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)

Members of our Parish Council are:
Joseph Barbera - Council Member at Large
Susan Davis- Council Member at Large
Carolyn Neiss - President
Marlene Melesko - Vice President
Susan Egan - Treasurer
Dn Timothy Skuby - Secretary

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.

Feast of Holy Transfiguration

For this Feast, we will not be having services here at St Alexis. Rather, we are all invited to Holy Transfiguration Church to celebrate wtih them. Please see the attached invitation.

Any Interest?

I would like to start a Men's and Women's Evening: once a month per group, via Zoom. Topics will be from any questions you might have, to topics that you select. The idea behind having a segragated meetings is to encourage open communications that might otherwise be inhibited. I would like to start during the upcoming Dormition Fast and continue on from there (provided that there is interest from the community).

I have also started a new section in the bulletin called "The Faith We Hold". This will replace the Bible Crossection. The opening article introduces Sacraments. Time to learn more about our Faith!

Clinton Family Services is once again asking for donations of school supplies.

Here are the current most needed items—

Plastic 3 ring folders
Highlighters, multi colors
3 or 5 subject lined notebooks
Subject dividers
Small denomination gift cards $5 or $10 to Staples would be great as well for miscellaneous items families need, like poster paper/project boards, etc for school projects.
No one subject notebooks please!!!
Thank you.  Items needed by August 17 for packing/sorting purposes, families come into office week prior to school starting, which is 8/30 

HOW FAR WILL YOU TREK4MISSIONS IN 2022?

HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?

The OCMC Trek4Missions is back this summer from Monday, August 8, until Sunday, September 18! Start dusting off your running shoes and charging the fitness gear. It's time to go the distance to share the faith!

Because of YOU and our dedicated participants and sponsors from previous years, this event has raised over $300,000 to date. We pray you'll join us again to make an impact supporting the work of OCMC ministries and missionaries to proclaim Jesus Christ and His Church to the world. Our goal is to virtually total 25,000 miles and raise $100,000. As St. Luke wrote:

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (Luke 12:1-2)

Registration is open online. Talk to your previous teammates about getting the band back together or sign up for a solo Trek. Click the button below to register, then begin customizing your fundraising page.

Thank you for supporting Orthodox missions and making this event a tremendous success. We hope to see your name amongst this year's participants. If you want to discuss this event in more detail, contact our Development Department at (904) 829-5132 ext. 165 or at events@ocmc.org.

Click Here to Trek4Missions!
  

I would like you to join me in soliciting donations as a parish. We have an anonymous donor who would like to match our contributions (as a parish). Do we have any takers?

Please pray for our catecumen David.

Many Years! to Michael Kuziak and Susan Davis on the occasion of their birthdays; and to Valery and Jason Danilack-Federer on the occasion of their anniversary.

Memory Eternal for Sonja Gever and Ann Kieran on the anniversary of their repose.

• 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, intolerance and pestilence; all those departed this life in the hope of the Resurrection.

Forefeast of the Procession of the Honorable and Lifegiving Cross of the Lord. Righteous Eudocimus of Cappadocia (9th c.). Martyr Julitta at Cæsarea (304-305). St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (448). Hieromartyr Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd and Gdovsk (1922), and those with him: Archimandrite Sergius and the Laymen, Yuri and John.

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 captured hell, not being tempted by it.
You came to the Virgin, granting life.
O Lord, Who rose from the dead,//
glory to You.

Tone 1 Troparion (Cross)

O Lord, save Your people,
and bless Your inheritance!
Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians
over their adversaries;
and by virtue of Your Cross,//
preserve Your habitation!

Tone 4 Troparion (St. Eudocimus)

He Who called you from earth to heaven
keeps your body unharmed after death, holy Eudocimus;
for you lived a sober and holy life
and did not defile your flesh;//
so with boldness intercede with Christ that we may be saved!

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 3 Kontakion (St. Eudocimus)

Today your honored memory
has assembled us at the holy shrine of your sacred relics;
all then who approach and venerate them
are rescued from the evil malice of demons//
and are swiftly delivered from various diseases, blessed Eudocimus.

