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
During this COVID era, services dates and times are subject to change. Please read the schedule provided withing the bulletin itself for the dates and times of services, and whether they will be held "in person" or streamed via Zoom.

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.

What will it take for you to return to Church? Seriously... I would like your thoughts!

It's a simple question, but very difficult to answer: What will it take for you to return to Church?

I am honestly interested in your answers. Please give this question some thought and provide me with your answer, by phone, text or email.

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Annual Meeting

We are still in need of nominations for the following: 2 positions on the parish council, 1 representative for the Diocesean Assembly, 1 representative for the All-American Council. Please talk with Fr Steven or Dori Kuziak if you are willing to be nominated for any of these positions.

Status

As a reminder, according to the ByLaws of the Parish, if you are not receiving the sacraments, you are considered a NON-voting member of the community. A VOTING member is someone who receives the sacraments and has received Communion at least once during the past year AND contritubes to the parish with their Time, Treasure and (or) Talent. Please refer to the ByLaws (available here) or consult with Fr Steven should you have any questions about your status within the parish.

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Please be sure to double check the times of services on the schedule! If you wish to attend Liturgy, be sure to email Fr Steven to ask for a blessing. It is imparative that we have an accurate count of attendies.

Services will still be held via Zoom. The invitation for which I am including below: HERE

Topic: All Services

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4716784843?pwd=dzB0MTY1cnVIUUFWNXBCako1ekZ0Zz09

Meeting ID: 471 678 4843
Passcode: 1994
One tap mobile
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Dial by your location
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Meeting ID: 471 678 4843
Passcode: 1994
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdFMlKJ5Cc

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I am also including the link where texts for services may be download: HERE - http://bit.ly/St-Alexis

https://stalexischurch-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/schosk_stalexischurch_onmicrosoft_com/EuikzPZ8VNlDvPuoN314bdUBEeyOInJGWR3brg2ZkJIpNA?e=0VpHla

Metropolitan Theodosius, Archpriest Dennis, Deacon Timothy, Evelyn, Katheryn, Anne, Veronica, Richard, Nancy, Susann, Carol, Luke, Aaron, Alexander, Gail, Vincent, Nina, Ellen, Maureen Elizabeth, Christopher, Joshua, Jennifer Petra, Olivia, Jessica ,Sean, Sarah, Justin, Arnold, Michael, Kirk, Carol-Anne, Anthony, Natasha, Janice, Gene, John

The newly departed and ever memorable Becky and Robert;

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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 Isaac Freeman and Melissa Josefiak on occasion of their birthdays and Sophia, Luba and Nadia on the occasion of their Name's Day.

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Today we commemorate:

Forefeast of the Elevation of the Cross. Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher) at Jerusalem(335). Sunday before Elevation. Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion (1st c.). Martyrs Chronides, Leontius and Serapion, of Alexandria (237). Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian at Tomi in Romania (4th c.). Hieromartyr Julian of Galatia (4th c.). St. Peter of Atroë (9th c.). Greatmartyr Ketevan, Queen of Georgia (1624). Ven. Hierotheus the Younger of Iveron (Mt. Athos—1745).

Tone 5 Troparion (Resurrection)

Let us, the faithful, praise and worship the Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit,
born for our salvation from the Virgin;
for He willed to be lifted up on the Cross in the flesh, to endure death,
and to raise the dead//
by His glorious Resurrection.

Tone 4 Troparion (Founding)

You have revealed the beauty of the holy dwelling place of Your glory on earth
to be like the splendor of the heavenly firmament, O Lord.
Through the prayers of the Theotokos,
strengthen it for ever and ever
and accept our supplication
which we ceaselessly offer to You therein,//
the life and resurrection of all!

Tone 4 Troparion (Forefeast)

We offer in supplication
the life-creating Cross of Your goodness, O Lord,
which You have granted to us
although we are unworthy.
Through the Theotokos, save all Orthodox Christians, O only Lover of man!

