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St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2017-05-21
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Jcblind1
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St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (440) 237-8998
  • Fax:
  • (440) 237-4386
  • Street Address:

  • 4548 Wallings Road

  • North Royalton, OH 44133-3121


Contact Information





Services Schedule

WEEKDAY SERVICES

   8:30 AM   Orthros
   9:30 AM   Liturgy

 

SUNDAY SERVICES

   8:15 AM   Orthros
   9:30 AM   Liturgy

Sunday School begins immediately following Holy Communion September through May


Past Bulletins


Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Psalm 18.4,1.
Their voice has gone out into all the earth.
Verse: The heavens declare the glory of God.

The reading is from Acts of the Apostles 26:1, 12-20.

IN THOSE DAYS, King Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: "I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles-to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' "Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance."


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Blind Man
The Reading is from John 9:1-38

At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe": and he worshiped him.


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Hymns of the Day

Apolytikion of Great and Holy Pascha in the Plagal First Mode

Χριστός Ανέστη εκ νεκρών, θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας, καί τοίς εν τοίς μνήμασι, ζωήν, χαρισάμενος.
Christos anesti ek nekron, thanato thanaton patisas, ke tis en ti mnimasi zoi, harisamenos.
Christ is Risen from the dead/ by death trampling down upon death/ and to those in the tombs He has/ granted life.

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal First Mode

Tόν συνάναρχον Λόγον Πατρί καί Πνεύματι, τόν εκ Παρθένου τεχθέντα εις σωτηρίαν ημών, ανημνήσωμεν πιστοί καί προσκυνήσωμεν· ότι ηυδόκησε σαρκί, ανελθείν εν τώ Σταυρώ καί θάνατον υπομείναι, καί εγείραι τούς τεθνεώτας, εν τή ενδόξω Αναστάσει αυτού.
Ton sinanarhon logon Patri ke Pnevmati, ton ek Parthenou tehthenta is sotiria imon, animnisomen pisti ke proskinisomen. Oti ivdokise sarki, anelthin en to Stavro ke thanaton ipomine, ke egire tous tethneotas, en ti endoxo Anastasi aftou.
Eternal with the Father and the Spirit is the Word, Who of a Virgin was begotten for our salvation. As the faithful we both praise and worship Him, for in the flesh did He consent to ascend unto the Cross, and death did He endure and He raised unto life the dead/ through His all glorious resurrection.

Apolytikion for Constantine and Helen in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Your Apostle among the Rulers, St. Constantine, who once behold in the sky the image of Your Cross, and who like Paul received his calling not from man, once entrusted the Ruling City into Your hand. We entreat You to restore it in peace forever, at the intercession of the Theotokos, O Lord who loves humanity.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Into the grave you descended, Immortal One, / yet you destroyed the power of Hades, / and as victor / you arose, O Christ our God;/ you proclaimed to the myrrh-bearing women a greeting of joy, / you brought peace to your holy apostles, / and to the fallen you granted resurrection.
Into the grave you descended, Immortal One, / yet you destroyed the power of Hades, / and as victor / you arose, O Christ our God;/ you proclaimed to the myrrh-bearing women a greeting of joy, / you brought peace to your holy apostles, / and to the fallen you granted resurrection.
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Saints and Feasts

Jcblind1
May 21

Sunday of the Blind Man

The Lord Jesus was coming from the Temple on the Sabbath, when, while walking in the way, He saw the blind man mentioned in today's Gospel. This man had been born thus from his mother's womb, that is, he had been born without eyes (see Saint John Chrysostom, Homily LVI on Matthew; Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V:15; and the second Exorcism of Saint Basil the Great). When the disciples saw this, they asked their Teacher, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" They asked this because when the Lord had healed the paralytic at the Sheep's Pool, He had told him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14); so they wondered, if sickness was caused by sin, what sin could have been the cause of his being born without eyes. But the Lord answered that this was for the glory of God. Then the God-man spat on the ground and made clay with the spittle. He anointed the eyes of the blind man and said to him, "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam." Siloam (which means "sent") was a well-known spring in Jerusalem used by the inhabitants for its waters, which flowed to the eastern side of the city and collected in a large pool called "the Pool of Siloam."

