St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2020-02-09
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Allsaint
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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




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 - 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:
Joseph Barbera - Council Member at Large
Dori Kuziak - Council Secretary
Natalie Kucharski - Council Treasurer
Glenn PenkoffLidbeck - Council President
Kyle Hollis - Member at Large
Roderick Seurattan - Council Vice President

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

Chilli/Chowder Cookoff

The postponed Cookoff is now rescheduled for Sunday, Feb 23rd. This is Meatfare Sunday, so it is our last opportunity to enjoy these hearty i.e. meaty meals.

Pledge Forms

If you have not yet given Fr Steven your pledge form, please do so by the end of the coming week. Your pledge form represents your committment to the parish and to one another before God. It helps us plan outreach and activities (not to mention expenditures) for the year.

SSKP Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries is this Monday, February 10, from 6-8pm at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church in Westbrook. 
 
During this meeting we will hear from dedicated members of the SSKP Staff who will share stories that connect us all. All are welcome! We will begin with a simple meal of soup, salad, bread, and dessert before hearing news of our collaborative efforts to share food and fellowship with our neighbors in need. 
 

Mission Sunday

This year, Mission Sunday falls on March 1st, and 2020 is a great year to continue to grow awareness of Orthodox missions in your parish. Not only does Mission Sunday fall right before the start of Great and Holy Lent, but 2020 is the 50-year anniversary of the canonization of St. Herman of Alaska. Sunday school lesson plans for the Mission Center will teach about the life of this missionary saint so that youth at your parish can follow in his footsteps. Coin boxes will come with the lesson plans so Sunday School students can support this vital work of their Church. Please e-mail us at coinbox@ocmc.org, or call Daniel Kindell at 1-877-463-6784 ext. 165.

OnLine Sermons

My apologies for not posting sermons of late. You will understand that I have been a bit preoccupied over the past few weeks. I will begin reposting, God willing, this week. You can find these sermons on our website on the main page. Simply scroll down and look for the header Sermons... you will see links to the records (as soon as I start posting them again). 

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Prayers, Intercessions and Commemorations

Christ_forgiveness

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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  • 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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Many Years! to Robert Pavlik, Alex Martins and Vera Martin on the occasion of their birthdays; and to Glenn and Stasia PenkoffLedbeck on the occasion of their anniversary.

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Today we commemorate:

Leavetaking of the MeetingBeginning of the Lenten Triodion.Martyr Nicephorus of Antioch in Syria (ca. 257). Uncovering of the Relics of St. Innocent, Bishop of Irkutsk (1805). Ven. Pankratii (Pancratius) of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—13th c.). Ven. Nikífor (Nicephorus—1557) and Gennádii (Gennadius—ca. 1516), of Vazheozérsk. Hieromartyrs Marcellus, Bishop of Sicily, Philagrius, Bishop of Cyprus, and Pancratius, Bishop of Taoromina (1st c.).

