Publish-header
Annunciation Church
Publish Date: 2021-08-01
Bulletin Contents
03_calvary
Organization Icon
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

    August 1 to August 15, 2021

    Sunday, August 1

    Dormition Fast Begins

    8:50AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, August 2

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    Wednesday, August 4

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    7:00PM Book Discussion on Contemporary Moral Issues Facing the Orthodox Christian

    Thursday, August 5

    10:00AM Koularakia Baking

    6:00PM Great Vespers for the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

    Friday, August 6

    9:00AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy: Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    Sunday, August 8

    Parish General Assembly

    8:50AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, August 9

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    Wednesday, August 11

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    7:00PM Book Discussion on Contemporary Moral Issues Facing the Orthodox Christian

    Friday, August 13

    6:00PM Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos

    Saturday, August 14

    10:00AM Parish Cleaning Day

    6:00PM Great Vespers: The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos & Blessing of the Five Loaves (Artoklasia)

    Sunday, August 15

    Parish Council Meeting

    8:50AM Matins Service (Orthros)

    10:00AM Divine Liturgy - The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

BACK TO TOP

Parish News & Events

Live Streaming for this Sunday's Divine Liturgy

The Orthros and Divine Liturgy for Sunday will be streamed live around  8:30 AM. To access the stream please click here.

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


Upcoming Dormition Services

  • Dormition fast begins on Sunday, August 1st  
  • Paraklesis (Intercessory Prayer) to the Theotokos will be held each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 PM during the Dormition Fast (August 1st  through August 15th ).
  • Great Vespers for the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, August 5th 6 pm.
  • Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: 9 AM Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy @ 10 AM on Friday, August 6th.
  • Great Vespers for the Dormition of the Theotokos and Artoklasia (blessing of the five loaves): Saturday, August 14th @ 6 PM.
  • Dormition of the Theotokos: 9 AM Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy @ 10 AM on Sunday,  August 15th.

During each of the Paraklesis Services, it is the custom to pray for all living Orthodox Christians. Names can be emailed to Fr. John.


Pilaf Baking

We are in need of volunteers to help with the baking of koularakia on Thursday,  August 5th at 10 AM. 


Parish Cleaning Day

We will be meeting on Saturday, August 14th at 10 AM to clean the inside of the Church in preparation for the Pilaf Dinner.


Summer Book Discussion

For our summer book discussion, we will examine Contemporary Moral Issues Facing the Orthodox Christian by Fr. Stanley S. Harakas. We will meet in person and also virtually after the evening Wednesday Paraklesis services on August 4th and 11th at 7 PM. The book can be ordered from Ancient Faith by clicking here

  • August 4th- Parts I & II
  • August 11th- Parts III & IV
 
Phone Numbers
(‪US‬)‪+1 307-543-1158‬
 
PIN: ‪300 556 336#‬

Save the Date - Summer Parish General Assembly

Our next parish general assembly will take place on Sunday, August 8th after Divine Liturgy. 


Coffee Hour

This Sunday's coffee hour is sponsored by Peppy Keat.

The 2021 coffee hour sign-up sheet is located in the community center or by clicking here.  Coffee hours can also be sponsored in which the parish will prepare and host the coffee hour on your behalf. Please see a parish council member or call the church office for more information.


Philoptochos Updates

We are participating in the National Philoptochos mission to feed the hungry. During the first half of 2021, members of our Church Family have helped to provide 17,830 meals! We continue to support Kids' Food Basket and the Muskegon Rescue Mission, in addition, we provided meals for Mercy Health Care workers. While the hands-on opportunities are still impacted by Covid restrictions, monetary donations are making a huge impact.


Help us Advertise

Please help us advertise for the upcoming Pilaf Dinner by sharing the following Facebook post:


BACK TO TOP

Sunday School Games

BACK TO TOP

Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit Summer Camp 70th Anniversary Event

BACK TO TOP

Saints and Feasts

03_calvary
August 01

Procession of the Precious Cross

Because of the many diseases that occur in the month of August, the custom prevailed of old in Constantinople to carry the precious Wood of the Cross in procession throughout the city for its sanctification and its deliverance from illnesses. It was brought forth from the imperial treasury on the last day of July and placed upon the Holy Table of the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom; and beginning today, until the Dormition of the Theotokos, it was carried in procession throughout the city and was set forth for veneration before the people.