Therefore, the Saviour sent the blind man to this pool that he might wash his eyes, which had been anointed with the clay-not that the pool's water had such power, but that the faith and obedience of the one sent might be made manifest, and that the miracle might become more remarkable and known to all, and leave no room for doubt. Thus, the blind man believed in Jesus' words, obeyed His command, went and washed himself, and returned, no longer blind, but having eyes and seeing. This was the greatest miracle that our Lord had yet worked; as the man healed of his blindness himself testified, "Since time began, never was it heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind," although the Lord had already healed the blind eyes of many. Because he now had eyes, some even doubted that he was the same person (John 9:8-9); and it was still lively in their remembrance when Christ came to the tomb of Lazarus, for they said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have caused that even this man should not have died?" Saint John Chrysostom gives a thorough and brilliant exposition of our Lord's meeting with the woman of Samaria, the healing of the paralytic, and the miracle of the blind man in his commentaries on the Gospel of Saint John.


21_conshel
May 21

Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the Apostles

This great and renowned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantius Chlorus (the ruler of the westernmost parts of the Roman empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272, in (according to some authorities) Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312, on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched into Italy, where, while at the head of his troops, he saw in the sky after midday, beneath the sun, a radiant pillar in the form of a cross with the words: "By this shalt thou conquer." The following night, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and declared to him the power of the Cross and its significance. When he arose in the morning, he immediately ordered that a labarum be made (which is a banner or standard of victory over the enemy) in the form of a cross, and he inscribed on it the Name of Jesus Christ. On the 28th Of October, he attacked and mightily conquered Maxentius, who drowned in the Tiber River while fleeing. The following day, Constantine entered Rome in triumph and was proclaimed Emperor of the West by the Senate, while Licinius, his brother-in-law, ruled in the East. But out of malice, Licinius later persecuted the Christians. Constantine fought him once and again, and utterly destroyed him in 324, and in this manner he became monarch over the West and the East. Under him and because of him all the persecutions against the Church ceased. Christianity triumphed and idolatry was overthrown. In 325 he gathered the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which he himself personally addressed. In 324, in the ancient city of Byzantium, he laid the foundations of the new capital of his realm, and solemnly inaugurated it on May 11, 330, naming it after himself, Constantinople. Since the throne of the imperial rule was transferred thither from Rome, it was named New Rome, the inhabitants of its domain were called Romans, and it was considered the continuation of the Roman Empire. Falling ill near Nicomedia, he requested to receive divine Baptism, according to Eusebius (The Life of Constantine. Book IV, 61-62), and also according to Socrates and Sozomen; and when he had been deemed worthy of the Holy Mysteries, he reposed in 337, on May 21 or 22, the day of Pentecost, having lived sixty-five years, of which he ruled for thirty-one years. His remains were transferred to Constantinople and were deposed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been built by him (see Homily XXVI on Second Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom).

As for his holy mother Helen, after her son had made the Faith of Christ triumphant throughout the Roman Empire, she undertook a journey to Jerusalem and found the Holy Cross on which our Lord was crucified (see Sept. 13 and 14). After this, Saint Helen, in her zeal to glorify Christ, erected churches in Jerusalem at the sites of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, in Bethlehem at the cave where our Saviour was born, another on the Mount of Olives whence He ascended into Heaven, and many others throughout the Holy Land, Cyprus, and elsewhere. She was proclaimed Augusta, her image was stamped upon golden coins, and two cities were named Helenopolis after her in Bithynia and in Palestine. Having been thus glorified for her piety, she departed to the Lord being about eighty years of age, according to some in the year 330, according to others, in 336.


Allsaint
May 21

Pachomios the Righteous New Martyr


Allsaint
May 22

Holy New Martyrs Demetrius and Paul of Tripoli


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Welcome

This Weeks Announcements

  • We extend greetings and a warm welcome to all visitors worshipping with us today. Please fill out a“visitor information card” located in the narthex and hand to one of the greeters. Following the Liturgy, please join us in our social hall for the coffee social.

  • Holy Communion in our Church is offered only to Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves through the disciplines of our faith. Speak to Fr. Costas for further details.

We kindly ask everyone to Please silence cell phones and pagers while in Church

  1. Today ~ Coffee & Conversationfor parents of children from birth – 6th grade.
  2. Today ~ Adult Catechism with Elaine Poulos.
  3. Today ~ MNYMOSINO: 3 years for Dr. James Pallas; 6 months for Fannie Pyros; for the AHEPA #480 members; TRISAGIA: for Ann Moore; for Gust Mersinas; for Kyriakos and Smaragda Mersinas; for Manoli Mersinas; for James and Pearl Perrin; 12 years for Jim Alex; 53 years for James Vardas; 8 years for Bill Pyros; for Florence Paros Smith; for Sam, Nick, Jim, and Steve Paros; 9 months for Ioanna Payamgis; 25 years for Eleni Moutsopoulou.
  4. Monday - Tuesday ~ 9:00 a.m. Festival baking. Everyone welcome – whether you have an hour or two, your help is always appreciated.
  5. Monday ~ 5:30 p.m. Greek School.
  6. Thursday ~ Holy Ascension; 8:30 a.m. Orthros; 9:30 a.m. Liturgy.
  7. Thursday ~ 11:45 a.m. Senior Fellowship Matinee at Valley View Cinemark followed by Dinner at the Oak Barrel.
  8. Thursday ~ Bible Study with Frank Chirakos will resume in the Fall.
  9. Stewardship ~ Thank you to all those who completed and returned their 2017 Stewardship card.
  10. Pave the Way ~ Have you responded to this appeal? Please join those who did and help us reach our goal of a new parking lot.

