St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Mission Church
Publish Date: 2025-09-14
Bulletin Contents

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St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Mission Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (509) 547-3968
  • Fax:
  • none / Facebook Group: "Saint Nectarios - Pasco"
  • Street Address:

  • 627 West Bonneville Street

  • Pasco, WA 99301


Contact Information




Services Schedule

See calendar.


Past Bulletins


St Nectarios Weekly Bulletin

(Updated 9/10/2025)

"Through the Cross, joy has come into all the world."
 
Services this weekend at St. Nectarios:

Saturday, September 13. Forefeast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross. 8:00 AM Orthros; 9:00 AM Divine Liturgy - Fellowship potluck following Liturgy. Welcome Fr. Dean Kouldukis!

Sunday, September 14. Elevation of the Holy Cross.  9:00 AM Orthros; 10:00 AM Typica Reader Service - Fellowship following Typica

St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Mission

627 West Bonneville St., Pasco, WA 99301

Map

All are welcome at St. Nectarios!

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)


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St Nectarios Tri-Cities Upcoming Services and Events

  • St Nectarios Tri-Cities Service Calendar

    September 2025

    Friday, September 5

    7:00PM Akathist to St. Nectarios

    Sunday, September 7

    10:00AM Typica + Fellowship

    Monday, September 8

    Nativity of the Theotokos

    Saturday, September 13

    8:00AM Orthros

    9:00AM Divine Liturgy + Potluck

    Sunday, September 14

    Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross

    9:00AM Orthros

    10:00AM Typica + Fellowship

    Sunday, September 21

    9:00AM Orthros

    10:00AM Typica + Fellowship

    Saturday, September 27

    5:00PM Vespers

    Sunday, September 28

    9:00AM Orthros

    10:00AM Typica + Fellowship

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Message from Father John

WEEKLY MESSAGE

SUNDAY OF THE ELEVATION OF THE HOLY CROSS OF CHRIST

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24]

God respects our freedom, which He gave us in our creation.  He created us free to choose what is good.  He did not create us as robots to manipulate us from afar.  He will not stop us if we decide to turn against Him and choose evil.  

God will give us opportunities to reconsider our decision and repent, but He will not force us.  “Cloistered virtue is no virtue at all.” But our freedom is earthbound.  One day we will have to give an account to Him of how we used our freedom, and then we will reap the appropriate consequences.  

God respects our freedom; but after we accept His invitation, we need to conform to His terms of service:

First, we need to deny our self, our selfish, narcissistic love, our filautia.  

The egotistical, self-love is the root of all passionate desires and evils, because it turns our unnatural self-love of our ego into an idol.  We think of ourselves as the center of our surroundings and we want the others to attend to all our desires and whims.  We become very selfish, possessive and manipulative.  St. John Chrysostom said long ago, «το εμόν και το σόν η ρίζα πάντων των κακών,»  “my own and your own is the root of all evil.”

We are invited to heal this selfish, unnatural love which is the result of our fallen human nature; to make it an unselfish love.  God summarized His requirement of us in one commandment:  To love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our fellowman.  This is the true meaning of “denying our self.”   For in denying our egotistical self we find our true self, as God intended us to be.  Christ gave us His example to emulate in order to find true meaning in our life.

The second step, after curing our selfish, egotistical love, is to “take up our own cross.”  

Christ carried His own cross and suffered on it to forgive our sins, to redeem us from the curse of the law, and to grant us eternal life with His glorious resurrection from the dead.  

All of us have our own cross which comes in various forms.  We are invited to carry our cross patiently.  He will not abandon us under the weight of our cross.  God will give us His grace and strength to carry it and benefit from this pain and suffering.  But we need to keep our faith and hope in Him and never doubt His ability to help us in any situation we find ourselves.  In the Sacraments of our Church He gives us His grace to assist us.  We must be certain that He will never give us more than we can bear.  

The third condition in Christ’s invitation is to “follow Him.”  

After Jesus restored Peter to his position, He told Peter to “follow Him!”  Jesus is the “Way, the Truth, Life itself.”  The first Christians were called the “followers of the Way.”

We deny ourselves and carry our cross for a glorious purpose—to imitate the life of Christ; to achieve victory over sin and death as the crucified and resurrected Christ achieved it.  Remember the gospel lesson from the Sunday of Judgment.  The ones who helped their fellowman in his need inherited the Kingdom of God.

Lastly we do all this for our invaluable soul, for our salvation.  Nothing in this world can be compared in value with our immortal soul.  No one and nothing can redeem our soul, can save us, except for  Christ.  He accomplished that for us.  He is our Savior and Redeemer.  Only when we follow Him and do His holy Will we’ll find eternal salvation and meaning in our present life.

With love, Fr. John P. A.

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About Us

ST. NECTARIOS GREEK ORTHODOX MISSION CHURCH
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco.
 
Prayers:  Please send us the names of those you would like to be included in our prayers.  First names may be entered in the St Nectarios - Pasco Facebook Group.

CHURCH SERVICES
We have one Divine Liturgy with a visiting priest each. That service is normally on a Saturday and is scheduled when a priest is available.  Private meetings with the priest are available by appointment (for personal matters and Confession).
 
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19)

Services at Saint Nectarios are mostly in English. The Lord's Prayer and Nicense Creed are recited by parishioners in their native languages, including Greek, English, Russian, Arabic and Spanish, expressing that the Orthodox Church is for all people throughout the entire world. If you wish to add your native language, please let us know.

We are honored to have you worship with us!

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Please help support our ministry.

Donate to St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Mission Online
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross
The Reading is from John 12:28-36

The Lord said, "Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out: and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show by what death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Grave Tone. Psalm 98.9,1.
Exalt the Lord our God.
Verse: The Lord reigns; let the people tremble.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 1:18-24.

Brethren, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.


Gospel Reading

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross
The Reading is from John 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30

At that time, when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God."

When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin." When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Then when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.


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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion for Elevation of the Holy Cross in the First Tone

Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance, granting our rulers to prevail over adversaries, and protecting Your commonwealth by Your Cross.

Apolytikion for the Church in the First Tone

The Offspring of Selyvria and Guardian of Aegina, the true friend of virtue who appeared in the last years. Oh Nectarios we faithful honor you as a godly servant of Christ! For you bring forth healings of every kind for those who piously cry out: Glory to Christ who has glorified you, Glory to him who made you wondrous, glory to him who workest healings for all through you.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

Lifted up on the Cross by Your free will, Christ God, grant mercies to the new commonwealth that bears Your name. Gladden our faithful rulers by Your power, giving them victories over their adversaries. May Your alliance be for them a weapon for peace, an invincible standard.
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Saints and Feasts

September 14

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross

Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the precious Cross was lifted on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, "Lord have mercy." It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the venerable Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country (see Jan. 22, Saint Anastasius the Persian). Late, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place.

Rest from labour. A Fast is observed today, whatever day of the week it may be.


September 14

Commemoration of the 6th Ecumenical Council


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