Phokas_gardner_1
August 02

Phocas the Martyr

Saint Phocas was a gardener in a small village on the south coast of the Black Sea. He lived a simple life, carrying out acts of piety and love for all around him, even serving the pagans of the village, some of who left their ways and followed Christ. The local governor heard of this and sent soldiers to kill him. The saint stumbled upon these very soldiers and, without disclosing his name, ministered to them by receiving them into his home, feeding them, and giving them rest. That night he dug a grave for himself in his garden and prepared for all his possessions to be given away after his death.

The next morning, Phocas disclosed to the soldiers that it was he whom they were seeking to kill. The soldiers were distraught, not wanting to kill the saint who had shown them so much kindness. Phocas insisted that they must carry out their mission as he willingly laid his head beneath the sword. They proceeded to execute him and then bury him in the grave he dug in his garden. The site later became a source of miracles, and eventually a Church was erected upon it. Saint Phocas is frequently invoked for those who travel by sea. His life was recorded by Saint Asterius of Amasia (see October 10th).


E414827f22239aaf6aabb7acf29f86fb
August 03

Isaacius, Dalmatus, & Faustus, Ascetics of the Dalmation Monastery

Of these, Saint Isaacius is celebrated also on May 30. He became a monk at an early age and was a worker of every virtue; a zealot for the Orthodox Faith, he was also deemed worthy of the gift of prophecy. The Saint dwelt in a small hut near Constantinople. When Valens the Arian marched against the Goths, who were at the Danube River, this righteous one went out himself to meet the Emperor and, taking in hand the reins of the Emperor's horse, said to him with boldness that God had incited the barbarians to come against him, since he himself had incited many to speak against God in blasphemy, and had driven God's true worshippers out of the divine houses of prayer. Furthermore, he told him, if he ceased fighting against God by means of heresy and returned the good shepherds (that is, the Orthodox bishops) to the flock of Christ, he would easily gain the victory over his enemies. However, if he did not desist from these things, nor have God as his ally, at the very outset of the battle both he and his army would certainly be destroyed. "Learn from experience," he said, "that it is hard to kick against the pricks. Thou shalt not return, and this expedition will be destroyed." But the Emperor became angry and had the righteous one locked in prison that he might punish him and put him to death on his return after he conquered the barbarians. But he was utterly defeated and was burned alive in a certain village in the year 378 (Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Eccl. Hist., ch. 4: 31-32). When his surviving soldiers returned from the war, wishing to tempt the Saint, they came to him and said, "Prepare to make thy defense before the Emperor, who is coming to fulfil what he spoke against thee." But the Saint answered, "It has already been seven days that I smelled the stink of his bones, which were burned in the fire." Thus the righteous one was released from prison. All marveled because of his prophecy, and he became even more wondrous by means of the zeal he displayed in behalf of Orthodoxy in 381, when the Second Ecumenical Council was convoked. After this, a monastery was built in Constantinople for him, and he piously shepherded those struggling with him in asceticism. Having served as an example of the monastic life for them, he reposed in peace about the end of the fourth century, leaving Dalmatus as his successor.

As for Saint Dalmatus, he was at first a soldier in the second division of the soldiers known as the Scholarii. Later, however, he forsook all things and taking his son Faustus, went to the above-mentioned monastery of Saint Isaacius, where he donned the monastic habit. Through his virtue he became venerable in the sight of all. He was present at the Third Ecumenical Council that was convoked in Ephesus in 431, and there displayed his zeal for Orthodoxy against Nestorius. The Council elected him Archimandrite of the monasteries in Constantinopie. Having lived for more than eighty years, he reposed in the Lord.


0404george-mtmaleon
August 04

Venerable George of Mount Maleon in the Peloponnesus

Saint George lived during the ninth century. His parents arranged a marriage for him, but he refused to marry the woman they had chosen. He entered the monastery on Mount Maleon in the Peloponnesus, and many disciples gathered around him. He was able to see the future, and predicted his own death three years before it occurred.