Communion Hymn

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest! (Ps. 148:1)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Church Mysteries

The Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, like the Church Herself, can be said to possess a double character, for they are at the same time inward and outward, visible and invisible. They combine in themselves both an outward visible sign with an inward spiritual grace. For example, in the Holy Eucharist, we eat the Body and Blood of Christ, although visibly they appear to be bread and wine. Likewise, in Holy Baptism there is an outward washing with water, but simultaneously an inward cleansing of sins. Thus, we often speak of the Sacraments as being mysteries, for, in the sense outlined above, what we see is not what we believe.
In most of the Sacraments, the Holy Church takes things that are material, e.g., bread, wine, water, and oil, and make them vehicles of the Holy Spirit, in imitation of our Lord's Incarnation, when, as the Second Person of the Trinity, He took material flesh and made it a vehicle of the Holy Spirit. We also note here another characteristic of the Sacraments, in that they are personal. That is, the grace of God is given to every Christian individually. Therefore, in most of the Sacraments, the Priest pronounces the Christian name of each person as the Sacrament is administered. Thus, for example, at the Holy Eucharist, when giving Holy Communion, the Priest says, the Servant (or Handmaid) of God [Name] partakes....
Customarily, in the Orthodox Church we speak of Seven Sacraments, although we must note that this was not fixed until about the 17th Century. The Fathers themselves disagreed as to the actual number some said two, some six, some ten, and there were even those who said seven, but differed among themselves as to what constituted that seven. Many other sacramental acts, such as the Blessing of Waters at Theophany, the Monastic Tonsure, the Burial Service, and the Blessing of Any Object, for example, possess the same criteria as the earlier definition of sacrament. In any case, the number seven has no absolute dogmatic significance in our Orthodox theology, but is used only for teaching convenience.
The Sacraments, as they are traditionally numbered, are:

• 1. Holy Baptism
• 2. Holy Chrismation
• 3. The Holy Eucharist
• 4. Repentance (Penance, Confession)
• 5. Holy Orders
• 6. Holy Matrimony
• 7. The Anointing of the Sick

Excerpt taken from "These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings". Compiled and Edited by A Monk of St. Tikhon's Monastery. Copyright 1986 by the St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania 18459.

Sunday after Pentecost and the Seventh Sunday of Matthew in the Orthodox Church

August 3, 2019 · Fr. Philip LeMasters

Romans 15:1-7; Matthew 9:27-35

It has never been hard to find people who view Jesus Christ in a many different ways. Some use His name as a curse word or otherwise mock Him. Some make Him in their own image as an advocate of whatever agenda they prize most in life. Some view Him as a teacher or prophet to be admired, but not as the Son of God to be worshiped. Today’s gospel reading presents Him in a radically different way as One Who restores sight to blind beggars and the ability to speak to a man who had been possessed by a demon. Christ is not simply a miracle worker, of course, but the Savior of the world Who, as St. Paul wrote, has welcomed us for the glory of God.

We will soon celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, when the spiritual eyes of Peter, James, and John were opened to behold Christ’s divine glory to the extent that human beings are able to do so. The blind beggars in our gospel reading were Jews who asked for mercy from the Son of David, a Jewish term for the Messiah, who they believed to be a very righteous human being who could work miracles. Even though their faith was far from perfect, as symbolized by their blindness, the Lord had mercy on them and restored their sight. The Transfiguration displays the full meaning of this miracle, for the God-Man enables us not merely to see the things of this world, but to know His divine glory. Like the beggars, the disciples were Jews who had expected a purely human Messiah, not the Son of God. Though they did not understand Who He was until after His resurrection, they also received their sight from the Lord when their souls were flooded with the brilliant light of His divinity.

We recently began the Dormition Fast, which leads to the feast of the falling asleep in Christ of the Most Holy Theotokos on August 15. Her life on earth ended, but three days after her burial the tomb was found to be empty, as she was the first to follow her Son into the heavenly kingdom as a whole person: body, soul, and spirit. During this period, we abstain from the richest and most satisfying foods and devote ourselves to intensified prayer because we want to become more like the Theotokos, the first and model Christian who received the Savior into her life in a unique way and stands as a shining example for us all. If we want to behold the light of Christ from the depths of our souls, we must humble ourselves and become blind to the temptation to find the ultimate meaning and purpose of our lives anywhere other than in Him.

That is precisely what the Theotokos did by saying “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word” in response to the message of the Archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her to be the virgin mother of His Son. In that moment, she opened her life fully and completely to Him. Despite seeing Christ rejected and killed, the Theotokos always remained faithful, refusing to abandon Him at His crucifixion and being one of the myrrh-bearing women who went to anoint His dead body. She was the first to hear from the angel the news of resurrection, even as she was obviously the first to hear of His incarnation in her womb. Especially during the Dormition Fast, we focus on becoming like her in spiritual vision.

