat

hosted by Holy Trinity Orthodox Church Spiritual Preppers: Is Your House in Order? Retreat Master: Rev. Matthew Stagon November 7-9 2014 The Village Inn – Lenox, MA www.holytrinitydanbury.org 203-748-0671

General Information

Contact Information

Services Schedule

Past Bulletins