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.

Entering the Church Building

If, for any reason, you need to enter the church building after hours, I would appreciate it if you would just text me to let me know. If you also have a set of keys to the building and are not on the parish council, please return the keys to a council representative.

There have been a few instances of the alarm going off because it either wasn't set properly, or the doors were not secured properly. This reslults in the alarm being triggered and I receive a phone call from the security company. I then have to drive to the parish to reset the system and make sure the premises are secure. 

Fall Clean Up

Our annual parish clean up is schedule for Saturday, September 10th. This will include cleanup outside as well as inside the church.  There will be a list of tasks that will need to be be completed post soon.

Parish Gathering

The Kuziak's have graciously offered to host our "annual" parish gathering, Saturday, Oct 1st. More details will be forthcoming but I wanted to get the date out to everyone. Vespers will be held outside, at the Kuziak's (weather permitting) at 5:30p.

Many Years! to Michael and Zachary Neiss on the occasion of their Name's Days; To Ann Pavlik on the occasion of her birthday; to Sarah and Justin Gaulin on the occasion of their anniversary.

Please pray for our catecumen David.

• 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.

Hieromartyr Gorazd, Bishop of Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia (Serbian—1942 (1942). Hieromartyr Babylas (Vavíla), Bishop of Antioch, and with him Martyrs Urban, Prilidian, and Epolonius; and their mother, Christodula (251). Holy Prophet and Godseer Moses (16th c. B.C.). Uncovering of the Relics of St. Joasáph, Bishop of Bélgorod (1911). Martyr Hermione, daughter of St. Philip the Deacon (ca. 117). Martyr Babylas of Nicomedia, and with him 84 children (4th c.). Martyrs Theodore, Mianus (Ammianus), Julian, Kion (Oceanus), and Centurionus, of Nicomedia (305-311).

Tone 3 Troparion (Resurrection)

Let the heavens rejoice!
Let the earth be glad!
For the Lord has shown strength with His arm.
He has trampled down death by death.
He has become the first born of the dead.
He has delivered us from the depths of hell,
and has granted to the world//
great mercy.

Tone 4 Troparion (St. Babylas)

By sharing in the ways of the Apostles,
you became a successor to their throne.
Through the practice of virtue, you found the way to divine contemplation, O inspired one of God;
by teaching the word of truth without error, you defended the Faith, even to the shedding of your blood.//
O Hieromartyr Babýlas, entreat Christ God to save our souls!

Tone 2 Troparion (Prophet Moses)

You ascended to the heights of the virtues, O Prophet Moses;
therefore, you were deemed worthy to see the glory of God.
Having received the grace-filled tablets of the Law,
and bearing the grace of the writing within yourself,
You were the honorable praise of prophets,//
and a great mystery of piety.

Tone 3 Kontakion (Resurrection)

On this day You rose from the tomb, O Merciful One,
leading us from the gates of death.
On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices;
with the Prophets and Patriarchs//
they unceasingly praise the divine majesty of Your power.

Tone 4 Kontakion (St. Babylas)

You guarded the mighty works of faith in your heart,
therefore, you did not fear the tyrant;//
preserve us as well, Hieromartyr Babýlas, good servant of Christ!

Tone 2 Kontakion (Prophet Moses)

The choir of prophets rejoices with Moses and Aaron today,
for the fulfillment of their prophecy is in our midst:
the Cross, by which You have saved us, shines forth today.//
By their prayers, O Christ God, have mercy on us!

