Sunday Services: Orthros-8:45 a.m. Divine Liturgy-10:00 a.m. Sunday School after Distribution of Holy Communion. Holy Day Services As announced in weekly bulletins.
Sunday February 3rd, 2019
Ushers: Stamati Polles & Constantine Zouboukos
Epistle Reader: Monique Polles
Prosphoro - Toula Odom
Coffee Hour - Toula Odom
Philoptochos News and Events.
Baklava for Sale - 36 piece trays for $30.00 - great for that Super Bowl Party
Welcome: Miles Graham will become a "catechumen" this Sunday at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy. His sponsor is Theo Mavridoglou and he is taking the name of Alexander, He will be Chrismated into the faith at a later date.
Bible Study/Pot Luck Supper will meet on February 6th at 5:30 pm we will continue our study of the Gospel of Saint Luke - Chapter 3
February Newsletter: Please submit any information on events or activities by Tuesday February 5th at Noon.
Congratulations to: Elizabeth Thomas and Donnie Petersen who were recently united in the Sacrament of Marriage in Everett Washington. May their marriage be blessed and may they enjoy many years of wedded bliss.
Year end report of contributions to Holy Trinity-Saint John Greek Orthodox Church: By now you should have received a letter with the total amount of your contributions made to the church from January 1 - December 31st 2018. These numbers were generated from donations recorded on the "Weekly Collection Sheets". Please note that any contributions recieved by mail are placed in the offering tray on the Sunday after they are received. Indivdual candle offerings are NOT recorded or not included in these totals. The bank has requested two things - please include Greek Orthodox Church, GOC, or Holy Trinity-Saint John when writing your checks, they will not accept blank checks anymore and secondly when writing your checks please use Black or Blue ink only, checks are scanned and the scanner cannot pick up any colors other than black or blue ink,
We are grateful to Toula Odom and thank her for transcribing the numbers from these sheets and recording them in a data base. Please note that the numbers are a total and not broken down into i.e. Memorials, Allocation, or other special gifts. These numbers reflect all donations made to the General Account of the Church and not to any other accounts i.e. Greek Festival or to the Philoptochos Society. Because people are only human and may make an error in recording these weekly offerings, if you find an error, if you have not recieved your letter or have questions about your report please ask Toula Odom.
Our Holy Trinity-St. John the Theologian Prayer List:
"Remember Lord, those whom each of us calls prayerfully to mind" Georgia Dennery, Nancy Panaretos, Chuck Odom, Nicholas & Maria Psaris, William Abihider, Christ Castanis, George V. Pinchuk, Chris Grillis, Lambryne Angelo, Jane Kountouris, and Callie McDole, Malissa and Pat Zouboukos have asked that we pray for their friend Randy Nichols, Paula Fowler, ,
Our February Birthday List: Chuck Odom-February 2nd, Noah Wood-February 6th, Jean Hare-February 9th, Chris Valsamakis-February 11th, Cari Fowler-February 17th, Monique Polles-February 20th, Theo Mavridoglou-February 21st, Bill Nikolis-February 25th.
PLEASE LET FATHER ANDREW KNOW OF ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS Thank You!..
Without your donations and constributions it becomes difficult to meet our budgeted expenses. Our monthly expenses include salaries, Gas, Electricity, Water, Archdiocese commitments, and from time to time extra expenses to repair items in the church proper. Please remember that your donations help us to meet these monthly expenses of $10k.
Yesterday we celebrated the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple; today we honor the righteous Elder Symeon and Prophetess Anna, who prophesied concerning Him by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and were the first in Jerusalem to receive Him as the Messiah.
The Saints were from Spetses, and were brothers*** and worked as importers. It was a chaotic time because the Greek revolution had been declared in 1821.
[***Note: some accounts hold that only Sts. John and Stamatios were blood brothers, and that St. Nicholas was only a friend and co-worker.]
