Weekly Events

WEEKDAY SERVICE

BEHEADING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST—Saturday, August 29th, 2020

Orthros at 8 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 9 a.m.

ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΙΑ

Η ΑΠΟΤΟΜΗ ΤΗΣ ΤΙΜΙΑΣ ΚΕΦΑΛΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ – Σάββατο, 29 Αυγούστου

Ορθρος στίς 8 π.μ. Και Θεία Λειτουργία στίς 9 π.μ.

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12TH SUNDAY OF MATTHEW - August 30, 2020

Orthros 8:00 a.m. & Div. Liturgy 9:30 a.m.

IB΄ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΥ - 30 Αυγούστου

Ορθρος 8 π.μ. -Θεία Λειτουργία 9:30 π.μ.

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This Week’s Sermon

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

In today’s Gospel, we see Christ our Lord speaking to a young man about the kingdom of God. The question was about being perfect in order to enter into the Kingdom. Being perfect sometimes means to be better than everyone else around us and sometimes we compete with others to show that we are better than them and our perfectionism comes out in a form of putting down others. This is the way of the world outside of the church. In the world, we are told that we need to compete in order to be able to survive. Christ, however, gives us a different answer. Ηe tells us that in order to enter into the kingdom we need to keep the commandments.

When we hear about the commandments we usually think about the 10 commandments. But Christ condenses all of the commandments and all the rules that were given to the Israelites into two commandments and that are easy for us all to remember.

He tells the person who was trying to be perfect that he has to love God and also love his neighbor. The difficult part for us Christians is not loving God because we all love God and we are very dedicated people. The harder part for us is to love our neighbor. It is hard to love our neighbors because they may be different from us or maybe they think differently than us. We may have conflicts of interest or we may see competition in them.

Dear brothers and sisters in order to be perfect and enter into The Kingdom of God we need to love God, but our Lord warned us that we cannot love God unless we love each other.

In today’s Gospel Christ shows us the best way of expressing love towards others. He tells us that we need to share with them our life. We need to love one another the way He loved us. He gave everything he had for our salvation and we need to share what we have in order to receive the salvation that he freely gave us.

Κήρυγμα αυτής της εβδομάδας

Αγαπητοί αδελφοί και αδελφές εν Χριστώ

Στο σημερινό Ευαγγέλιο βλέπουμε τον Χριστό, τον Κύριό μας, να μιλάει σε έναν νεαρό για τη βασιλεία του Θεού. Το ερώτημά του ήταν, πώς θα μπορούσε να γίνει τέλειος για να μπει στη Βασιλεία του Θεού. Το να είμαστε τέλειοι, μερικές φορές σημαίνει να είμαστε καλύτεροι από όλους τους άλλους γύρω μας και μερικές φορές να συναγωνιζόμαστε με τους άλλους, για να δείξουμε, ότι είμαστε καλύτεροι από αυτούς. Αυτή η τελειομανία μας οδηγεί πολλές φορές στο να μειώνουμε τους άλλους. Αυτός είναι ο τρόπος του κόσμου έξω από την εκκλησία. Σέ αυτή την ζωή μας λένε, ότι πρέπει να ανταγωνιστούμε για να είμαστε σε θέση να επιβιώσουμε. Ο Χριστός, όμως, μας δίνει μια διαφορετική απάντηση. Μας λέει, ότι για να μπούμε στο Βασίλειο πρέπει να τηρούμε τις εντολές.

Όταν ακούμε για τις Εντολές , συνήθως σκεφτόμαστε τις 10 Εντολές. Αλλά ο Χριστός συμπυκνώνει όλες τις Εντολές και όλους τους κανόνες που δόθηκαν στους Ισραηλίτες σε δύο εντολές, πού είναι εύκολο να τις θυμόμαστε όλοι..

Λέει στον άνθρωπο, που προσπαθούσε να είναι τέλειος, ότι πρέπει να αγαπά τον Θεό και επείσης να αγαπάει και το γείτονά του. Το δύσκολο για εμάς τους Χριστιανούς δεν είναι να αγαπάμε τον Θεό, επειδή αγαπάμε όλοι τον Θεό και είμαστε πολύ αφοσιωμένοι άνθρωποι. Το πιο δύσκολο για μας είναι να αγαπάμε τον πλησίον μας. Είναι δύσκολο να αγαπάμε τον πλησίον μας, επειδή μπορεί να είναι διαφορετικοί από εμάς ή ίσως να σκέφτονται διαφορετικά από εμάς. Μπορεί να έχουμε συγκρούσεις συμφερόντων ή να δούμε έναν ανταγωνισμό σε αυτούς.