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Parish Calendar

  • Services and Events

    February 9 to February 17, 2020

    Sunday, February 9

    Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: Triodion Begins Today

    Christine Schauble

    Fellowship and Stewardship Ministry

    9:15AM Reading of the 3rd Hour

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, February 10

    Hieromartyr Haralambos

    Tuesday, February 11

    Blaise the Holy Martyr of Sebastia

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    Wednesday, February 12

    Vera Martin

    Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch

    Robert Pavlik

    4:00PM Soup Kitchen

    Thursday, February 13

    Martinian of Palestine

    8:30AM Daily Matins

    Friday, February 14

    Holy Father Auxentius of the Mountain

    Saturday, February 15

    Alex Martins

    PenkoffLidbeck

    Onesimus the Apostle of the 70

    5:30PM Great Vespers

    Sunday, February 16

    Evangelism and Outreach Ministry meeting

    Sunday of the Prodigal Son

    9:15AM Reading of the 3rd Hour

    9:30AM Divine Liturgy

    Monday, February 17

    Theodore the Tyro, Great Martyr

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Saints and Feasts

Allsaint
February 09

Nicephoros the Martyr of Antioch

This Martyr, who was from Antioch in Syria, contested during the reign of Gallienus, about the year 260. Through the working of the evil one, his friendship with a certain Christian priest named Sapricius was turned to bitter hatred. Nicephoros, repenting of his enmity, tried both through intermediaries and in person to be reconciled with Sapricius, but to no avail. Later, when the persecution broke out under Valerian and Gallienus, Sapricius was seized as a Christian. When Saint Nicephoros learned that Sapricius had been arrested by the pagans and was enduring torments for Christ, he sent intermediaries to Sapricius, begging his forgiveness; but Sapricius would not forgive him. Later, as Sapricius was being taken to beheading, Nicephoros, hoping that Sapricius, at his end, in such a holy hour, would at last forgive him, met him on the way, fell before him, and fervently asked his forgiveness; but Sapricius forgave him not. Wherefore, though Sapricius had passed through many sufferings, and the crown of martyrdom was now awaiting him, because he disdained the chief commandments of love and forgiveness, the grace of God, which had been strengthening him in his torments, departed from him, and he told his executioners he would sacrifice. Nicephoros immediately confessed Christ before them, and being himself beheaded, took the crown that Sapricius had cast away.

Should the Apodosis of the Feast of the Meeting in the Temple fall on this day the service to Saint Nicephoros is chanted on the 8th.


Publphar
February 09

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: Triodion Begins Today

The Pharisees were an ancient and outstanding sect among the Jews known for their diligent observance of the outward matters of the Law. Although, according to the word of our Lord, they "did all their works to be seen of men" (Matt. 23:5), and were hypocrites (ibid. 23: 13, 14, 15, etc.), because of the apparent holiness of their lives they were thought by all to be righteous, and separate from others, which is what the name Pharisee means. On the other hand, Publicans, collectors of the royal taxes, committed many injustices and extortions for filthy lucre's sake, and all held them to be sinners and unjust. It was therefore according to common opinion that the Lord Jesus in His parable signified a virtuous person by a Pharisee, and a sinner by a Publican, to teach His disciples the harm of pride and the profit of humble-mindedness.

Since the chief weapon for virtue is humility, and the greatest hindrance to it is pride, the divine Fathers have set these three weeks before the Forty-day Fast as a preparation for the spiritual struggles of virtue. This present week they have called Harbinger, since it declares that the Fast is approaching; and they set humility as the foundation for all our spiritual labors by appointing that the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee be read today, even before the Fast begins, to teach, through the vaunting of the Pharisee, that the foul smoke of self-esteem and the stench of boasting drives away the grace of the Spirit, strips man of all his virtue, and casts him into the pits of Hades; and, through the repentance and contrite prayer of the Publican, that humility confers upon the sinner forgiveness of all his wicked deeds and raises him up to the greatest heights.

All foods are allowed the week that follows this Sunday.


Blasios
February 11

Blaise the Holy Martyr of Sebastia

Saint Blaise was Bishop of Sebastia. Divine grace, through which he healed the diseases of men and beasts, and especially of infants, made his name famous. He contested for the Faith under Licinius in the year 316. Saint Blaise is invoked for the healing of throat ailments.


Cyrilmethodios
February 14

Cyril, Equal-to-the-Apostles & Teacher of the Slavs

Saint Cyril was born in Thessaloniki in the early 9th century to pious parents. His family was one of only a few Byzantines in Thessaloniki at that time since it was largely populated by Slavs. Growing up in this situation, Cyril learned the Slavonic language, which later in life would serve him and the Church at large. He continued his education in Constantinople with his brother Methodios (see May 11th), each taking to their particular interests: Methodios in politics, and Cyril in philosophy and teaching.