In today’s gospel reading, the Lord also cast a demon out of a man and restored his ability to speak. This fellow was a Gentile, which is why the people responded, “’Never was anything like this seen in Israel,’” while “the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the prince of demons.’” St. Paul made clear to the Christians in Rome, both Jewish and Gentile in heritage, that “together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” No longer enslaved to idolatry with their mouths unable to glorify God, Gentiles may know and glorify the Lord every bit as much as the descendants of Abraham, for the ancient promises extend to all who have faith in the Messiah. The Holy Spirit has united the divided tongues of the tower of Babel such that people of all cultures and backgrounds may join together in the praise of God as members of the household of faith.

Sight and speech are both profoundly important human abilities. Christ restored sight to many blind people and often used images of light, darkness, and vision to convey the good news of salvation. The point was not simply to describe the importance of seeing things in this world, but ultimately to call us to know Him through union in holiness from the depths of our souls. Precisely because she was so radiant with the divine light, the Theotokos could proclaim the prophetic words of the Magnificat, which begins: “My soul magnifies the Lord; And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” She spoke truthfully in light of her spiritual clarity and experiential knowledge of God.

Except when we fall into hypocrisy, our words generally reveal the true state of our souls. Perhaps that is why the Scriptures contain many warnings about the dangers associated with running our mouths. We read in the Psalms, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” (Ps. 141:3) Christ taught that we will have to give an account for every idle word that we speak, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt. 12:36) It is not what goes into our mouths, but what comes out of them that defiles us. (Matt. 15:11) As St. James wrote, the tongue is small, powerful, and very difficult to control: “It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (Jas. 3:6) When we speak words of cursing, condemnation, and corruption, we reveal our spiritual blindness, our lack of full transparency before God.

Of course, we should monitor our speech as best we can, and it is better to keep our mouths shut when we have an evil thought about someone than to share it with them or others. More fundamentally, however, we should see our wicked words as a symptom of the sickness of our souls. In order to gain the spiritual integrity to speak only in ways that glorify God and bless others, the light of Christ must fill our hearts. We must become radiant with the gracious divine energies if we are to speak in a way that manifests the holiness of God.

Let us use the Dormition Fast to become more like the Theotokos in receptivity to the Lord as we unite ourselves to Him in holiness. We must be transfigured from the depths of our souls, as she is, if we are to gain the strength necessary to glorify God and bless our neighbors in all that we say and do. That is why we must humble ourselves by fasting in order to gain strength to redirect our hearts from gratification of self-centered desire to their true fulfillment in God. That is why we must become fully present before God in prayer each day as we open ourselves to His presence in our lives. That is why we must focus on serving our neighbors and not on pleasing ourselves. That is why we must confess and repent of sins that keep us wedded to the darkness. By persistently orienting ourselves to God in this way, we will become more personally receptive to the gracious divine energies and gain the spiritual clarity to behold the glory of the Lord and to speak and act accordingly. The Feast of Christ’s Transfiguration calls each of us to nothing less than to be transfigured in holiness and shine brilliantly by grace with the light of heaven. Let us look to the Theotokos as the greatest example of a human being doing precisely that.

Useful Resources and References

Parish Shared Folder (for all documents, bulletins etc) - http://bit.ly/St-Alexis

The QR Code here may be used as well.

Parish Members' Directory - https://stalexischurch.sharepoint.com 

This directory contains access to studies, sermons, and many other resources. It does require a login to access this "internal" site, so please see Fr Steven for this information.

Parish Web Site - http://www.stalexischurch.org ; calendar (https://bit.ly/StA-Calendar)

Facebook - @stalexisorthodox

Youtube Channel - https://bit.ly/StA_Youtube

Join Zoom Meeting

https://bit.ly/StA-Zoom

Meeting ID: 471 678 4843
Passcode: 1994
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,4716784843#,,,,,,0#,,1994# US (New York)
Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdeWbDJDW9

Troparion to St Alexis

O righteous Father Alexis, / our heavenly intercessor and teacher, / divine adornment of the Church of Christ! / Entreat the Master of All / to strengthen the Orthodox Faith in America, / to grant peace to the world / and to our souls, great mercy!