The three brothers along with a group of another four people traveled the Aegean with their load of olive oil. Because of bad weather their boat was stranded on Asia Minor across from Chios, in the area of Tsesme. They went out where they met a Christian to whom they revealed their situation and they gave him money to buy them food and whatever they needed for the return of their small boat. He, however, as another Judas, betrayed them to the aga of the area, and after a short time the aga's men appeared. They killed two from their group as they tried to flee, another two fell into the sea, and the three brothers were seized and led to the pasha of Chios. He, after questioning them, ordered the two younger brothers, Stamatios (18) and John (22), to be locked in the darkest prison on the castle, the oldest, Nicholas, would be taken out of the castle and be beheaded.
Along the whole road they were incentivising Nicholas to convert to islam and to save his life. That blessed one responded to them: “Will I begin a new life? No, I was born a Christian and a Christian I will die, I don't deny my faith.”
And he was beheaded.
The pasha hoped to be able to get the two younger brothers to convert. He ordered two trusted men, one from Chios and one from Lazo, evil and very cunning, to go to the prison to try to get them to convert, enticing them with a lot of money.
These men tried many different methods for a week, sometimes with promises and sometimes with threats, but it did not have any effect. Finally they went to the pasha and sought permission to torture them, as their words were not having any effect, and with great courage the Saints disputed with them. The pasha, having thought for a while, told them, “these heathen are stubborn, it's easier to cut off their heads that defiance. Tomorrow they'll finally get the point.”
The Saints, locked in the prison, understood through divine revelation, that the good fight was coming to an end, called for paper and ink secretly. They wrote their confessions, and sent them with a woman named Fragisa, whose husband was also in prison and who was free to visit him, to the Bishop of Chios, and sought him to commune them. The Bishop advised them through this woman to remain steadfast in their faith, to prepare with prayer, and to not be dismayed at all before death, because Paradise was remaining for them, where they will rejoice eternally with the other martyrs.
The blessed youth heard the teachings of the Bishop from the woman's mouth, and thanked the Lord with tears, and remained in vigil all night, chanting paraklesis services to the Theotokos, to grant them strength to not be dismayed by death.
Towards dawn they slept a little, and after waking up they said to the other Christians: “O brothers, today we complete the journey of our life. We ask you to pray for the Lord to strengthen us.”
When it was day, the Bishop, through the same woman (because the priest or other Christian were unable to enter the prison), sent to them Holy Communion and with tears communed the Spotless Mysteries. They gave their fellow prisoners whatever money they had and whatever clothes of theirs that they didn't need. With this woman they send their thanks to the Bishop and some money for charity and for them to chant services for them after their death.
They were taken out of the prison with their arms bound behind them, and they were brought below the sarai. They were questioned one last time if they would convert. The Saints with a great voice responded: “We were born Christians and we will die Christians. We will never deny Christ, even if you cut us into pieces. Whatever you have to do, do it an hour sooner, don't waste your time. We will not deny our faith.”
So they were ordered to be executed.
The executioners bound them and led them outside the castle, playing with their swords in front of them to scare them. In that instant, John was dismayed and changed his mind. Seeing this, Stamatios the younger brother told him: “What happened to you, brother? Don't you remember our decision to not betray our faith? Entreat our Panagia to give you strength.” With such words, he gave strength to John.
When they reached the Vounaki valley outside of the castle, across from the execution site below the Lower Fountain, they were asked one final time if they would deny their faith. With a great voice the two of them responded and in fact said three times:
“Christian bretheren, we are Christians and we will die for Christ. We will not change our faith. Remember us O Lord in Your Kingdom.”
They beheaded them immediately. Their holy relics remained there scorned at the place of their martyrdom.
After three days the Turks convinced some Christians to take them by boat and throw them in the sea. After fours days the sea cast them back out. Thus the Chistians with great joy and reverence buried them
Saint Nicholas, Enlightener of Japan, was born Ivan Dimitrievich Kasatkin on August 1, 1836 in the village of Berezovsk, Belsk district, Smolensk diocese, where his father served as deacon. At the age of five he lost his mother. He completed the Belsk religious school, and afterwards the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1857 Ivan Kasatkin entered the Saint Peterburg Theological Academy. On June 24, 1860, in the academy temple of the Twelve Apostles, Bishop Nectarius tonsured him with the name Nicholas.
