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Annunciation Church
Publish Date: 2021-02-28
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Prodson
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Annunciation Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (231) 799-0185
  • Street Address:

  • 185 East Pontaluna Road

  • Muskegon, MI 49444


Contact Information






Services Schedule

Orthros/Matins: Sunday, 9:00 AM
Divine Liturgy:
 Sunday, 10:00 AM

 

 


Past Bulletins


Parish Calendar

  • Parish Calendar

    February 28 to March 7, 2021

    Sunday, February 28

    9:00AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy: Sunday of the Prodigal Son

    Wednesday, March 3

    7:00PM Virtual Bible Study & Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew: Chapters 21-25

    Saturday, March 6

    9:00AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy: Saturday of the Souls

    Sunday, March 7

    9:00AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy: Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)

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Sunday School Games

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Parish News & Events

Live Streaming

The Orthros and Divine Liturgy for Sunday will be streamed live around  8:40 AM. To access the stream please click here.

If you would like to pray along, click on the links below for Sunday's service:

If you are experiencing technical issues or have questions about the live stream during a live Sunday service, John Wehmer is available for assistance and he can be reached at home (616-847-6409) or on his cell (616-502-4800).


Philoptochos Outreach

Philoptochos is collecting donations for the Muskegon Rescue Mission to help sponsor their Easter meal. Each table provides full plates of baked ham with potatoes and gravy - plus salad, coffee, and dessert. A donation of $15.76 will sponsor one table for eight people but any donation amount will help feed the needy on Easter Sunday.
 
Donations may be sent directly to the Rescue Mission or one large donation can be submitted by Philoptochos from our Annunciation Church family. A basket will be at the candle stand for any parishioners who would like to donate to this outreach.

Fr. John's Schedule

I will be away from the office starting this Monday, March 1st and returning back on Friday, March 5th. If you need to get a hold of me for any reason, please don't hesitate to contact me on my cell (716-730-1982) or email me at frjohn@orthodoxmuskegon.church.


Liturgies for the Saturday of Souls

The Divine Liturgies for the Saturday of Souls will take place on the following Saturdays in  March with Orthros @  9 AM & Divine Liturgy @ 10 AM:

  • Saturday of Souls Liturgy, March  6th
  • Saturday of Souls Liturgy, March 13th
  • Clean Monday - Lent begins Monday, March 15th
  • Saturday of Souls Liturgy, March 20th

Please contact Fr. John if you would like to donate Koliva for any of the Saturday of Souls services. Names of the departed can be emailed to Fr. John and will be commemorated for all three services. 


Lenten Book Discussion - Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

For our Lenten Book Discussion, we will read Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou. 

The book is available from Ancient Faith or in Kindle version from Amazon. Meeting times will be announced in the near future.

Description

What does it mean to “think Orthodox”? What are the unspoken and unexplored premises and presumptions underlying what Christians believe? Orthodox Christianity is based on preserving the mind of the early Church, its phronema. Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years’ experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology—as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.


Virtual Bible Study & Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew

Our next Bible study will take place this Wednesday, March 3rd @ 7:00 PM. 

  • Wednesday, March 3rd        Chapters 21-25
  • Wednesday, March 10th      Chapters 26 and final chapters

 

Phone Numbers
(‪US‬)‪+1 563-293-1886‬
 PIN: ‪619 600 558#‬

Lenten Service Schedule

  • Salutations to the Theotokos Services will be held every Friday during Lent @ 6 PM.
  • Pre-sanctifed Liturgies TBA

Parish Nameday

  • Great Vespers & Artoklasia (Blessing of the five loves) for the Annunciation will take place on Wednesday, March 24th @ 6:00 PM.
  • Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Annunciation will take place on Thursday, March 25th with Orthros @ 9:00 AM and Divine Liturgy @ 10:00 AM. 

2021 Stewardship

2021 Stewardship forms are located at the candle stand. Please consider filling out a form since it also allows the office to have updated information on file. Filled out forms can be placed in the wooden box of the donation stand. 

2021 stewardship can be securely and conveniently submitted online via Paypal. In addition, reoccurring donations can be set up on a weekly or monthly schedule using ACH withdrawal or with any major credit card. Click here if you would like to donate stewardship online through PayPal.

2021 offering envelopes are now available at the candle stand. Please note, if you will be using offering envelopes, you will have to write your name on each individual envelope when submitting stewardship donations. Envelope Numbers will no longer be used. Stewardship will now be recorded by NAME only. 

Thank you all for your continued support of our Church!