In the service to him, Saint George is called an earthly angel and a wonderworker.


Evsgny
August 05

Eusignius the Martyr of Antioch

This Martyr was from Antioch, and had been a soldier from the time of the reign of Constantius Chlorus (the father of Saint Constantine the Great) to that of Julian the Apostate. He censured Julian's ungodliness and reminded him that he was the nephew of Saint Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor. He reminded him further, that from his tender youth he had been nourished on the milk of piety and instructed in the Faith of Christ, had been a fellow student of Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, had been a reader of the Church of Nicomedia, and that he had set all these things at nought and become a transgressor of the promises made in his divine Baptism, and had offered to the idols the adoration that is due to God alone. Reminding the Apostate of all these things and reproving him, he was beheaded in the year 361, having lived altogether 110 years, and been a soldier for more than sixty.


Transfiguration
August 06

Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Our Lord had spoken to His disciples many times not only concerning His Passion, Cross, and Death, but also concerning the coming persecutions and afflictions that they themselves would endure. Since all these evils were near at hand, but the enjoyment of good things which they hoped to receive in their stead was yet to come, our Savior desired to give them full assurance, evidently and openly, concerning that glory which is prepared for those who endure to the end. Therefore, fulfilling that which He had promised shortly before, that "there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom" (Matt. 16:28), He took His three foremost disciples and ascended Mount Tabor, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Suddenly, together with this dread and marvelous effulgence of light, there appeared those pinnacles of the Prophets, Moses and Elias, who spoke with the Lord Jesus concerning His saving Passion which was about to take place. Standing before Him as reverent servants, they showed that He is the Lord of both the living and the dead, for Moses came forth from Hades, having died many centuries before, and Elias, as it were from heaven, whither he had been taken up while yet alive. After a little while a radiant cloud overshadowed them and out of the cloud they heard that same voice which had been heard at the Jordan at the Baptism of Christ, testifying to the Divinity of Jesus and saying: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased; hear ye Him" (Matt. 17: 5).

Such are the marvels, truly worthy of God, celebrated in this present feast, which is an image and prefiguring of the future state of the righteous, whose splendor the Lord spoke of, saying: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun" (Matt. 13:43). It is because of this that the Kontakion of this Feast is said daily (when there is not a great feast) in the Service of the Typica in perpetual commemoration of the glory that will be the lot of the Saints. According to tradition, the Lord's Transfiguration came to pass forty days before His Crucifixion; this is why the Transfiguration is celebrated forty days before the Exaltation of the Cross.


Menologion_of_basil_031
August 07

The Holy Righteous Martyr Dometius

This Martyr, who lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, was a Persian by race and an idolater by religion. He was catechized by a certain Christian named Abarus. He went to Nisibis, a city of Mesopotamia, where he was baptized and donned the monastic habit in a certain monastery. He afterwards ascended a mountain and there endured in extreme ascetical struggles, working miracles for those that came to him, and converting many unbelievers. Julian the Apostate learned of these things as he was marching against the Persians in 363, and at his command the Saint and his two disciples were stoned to death, as they were chanting the Sixth Hour.


BACK TO TOP

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 Proodos of the Holy Cross in the First Mode

Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance; grant Thou unto the faithful victory over adversaries. And by the power of Thy Cross do Thou preserve Thy commonwealth.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Grave Mode

You were transfigured upon the mount, O Christ our God, and Your disciples, in so far as they could bear, beheld Your glory. Thus, when they see You crucified, they may understand Your voluntary passion, and proclaim to the world that You are truly the effulgence of the Father.
BACK TO TOP

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Sixth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:36-53

At that time, Jesus, having risen from the dead, stood in the midst of his disciples and said to them, "Peace to you." But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high."

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.


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 Letter to the Romans 12:6-14.

Brethren, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.


Gospel Reading

6th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 9:1-8

At that time, getting into a boat Jesus crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'Rise and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" he then said to the paralytic -- "Rise, take up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.


BACK TO TOP