On June 29, the Feast of the foremost Apostles Peter and Paul, the monk Nicholas was ordained deacon. The next day, on the altar feast of the academy church, he was ordained to the holy priesthood. Later, at his request, Father Nicholas was assigned to Japan as head of the consular church in the city of Hakodate.
At first, the preaching of the Gospel in Japan seemed completely impossible. In Father Nicholas’s own words: “the Japanese of the time looked upon foreigners as beasts, and on Christianity as a villainous sect, to which only villains and sorcerers could belong.” He spent eight years in studying the country, the language, manners and customs of the people among whom he would preach.
In 1868, the flock of Father Nicholas numbered about twenty Japanese. At the end of 1869 Hieromonk Nicholas reported in person to the Synod in Peterburg about his work. A decision was made, on January 14, 1870, to form a special Russian Spiritual Mission for preaching the Word of God among the pagan Japanese. Father Nicholas was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed as head of this Mission.
Returning to Japan after two years in Russia, he transferred some of the responsibility for the Hakodate flock to Hieromonk Anatolius, and began his missionary work in Tokyo. In 1871 there was a persecution of Christians in Hakodate. Many were arrested (among them, the first Japanese Orthodox priest Paul Sawabe). Only in 1873 did the persecution abate somewhat, and the free preaching of Christianity became possible.
In this year Archimandrite Nicholas began the construction of a stone building in Tokyo which housed a church, a school for fifty men, and later a religious school, which became a seminary in 1878.
In 1874, Bishop Paul of Kamchatka arrived in Tokyo to ordain as priests several Japanese candidates recommended by Archimandrite Nicholas. At the Tokyo Mission, there were four schools: for catechists, for women, for church servers, and a seminary. At Hakodate there were two separate schools for boys and girls.
In the second half of 1877, the Mission began regular publication of the journal “Church Herald.” By the year 1878 there already 4115 Christians in Japan, and there were a number of Christian communities. Church services and classes in Japanese, the publication of religious and moral books permitted the Mission to attain such results in a short time. Archimandrite Nicholas petitioned the Holy Synod in December of 1878 to provide a bishop for Japan.
Archimandrite Nicholas was consecrated bishop on March 30, 1880 in the Trinity Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Returning to Japan, he resumed his apostolic work with increased fervor. He completed construction on the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Tokyo, he translated the service books, and compiled a special Orthodox theological dictionary in the Japanese language.
Great hardship befell the saint and his flock at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. For his ascetic labor during these difficult years, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
In 1911, half a century had passed since the young hieromonk Nicholas had first set foot on Japanese soil. At that time there were 33,017 Christians in 266 communities of the Japanese Orthodox Church, including 1 Archbishop, 1 bishop, 35 priests, 6 deacons, 14 singing instructors, and 116 catechists.
On February 3, 1912, Archbishop Nicholas departed peacefully to the Lord at the age of seventy-six. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him on April 10, 1970, since the saint had long been honored in Japan as a righteous man, and a prayerful intercessor before the Lord.
As for the thrice-blessed Photius, the great and most resplendent Father and teacher of the Church, the Confessor of the Faith and Equal to the Apostles, he lived during the years of the emperors Michael (the son of Theophilus), Basil the Macedonian, and Leo his son. He was the son of pious parents, Sergius and Irene, who suffered for the Faith under the Iconoclast Emperor Theophilus; he was also a nephew of Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (see Feb. 25). He was born in Constantinople, where he excelled in the foremost imperial ministries, while ever practicing a virtuous and godly life. An upright and honorable man of singular learning and erudition, he was raised to the apostolic, ecumenical, and patriarchal throne of Constantinople in the year 857.
