Sunday Services:
8:30 am Orthros
9:45 am Divine Liturgy
Sunday School Classes:
11:15 am After Holy Communion
Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be!
Join us for Orthodox Divine Liturgy every Sunday at 9:45 a.m.
August 21, 2022
10th Sunday of Matthew
Afterfeast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady
the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary
Thaddeus the Apostle of the 70
Bassa the Martyr of Edessa & her sons
Theogonius, Agapius & Pistus
COVID-19 protocol: Parishioners and guests may wear a mask if they desire in our Church and Hellenic Cultural Center. All are advised not to enter if exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. Everyone should also follow the CDC guidelines quarantining if they recently been with someone who is COVID positive or experiencing symptoms.
Links to the service text: Links to the service texts are through the Digital Chant Stand of our Archdiocese. For optimal viewing select the "GR-EN Text/Music" link for Matins (Orthros) and Divine Liturgy. Apps may be downloaded for your phone or tablet. Link to the Digital Chant Stand
Holy Communion: When the faithful approach the Holy Chalice, they should stand with respect before the priest and say their baptismal/chrismation name. After the name is uttered, the faithful should open their mouth to receive Holy Communion. When the spoon goes into the mouth, the faithful should close their mouth and make sure that they swallow the consecrated Bread and Wine. Every person who stands before the Holy Chalice, should not have any contact with the red communion cloth, before, during, or after receiving Holy Communion. The red communion cloth is to be placed under each person’s chin by those who are assisting the clergy. Under no circumstances should the red communion cloth be used as a table napkin to wipe the mouth, nor should one who has received Holy Communion touch it at all.
Coffee and Fellowship: We invite all to join us for coffee and fellowship in our Hellenic Cultural Center after the Divine Liturgy.
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This Week
Sunday, August 21 10th Sunday of Matthew
8:30 am Orthros
9:45 am Divine Liturgy
Saturday, August 27
HDF Pool Party
Highlights of Upcoming Services and Events
Sunday, August 28 11th Sunday of Matthew
8:30 am Orthros
9:45 am Divine Liturgy
Fanouropita Sunday
Monday, August 29 Beheading of John the Baptist
9:00 am Orthros
10:00 am Liturgy
2022 Stewardship: We appreciate our stewards – our Saint Catherine family. Your Stewardship gift reflects your appreciation for God's many blessings.
As of August 5th, Stewardship gifts have been received from 219 individual/families totaling $169,512. Many of the donations represent fulfillment of their total pledge for 2022 while many others have begun their weekly, monthly or other scheduled donation. We are so thankful to these stewards.
Have you sent in your 2022 Stewardship Commitment Form? Forms are available in the Narthex of the church, in the Hellenic Cultural Center and online. Click here for the 2022 Stewardship Program and Commitment Form.
The Donate buttons here and on our website lead to our online giving site. Again, thank you for your support!
Youth Safety Resources: We’re committed to connecting young people with Jesus Christ. To do that, we need to create ministry environments that are safe and health. For more on how you can help, please visit our Youth Safety website: goarch.org/safety.
Many of our Divine Liturgies have been recorded and can be viewed at www.youtube.com. Subscribe to our YouTube channel; you will be notified when we begin a live stream.
Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church (Services from 2020 until now)
Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church (Selected services from 2015-2019)
Shop with Amazon, donate to Saint Catherine
Amazon Smile is a program that allows for 0.5% of your eligible Amazon purchase to be donated to our Saint Catherine Church (No Added Cost To You). To sign-up visit Sign up for Amazon Smile and press "Select" next to our church name. Then remember to log in to "smile.amazon.com" when you shop.
The proceeds of our annual Fanouropita Sunday benefit the youth programs of the Diakonia Retreat Center
The First South Florida Conference Glendi to benefit our Metropolis' Diakonia Retreat Center, home of Saint Stephen's Summer Camp.... Saturday, October 1st.
Engage Orthodoxy is a beautiful website created by FLM to provide resources and inspiration for our Orthodox family. EO hosts several blogs written by Orthodox authors on timely topics. In addition to blogs, EO has launched a podcast aimed at Orthodox homeschool families of teens. Check out our newest posts and listen to our podcast at www.engageorthodoxy.net
“We join our spirit to the spirit of His All-Holiness and exhort all our Faithful: offer prayers and tangible support for all the Ukrainian People, those of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and those of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, those of the Ukrainian Catholic and Jewish communities, and all who find themselves in the dire circumstances of war.”