Tone 5 Kontakion (Resurrection)

You descended into hell, O my Savior, shattering its gates as Almighty, resurrecting the dead as Creator,
and destroying the sting of death.
You have delivered Adam from the curse, O Lover of Man,
and we cry to You: “O Lord, save us!”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Tone 4 Kontakion (Founding)

The Church has been revealed to be a heaven filled with light, which enlightens all the faithful.//
Standing within it we cry: “Establish this house, O Lord!”

Communion Hymn

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest!
I have loved the beauty of Your house, O Lord, and the place where Your glory dwells. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
THE EXALTATION OF THE CROSS
September 28, 1986

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
We have been keeping these days the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. There is a passage in the Gospel in which the Lord says to us, "No one has greater love than he who gives his life for his neighbour". And these words resolve the antinomy between the horror of the Cross and the glory of it, between death and the Resurrection. There is nothing more glorious, more awe-inspiring and wonderful than to love and to be loved. And to be loved of God with all the life, with all the death of the Only-Begotten Son, and to love one another at the cost of all our life and, if necessary, of our death is both tragedy but mainly victory. In the Canon of the Liturgy we say, "Holy, most Holy art Thou and Thine Only-Begotten Son and Thine Holy Spirit! Holy and most Holy art Thou because Thou hast so loved Thy world that Thou hast given Thine Only-Begotten Son that those who will believe in Him do not perish but have life eternal, Who hath come and hath fulfilled all that was appointed for our sakes, and in the night when He was betrayed - no! - when He gave Himself up, He took bread, and brake it and gave it to His disciples ..."
This is the divine love. At times one can give one's own life more easily than offer unto death the person whom one loves beyond all, and this is what God, our Father has done. But it does not make less the sacrifice of Him who is sent unto death for the salvation of one person or of the whole world.
And so when we think of the Cross we must think of this strangely inter-twined mystery of tragedy and of victory. The Cross, an instrument of infamous death, of punitive death to which criminals were doomed, because Christ's death was than of an innocent, and because this death was a gift of self in an act of love - becomes victory.
This is why Saint Paul could say, "It is no longer I, it is Christ Who lives in me." Divine love filled him to the brim and therefore there was no room for any other thought or feeling, any other approach to anyone apart from love, a love that gave itself unreservedly, love sacrificial, love crucified, but love exulting in the joy of life.
And when we are told in today's Gospel, ‘Turn away from yourself, take up your Cross, follow Me' (Mark 8: 34) - we are not called to something dark and frightening. We are told by God: Open yourself to love! Do not remain a prisoner of your own self-centredness. Do not be, in the words of Theophane the Recluse, like a shaving of wood which is rolled around its own emptiness. Open yourself up! Look - there is so much to love, there are so many to love! There is such an infinity of ways in which love can be experienced, and fulfilled and accomplished... Open yourself and love - because this is the way of the Cross! Not the way which the two criminals trod together with Christ to be punished for their crimes. but the wonderful way in which giving oneself unreservedly, turning away from self, existing only for the other, loving with all one's being so that one exists only for the sake of the other - this is the Cross and the glory of the Cross.
So, when we venerate the Cross, when we think of Christ's crucifixion, when we hear the call of Christ to deny ourselves - and these words simply mean: turn away from yourself! Take up your cross! - we are called to open ourselves to the flood of Love Divine, that is both death to ourselves and openness to God and to each and to all.
In the beginning of the Gospel of St. John we are told, "And the Word was with God". In the Greek it says "Godwards". The Word, the Son had no other love, no other thought, no other movement but towards the Beloved One, giving Himself to Him Who gave Himself perfectly to Him. Let us learn the glory of crucified Love, of this Love sacrificial which is, in the words of the Old Testament, stronger than death, stronger than hell, stronger than all things because it is Divine Life conquering us and poured through us onto all those who need to be loved in order to come to Life, to believe in Love and themselves to become children of Love, children of Light, inherit the Life eternal. Amen.