The two brothers were approached in 850 by Saint Photios the Great (see February 6th) to lead a diplomatic mission to the Khazars, the people who inhabited the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Cyril and Methodios accepted this mission and departed to the North. After the success of this trip, the brothers lived for a time in a monastery on Mount Olympus where Methodios became a monk. At this time the brothers utilized their childhood Slavonic education to develop a written alphabet for the Slavonic language, which to this time had never existed. This alphabet became known as the Glagolithic Alphabet. On their own instigation, the brothers began translating the Gospels and liturgical service books into Slavonic.

Providentially, Cyril and Methodios were again called upon for a mission, this time to travel to Moravia to spread the Christian faith to King Rostislav (see May 11th) and his people. The brothers departed in 862, bringing with them their Slavonic alphabet and service books. After five years of service, the brothers made their way to Rome in 867 to have members of their company ordained to the priesthood to aid in the missionary journey. The group of missionaries celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Rome in the Slavonic language for the very first time with members of their party being ordained as they intended. While in Rome, Cyril fell deathly ill. He was tonsured a monk and died. His brother Methodios continued their missionary work, utilizing the Glagolthic Alphabet. Cyril and his brother Methodios are commemorated together on May 11th.


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Hymns of the Day

Angel_design

Tone 1 Troparion (Resurrection)

When the stone had been sealed by the Jews,
while the soldiers were guarding Your most pure body,
You rose on the third day, O Savior,
granting life to the world.
The powers of heaven therefore cried to You, O Giver of Life:
“Glory to Your Resurrection, O Christ!
Glory to Your Kingdom!//
Glory to Your dispensation, O Lover of mankind!”

Tone 1 Troparion (Feast)

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 4 Kontakion (from the Lenten Triodion)

Let us flee from the pride of the Pharisee!
Let us learn humility from the Publican's tears!
Let us cry to our Savior:
“Have mercy on us,//
O only merciful One!”

Tone 1 Kontakion (Feast)

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!

(Instead of “It is truly meet…,” we sing:)
Tone 3

O Virgin Theotokos, hope of all Christians,
protect, preserve, and save those who hope in you!
In the shadow and letter of the Law,
let us, the faithful, discern a figure:
every male [child] that opens the womb is holy to God.
Therefore we magnify the firstborn Word of a Father Who
has no beginning,//
the Son firstborn of a Mother who had not known man.

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!

 

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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Epistle Reading

Prokeimenon. 1st Tone. Psalm 32.22,1.
Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us.
Verse: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.

The reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to Timothy 3:10-15.

TIMOTHY, my son, you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at lconion, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.


Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: Triodion Begins Today
The Reading is from Luke 18:10-14

The Lord said this parable, "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."


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Wisdom of the Fathers

When lately we made mention of the Pharisee and the publican, and hypothetically yoked two chariots out of virtue and vice; we pointed out each truth, how great is the gain of humbleness of mind, and how great the damage of pride.
St. John Chrysostom
CONCERNING LOWLINESS OF MIND., 4th Century

If there is a moral quality almost completely disregarded and even denied today, it is indeed humility. The culture in which we live constantly instills in us the sense of pride, of self-glorification, and of self-righteousness ... Even our churches - are they not imbued with that same spirit of the Pharisee? Do we not want our every contribution, every 'good deed,' all the we do 'for the Church' to be acknowledged, praised, publicized? ... How does one become humble? The answer, for a Christian, is simple: by contemplating Christ..."
Fr. Alexander Schmemann
Great Lent, pp. 19-20., 20th Century

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Beyond the Sermon

Burnbush

 The Syrian Penitential Spirit The Witness of Saints Ephraim and Isaac (Part 1)