The writers of Forged understand that our young people require both guidance in their faith and strengthening that faith in a world that is often at odds with Orthodox Christian spirituality. What does it mean to be a man? How do I conduct myself in relationships, and in friendship? What is a healthy perspective concerning technology? Using this workbook our young men will have the opportunity to consider these subjects, within the Orthodox Christian style of life. Forged uses a structure that appeals to a young man’s creative sense of adventure and problem-solving, and these lessons are reinforced through journaling, activities and discussion topics that can be utilized in group settings.
Tenth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 21:1-14
At that time, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and He revealed Himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. .
Prokeimenon. First Tone. Psalm 32.22,1.
Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us.
Verse: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.
The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 4:9-16.
Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
10th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 17:14-23
At that time, a man came up to Jesus and kneeling before him said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."
The Apostle Thaddaeus was from Edessa, a Jew by race. When he came to Jerusalem, he became a disciple of Christ, and after His Ascension he returned to Edessa. There he catechized and baptized Abgar (see Aug. 16). Having preached in Mesopotamia, he ended his life in martyrdom. Though some call him one of the Twelve, whom Matthew calls "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus" (Matt. 10:3), Eusebius says that he is one of the Seventy: "After [Christ's] Resurrection from the dead, and His ascent into Heaven, Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles, inspired by God, sent Thaddaeus, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa as a preacher and evangelist of Christ's teaching" (Eccl. Hist. 1: 13).
The Martyrs were from Edessa of Macedonia. Bassa was the wife of a certain Valerian, a priest of the idols, to whom she bore three sons and raised them in piety. She was betrayed with her sons to the proconsul by her own husband; each of her sons was tormented before her and beheaded. For refusing to worship the idols, she was imprisoned, cast into water and then fire, was stoned, and remaining unharmed, was brought to the temple to worship the idols. Laying hold upon the idol of Zeus, she overturned it and broke it to pieces. After being preserved through further torments, she was beheaded, about the year 290, in the reign of Maximian.
The Martyr Agathonicus, because he converted pagans to Christ, was seized in Nicomedia, violently beaten, haled about in bonds, and beheaded in Selyvria, during the reign of Maximian, in the year 298.
The wonderworking icon of the Mother of God of Prusa was saved from destruction at the hands of the Iconoclasts in the ninth century, when a certain nobleman of Prusa (near Constantinople) brought it secretly to Greece. There he lost the icon, but it miraculously appeared in a cave in the area of Litza and Agrapha, where the monastery and the shrine of the icon are presently found. The feast today was established in commemoration of the many signs and healings that the holy Theotokos has wrought through the icon.
Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, clouds caught up the Apostles from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching, and brought them at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering. As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction as was meet, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.
With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, audaciously stretched forth his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those daring hands were severed by an invisible blow. But when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored. When they had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honor the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus' Name, as was their custom, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them. From this they learned concerning the bodily translation of the Theotokos into the Heavens.
These things has the Church received from the traditions of the Fathers, who have composed many hymns out of reverence, to the glory of the Mother of our God (see Oct. 3 and 4).
The Holy Hieromartyr Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor about the year 120, and in his youth was a disciple of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Saint Irenaeus was sent to Lyons in Gaul, to be a fellow labourer of Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons (celebrated June 2), who had also been a disciple Saint Polycarp. After the martyrdom of Saint Pothinus, Saint Irenaeus succeeded him as Bishop of Lyons. Besides the assaults of paganism, Irenaeus found himself compelled to do battle with many Gnostic heresies, against which he wrote his greatest work, A Refutation and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called . He was also a peace-maker within the Church. When Victor, Bishop of Rome, was prepared to excommunicate the Christians of Asia Minor for following a different tradition celebrating Pascha, Irenaeus persuaded him to moderate his zeal, and mediated peace. He made Lyons an illustrious bastion of Orthodoxy and a school of piety, and sealed his confession with martyrdom about the year 202, during the reign of Septimius Severus. He is not to be confused with Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium, also celebrated today, who was beheaded and cast into a river in 304 under Diocletian.
The Holy Martyr Lupus was a devoted servant of the holy Great Martyr Demetrius, and was present at his martyrdom. Later, when his own labours in confession of the Faith became known to the rulers, Saint Lupus himself was arrested, given over to torture, and finally beheaded for Christ.
