September 18
St. Andrew Church
Publish Date: 2022-09-18
Bulletin Contents
Services at St. Andrew
Announcements
Fr. John's Message
Daily Calendar
News - Flyers - Registrations - Other
Prayer List
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Saints and Feasts
Hymns of the Day
Wisdom of the Fathers
St. Andrew Church
General Information
- Phone:
- (973) 584-0388
- Fax:
- (973) 584-3573
- Email:
- info@standrewgonj.org
- Street Address:
- 1447 Sussex Turnpike
- Randolph, NJ 07869-1830
- Mailing Address:
- 1447 Sussex Turnpike
- Randolph, NJ 07869-1830
Contact Information
Services Schedule
On Sunday we celebrate
Orthros at 8:15 am & Divine Liturgy at 9:30am
Weekday Orthros and Liturgies begin at 8am
Past Bulletins
- Publish Date:
- 2022-09-25
- Publish Date:
- 2022-09-11
- Publish Date:
- 2022-09-04
- Publish Date:
- 2022-08-28
- Publish Date:
- 2022-08-21
- Publish Date:
- 2022-08-14
Services at St. Andrew
Sunday 9/18
No Services at Saint Andrew
+ Sunday after Holy Cross Celebrations Orthros and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will take place at a new location, The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey (21 Pilgrim Pathway, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756).
8:00 am Orthros - 9:30 am Archiepiscopal Divine Liturgy at The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey followed by the Holy Cross ceremony in the waters of Atlantic Ocean - Immediately after the ceremony, a Barbeque for all will be held outside the Auditorium.
Thursday 9/22
+St. Phocas the Martyr / Relics of this Saint in our church
+ Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9am
Friday 9/23
+The Conception of St. John the Baptist
+ Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9am
Sunday 9/25
+The 1st Sunday of Luke
+ Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9:30am
Participation in services is also available via livestream - go to: Home | St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (orthodoxws.com) and choose LIVESTREAM on the Menu bar
Prayers/Liturgy can always be found at: https://www.agesinitiatives.com/dcs/public/dcs/dcs.html
Online Giving System: Website: https://www.standrewgonj.org/ and choose PayPal / online WeShare
Announcements
NO SUNDAY COFFEE Hour we will be at Asbury Park
Next SUNDAY(Septmber 25th) COFFEE Hour is hosted by the Saint Andrew Parish Council
Bagels are donated by Jimmy Psaras of ALFA BAGELS on Route 10 in Randolph, NJ
Coffee is donated by Aristotle Leontopoulos of Coffee Associates in Edgewater, NJ
Coffee Hour ON Sunday:10/2 Philoptochos, 10/9 PTA, 10/16 DOP, 10/23 GOYA, 10/30 Bakaliko, 11/6 Philoptochos, 11/13 PTA, 11/20 DOP, 11/27 Bakaliko, 12/4 Philoptochos, 12/11 PTA, 12/18 DOP, 12/25 Christmas
Big Greek GYRO & SOUVLAKI FEST
September 24 - 11am to 6pm
https://standrewgonj.square.site/
RAFFLE!
2022 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 W4 MSRP $53, 395
STARLING BLUE | ALL-WHEEL DRIVE | REMOTE START | PARKING ASSISTANT | NAVIGATION|
TICKETS $25 EACH | DRAWING SEPTEMBER 25, 2022, 1PM
Please bring your sold raffle tickets and money to church and help us sell more!
We need your help to make this raffle everything our church needs it to be this year!
Sign up for JUST 2 HOURS at our roadside. Sit, read, bring your laptop because we have wireless access out there, or even just relax. To schedule times email info@standrewgoj.org or call 973-584-0388
Thank you to all who helped make the Philoptochos Annual Rummage Sale a success.!!
We were abke to sell alot and distributed the remainder to the various organizations in and around our community. Questions? please contact Irene iLaoudis@yahoo.com or Mary mmichailidis@yahoo.com
GREEK DANCE Program will begin Thursday September 15th
INFO & REG GREEK SCHOOL | St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (orthodoxws.com)
Please complete: Family & Student Information Form 2022-23
and indicate dance level
Group 1 (ages K thru age 7) 6:30pm
Group 2 (ages 8-11) 7:15pm
Group 3 (ages 12-18) 8:00pm
GOYA
Please use the link below to register. ..... ... Registration costs $125 for the first child and $100 for siblings. Please pay the registration on the WeShare Link, under GOYA Event. Registration helps subsidize many of our events: Volleyball, Basketball, District and Youth Commission fees, Pizza socials, Mr & Miss GOYA, Religious Retreats, Olympics Snacks, Senior Send Off (just to name a few events).