Anyone newly Orthodox in this country is often enough shocked to discover the deeply countercultural meaning of Great Lent. Everything that Orthodox are given to do in Lent acts to separate them from the great tidal power of a vast consumerist culture: the extent and depth of the fasting; the length and variety of the liturgical services; above all, the quality and mode of the Lenten prayers. This shock is real and profound, and even in the monasteries, it is deeply felt. This shock is (if you will) spiritually seismic, for it is meant to reconfigure the whole of one’s life in the oceans of actual existence. The shock of Lent accomplishes this seismic configuration in two steps. First, it opens up an immediate gap: we turn off TVs and radios in our homes in order to stop the world’s ceaseless ongoingness. Then, in the silence that follows, we can in stillness begin to remember who and what we foundationally are in God: children of the light He has created—and not children of the darkness we create for ourselves. Central to the Orthodox experience of Lent is the brief prayer called “The Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian.” In every Lenten weekday service for almost seven weeks this prayer is chanted or spoken by the priest as the entire congregation follows him in the prescribed pattern of prostrations. In this way, the prayer may be said to knit together all the Lenten services and to focus each person on the central meaning of Lent. To comprehend this brief prayer is thus to understand the very heart and whole mind of Orthodox Lent. Here is the Greek text of the prayer, along with the translation commonly used today in the Orthodox Church in America:

Κύριε καὶ Δέσποτα τῆς ζωῆς μου, πνεῦμα ἀργίας, περιεργίας, φιλαρχίας, καὶ ἀργολογίας μή μοι δῷς. Πνεῦμα δὲ σωφροσύνης, ταπεινοφροσύνης, ὑπομονῆς, καὶ ἀγάπης χάρισαί μοι τῷ σῷ δούλῳ. Ναί, Κύριε Βασιλεῦ, δώρησαι μοι τοῦ ὁρᾶν τὰ ἐμὰ πταίσματα, καὶ μὴ κατακρίνειν τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk. (Prostration) But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. (Prostration) Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen. (Prostration)

But before we begin to reflect on this prayer, let me say a few words about St. Ephraim himself. He was born early in the fourth century ad in the ancient city of Nisibis (modern Nuseybin, in southeast Turkey), a city of some considerable significance for well over a thousand years prior to his birth. His parents were Orthodox Christians (he speaks of them very beautifully in his poems), and his Christian community had—a century earlier—suffered severe Roman persecution under the Emperor Diocletian (one of the Syriac martyrs of this period is the woman Saint Febronia). But now, in the early fourth century, the Orthodox community of Nisibis was free, prosperous, and thriving. The language spoken was Syriac, an east Aramaean dialect, and the ecclesiastical Syriac language that has come down is strong, assured, and very beautiful. Thus, fourth-century Syrian Christians of Nisibis had created a culture and a church that richly harmonized Semitic and Greek elements. And amidst this great and flourishing culture, Ephraim became one of the greatest of Christian poets the world has yet seen, leaving as his legacy some twenty-five volumes of extraordinarily accomplished poetry, a body of work only now beginning to find its modern English translators. From the wealth of St. Ephraim’s life and work, I shall here highlight only two facts so as to approach his Lenten prayer. First, despite how he is usually depicted on Orthodox icons, St. Ephraim was never a monk. He was an ordained deacon who remained celibate all his life. Partly, his not being a monk can be explained by noting that Egyptian monastic practice—the model for all Orthodox monasticism—had not, in Ephraim’s lifetime, yet reached southeast Turkey. But this only partly explains it, for evidence does exist that accurate knowledge of monasticism had reached Nisibis in the first quarter of the fourth century; and travel to established monasteries, while difficult by our standards, was assuredly possible to do then. In other words, Ephraim can be understood as having chosen to become a deacon rather than becoming a monk. Second, Syriac Orthodoxy of the fourth century was in active dialogue with Greek Orthodox culture. There is compelling evidence that some of Ephraim’s poetry and homilies were translated into Greek during his lifetime; and we know that within thirty years of his death a good deal of it was already in Greek. Ute Possekel, a scholar of St. Ephraim, puts it this way: “Hellenism was an integral part of fourth-century Syriac culture.” Thus, while retaining strong—indeed, definitive—ties to Semitic Christianity, Syriac Orthodoxy used with great skill the full range of Greek poetry and philosophy in its theological and artistic expressions.

Sheehan, Donald. The Grace of Incorruption: The Selected Essays of Donald Sheehan on Orthodox Faith and Poetics (pp. 12-14). Paraclete Press. Kindle Edition.

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Bulletin Inserts

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