Upcoming Events in Our Parish – Respond Early

  1. Next Sunday ~Epistle Reading, Acts 20:16-18, 28-36; Gospel, John 17:1-13.
  2. Next Sunday ~ TRISAGIA: 5 years for George Karavokirakis; 19 years for Nick Theodore; 17 years for Janeen Theodore.
  3. Saturday ~ 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Trisagia services offered by Father Costas at St. Theodosius Cemetery.
  4. May 29 ~ Office closed.
  5. May 29 ~ 10:00 a.m. Trisagia service at St. Theodosius Cemetery.
  6. June 3 ~ Saturday of Souls. 8:30 a.m. Orthros 9:30 a.m. Liturgy. A time to remember our deceased loved ones.
  7. June 6 ~ 6:00 p.m. Philoptochos Appreciation Dinner at 100th Bomb Group on Brookpark Road. Reservations required ($29/person) and can be made during coffee social or our website.
  8. June 12 – 14 ~ 9:00 a.m. Greek School Summer Camp. Register during the coffee social or online.
  9. June 26 – 30 ~ 9:00 a.m. Vacation Church School. PLEASE NOTE NEW DATES. Registration available through our website. $20 per child through June 20th.
  10. June 11 ~ Graduate Sunday.  St. Paul High School and College graduates will be recognized immediately following Liturgy.
  11. June 11 ~ Philoptochos will distribute a booklet honoring / remembering fathers, grandfathers, godfathers for Father’s Day. Names can be submitted with a free will donation during the coffee social or our website.
  12. June 11 ~ 1:30 p.m. Annual Golf Outing at Pine Hills Golf Course in Hinckley followed by lamb roast.  Sponsorships available.  All proceeds to benefit Pave the Way parking lot Capital Campaign.

Events in the Greater Cleveland Area and Beyond…

  1. Friday – Next Monday ~ Annunciation Cleveland Grecian Festival.
  2. June 6 – 8 ~ St. Haralambos Canton Greek Fest.
  3. June 9 ~ 6:00 p.m. IOCC 25th Anniversary Celebration at Embassy Suites on Rockside Road in Independence.  Reservations required by May 29th. Contact Ken Boukis for details.
  4. June 22 ~ St. Demetrios Rocky River, Festival.
  5. June 23 ~ 12:00 p.m. St. Herman House – FOCUS Cleveland golf outing at Hinckley Hills Golf Course. For more information, contact Kirk at 216.973.9391.
  6. ZOE Women’s Center Medical Committee is looking for volunteers (Receptionist, Nurse, Sonographer, Fund Raiser, Medical Assistant, Physician’s Assistant, etc.) to offer services to women in distress due to unplanned pregnancies. Contact Despina at despina@mavrakisfamily.com.
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Flyers

    May 25, 2017

    May 25, 2017

    Senior Fellowship Matinee and Dinner


    June 6, 2017

    June 6, 2017

    Philoptochos Appreciation Dinner


    June 11, 2017

    June 11, 2017

    Graduate Sunday for St Paul High School and College graduates * * * DEADLINE TO SUBMIT INFORMATION IS MAY 15 * * *


    June 11, 2017

    June 11, 2017

    Annual Golf Outing with proceeds to benefit the Pave the Way Parking Lot Capital Campaign


    June 11, 2017

    June 11, 2017

    Family Greek Day following Golf Outing with proceeds to benefit the Pave the Way Parking Lot Capital Campaign


    June 12 - 14, 2017

    June 12 - 14, 2017

    Greek School Summer Camp


    June 18, 2017

    June 18, 2017

    Father's Day Tribute booklet


    June 26 - 30, 2017

    June 26 - 30, 2017

    Vacation Church School - NEW DATES


    July 20 - 23, 2017

    July 20 - 23, 2017

    New opportunities available to advertise in our Festival Ad Book


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