Saints and Feasts

August 27

12th Sunday of Matthew

August 14

Forefeast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 3rd Tone

Let the Heavens rejoice; let earthly things be glad; for the Lord hath wrought might with His arm, He hath trampled upon death by death. The first-born of the dead hath He become. From the belly of Hades hath He delivered us, and hath granted great mercy to the world.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

First Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Matthew 28:16-20

At that time, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Amen."

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 3rd Tone. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 15:1-11.

Brethren, I would remind you in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Gospel Reading

12th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 19:16-26

At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, "Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Announcements

New books arrived in our bookstore - as always our bookstore is an honor system. Please put the money for your purchase in the first drawer and mark on the sheet what you bought. If you want to pay book purchases with your credit card please see Fr. Anthony

Bookstore

Our bookstore moved! We moved the bookstore in a more spacious space. It is now located at the entrance vestibule of the house (side entrance of the house). Please check it out. Many items that were sorta hidden before are now on display. For your extra time at the beach bring a good spiritual book to read!

Deacon

God willing we will have one of our own to be ordained to the holy diaconate at our feast day in September. To prepare for that we had to purchase deacon vestments for him. Church vestments as other items in church are not only beautifying the services for the Glory of God, they are are necessity. The cost for 5 sets in the different liturgical colors runs around $2,250. We ordered them from a convent in Belarus which actuallly reduced the cost significantly. For the amount we spent you most of the time only get one or two vestment sets if you order from suppliers in this country. Please help us to raise some funds to be able to pay for those new vestments.

Patronal Feast Day September 23/24

Our patronal feast day of Sts. Sergius & Herman of Valaam will be at a weekend this year. His Emminence Archbishop Peter will preside and we will God willing have a ordination to the diaconate. The meal for the feast will be coordinated by Melissa Naasko and will take place in the township hall in South Range. Melissa will provde a list with tasks that she needs help with. (setup, cleanup things like that ..). Please contact Melissa with any question you might have regarding this and your help is greatly appreciated.

Stewardship

July 2017

Income: $1,791

Expenses: $1,103

Difference: $688

YearToDate Difference: -$3,808

We are raising funds for our biggest projects in the near future:

The renewal of our siding, and improving our insulation on church and rectory to save on heating costs.
The install of the dome and three-bar cross we were given the year before last.

To easily contribute to these fundraisers please go to our website ss-sergius-herman-valaam.org

In your charity please remember us to your ability and help this small community.

As you can see we are all over the year still in the red. Reason for this are the two points mentioned under announcement: the new deacon vestments and the unexpected high repair cost for the a/c. We need your help to recover those cost, mainly by your regular tithing to the church and secondly through extra contributions if you are able to. Tithing is a Christian duty and gives back to God what is righly His. It is a scriptual and with that a truely Orthodox principle. In short tithing means that we are giving the 10th of our income back to God., which is actually considered the minimum. It is absolutley fair, because if we have a little income we will give less, if we have more we will give more. God bless everyone who already follows this command, and helps us to keep this church functioning.

If you want to read more about tithing in the Orthodox Church please follow here: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2017/01/stump-priest-tithing.html

Wisdom of the Fathers

The Savior Himself is He Whom we are asked to put on. It is one and the same thing to say, 'Put on the whole armor of God,' and 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' Our belt is truth and our breastplate is righteousness. The Savior is also called both 'truth' and 'righteousness.' On this principle He is also to be understood as the 'Gospel of peace.' He is Himself the 'shield of faith' and the helmet of salvation. He is the 'sword of the Spirit,' because He is the Word of God, living and efficacious, the utterance of which is stronger than any helmet and sharp on both sides.

St. Jerome

Unknown, 5th century

The mind of a heedful man is as it were a watchman on duty, or an unsleeping guard of the inner Jerusalem. Standing at the height of spiritual contemplation, he looks with an eye of purity upon the enemy powers who go around and attack his soul, in accordance with the Psalmist: 'And my eye hath looked down upon my enemies' (Ps. 53:9). From his eye the devil is not hidden, who 'as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour' (I Pet. 5:8), nor are they who bend their bow 'to shoot in the dark the upright of heart (Ps. 10:2). And thus such a man, following the teaching of the divine Paul, receives 'the whole armor of God, that [he] may be able to withstand in the evil day (Eph. 6:13), and with this armor and with the cooperating grace of God, he repels visible attacks and vanquishes invisible warriors.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Spiritual Instructions no. 30, Little Russian Philokalia Vol. 1; Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood pgs. 48-49, 19th century

Prayer Requests

Sick:

Hieromonk Timothy, Priest Joseph, Alexander, Valery, Philip, Eric, Suzanna, Matushka Anna and her newborn child Irene, Luoba, Katherine, Kevin, Demetra, Judy (non-orthodox), Pat (non-orthodox), Heather (non-orthodox), Catherine, Mary, Hannah (non-orthodox), Irene (non-orthodox), Krista, George, Vera, Juliana, Seraphim, Novice Moses, Matushka Joanna

In time of distress:

Hieromonk Alexander (Frizzell), Silouan, Amy, Pani Ami

New Reposed:

Maximus

If you have prayer requests you would like announced, please e-mail rector@ss-sergius-herman-valaam.org

Fasting in the upcoming week

On Monday August, 28, we celebrate the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos and will break the fast after the Divine Liturgy.

Wednesday and Friday are normal fast days.

All other days are fast free.

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