Please see our online calendar for dates and times of Feast Day services.
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 - General Confession; First Wed of the Month
(The Church is open at 4:30p for "Open Doors" - during fasting seasons or by appointment).
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
Michael Kuziak - Council Vice President
Natalie Kucharski - Council Treasurer
Glenn PenkoffLidbeck - Council Secretary
Kyle Hollis - Member at Large
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.
IOCC Sunday |11.24.19 |iocc.org/dayofsharing
Each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Orthodox faithful across the US thank God for the privilege of serving the least of our brethren through IOCC. The Assembly of Bishops has named it A Day of Sharing. On this day, we consider IOCC’s global work and the ways you sustain it: by providing food, water, shelter, and medicine to refugees, offering economic opportunity to farmers in northern Greece, training healthcare workers in Ethiopia, and so much more. Please consider giving a gift of compassion today.
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Sunday evening (Nov 24th) at 7pm, the First Congregational Church will be hosting the annual Community Thanksgiving Service. Donations of non-parishable goods for the pantries of the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries will be accepted and a good will offering will be collected.
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On Wednesday, Nov 27th, at 6pm we will hold the Akathist "Glory to God for All Things", for our Thanksgiving to God for all that He has blessed us with.
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After Liturgy on December 1st, we will be decorating the sanctuary for the Nativity: if you have time to stay, any help would be appreciated. Anastasia Littlefield will be coordinating the decorating.
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William, Sophia, Robert, Ann, Evelyn, Nina, John, Alex, Vincent, James, Luke, Aaron, Kathryn, Veronica, Richard, Darlyne, Irene, Nancy, Susanne
All of our College Students: Alex, Sam, Nadia, Isaac, Jack and Matthew.
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Many years to Kathryn Brubaker on the occasion of her Name's Day; to Rick and Liberty Page on the occasion of their anniversary.
Memory Eternal to Daria Krawchuk in commemoration of her birthday.
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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 Entry Into the Temple. Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria (305-313). Great Martyr Mercurius of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (3rd c.). Martyr Merkúry of Smolensk (1238). Ven. Mercurius, Faster, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—14th c.). Empress Augusta, Porphyrius the General, the 50 philosophers and the 200 Soldiers martyred with the Great Martyr Catherine (305-313). Virgin Mastridia of Alexandria. Ven. Simon, Abbot of Soiga Monastery (Vologdá—1562).
IOCC Sunday
13th Sunday of Luke
Buildings and Grounds Ministry Meeting
Akathist to St Catherine
9:15AM Reading of the 3rd Hour
9:30AM Divine Liturgy
7:00PM Community Thanksgiving Worship Service
Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria
Alypius the Stylite of Adrianopolis
Christine Boyd - B
8:30AM Matins
9:00AM Bible Study
James the Great Martyr of Persia
Mike Veneri - B
Page - A
4:30PM Open Doors
6:00PM Akathist Glory to God for All Things
Stephen the New
Daria Krawchuk - B
8:30AM Cancelled - Matins
7:00PM Cancelled - Bible Study
Paramonus, Philumenus, and their 370 Companion Martyrs in Bithynia
Akathist to St Andrew
Andrew the First- Called Apostle
A Boyd - N
Ezekiel Joseph Watson
5:30PM Great Vespers
14th Sunday of Luke
Liturgical and Education Ministry meeting
Habakkuk the Prophet
Akathist to St Prophyrious
Saint Clement was instructed in the Faith of Christ by the Apostle Peter. He became Bishop of Rome in the year 91, the third after the death of the Apostles. He died as a martyr about the year 100 during the reign of Trajan.
Saint Catherine, who was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas (or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste, and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine. According to the ancient usage, Saints Catherine and Mercurius were celebrated on the 24th of this month, whereas the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria were celebrated on the 25th. The dates of the feasts of these Saints were interchanged at the request of the Church and Monastery of Mount Sinai, so that the festival of Saint Catherine, their patron, might be celebrated more festively together with the Apodosis of the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos. The Slavic Churches, however, commemorate these Saints on their original dates.
Saint Nicon, the son of a certain noble, was from Armenia. Forsaking his parents and homeland, he passed throughout the parts of the East, crying to all men, "Repent ye," because of which he received this name. Finally, he came to Lacedaemonia of the Peloponnesus, where he built a church in honour of Christ our Saviour. After having dwelt there many years in solitude, and having converted many from paganism, he departed to the Lord about the end of the ninth century.
Tone 6 Troparion (Resurrection)
The angelic powers were at Your tomb;
the guards became as dead men.
Mary stood by Your grave,
seeking Your most pure body.
You took hell captive,//
not being tempted by it.
You came to the Virgin, granting life.//
O Lord, Who rose from the dead, glory to You.
Troparion Tone 4 (Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos)
Today is the prelude of the good will of God,
of the preaching of the salvation of mankind.
The Virgin appears in the Temple of God,
in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all.
Let us rejoice and sing to her://
“Rejoice, O Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation!”
Tone 4 Troparion
(Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria)
By your virtues as by rays of the sun you enlightened the unbelieving philosophers,
and like the most bright moon you drove away the darkness of disbelief from those walking in the night;
you convinced the queen, and also chastised the tyrant,
God-summoned bride, blessed Catherine.
You hastened with desire to the heavenly bridal chamber of the fairest Bridegroom of Christ,
and you were crowned by Him with a royal crown;//
Standing before Him with the Angels, pray for us who keep your most sacred memory!
Tone 6 Kontakion (Resurrection)
When Christ God the Giver of Life,
raised all of the dead from the valleys of misery with His mighty hand,
He bestowed resurrection on the human race.//
He is the Savior of all, the Resurrection, the Life, and the God of all.
Tone 2 Kontakion
(Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria)
Let all of us who love to honor the martyrs
form a great choir in praise of the most wise Catherine,
for she preached Christ and trampled the serpent,//
despising the knowledge of the orators.
Tone 4 Kontakion
(Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos)
The most pure Temple of the Savior;
the precious Chamber and Virgin;
the sacred Treasure of the glory of God,
is presented today to the house of the Lord.
She brings with her the grace of the Spirit,
therefore, the Angels of God praise her:
“Truly this woman is the abode of Heaven!”
(Instead of “It is truly meet …,” we sing:)
Tone 4
The Angels beheld the Entrance of the Pure One and were amazed. How has the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies?
Since she is a living Ark of God
let no profane hand touch the Theotokos.
But let the lips of believers unceasingly sing to her,
praising her in joy with the Angel’s song:
“Truly, you are more exalted than all, O pure Virgin!”
Communion Hymn
Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! I will receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Prokeimenon. 6th Tone. Psalm 27.9,1.
O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance.
Verse: To you, O Lord, I have cried, O my God.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 2:4-10.
Brethren, God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God: not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The Reading is from Luke 13:10-17
At that time, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day." Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
Thanksgiving Prayer for Those in Need
O Heavenly King, Comforter,
who grants all blessings, we thank You
for Your abundant graces and mercies.
Help us to be good stewards of Your
treasury through the ministry of IOCC.
Help us to strip ourselves of our earthly
adornment, so that the poor may be
sufficiently clothed and fed.
And, by so loving our neighbor,
adorn us with the everlasting pearls
of virtue instead.
Where there is suffering,
help us to bring Your mercy;
where there is despair, Your hope.
Where there is war, allow us to present You
who are the Prince of Peace;
where there is pain,
You who are the Comforter;
where there is hatred, You who are Love,
where there is death and destruction;
You who are the Resurrection and Life.
Daily guide our work in and through IOCC
so that we may do all things,
in every place and at all times,
for Your glory.