WE SHARE LINK
St. Andrew GOYA Registration 2022-2023
Greek Dance begins 9/15/22 at 8pm /please contact office to register
Monthly Meeting 9/22/2022 6:30 pm
Volleyball/Basketball first game: 9/25/2022
Harvest Dance 9/30/2022
save the dates
AHEPA Cigar Night at the Meadowood Wednesday September 28th @7pm see flyer below
National Faith & Blue at St Andrew Friday October 7 see flyer below
Sunday School Open House Sunday October 9th
60th Anniversary Gala Sunday November 13th at the Meadow Wood in Randolph NJ see flyer below
Fr. John's Message
Lord’s Voice September 18 2022
THE SPIRITUAL SHADOW OF THE CROSS
The all-refreshing spiritual shadow of the precious and life-giving Cross covers today's post festal Sunday of the Elevation. We hear that passage read in the holy churches, during the Divine Liturgy, from the holy Gospel of the holy glorious apostle and evangelist Mark, which is eminently appropriate to the meaning, to the message and to the theology of the Precious Cross, which always in Orthodoxy is venerated as a preparation of the Resurrection. Let us briefly study the sacred text, and thus be strengthened in our struggle, now at the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year.
God's way
Christ invites the entire world without exception and without personal preference, "the crowd with his disciples", dividing time and history. No one is missing from Gods’ call for the mercy and salvation that flow from His Cross. We are all, clergy, monks and laity, invited to participate in the joy of His Kingdom. However, no one is obligated to respond, no one is pressured to take part involuntarily in this festival. The host Christ makes it clear: "Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me"; whoever wants to follow the way that I am walking, let him deny his evil self, let him carry his cross with patience and fortitude, and let him follow me.
Christ, as the leader of life and death, as true and almighty God, opens, out of absolute love for His creature, the path of sacrifice. His Cross is an eternal symbol and witness of this offering to all the nations. Today's proposed journey with Him is the path that the person of God follows. No pain, no illness can cost the exit from this journey, the loss of this road. For the person of God, nothing is more essential, worthier or more precious than this association, the association of love that Christ has with each one of us. The taking up of our cross, which Christ indicates, enables us ourselves to patiently test the quality of this relationship, like gold in the crucible, we being benefitted spiritually with self-censuring and a humble attitude, without being tested by the knower of hearts and omniscient God.
Eternal gain
Many times, we think - whether we admit it or not – that God is almost obliged to repay our good conduct, to generously offer us health, wealth, material goods, worldly positions, ecclesiastical offices, experienced with worldly glamor and lust for power. This viewpoint is the great burden from which we urgently need to be delivered; to cast off as a weight the futile toiling of this life, and to initiate a life in accordance with the will of Christ. This, after all, is what the holy author means by conveying the words of our Lord: For whoever wants to save his life, will lose it. But whoever loses his life because of me and because of the Gospel, will save it. In the original text, the word "soul" is used, which is correctly translated everywhere in this passage as life. So today, Christ proposes the voluntary loss and the release of our life from all these fabrications that alter it, trivialize it and make it false and fake.
The gain, for the person of God, is only the christification, he reorientation, and redefinition of his life in the perspective of His Kingdom. The gain, of course, according to the way we all, more or less, think, has to do with wealth, money and all kinds of material goods. We have already acquired from history, and from modern experience, the bitter knowledge that these are fluid and not at all a given, when the presence of God does not bless them in our lives. So, let's hasten to reassess our priorities.
Archim. A. A.
Daily Calendar
Saturday 9/17
Renaissance and Middle Ages re-enactment / The Barony of Settmour Swamp / St Andrew
Sunday 9/18 No Services at Saint Andrew
8:00 am Orthros - 9:30 am Archiepiscopal Divine Liturgy at The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey followed by the Holy Cross ceremony in the waters of Atlantic Ocean - Immediately after the ceremony, a Barbeque for all will be held outside the Auditorium.
