St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2019-03-03
Bulletin Contents
Welcome
Announcements
Saints and Feasts
Parish Calendar
Prayers, Intersessions and Commemorations
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Wisdom of the Fathers
Reflection
Bulletin Inserts
Lastjudgement1
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St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • 860-664-9434
  • Street Address:

  • PO Box 134, 108 E Main St

  • Clinton, CT 06413-0134

Contact Information

Fr Steven Hosking
Rector

frsteve@stalexischurch.org | 860-866-5802 (Message)

Services Schedule

Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.

Past Bulletins


Welcome

Gospel1

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 PenkoffLidbeck - Council Secretary
Michael Kuziak - Council Vice President 
Roderick Seurattan - Member at Large 

Pastoral Care - General Information

  • 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.

 

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Announcements

Forgiveness Sunday

Sunday, March 10th, is Forgiveness Sunday. Forgiveness Vesper, and the rite of mutual forgiveness, will begin at 12pm. All members of the parish are expected to attend so that we can begin Lent together.

This Sunday has also been designated as Mission Sunday. During coffee hour, Michael and Dori Kuziak will give their presentation on their recent trip to Albania, sponsored by OCMC.

This Sunday is also the start of Daylight Savings Time.

 

Pledges

Thank you, to everyone who contributes to the financial well-being of this parish community. If you have not yet made a pledge, I ask that you please consider doing so. Your pledge makes it all the more easy for the Council of Stewards to plan for and coordinate expenses throughout the year.

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Saints and Feasts

Lastjudgement1
March 03

Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)

The foregoing two parables -- especially that of the Prodigal Son -- have presented to us God's extreme goodness and love for man. But lest certain persons, putting their confidence in this alone, live carelessly, squandering upon sin the time given them to work out their salvation, and death suddenly snatch them away, the most divine Fathers have appointed this day's feast commemorating Christ's impartial Second Coming, through which we bring to mind that God is not only the Friend of man, but also the most righteous Judge, Who recompenses to each according to his deeds.

It is the aim of the holy Fathers, through bringing to mind that fearful day, to rouse us from the slumber of carelessness unto the work of virtue, and to move us to love and compassion for our brethren. Besides this, even as on the coming Sunday of Cheese-fare we commemorate Adam's exile from the Paradise of delight -- which exile is the beginning of life as we know it now -- it is clear that today's is reckoned the last of all feasts, because on the last day of judgment, truly, everything of this world will come to an end.

All foods, except meat and meat products, are allowed during the week that follows this Sunday.

40martsb
March 09

The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia

These holy Martyrs, who came from various lands, were all soldiers under the same general. Taken into custody for their faith in Christ, and at first interrogated by cruel means, they were then stripped of their clothing and cast onto the frozen lake which is at Sebastia of Pontus, at a time when the harsh and freezing weather was at its worst. They endured the whole night naked in such circumstances, encouraging one another to be patient until the end. He that guarded them, named Aglaius, who was commanded to receive any of them that might deny Christ, had a vision in which he saw heavenly powers distributing crowns to all of the Martyrs, except one, who soon after abandoned the contest. Seeing this, Aglaius professed himself a Christian and joined the Martyrs on the lake, and the number of forty remained complete. In the morning, when they were almost dead from the cold, they were cast into fire, after which their remains were thrown into the river. Thus they finished the good course of martyrdom in 320, during the reign of Licinius. These are their names: Acacius, Aetius, Aglaius, Alexander, Angus, Athanasius, Candidus, Chudion, Claudius, Cyril, Cyrion, Dometian, Domnus, Ecdicius, Elias, Eunoicus, Eutyches, Eutychius, Flavius, Gaius, Gorgonius, Helianus, Heraclius, Hesychius, John, Lysimachus, Meliton, Nicholas, Philoctemon, Priscus, Sacerdon, Severian, Sisinius, Smaragdus, Theodulus, Theophilus, Valens, Valerius, Vivianus, and Xanthias.