Communion Hymn

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

Holy MatriMony

In the theology of the Orthodox Church man is made in the Image of the Most-holy Trinity, and, except in certain special cases (such as monasticism, for example), he is not intended by God to live alone, but in a family situation. Just as God blessed the first humans, Adam and Eve, to live as a family, to be fruitful and multiply, so too the Church blesses the union of a man and a woman. Marriage, however, is not a state of nature, but is rather a state of grace, and married life is a special vocation (no less than the special calling of monasticism), requiring a gift or charism from the Holy Spirit this gift being conferred in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
That Holy Matrimony has divine sanction comes no less from the words of the Lord Himself, Who says: Have you not read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' [Gen. 2:24]. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (Matt. 19:5-6).
The Holy Apostle Paul sees this mystical union of husband and wife as reflecting the mystical union of Christ with His Church: Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, His body.... Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.... Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church, because we are members of His body.... This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church... (Eph. 5:22-25, 28-30, 32).
The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony consists of two parts: Betrothal and Crowning. The Betrothal is, in some way, the civil act, sanctified by the blessing of the Church. It sanctifies the intention of two persons to enter into the martial union and reflects Old Testament customs, when on those who had expressed their intentions to marry, rings were placed. This exchange of rings in the Office of Betrothal is an outward token that the two partners join in marriage of their own free will and consent, for without free consent on both sides there can be no Sacrament of Christian marriage.
The Office of Crowning also contains an Old Testament element in the crowning itself, which reflects the ancient practice of placing crowns on the heads of the betrothed. This is the outward and visible sign of the Sacrament, signifying the special grace of the Holy Spirit received by the couple. These crowns are crowns of joy and martyrdom joy for the new union and martyrdom since every true marriage involves immeasurable self-sacrifice on both sides.
In the Greek Churches, the crowns are usually made of leaves and flowers, while in the Russian Church they are usually made of silver or gold. Customarily in the Russian Church the crowns are held over the couples' heads by the best man and maid of honor, but in many places (as in Romania, for example) they are actually worn by the bride and groom.
The Gospel for the day contains the account of the Wedding in Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11). The blessing, given by God to man in Paradise was renewed by Christ in the New Testament, when, at the beginning of His ministry, He performed the miracle of changing water into wine. Thus, at the end of the Marriage Service the newly-married couple drink from the same cup of wine, which recalls this miracle of Our Lord. The common cup here is also a symbol that henceforth they will share a common life with one another.
Divorce anD reMarriage.
The Holy Orthodox Church does, however, permit divorce and remarriage, quoting as her authority the words of the Savior: For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: Whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery (Matt. 19:8-9). Here Our Lord allows an exception to the indissolubility of marriage, and so, too, the Church is willing to allow an exception.
While in principle the church regards the marriage bond as lifelong and indissoluble, and condemns the breakdown of marriage as a sin and an evil, she still desires to help the sinners and to allow them a second chance. Thus, when a marriage has ceased to be a reality, the Church does not insist on the preservation of a legal fiction. Divorce, therefore, is seen as an exceptional, but necessary concession to human weakness. Yet, while helping men and women to rise again after a fall, the Church does not view a second or
third union as being the same as the first and thus, in the ceremony for a second or third marriage, several joyful ceremonies are omitted and replaced by penitential prayers. Orthodox Canon Law permits a second or third marriage, but more than that is strictly forbidden.

Sermon on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel reading we heard today (Matt. 19) a young man asked Jesus Christ the question, which is the most important for all of us:

“Good Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus said: “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments…You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

These commandments of the Old Testament our Lord Jesus Christ expanded in His Gospel teaching. If the Law of Moses says: ‘You shall not murder’, the Gospel doesn’t permit us to be angry with our neighbour. If the Law of Moses says: ‘You shall not commit adultery’, the Gospel says: ‘everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart’.

The commandments of the Gospel aim at purity of the heart. Our actions, deeds and words, have their origin in the heart. “Out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, jealousy, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man” – the Lord says. (Mark 7)

“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matt. 19)

When we strive to keep the commandments, we realize that this is not easy. We meet resistance to the commandments in our soul, in our dispositions and habits; these are the sinful passions dwelling in the heart.

When we struggle to keep the commandments and fight with the passions, we come to understand our weakness, and the vital need for God’s help.

We realize that without His help we cannot resist our passions. On the other hand, we learn how close the Lord is to us, how quickly He comes to our aid if we call on Him.

Such is the way of the Christian life: keeping God’s commandments guides a man into a struggle with the passions, through which he learns his weakness, and grows in humility. And the more one grows in humility, the more he receives God’s grace.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1Peter 5)

Humility is manifest when a Christian ascribes all his good deeds to God’s grace given him in the mystery of Baptism, while in himself he sees only weaknesses and failings. But if he forgets this, and starts to attribute his success to his own effort, then the Lord takes away His help, leaving him alone with his weakness.

The Lord wants us to have a humble and contrite heart. And such disposition may be found only in those who wage warfare with their passions.

As the Holy Fathers say, progress in the Christian life is nothing other than progress in humility.

There is a great difference between the Christian life in God’s commandments and the keeping of the commandments by the Pharisee from the Gospel parable:

The Pharisee keeps the commandments outwardly, in visible actions. The state of his heart is totally outside of his attention. For the Pharisee keeping the commandments is an object of vainglory. Believing himself to be righteous, he looks down at others. Thus, keeping the commandments leads him to pride, self-importance and judging others.

On the contrary, a Christian through keeping the commandments comes to understand his weakness, and grows in humility. Since he always remembers his own weakness, he is forgiving and patient towards others, and judges no one for his shortcomings.

It is most vital: to learn the Gospel commandments and strive to keep them according to our strength. There is no other way to eternal life.

Amen

https://auroca.org/if-you-want-to-enter-into-life-keep-the-commandments/

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

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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!