Monday 9/19
TIME TBA 60th Anniversary Meeting
NNJYC Youth Commission Meeting @7:30pm in Westfield NJ
Tuesday 9/20
7:30pm GOYA Volleyball
Wednesday 9/21
6:30pm GOYA Junior Basketball | 7:30 Senior Basketball GOYA
Thursday 9/22
+St. Phocas the Martyr / Relics of this Saint in our church + Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9am
Hellenic Afternoon School @4:30-6:30pm
Greek Dance ●Group 1 @6:30pm ●Group 2 @7:15pm ●Group 3 @8:00pm
@6:30pm GOYA Meeting Room 102 OR GYM
Friday 9/23
+The Conception of St. John the Baptist + Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9am
@10am Little Angels Pray group will meet for Pray and Play
Saturday 9/24
●GYRO SALE 11AM-6PM/see promo MENU link to order https://standrewgonj.square.site/
Sunday 9/25
+The 1st Sunday of Luke +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9:30am
Sunday School all Grades age 3 through High School classes after Holy Communion
@1:pm Car Raffle Drawing for the Mercedes /see promo
@1:30pm Baptism
Monday 9/26
+ The Falling Asleep of St. John the Evangelist and Theologian +Orthros @8am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9am
TIME TBA @7:30P Stewardship Meeting
Tuesday 9/27
@7:00pm Philoptochos Meeting
Wednesday 9/28
@11am Knitting & Pillow Ministry
AHEPA Cigar Night at the Meadowood @7pm /see promo
Friday 9/30
@2pm Baptism (2)
@4pm Wedding Apriliani & Janulis
GOYA Harvest Dance/ kick off in Westfield @7pm
Sunday 10/2
+The 2nd Sunday of Luke +Orthros @8:15am & Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom @9:30am
News - Flyers - Registrations - Other
Holy Cross Celebration - Asbury Park
8:00 am Orthros - 9:30 am Archiepiscopal Divine Liturgy at The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey followed by the Holy Cross ceremony in the waters of Atlantic Ocean - Immediately after the ceremony, a Barbeque for all will be held outside the Auditorium.
car raffle
2022 MERCEDES-BENZ | C300 W4 MSRP $53, 395 | TICKETS $25 EACH | DRAWING SEPTEMBER 25, 2022, 1PM | Please bring your sold raffle tickets and money to church and help us sell more! Sign up for JUST 2 HOURS at our roadside and sell to people stopping by.
GYRO FEST 9/24/22
Saturday 11am -6pm | https://standrewgonj.square.site/
eGiving
eGiving is coming to Saint Andrew!
AHEPA
CIGAR NIGHT on Wednesday Sept 28th @7pm at the Meadowood in Randolph
FAITH & BLUE
NATIONAL FAITH & BLUE: Friday, October 7th 4-8pm hosted by: Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church & The Morris County Sheriff’s Office A collaborative effort to build bridges and break biases
Lord's Voice
Foni Kyriou 9-18-22
60th Anniversary - Saint Andrew
Sunday, November 13, 2022 - at the Meadow Wood in Randolph
Greek Dance
GREEK DANCE Program starts on Thursday, September 15th INFO & REG GREEK SCHOOL | St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church (orthodoxws.com) Please complete: Family & Student Information Form 2022-23 and indicate dance level : Group 1 (ages K thru age 7) 6:30pm | Group 2 (ages 8-11) 7:15pm | Group 3 (ages 12-18) 8:00pm |
Prayer List
Prayer for a Sick Person:
Heavenly Father, physician of our souls and bodies, who have sent Your only-begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ to heal every sickness and infirmity, visit and heal (me) Your servant from all physical and spiritual ailments through the grace of Your Christ. Grant (me) patience in this sickness, strength of body and spirit, and recovery of health. Lord, You have taught us through Your word to pray for each other that we may be healed. I pray that You heal (me) as Your servant and grant (me) the gift of complete health. For You are the source of healing and to You I give glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Please keep these names in your prayers
Christos, Paula, Vakerie, David, Barbara, Cesar, Angeliki, Maria, Demetri, Karen, Andrew, Stan, Vasiliki, Marios, Theodore, Gregory, Fr. Konstantine, Mary, Eftihia, Ioannis, David , Andreas, Robert, Antonis, Susan, Alexandros, Gregory, Sophia, Tara, children and families of Ukraine, Ioanna, Landon, Lueda, Evangelia, Christine, Vasiliki, Anastasia, Aikaterini, Cynthia, Demetrios, Robin, Paraskevi, Theodore, Eleni, Athena, Katerina, Sophia, Eleni, Corinne, Maria, Ioannis, Eleana, Demetra, Kenneth, Eleni, Anastasios, Gregory, John, Marny, Chari, Nikolaos, Janet, Melissa, Marty, Andreas, Fotini, Georgia, Pamela, Haralambos, Photeine, Christina, Michael, Adrianne, George, Anastasia, Nicholas, Michael, Alexandra, Sofia, Joseph, Vasilios…
If you would like us to remember you or your loved one in our prayers, please contact the office. 973-584-0388 or send us an email to info@standrewgonj.org
Names will be kept on this list for approximately 3 months. Please resubmit Names if needed. Fr. John will pray for the Names above during the Proskomide “Offering of gifts” during the first part of the Divine Liturgy when our priest prepares the mystical gifts of bread and wine. Please keep these names in your prayers as well.