The many struggles that this thrice-blessed one undertook for the Orthodox Faith against the Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other heretics, and the attacks and assaults that he endured from Nicholas I, the haughty and ambitious Pope of Rome, and the great persecutions and distresses he suffered, are beyond number. Contending against the Latin error of the filioque, that is, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, he demonstrated clearly with his Mystagogy on the Holy Spirit how the filioque destroys the unity and equality of the Trinity. He has left us many theological writings, panegyric homilies, and epistles, including one to Boris, the Sovereign of Bulgaria, in which he set forth for him the history and teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Having tended the Church of Christ in holiness and in an evangelical manner, and with fervent zeal having rooted out all the tares of every alien teaching, he departed to the Lord in the Monastery of the Armenians on February 6, 891.
The Prophet Zacharias was the son of Barachias, and a contemporary of the Prophet Aggeus (Dec. 16). In the days of the Babylonian captivity, he prophesied, as it says, in the book of Ezra, "to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem" (Ezra 5: 1); he aided Zerubbabel in the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. In the book of Ezra he is called "Zacharias the son of Addo (or Iddo)" but in his own prophetic book he is called more fully "Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo the Prophet" (Zach. 1:1). When the captives returned from Babylon, he came to dwell in Jerusalem in his old age. His book of prophecy is divided into fourteen chapters and has the eleventh place among the books of the minor Prophets; his name means "Yah is renowned." Sozomen reports that under the Emperor Honorius, Zacharias' holy relics were found in Eleutheropolis of Palestine. The Prophet appeared in a dream to a certain Calemerus, telling him where he would find his tomb. His body was found to be incorrupt (Eccl. Hist., Book IX, 17).
Hymn of Pentecost:
O blessed are You, O Christ our God. Who by sending down the Holy Spirit upon them, made the fishermen wise, and through them illumined the world. And unto You the universe was ever drawn. All glory to You O Lord.
Hymn of St. John the Theologian
O Apostle, beloved of Christ our God, hasten to deliver a defenseless people. He that allowed thee to recline in His breast, receiveth thee bowing in intersession. Implore Him, O Theologian, do dispel the persistent cloud of the heathen, and ask for us His peace and great mercy.
Third Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Mark 16:9-20
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.
Prokeimenon. Third 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 Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:1-10.
Brethren, working together with him, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
16th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 25:14-30
The Lord said this parable: "A man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.' And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.' He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." As he said these things he cried out: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Today’s Gospel challenges us with three points with great application for how we live our daily lives: the first point is that we’ve all received “talents,” resources, blessings that are purely a gift of God’s mercy and love for us. These gifts are entrusted to us with the expectation that we’ll be faithful stewards of these blessings from God.
So, the second point is that we’ll all give an account for how we have made use of them or how we’ve neglected them, burring them as did the servant with the one talent in today’s Gospel, or using them, to God’s glory, to multiply their usefulness, to spread God’s truth and light in this world, and make a difference for eternity, as did the servant with the five talents.
The third point is the following: ultimately, we don’t get to judge ourselves as to how we’ve used our talents and resources. Rather, we need to ask ourselves just how our response, our answer as to how we’ve used our talents, will be received by the Lord at His dread Second Coming.
The talent represents all that the Lord has entrusted to you—spiritually as well as physically. We’re meant to use our talents to further our participation and that of others in His Kingdom. In fact, the entire chapter of Matthew 25 is geared toward this point, beginning with the Parable of the Talents and culminating in the Lord’s description of the sheep and the goats as they face Christ’s Judgment Seat.
So, ask yourself today: what talents (resources, blessings, abilities, gifts) has God entrusted to you? Have you been using them to God’s glory? Are you continuing to learn how to use them to glorify God and give a return on His ‘investment’ in you, or, have you been hording them for yourself, for your own selfish pleasure? These are the two extremes: we either are generous toward God, realizing that what we have is a gift of His mercy and, therefore, of His love, seeing what we have as entrusted to us by God, or, we can live as if everything we have is our own and find ourselves miserly toward God, His Church, those around us
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