Jesus Christ taught us to love and serve all people, regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. To understand that, we need to look no further than to the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, it is offered "on behalf of all, and for all." As Orthodox Christians we stand against racism and bigotry. All human beings share one common identity as children of God.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatian 3:28)

Weekly Services

Tuesdays at 8:30a - Daily Matins
Wednesdays at 6:00p - Daily Vespers (The Church is open at 4:30p for "Open Doors" - confession, meditation and reflection).
Thursday at 8:30a - Daily Matins
Saturday at 5:30p - Great Vespers
Sunday at 9:30a - Divine Liturgy

Members of our Parish Council are:
Greg Jankura - Council President  
Natalie Kucharski - Council Treasurer 
Kyle Hollis - Member at Large
Glenn PenkoffLedbeck - Council Secretary
Michael Kuziak - Council Vice President 
Roderick Seurattan - Member at Large 

• Emergency Sick Calls can be made at any time. Please call Fr Steven at (860) 866-5802, when a family member is admitted to the hospital.
• Anointing in Sickness: The Sacrament of Unction is available in Church, the hospital, or your home, for anyone who is sick and suffering, however severe. 
• Marriages and Baptisms require early planning, scheduling and selections of sponsors (crown bearers or godparents). See Father before booking dates and reception halls!
• Funerals are celebrated for practicing Orthodox Christians. Please see Father for details. The Church opposes cremation; we cannot celebrate funerals for cremations.

Soup Kitchen

We are hosting the Soup Kitchen this coming Wednesday (Feb 6). Volunteers are welcome!

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Painting Party is on!

On Saturday, Feb 9th, we will come together to paint the sanctuary. The paint has been purchased, and volunteers have stepped forward. We will begin at 8:30a and work through the day to complete the job. 

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Book/Bible Study

We will begin our new bible study on February 5th (9am) and again on February 7th (7pm). We will study the Apocalypse of St. John, also known as the Book of Revelation. Because of the complexity of this prophecy, we will take a rather unique approach to studying this book of the Bible, in that we will look into the liturgical implications and impact rather merely taking a textual review. All you will need for the bible study is a copy of the Orthodox Study Bible; at this point I do not recommend reading any particular commentary as a preparation.

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25th Anniversary Events and Dates

• Great Vespers with LITYA for the Feast of St Alexis (May 6th), Divine Liturgy (May 7th)
• 25th Anniversary Dinner (May 18th) - More specific details for this will be forth coming soon. 
• Guest Speaker, Nicole Roccas, author of "Time and Despondency" (Jun 1st) - Dr Roccas has agreed to visit and talk with us about her book and other related events. This event will be open to the public. I would like to have a few voluteers to help with the coordinating this event.
• Wedding of Anastasia Elliott and Malcolm Littlefield (Jun 30th)
• Visit to Holy Ghost, Bridgeport (July 13th TENTATIVE)
• Rummage Sale (Sept 21st) - We will need a whole parcel of volunteers for this. More details will be forth coming.
• Lyra Concert (Oct 19th TENTATIVE) - We have reserved the Clinton Town Auditorium for this event, which will be open to the public. We will need a few volunteers to help coordinate with this event.
• Diocesan Assembly (Oct 25-26) - Planning for this event is well underway. We will still need a few volunteers for this very important event.

I am in the process of filing for a Diocesan Grant to help fund the activities.

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Fri, 22 Feb: "Rally after Rally" Youth Retreat @ All Saints - Hartford

On Friday, February 22nd at All Saints in Hartford, all our Orthodox Youth are invited to a "Rally after Rally" event from 6:30pm-9:30pm. In addition to having time for fun, food, and fellowship, our Youth will be continuing a discussion on the theme from Youth Rally (John 10:10b --"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.") Having looked at doing this "daily" in October & "weekly" in December, we'll now be looking at how to live an abundant life "Seasonally." We'll be using the service of the Presanctified Liturgy and the Prayer of St. Ephraim, as a starting point for looking at how the  yearly cycle, including Great Lent, gives us a fuller and more beautiful life that helps us grow to appreciate and enjoy the years, and the months, and the days, and the moments that make it up.

William, Sophia, Robert, Ann, Evelyn, Nina, John, Alex, Luke, Kathryn, Anastasia, Malcolm, Veronica, Darlyne, Irene, Nancy, Elena, Jevon, the new born Stella Anna, Ivan and Joscean.