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Parish Calendar

  • Service and Events

    March 3 to March 11, 2019

    Sunday, March 3

    Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)

    Michael and Zachary Neiss

    Liturgical and Education Ministry meeting

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, March 4

    Cheesefare Monday

    Tuesday, March 5

    Cheesefare Tuesday

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    9:00AM Bible Study

    7:00PM Deanery Meeting

    Wednesday, March 6

    Cheesefare Wednesday

    4:30PM Open Doors

    6:00PM General Confession

    Thursday, March 7

    Cheesefare Thursday

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    7:00PM Bible Study

    Friday, March 8

    Cheesefare Friday

    Saturday, March 9

    The Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia

    5:30PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, March 10

    Forgiveness Sunday

    Kyra Elliot

    Fellowship and Stewardship Ministry

    Mission Sunday

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    12:00PM Forgiveness Vespers

    Monday, March 11

    Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem

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Prayers, Intersessions and Commemorations

Cross2

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.

___

 Many Years! to: Michael and Zachary Niess on the occasion of their birthday.

___

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.

___

Today we commemorate:

Sunday of the Last Judgment. Martyr Eutropius of Amasea, and with him Martyrs Cleonicus and Basiliscus (ca. 308). St. Piama, Virgin (337). Ss. Zeno and Zoilus.

 

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Hymns of the Day

Tone 7 Troparion  (Resurrection)

By Your Cross You destroyed death.
To the thief You opened Paradise.
For the Myrrhbearers You changed weeping into joy.
And You commanded Your disciples, O Christ God,
to proclaim that You are risen,//
granting the world great mercy.

 

 

 

Tone 1 Kontakion(from the Lenten Triodion)

When You, O God, shall come to earth with glory,
all things shall tremble,
and the river of fire shall flow before Your judgment seat;
the books shall be opened, and the hidden things disclosed;
then deliver me from the unquenchable fire,//
and make me worthy to stand at Your right hand, O Righteous Judge!

 

 

 

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 4th Tone. Psalm 146.5;134.3.
Great is our Lord, and great is his power.
Verse: Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.

The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 8:8-13; 9:1-2.

Brethren, food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Gospel Reading

Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday)
The Reading is from Matthew 25:31-46

The Lord said, "When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

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Wisdom of the Fathers

He indicates the dispositions of each, calling the one kids, the other sheep, that He might indicate the unfruitfulness of the one, for no fruit will come from kids; and the great profit from the other, for indeed from sheep great is the profit, as well from the milk, as from the wool, and from the young, of all which things the kid is destitute.
St. John Chrysostom
Homily on Matt. XXV, 4th Century

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Reflection

Burnbush

Prayers by the Lake by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich

Prayer XXXII

 

My faith sees You, Lord.
It is the light and the farseeing vision of my eyes.
It is the sensing of Your omnipresence. It pulls my knees to the ground and lifts my arms toward heaven.
My faith is my soul's contact with You. It prompts my heart to dance and my throat to sing.
When a swallow draws near, the baby swallows become excited in the nest. For even in the distance they sense the coming of their mother.
My faith is my excitement, for You are coming, my Mother.
If my friend is thinking of me while writing a letter in a distant city, I also dismiss other thoughts and think of my friend.
My faith is my thinking about You, which prompts You, all-encompassing Lord, to think of me.
When a lion is separated from his lioness, the lion's eyes are distraught with longing for the lioness.
My faith is my longing for You, when You are far from me, my Beauty.
When there is no sun, the most terrifying storms lash the sea.
My faith is the calming of the storm within my soul, for Your light pours into me and pacifies me.
My eyes said to me: "We do not see Him." But I pacified them with thewords: "The truth is, that you were not created to see Him but to see what is His." 
My ears said to me: "We do not hear Him." But I brought them to their senses with the words: "The truth is, that you were not created to hear Him but to hear what is His."
Nothing of all that is created can see or hear Him but only what is His. What is created sees and hears what is created. Only what is begotten of Him can see Him. And only what is begotten of Him can hear Him. A painting cannot see the painter, but the son of a painter can see the painter. A bell cannot hear a bell-caster, but the daughter of a bell-caster can hear her father.
The eye cannot see Him because it was not created for the purpose of seeing Him. The ear cannot hear Him, because it was not created for the purpose of hearing Him. But vision can see Him, and hearing can hear Him.
My faith sees You, Lord, just as what is begotten sees its begetter. My faith hears You, Lord, just as what is begotten hears its begetter.
The God within me sees and hears the God in You. And God is not created but begotten.
My faith is like diving into the abyss of my soul and swimming out with You.
My faith is my only genuine knowledge. Everything else is like the children collecting motley pebbles by the lake.

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Bulletin Inserts

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