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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2020-10-11
Bulletin Contents
Allsaint
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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (970) 242-9590
  • Street Address:

  • 3585 North 12th Street

  • Grand Junction, CO 81506


Contact Information




Services Schedule

8:45am - Orthros, 10am - Divine Liturgy


Past Bulletins


Message from your Priest

Beloved in Christ,

It is not easy to grow a garden. Anyone who has tried their hand at gardening knows how many things can go wrong. Plants need just the right amount of sunlight, just the right amount of water, and just the right kind of soil in order to grow. Even when all of these elements are in place and the plant has everything that it needs to flourish, plants take a long time to grow. The number one virtue that a gardener needs is patience.

Today's Gospel reading gives us the image of a man scattering seed throughout the countryside. As this man scatters, the seed falls on different kinds of soil. Jesus tells his Apostles that the seed represents the word of God, and the different kinds of soil represent the different kinds of people who hear the word of God.

Each person hears the word of God differently. Some receive the word of God with a hard heart that has been trampled on by the world, and so the Gospel never takes root in them. Others receive the word of God with a heart that is dried up and lacks the 'moisture' that comes through prayer. Still others receive the word of God with a heart that is preoccupied with the cares of distractions of this life.

You can see how many conditions prevent the seed of God's word from growing into the plant of a faithful Christian life. But even in the best of circumstances, growing in our faith takes time. Just like a growing a plant in a garden, growing in Christ takes daily work. This means that faith also requires patience.

What does it mean to be patient with ourselves? Growing in our faith means that we are willing to put in the effort to pray and to practice the virtues even if we do not see ourselves making progress day to day. A gardener would not do well if they gave up because their plant did not sprout on day one. Our progress in Christ happens not in a day or a week, but over the course of a lifetime.

It takes daily effort to break up the hardness of our hearts, tilling them like soil so that faith can take root in us. It takes daily effort to water and fertilize our hearts with prayer, Scripture, and the Sacraments so that the faith that has sprung up in us can continue to grow. It takes daily effort to weed the gardens of our hearts, removing the distractions and preoccupations that prevent faith from growing in us.

That daily effort finds its reward when we see our growth in Christ beginning to bear fruit. As God is patient with us, let us be patient with ourselves while faith is growing in us. Let us cultivate the soil of our heart, so that we can be like those who "hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience," (Luke 8:15).

In Christ,
Fr. Jeremy

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the First Mode

The stone that had been sealed before your tomb by the Jews, and the soldiers guarding did watch oe'r your pure and sacred body. O Savior, the third day you arose, and unto all the world did you give life, whereby all the heavenly powers did proclaim that you are the giver of life. Glory unto our resurrected Christ! Glory unto your Kingdom! Glory to your dispensation O you alone who loves all.

Apolytikion for Sun. of the 7th Ecumenical Council in the Plagal Fourth Mode

Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our Fathers as luminous stars upon the earth, and through them didst guide us all to the true Faith. O Most Merciful One, glory be to Thee.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Second Mode

The protection of Christians unshameable, intercessor to our Holy Maker, unwavering, do not turn from the prayerful cries of those who are in sin; instead, come to us, for you are good; your loving help bring unto us, who are crying in faith to you: Hasten to intercession and speed now to supplication as a protection for all time, Theotokos, for those who honor you.
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Seventh Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:1-10

On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.


Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. Fourth Mode. Daniel 3.26,27.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.

The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15.

Titus, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.

All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council
The Reading is from Luke 8:5-15

The Lord said this parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." As he said these things, he cried out "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."


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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
October 11

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and Theophilus.


Philipap
October 11

Philip the Apostle of the 70, one of the 7 Deacons

Saint Philip, who had four daughters that prophesied, was from Caesarea of Palestine. He preached throughout Samaria; it was he also who met the eunuch of Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians, as the eunuch was reading the Prophet Esaias, and he instructed and baptized him (Acts 8:26-39). He reposed in Tralles of Asia Minor while preaching the Gospel.


Allsaint
October 11

Theophanes the Confessor, Bishop of Nicaea

Saint Theophanes, the brother of Saint Theodore the Branded, was a Palestinian by race. Both were monks at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas. They were called "the Branded" because Theophilus, the last of the Iconoclast emperors, had twelve iambic verses branded by hot irons on their foreheads and then sent them into exile, where Theodore died in the year 838. After the death of Theophilus in 842, Theophanes was elected Bishop of Nicaea. Both brothers composed many canons and hymns, thereby adorning the services of the Church.


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Parish Information

If you do not currently receive emails from our parish, please give Fr. Jeremy your name and email address to be added to our list.
 
Church School
 
We are excited to begin our Church School year! Church School for our children will take place at 5pm on Saturdays. Lessons will follow the "Tending the Garden of our Hearts" curriculum. Sessions will take place outside, weather permitting. Adult family members are encouraged to stay for the lesson. Masks are required for adults when indoors. Please email Fr. Jeremy if you have any questions.
 
Adult Ed
 
Please join us on Wednesday following Paraklesis for our Adult Ed Discussion Group. We are currently continuing to meet over Zoom. Please ask Fr. Jeremy if you need the link for the class.
 
We are currently discussing Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra's “On Spiritual Rebirth,” The Way of the Spirit: Reflection on Life in God (Indiktos Publishing Company, 2009) pp. 267-273.
 
Coronavirus Procedures
 
Here at St. Nicholas we are blessed to be able to welcome our community back to public services with the following directives in place:
 
-Individuals who have been exposed to the Coronavirus, or are at high risk as defined by the CDC (those 65-years or older, those with compromised immune systems, those with respiratory illness, heart conditions, or other underlying medical conditions) are encouraged to stay at home. Our livestream will still be active for the time being.
-A distance of six feet must be observed between families at all times.
-Use of non-medical masks is required when entering, exiting, and moving about the Church.
-There will be no fellowship hour following Liturgy. Parishioners are asked to depart the Church in an orderly fashion family-by-family following the dismissal.
-Icons are to be venerated by crossing oneself and bowing. Please do not kiss the icons.
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This Week at St. Nicholas

  • Wednesday, October 14: 6pm Paraklesis, 7pm Adult Ed (online)
  • Thursday, October 15: 6pm Vespers
  • Friday, October 16 St. Longinus the Centurion: 8am Orthros, 9am Divine Liturgy
  • Saturday, October 17: 5pm Youth Church School, 6pm Vespers
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