Αγαπητοί αδελφοί και αδελφές για να είμαστε τέλειοι και να εισέλθουμε στη Βασιλεία του Θεού, πρέπει να αγαπάμε τον Θεό, αλλά ο Κύριος μας προειδοποίησε, ότι δεν μπορούμε να αγαπάμε τον Θεό αν δεν αγαπάμε ο ένας τον άλλον.

Στο σημερινό Ευαγγέλιο ο Χριστός μας δείχνει τον καλύτερο τρόπο έκφρασης της αγάπης προς τους άλλους. Μας λέει, ότι πρέπει να μοιραστούμε μαζί τους τη ζωή μας. Πρέπει να αγαπάμε ο ένας τον άλλον όπως μας αγάπησε Αυτός. Έδωσε όλα όσα είχε για τη σωτηρία μας και πρέπει να μοιραζόμαστε αυτό που έχουμε, ώστε να λάβουμε τη σωτηρία που μας έδωσε γενναιόδωρα.

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MEMORIALS

On Sunday, a 40 day memorial service will be offered for the repose of the soul of Mary Karalekas, and a 1 year memorial service will be offered for the repose of the soul of Christos Karavitis.

ΜΝΗΜΟΣΥΝΑ

Την Κυριακή, θα τελεσθεί 40ήμερο μνημόσυνο υπερ αναπαύσεως της ψυχής της Μαίρης Καραλέκα και το ετήσιο μνημόσυνο υπέρ αναπαύσεως της ψυχής του Χρήστου Καραβίτη.

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ΝΕΧΤ Sunday, September 6th, a memorial services will be held for Peter Stefanou & Stefanos Stefanou.

Τήν ΕΠΟΜΕΝΗ Κυριακή, 6 Σεπτεμβρίου, θα τελεσθούν μνημόσυνα για τον Παναγίωτη & Στέφανο Στεφάνου.

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GREEK GYRO FEST

PICK UP AND GO

Noon - 8 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 12TH & 13TH

WWW.GRECIANFOOD.COM

Saints and Feasts

August 30

Alexander, John, and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople

Saint Alexander was sent to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea as the delegate of Saint Metrophanes, Bishop of Constantinople (see June 4), to whose throne he succeeded in the year 325. When Arius had deceitfully professed allegiance to the Council of Nicaea, Saint Alexander, knowing his guile, refused to receive him into communion; Arius' powerful partisans threatened that they would use force to bring Arius into the communion of the Church the following day. Saint Alexander prayed fervently that God might spare the Church; and as Arius was in a privy place relieving nature, his bowels gushed forth with an effusion of blood, and the arch-heresiarch died the death of Judas. Saint Alexander was Bishop from 325 until 337, when he was succeeded by Saint Paul the Confessor, who died a martyr's death at the hands of the Arians (see Nov. 6). The Saint John commemorated here appears to be the one who was Patriarch during the years 562-577, surnamed Scholasticus, who is also commemorated on February 21. He was from Antioch, where he had been a lawyer (scholasticus); he was made presbyter, then was sent to Constantinople as representative (apocrisiarius) of the Patriarch of Antioch, and was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by the Emperor Justinian. Saint Paul was Bishop of Constantinople during the years 687 - 693, in the reign of Emperor Justinian II, and presided over the Quinisext Council in 692.