Inclement Weather Notifications

In the event of inclement weather, an email notification will be sent out for any cancellations or time changes. You can also check for weather notifications on:


Updated Guidelines

  • Anyone who is currently experiencing any symptoms of illness must stay at home.
  • Pews will be taped off to allow for distancing between individuals/families. Chairs will also be added around the walls of the Church.
  • Parishioners are required to wear masks.  It is recommended that parishioners bring their own masks. Mask will be provided at the candle stand for those who need one. Chanters and clergy are exempt from wearing masks since they are socially distanced. 
  • Please reverence icons by making the sign of the Cross and bowing instead of kissing them.
  • Parishes are not to have choirs until further notice.
  • There will be no liturgical books in the pews.
  • Parishioners are welcomed to receive andithiron after Holy Communion and at the dismissal of the Liturgy. Waxpaper will be provided.
  • Traditional trays/baskets will not be passed. A wooden donation box will be set up for parishioners who wish to make a Sunday offering as they exit the Church.
  • If you have any questions, please see a parish council member.
Holy Communion Guidelines
It is clearly understood that Holy Communion is the very Body and Blood of Christ which cannot be tainted by any harmful thing and that those who receive it with proper intent of mind and heart cannot be harmed by it. Clergy will follow the following guidelines so that the Holy Sacrament is safely administered:
  • Since there will be no Choir, we ask chantors to proceed for Holy Communion first followed by parishioners who be directed by a member of the parish council.
  • Please allow for at least 6 feet per parishioner. The center aisle of the Church will be marked with tape to help in keeping the appropriate distance between parishioners.
  • To receive communion, parishioners are asked to tilt their heads back so that the Holy Sacrament can be dropped into the mouth. It has been allowed that those receiving the Holy Eucharist can stay seated to make the above recommendations easier. 
  • Parishioners are asked not to touch or direct the communion cloth. An altar boy will hold the communion cloth under the chin.
  • Further instructions will be given in Church.

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Saints and Feasts

Prodson
February 28

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Through the parable of today's Gospel, our Saviour has set forth three things for us: the condition of the sinner, the rule of repentance, and the greatness of God's compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the parable of the Publican and Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition -- inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries -- we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.

Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts of such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the forecourts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God's compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin -- no matter how great it may be -- that can overcome at any time His love for man.


Eudokia_samaria
March 01

The Holy Righteous Martyr Eudocia the Samaritan

This Saint, who was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia (Baalbek in present-day Lebanon), was an idolater and led a licentious life. Being beautiful beyond telling, she had many lovers, and had acquired great riches. Yet brought to repentance by a monk named Germanus, and baptized by Bishop Theodotus, she distributed to the poor all her ill-gotten gains, and entered a convent, giving herself up completely to the life of asceticism. Her former lovers, enraged at her conversion, her refusal to return to her old ways, and the withering away of her beauty through the severe mortifications she practiced, betrayed her as a Christian to Vincent the Governor, and she was beheaded, according to some, under Trajan, who reigned from 98 to 117, according to others, under Hadrian, who reigned from 117 to 138.


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March 02

Hesychius the Martyr

Holy martyr Hesychius lived during the reign of king Maximian in 302. He was the first and the leader in the royal palace and the Senate, because he was magistrianus by office. When Maximian ordered that all Christians who were royal soldiers ought to be deprived of their belts (which were a sign of their royal merit) and live as civilians and without honour, many Christians preferred to live without any outward honour due to this illegal order than to be honoured and lose their soul. St. Hesychius was numbered with these Christians as well. When the king heard this, he ordered that the saint ought to be stripped of the expensive clothes, which he used to wear, and be dressed with a shabby mantle without sleeves woven from hair and to be as disgraced and disdained as to consort with women.

When this had been carried out, the king invited him and asked him: "Aren't you ashamed, Hesychius, that you lost the honour and office of magistrianus and that you have been debased to this kind of life? Or maybe you don't know that the Christians, whose way of life you preferred, have no power to restore you to your previous great honour and office?" The saint replied: "Your honour, o king, is temporary but the honour and glory which Christ gives is eternal and without end." Because of these words the king got angry and ordered his men to tie a great millstone around the saint's neck and then to throw him in the middle of river Orontus, which lies in Coele Syria and which is commonly called Oronge. Thus, the blessed man received the crown of martyrdom from the Lord.


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March 03

The Holy Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus, and Basiliscus

The Martyrs, who were from Amasia, were fellow soldiers and kinsmen of Saint Theodore the Tyro (see Feb. 17). They were betrayed to the Governor Asclepiodotus as Christians, during the reign of Diocletian (284-305). After many torments, Eutropius and Cleonicus were crucified; Basiliscus was not slain together with them, but was shut up in prison, in the hope that with time he might change his mind and sacrifice to the idols. He was beheaded on May 22; see also the account on that day.