And for... Sofie, Katrina, Olena, Valeriy, Olga, Tatiana, Dimitri, Alexander and Maxim.

All of our College Students: Alex, Kaitlyn, Jack, Sam, Connor, Nadia, Isaac and Matthew.

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 Many Years! to: Christine Hoehnebartt and Gabrielle Niess on the occasion of their birthday.

Memory Eternal: Daria Krawchuk

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Pray for: All those confined to hospitals, nursing homes, and their own homes due to illness; for all those who serve in the armed forces; widows, orphans, prisoners, victims of violence, and refugees;

All those suffering chronic illness, financial hardship, loneliness, addictions, abuse, abandonment and despair; those who are homeless, those who are institutionalize, those who have no one to pray for them;

All Orthodox seminarians & families; all Orthodox monks and nuns, and all those considering monastic life; all Orthodox missionaries and their families.

All those who have perished due to hatred and intolerance and all those departed this life in the hope of the Resurrection.

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Today we commemorate:

Afterfeast of the Meeting. Holy and Righteous Simeon the God-receiver and Anna the Prophetess. Rt. Blv. Prince Roman of Uglich (1285). Prophet Azariah (2 Chronicles 15th-10th c. B.C.). Martyrs Papias, Diodorus and Claudianus, at Perge in Pamphylia (250). Martyrs Adrian and Eubulus, at Cæsarea in Cappadocia (ca. 308-309). Martyr Blaise of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (ca. 308-309).

Tone 3 Troparion  (Resurrection) 

Let the heavens rejoice!
Let the earth be glad!
For the Lord has shown strength with His arm.
He has trampled down death by death.
He has become the first born of the dead.
He has delivered us from the depths of hell,
and has granted to the world//
great mercy.

Tone 1 Troparion  (Meeting of Our Lord)

Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, Full of Grace!
From you shone the Sun of Righteousness, ^Christ our God,
enlightening those who sat in darkness.
Rejoice and be glad, O righteous Elder,
you accepted in your arms the ^Redeemer of our souls,
Who grants us the Resurrection!

Tone 3 Kontakion  (Resurrection)

On this day You rose from the tomb, O Merciful One,
leading us from the gates of death.
On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices;
with the Prophets and Patriarchs//
they unceasingly praise the divine majesty of Your power. 
 

Tone 1 Kontakion(Meeting of Our Lord)

By Your Nativity You sanctified the Virgin’s womb
and blessed Simeon’s hands, ^O Christ God.
Now You have come and saved us through love.
Grant peace to all Orthodox Christians, 
O only Lover of Man!

Homily for the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman in the Orthodox Church

 Gospel According to St. Matthew 15: 21-18  

 

             We have all had the experience of being ignored, left out, and made to feel that we weren’t included or recognized by others.  Whether at school, among friends, at work or wherever, that can be painful, no matter what our age or life circumstances.  No one likes to be rejected or overlooked.   But sometimes, what seems to be rejection really isn’t; sometimes it is testing and preparation for a deeper relationship in which we learn more about ourselves, our neighbors, and God.

            Such was our Lord’s conversation with the Canaanite woman. She is a Gentile with a demon-possessed daughter, and probably at the end of her rope.  So she calls out to Christ, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”   But He doesn’t answer her and says to the disciples that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to the Jews.  When the woman persists with her cries for help, He tells her that it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.  In other words, God’s blessings are for the chosen people of the Old Testament, the Jews, not for the Gentiles.  The woman doesn’t disagree with that answer, but says that “even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Christ praises the woman’s faith and her daughter is healed.

            We may find it hard to understand this passage.   Why doesn’t the Lord heal her daughter immediately?  Why does He seem to exclude the Gentiles from His salvation?  Why does He call her a dog?

            To answer these questions, we have to remember that the Jews of that time typically believed that their Messiah was for them only, that God’s blessings were for the Jews to the exclusion of the rest of the world.  This Gentile woman knows enough about Christ to call Him “Son of David,” a Jewish term for the Messiah, and that He is a healer.  But when her conversation with the Lord begins, it’s not clear what kind of faith she has in Him.   By the end of the conversation, however, it’s quite clear that she has a faith in Him that surpasses that of most of the Jews and of the disciples.  For she knows that in Jesus Christ God’s blessings extend to all people who believe in Him, that through Him the crumbs of the table of Abraham spill over to feed and bless the whole world. 