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Matins Gospel Reading
Third Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Mark 16:9-20
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. After this He appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table and He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.
Third Orthros Gospel
Κατὰ Μᾶρκον 16:9-20
Ἀναστὰς ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρωῒ πρώτῃ Σαββάτου ἐφάνη πρῶτον Μαρίᾳ τῇ Μαγδαληνῇ, ἀφ' ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια. Ἐκείνη πορευθεῖσα ἀπήγγειλε τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ γενομένοις, πενθοῦσι καὶ κλαίουσι. Κᾀκεῖνοι ἀκούσαντες ὅτι ζῇ καὶ ἐθεάθη ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἠπίστησαν. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δυσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν περιπατοῦσιν ἐφανερώθη ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ, πορευομένοις, εἰς ἀγρόν. Κᾀκεῖνοι ἀπελθόντες ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς λοιποῖς, οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστευσαν. Ὕστερον, ἀνακειμένοις αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ὠνείδισε τὴν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν καὶ σκληροκαρδίαν, ὅτι τοῖς θεασαμένοις αὐτὸν ἐγηγερμένον, οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν. Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Πορευθέντες εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἅπαντα, κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει. Ὁ πιστεύσας καὶ βαπτισθείς, σωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ἀπιστήσας, κατακριθήσεται. Σημεῖα δὲ τοῖς πιστεύσασι ταῦτα παρακολουθήσει. Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δαιμόνια ἐκβαλοῦσι, γλώσσαις λαλήσουσι καιναῖς, ὄφεις ἀροῦσι, κἂν θανάσιμόν τι πίωσιν, οὐ μὴ αὐτοὺς βλάψει, ἐπὶ ἀῤῥώστους χεῖρας ἐπιθήσουσι, καὶ καλῶς ἕξουσιν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Κύριος, μετὰ τὸ λαλῆσαι αὐτοῖς, ἀνελήφθη εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἐξελθόντες, ἐκήρυξαν πανταχοῦ, τοῦ Κυρίου συνεργοῦντος, καὶ τὸν λόγον βεβαιοῦντος, διὰ τῶν ἐπακολουθούντων σημείων. Ἀμήν.
Epistle Reading
Prokeimenon. Plagal First Mode. Psalm 11.7,1.
You, O Lord, shall keep us and preserve us.
Verse: Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed.
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians 2:16-20.
Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Προκείμενον. Plagal First Mode. ΨΑΛΜΟΙ 11.7,1.
Σὺ Κύριε, φυλάξαις ἡμᾶς καὶ διατηρήσαις ἡμᾶς.
Στίχ. Σῶσον με, Κύριε, ὅτι ἐκλέλοιπεν ὅσιος.
τὸ Ἀνάγνωσμα Πρὸς Γαλάτας 2:16-20.
Ἀδελφοί, εἰδότες ὅτι οὐ δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἔργων νόμου, ἐὰν μὴ διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐπιστεύσαμεν, ἵνα δικαιωθῶμεν ἐκ πίστεως Χριστοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου· διότι οὐ δικαιωθήσεται ἐξ ἔργων νόμου πᾶσα σάρξ. Εἰ δέ, ζητοῦντες δικαιωθῆναι ἐν Χριστῷ, εὑρέθημεν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἆρα Χριστὸς ἁμαρτίας διάκονος; Μὴ γένοιτο. Εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα, ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνίστημι. Ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, ἵνα θεῷ ζήσω. Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι· ζῶ δέ, οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός· ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκί, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντός με καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ.
Gospel Reading
Sunday after Holy Cross
The Reading is from Mark 8:34-38; 9:1
The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."
Sunday after Holy Cross
Κατὰ Μᾶρκον 8:34-38, 9:1
Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος· Εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι. ὃς γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ σῶσαι, ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν ἀπολέσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ καὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, οὗτος σώσει αὐτήν. τί γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἄνθρωπον ἐὰν κερδήσῃ τὸν κόσμον ὅλον, καὶ ζημιωθῇ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ; ἢ τί δώσει ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ; ὃς γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπαισχυνθῇ με καὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ μοιχαλίδι καὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπαισχυνθήσεται αὐτὸν ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ἁγίων. Καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι εἰσί τινες τῶν ὧδε ἑστηκότων, οἵτινες οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσι τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐληλυθυῖαν ἐν δυνάμει.