Gerasimosjordan
March 04

Gerasimus the Righteous of Jordan

This Saint, who was from Lycia in Asia Minor, lived there for many years as a hermit, and then went to Palestine. There he built the great Lavra by the Jordan River, where a lion served him with great obedience and devotion. One day the lion came looking for Gerasimus that he might feed him, but his disciples took the lion to the place where they had buried the Saint shortly before. The lion fell at the Saint's grave and, after roaring with grief, died at that very place. Saint Gerasimus reposed in 475.


Konon1
March 05

Conon the Gardener

This saint lived during the reign of emperor Decius in 251. He came from the town of Nazareth. He left his hometown and went to the city of Mandron, in the province of Pamphylia. There he stayed at a place called Karmela or Karmena cultivating a garden which he used to water and plant with various vegetables. From this garden he obtained what is necessary for life. He had such an upright and simple mind that, when he met those who wished to arrest him and saw that they greeted him, he also greeted in return from the bottom of his soul and heart. When they told him that governor Publius called the saint to go to him, the saint answered with simplicity: "What does the governor need me, since I am a Christian? Let him call those who think the way he does and have the same religion with him." So, the blessed man was tied and brought to the governor, who tried to move him to sacrifice to the idols. But the saint sighed from the bottom of his heart, cursed the tyrant and confirmed his faith in Christ with his confession, saying that it is not possible to be moved from it even though he might be tortured cruelly. So, for this reason they nailed his feet and made the saint run in front of the governor's coach. But the saint fainted in the street. Having fallen on his knees, he prayed and, thus, he commended his holy soul to the hands of God.


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March 06

42 Martyrs of Amorion in Phrygia

These Martyrs, men of high rank in the Roman (Byzantine) army, were taken captive when the city of Amorion in Phrygia fell to the Moslem Arabs in 838, during the reign of Theophilus the Iconoclast. Among them were Aetius and Melissenus, the generals; Theodore, the chief of the imperial ceremonial bodyguard; Craterus, the eunuch; Callistus, Constantine, Bassoes, and Theophilius, who were military officials; and certain others who held important positions. Because of their experience in war and their virtue, the Moslems did not slay them, but tried by all means to convert them to Islam and have them to fight in their own campaigns. They kept the holy Martyrs shut up in a dark dungeon in the city of Samarra in Syria, threatening and abusing them, making promises of glorious rank and magnificent riches, keeping them in hunger, oppression, and darkness, not for a few weeks, or a few months, but for seven full years. Finally, unable to break the courage and faith of their captives, they beheaded them in the year 845.


Lastjudgement1
March 06

Saturday of Souls

Through the Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII, ch. 42), the Church of Christ has received the custom to make commemorations for the departed on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after their repose. Since many throughout the ages, because of an untimely death in a faraway place, or other adverse circumstances, have died without being deemed worthy of the appointed memorial services, the divine Fathers, being so moved in their love for man, have decreed that a common memorial be made this day for all pious Orthodox Christians who have reposed from all ages past, so that those who did not have particular memorial services may be included in this common one for all. Also, the Church of Christ teaches us that alms should be given to the poor by the departed one's kinsmen as a memorial for him.

Besides this, since we make commemoration tomorrow of the Second Coming of Christ, and since the reposed have neither been judged, nor have received their complete recompense (Acts 17:31; II Peter 2:9; Heb. 11:39-40), the Church rightly commemorates the souls today, and trusting in the boundless mercy of God, she prays Him to have mercy on sinners. Furthermore, since the commemoration is for all the reposed together, it reminds each of us of his own death, and arouses us to repentance.


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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal First Mode

Let us worship the Word who is unoriginate * with the Father and the Spirit, and from a Virgin was born * for our salvation, O believers, and let us sing His praise. * For in His goodness He was pleased * to ascend the Cross in the flesh, and to undergo death, * and to raise up those who had died, * by His glorious Resurrection.

Apolytikion for the Church/Feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in the Fourth Mode

Today is the summary of our salvation, and the revelation of the age-old mystery. For the Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announces the good news of grace. Therefore, let us join him, and cry aloud to the Theotokos: "Rejoice, Maiden full of grace! The Lord is with you."

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Mode

O Father, foolishly I ran away from Your glory, and in sin, squandered the riches You gave me. Wherefore, I cry out to You with the voice of the Prodigal, "I have sinned before You Compassionate Father. Receive me in repentance and take me as one of Your hired servants."
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Fifth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:13-35

At that time, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Plagal First Mode. Psalm 11.7,1.
You, O Lord, shall keep us and preserve us.
Verse: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 6:12-20.

Brethren, "all things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" -- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one flesh." But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
The Reading is from Luke 15:11-32

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"


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