            The Lord’s apparent exclusion of the Gentiles from His ministry is a teaching tool to help her and the disciples see the truth about God’s salvation and blessing.  She didn’t deny that, in the story of the Old Testament, the Jews are the Chosen People, the children of God.  She didn’t balk at being called one of the dogs, one of the unclean Gentiles; she must have known that that was how the Jews thought of her and her kind.  But she knew the message of the Scriptures even better than the Jews, for God told Abraham that through him and his family all the nations of the world would be blessed; and Hebrew prophets envisioned the day when all the nations would come to the mountain of the Lord.  And now in Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile alike become beloved children who share fully in God’s blessings.

            Our Savior’s apparent delay in healing her daughter is also a teaching tool designed to strengthen her faith, to bring her belief in Him to maturity.  We have probably all learned important lessons through patience, by having to persist in getting what we want.   The same is true for this woman.   Her final insight in this conversation is like that of St. Simeon when the forty-day old Christ is presented in the Temple:  “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word.  For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people:  A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of the Thy people Israel.”  Simeon’s life of patient waiting for the Messiah came to fulfillment when he held the baby Jesus in his arms in the Jerusalem Temple.  God’s anointed, the Savior, had finally come.  And that is good news both for the Jew and the Gentile, for the whole world.  The patience of the Canaanite woman and of St. Simeon was rewarded, for both received the Messiah with faith.  

            Many of us admire teachers, coaches, parents, or other mentors and instructors who tested us, who did not make it easy because we grew through their tough guidance and high expectations.  We became stronger, more mature, more capable and confident people by overcoming challenges that at first may have seemed insurmountable.  The same is true of this woman’s relationship with Jesus Christ.  He challenged her to see clearly where she stood before Him.  Had she been full of pride, she would have walked away.  Had she been impatient or insincere, she would have left.  But she knew that in this man she encountered the salvation of God for her daughter, and she let nothing deter her.  She refused to be denied.   

            This Canaanite woman is a tremendous model for us as Christians, for we so easily give up on the Lord and on ourselves.  We are tempted to think that we are who we are, that there is no point in trying to change, and that even God can’t heal and transform us.  Now it certainly would have been less stressful for this Gentile woman to have stayed home that day and not made a scene about Christ healing her daughter.  She could have said “I’m a Gentile and this Messiah is a Jew.  Why should I even ask Him to help?” But then her life and that of her daughter would have remained miserable and without the Lord’s blessing.

            The same is true of us.  We can assume that we are like the Gentiles of old, cut off from salvation, from God’s blessing and transformation in our lives because of our failings, our weaknesses, and whatever mistakes we have made in life.  Yes, we have all sinned against God and neighbor in thought, word, and deed.  Yes, we may find it less stressful simply to give into our habitual sins, our passions that have been with us so long that they have become second nature.   But if we accept the lie that the new life in Christ isn’t really for us, that we are defined by our sins, that we’re better off just accepting who we are than growing into the full stature of Christ, we will end up choosing misery over joy, death over life, and despair over hope.

            This woman learned that she, too, is called to be a temple of the living God.  God’s promises extended even to her, and the same is true for us.   Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, except for our own refusal to accept His love, to open our lives to Him as did this woman in humility, faith, and persistence. 

            She could have stayed away from the Lord on the grounds of her identity as a Gentile.  That would have been an easy excuse, but she pressed on nonetheless.  She didn’t take an easy out, but persevered in opening her life to Him beyond what anyone in that time and place would have expected.

 We all need to follow her example in our own lives.  With patience, humility, and persistence, we must call upon the mercy of Christ for His healing and transformation.  We must not be paralyzed with guilt or shame, no matter what we have done at any point in our lives.  We must refuse to be distracted by our fears and reject the temptation to take the easy way out by making excuses.  And then, like her, we will come to know that God’s salvation really is for us, that there are no limits to His presence in our lives other than those we set by our own sins and lack of faith.  Like her, let us refuse to be conquered by fear and instead throw ourselves upon the mercy of Christ with courage, patience, and perseverance.   For this alone is the path to the Kingdom of God.