September 01

Symeon the Stylite

Our righteous Father Symeon was born about the year 390 in a certain village named Sis, in the mountain region of Cilicia and Syria. Having first been a shepherd, he entered the monastic discipline at a young age. After trying various kinds of ascetical practices, both in the monastery and then in the wilderness, he began standing on pillars of progressively greater height, and heroically persevered in this for more than forty years; the greater part of this time he spent standing upright, even when one of his feet became gangrenous, and other parts of his body gave way under the strain. He did not adopt this strange way of life out of vainglory, a charge that some of his contemporaries made against him at the first: because he was already famous for his asceticism and holiness before ascending his first pillar (in Greek, style, whence he is called "Stylite"), many pious people came to him wishing to touch his garments, either for healing or for a blessing; to escape the continual vexation they caused, he made a pillar about ten feet high, and then higher and higher, until the fourth and last was about fifty feet high. The Church historian Theodoret of Cyrrhus, an eyewitness of his exploits who wrote of him while Symeon was yet alive, called him "the great wonder of the world." God gave him the grace to persevere in such an astonishing form of asceticism that multitudes came to see him from Persia, Armenia, South Arabia, Georgia, Thrace, Spain, Italy, Gaul, and the British Isles. Theodoret says that he became so famous in Rome that the Nomadic Arabs by the thousands believed in Christ and were baptized because of him; the King of Persia sent envoys to inquire into his way of life, and the Queen asked to be sent oil that he had blessed. He also was a great defender of sound doctrine, and confirmed the Orthodoxy of the Holy Council of Chalcedon for many who had been beguiled by the teachings of the Monophysites, including the Empress Eudocia, widow of Theodosius the Younger. After a life of unheard-of achievements and struggles, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine, in the year 459.

Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Third Mode. 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.

Προκείμενον. Third Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 46.6,1.
Ψάλατε τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν, ψάλατε.
Στίχ. Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη κροτήσατε χεῖρας.

τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς Κορινθίους α' 15:1-11.

Ἀδελφοί, γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε, διʼ οὗ καὶ σῴζεσθε· τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, εἰ κατέχετε, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε. Παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις, ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον, ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς. καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη· καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς· καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη Κηφᾷ, εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα· ἔπειτα ὤφθη ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ, ἐξ ὧν οἱ πλείους μένουσιν ἕως ἄρτι, τινὲς δὲ καὶ ἐκοιμήθησαν· ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, εἶτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν· ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων, ὡσπερεὶ τῷ ἐκτρώματι, ὤφθη κἀμοί. Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὃς οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος, διότι ἐδίωξα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ. Χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι, καὶ ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη, ἀλλὰ περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δέ, ἀλλʼ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ σὺν ἐμοί. Εἴτε οὖν ἐγώ, εἴτε ἐκεῖνοι, οὕτως κηρύσσομεν καὶ οὕτως ἐπιστεύσατε.

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."

12th Sunday of Matthew
Κατὰ Ματθαῖον 19:16-26

Τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ, νεανίσκος τις προσῆλθε τῷ Ἰησοῦ, γονυπετῶν αὐτόν, καὶ λέγων· Διδάσκαλε ἀγαθέ, τί ἀγαθὸν ποιήσω ἵνα ἔχω ζωὴν αἰώνιον; ‘O δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεός. εἰ δὲ θέλεις εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωήν, τήρησον τὰς ἐντολάς. λέγει αὐτῷ· ποίας; ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· τὸ οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐ ψευδομαρτυρήσεις, τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν. λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ νεανίσκος· πάντα ταῦτα ἐφυλαξάμην ἐκ νεότητός μου· τί ἔτι ὑστερῶ; ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ ῾Ιησοῦς· εἰ θέλεις τέλειος εἶναι, ὕπαγε πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς, καὶ ἕξεις θησαυρὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ δεῦρο ἀκολούθει μοι. ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ νεανίσκος τὸν λόγον ἀπῆλθε λυπούμενος· ἦν γὰρ ἔχων κτήματα πολλά. ῾Ο δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι δυσκόλως πλούσιος εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. πάλιν δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, εὐκοπώτερόν ἐστι κάμηλον διὰ τρυπήματος ῥαφίδος διελθεῖν ἢ πλούσιον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσελθεῖν. ἀκούσαντες δὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἐξεπλήσσοντο σφόδρα λέγοντες· τίς ἄρα δύναται σωθῆναι; ἐμβλέψας δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· παρὰ ἀνθρώποις τοῦτο ἀδύνατόν ἐστι, παρὰ δὲ Θεῷ πάντα δυνατά ἐστι.

Wisdom of the Fathers

Wherefore then doth Christ thus reply to him, saying, "There is none good?" Because He came unto Him as a mere man, and one of the common sort, and a Jewish teacher; for this cause then as a man He discourses with him. And indeed in many instances He replies to the secret thoughts of them that come unto Him.

St. John Chrysostom

Homily 63 on Matthew 19, 4th Century

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