Saints and Feasts
September 18
Sunday after Holy Cross
September 18
Eumenius the Wonderworker, Bishop of Gortynia
This Saint took up the monastic life from his youth, and later became Bishop of Gortynia in Crete. He travelled to Rome, and to Thebes in Upper Egypt, where through his prayers he ended a drought; there also, after working many miracles, he reposed in deep old age. His holy relics were returned to Gortynia and buried at the place called Raxos.
September 22
Phocas the Martyr, Bishop of Sinope
This saint was known for the many miracles he worked and for his apostolic zeal in shepherding the flock of Sinope. He contested for the Faith during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, in the year 102, when he was burned to death in a bath-house. A homily in his honour was composed by Saint John Chrysostom. The translation of his holy relics is celebrated on July 23.
September 23
The Conception of St. John the Baptist
This came to pass fifteen months before the birth of Christ, after the vision of the Angel that Zacharias, the father of the Forerunner, saw in the Temple while he executed the priest's office in the order of his course during the feast of the Tabernacles, as tradition bears witness. In this vision, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and said to him, "Thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John" (Luke 1:13). Knowing that Elizabeth was barren, and that both he and she were elderly, Zacharias did not believe what the Angel told him, although he had before him the example of Abraham and Sarah, of Hannah, mother of the Prophet Samuel, and of other barren women in Israel who gave birth by the power of God. Hence, he was condemned by the Archangel to remain speechless until the fulfilment of these words in their season, which also came to pass (Luke 1:7-24).
September 25
1st Sunday of Luke
Hymns of the Day
Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Plagal First Mode
Let us worship the Word, O ye faithful, praising Him that with the Father and the Spirit is co-beginningless God, Who was born of a pure Virgin that we all be saved; for He was pleased to mount the Cross in the flesh that He assumed, accepting thus to endure death. And by His glorious rising, He also willed to resurrect the dead.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Τὸν συνάναρχον Λόγον Πατρὶ καὶ Πνεύματι, τὸν ἐκ Παρθένου τεχθέντα εἰς σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν, ἀνυμνήσωμεν πιστοὶ καὶ προσκυνήσωμεν, ὅτι ηὐδόκησε σαρκί, ἀνελθεῖν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ, καὶ θάνατον ὑπομεῖναι, καὶ ἐγεῖραι τοὺς τεθνεῶτας, ἐν τῇ ἐνδόξῳ Ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text
Apolytikion for Afterfeast of the Holy Cross in the First Mode
Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance; grant Thou unto the faithful victory over adversaries. And by the power of Thy Cross do Thou preserve Thy commonwealth.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Σώσον Κύριε τόν λαόν σου καί ευλόγησον τήν κληρονομίαν σου, νίκας τοίς Βασιλεύσι κατά βαρβάρων δωρούμενος καί τό σόν φυλάττων διά τού Σταυρού σου πολίτευμα.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text
Seasonal Kontakion in the Fourth Mode
Lifted up on the Cross by Your free will, Christ God, grant mercies to the new commonwealth that bears Your name. Gladden our faithful rulers by Your power, giving them victories over their adversaries. May Your alliance be for them a weapon for peace, an invincible standard.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Narthex Press
Ο υψωθείς εν τώ Σταυρώ εκουσίως, τή επωνύμω σου καινή πολιτεία, τούς οικτιρμούς σου δώρησαι, Χριστέ ο Θεός, Εύφρανον εν τή δυνάμει σου, τούς πιστούς Βασιλείς ημών, νίκας χορηγών αυτοίς, κατά τών πολεμίων, τήν συμμαχίαν έχοιεν τήν σήν, όπλον ειρήνης, αήττητον τρόπαιον.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Standard Text
Wisdom of the Fathers
The key to knowledge is the humility of Christ. The door of the Kingdom of Heaven is open, not to those who only know in their learned minds the mysteries of faith and the commandments of their Creator, but to those who have progressed far enough to live by them.
Unknown, 8th century
To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts and desires; to suppress every evil thought; to avoid occasions of sin; not to desire or to do anything out of self-love, but to do everything out of love for God. To deny oneself, according to St. Paul means "to be dead to sin. . . but alive to God."
The Lenten Spring, SVS Press, p. 147, 19th Century