THIS SUNDAY, November 11, 2018 Orthros 9:00am Divine Liturgy 10:00am. Eighth Sunday of Luke.
AGIASMO FOR CHILDREN OF CHURCH SCHOOL AND GREEK SCHOOL at the conclusion of the Nov. 11th Divine Liturgy . PRAYER WHEN CHILDREN BEGIN THEIR INSTRUCTION: We pray that our Lord will bless our children, will send down upn them the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, and of piety, and of his fear, and that he will illumine them with the light of his knowledge, and will bestow upon them strength and steadfastness, and receive instruction in his Divine Law, and give them wisdom and understanding in all good works...."
GREETER COVERGE SCHEDULE: Parish Council member Spyros Condos is scheduled to open the church and to be the Greeter this Sunday 11/11; 11/18 Arven; 11/25 Penny; 12/2 Nikos; 12/9 Greg; 12/16 Mike; 12/23 Mike; 12/24 Christmas Eve -volunteer needed; 12/30 Spyros.
REFLECTION: EXPECTING THE MESSIAH: THE TIME OF ADVENT. Messiah in Hebrew means “he who has been anointed by the Spirit,” and the Greek term for this is Christos. A covenant with God by King David prophesied that a Messiah would come after him who would be greater than he is and that the Messiah would be born from his blood, of his race, and a man of divine origin. This hope for Messiah was transmitted through the centuries. The prophets announced his coming and described his image.
- MICAH teaches us that he will be born in Bethlehem, like his ancestor.
- DANIEL describes the kingdoms which arise, then destroy one another, while the reign of the Messiah will last for ever (Daniel 2:31-45).
- ISAIAH gives a sign (a vision totally incomprehensible for human reason): a virgin will bear a son (Isaiah 7:14-15).
- ISAIAH again reveals to us that the Messiah is to be the Suffering Servant, who takes upon himself the suffering of the world (Isaiah 53).
Isaiah knows that the Holy Spirit dwells on this Servant: “The Spirit of God is upon me,” he says, “because the Lord has anointed me” (that is, he has made me the Messiah, Christ, through the anointing). “He has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor.”
In all these prophesies we can recognize the man from Galilee. Nine centuries after King David a virgin in Nazareth receives a visit from the Archangel Gabriel revealing to her that she will bear a son conceived of the Holy Spirit and He will be the Son of the Most High.
ADVENT begins on November 15, six weeks before Christmas. And so we like Israel, the prophets, and like Mary, we wait for the coming of the Messiah. And so our first response to Advent is to anticipate the fulfillment of the covenant with God made to King David, and to expect the coming of the Messiah into the world for our salvation and for the life of the world!
Email to Fr. Don: FrDonatAugusta@mail.goarch.org.
Email to St. Basil Church can be sent to: office@stbasil.ct.goarch.org. Your questions or comments can be sent to this email and will be forwarded to the parish priesst or the parish council members for a response.
Visit our St. Basil parish website: www.stbasil.ct.goarch.org. You will find many interesting links. Especially visit the "Orthodox Marketplace" where you will find an excellent selection of icons, books, and gift ideas for birthdays and holidays. Also, you can link to our Parish Facebook page.
On Facebook do a search for: "Saint Basil Greek Orthodox Church." You will find lots of information about parish activities, photos, and updates on the Greek Cultural Fair. Thanks to Arven Saunders for his work on the parish Facebook site and the parish Website.