Our holy Father Cosmas was from the town of Mega Dendron (Great Tree) of Aetolia. At the age of twenty, he went to study at the school of the Monastery of Vatopedi on the Holy Mountain. Later, he came to the Athonite Monastery of Philotheou where he was tonsured. With the blessing of his abbot, he departed for Constantinople where he learned the art of rhetoric, and thereafter, he began to preach throughout all the regions of northern Greece, the Ionian Islands, but especially in Albania, for the Christian people there were in great ignorance because of the oppression and cruelty of the Moslems. Finally, in 1776, after having greatly strengthened and enlightened the faithful, working many signs and wonders all the while, he was falsely accused by the leaders of the Jewish people and was executed by strangulation by the Moslem Turks in Albania.
When Saint Dionysios died in 1622 A.D., his last wish was that he be buried in the Church of Saint George on the Strofades Islands where he lived as a monk. Three years after his interment there his body was found to be incorrupt. In 1717 his body was transferred from the Strofades Islands back to his home island of Zakynthos where it resides to this day.
Saint Eutyches was a disciple of Saint John the Theologian and a fellow laborer of the holy Apostle Paul. He preached the Gospel in many places, pulled down the idols' temples, and suffered imprisonments and many torments at the hands of the idolaters. He finally reposed in peace in deep old age in his native city of Sebastia, near Tarsus.
On this day we also commemorate the translation of the holy relics of Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, which took place in the year 1646.
Our holy and wonderworking Father Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, was born in Volhynia, tonsured a monk at twelve years of age, and later ordained a priest. He lived in solitude for a time in a desert place north of Lvov and founded the Holy Transfiguration Monastery; afterwards he was sent to Constantinople, where the holy Patriarch Athanasius consecrated him Metropolitan of Kiev in 1308, and he returned to Vladimir, where the Metropolitans of Kiev had their residence at that time (see Saint Jonas on June 15). In 1325, he moved to Moscow, where he founded the Dormition Cathedral, and after his repose in December 21, 1326, was buried there. He was also an iconographer, and two of his icons, the Dormition and the Petrovskaya, are found in the Dormition Cathedral (see Oct. 5).
Saint Titus was a Greek by race, and an idolater. But having believed in Christ through the Apostle Paul, he became Paul's disciple and follower and labored with him greatly in the preaching of the Gospel. When Paul ordained him Bishop of Crete, he later wrote to him the Epistle which bears his name. Having shepherded in an apostolic manner the flock that had been entrusted to him, and being full of days, he reposed in peace, some ninety-four years of age.
Concerning the Apostle Bartholomew, see June 11
The holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalie confessed the Christian Faith during the reign of Maximian, in Nicomedia, in the year 298. Adrian was a pagan; witnessing the valor of the Martyrs, and the fervent faith with which they suffered their torments, he also declared himself a Christian and was imprisoned. When this was told to his wife Natalie, who was secretly a believer, she visited him in prison and encouraged him in his sufferings. Saint Adrian's hands and feet were placed on an anvil and broken off with a hammer; he died in his torments. His blessed wife recovered part of his holy relics and took it to Argyropolis near Byzantium, and reposed in peace soon after.
In all probability, the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir was painted in Constantinople. In the twelfth century, Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges sent it to Kiev to Great Prince Yuri Dolgruky. The icon was kept in the convent at Vyshgorod, whence the holy Prince Andrew of Bogoliubovo brought it to Vladimir. The icon is one of the most venerated in Russia, having been carried by princes in military campaigns, prayed before by rulers for the welfare of the people, and flocked to by the faithful of all walks of life. At the election of the metropolitans and patriarchs, the names of the candidates were placed before this holy icon, and after prayer, the lot chosen; Patriarch Tikhon the Confessor was elected this way. The icon is celebrated also on June 23 and May 21, the last feast being established to commemorate the deliverance of Moscow in 1521 from the onslaught of the Tartar Khan Makhmet-Girei.
Little is known of the holy Martyr Phanurius, except that which is depicted concerning his martyrdom on his holy icon, which was discovered in the year 1500 among the ruins of an ancient church on Rhodes, when the Moslems ruled there. Thus he is called "the Newly Revealed." The faithful pray to Saint Phanurius especially to help them recover things that have been lost, and because he has answered their prayers so often, the custom has arisen of baking a Phaneropita ("Phanurius-Cake") as a thanks-offering.
Saint Pimen was from Egypt and shone forth in the ascetical life in Scete in the fourth century; he was renowned for his discretion. Many of his sayings and deeds are preserved in the Paradise of the Fathers and the Sayings of the Fathers.
Metropolitan Alexios' Message
My Beloved Ones,
Having celebrated the last of the Twelve Great Feasts with the Dormition, we now look ahead to the renewal of our liturgical cycle, with the start of a New Ecclesiastical Year on September 1. This week’s Gospel can be read as a call for us to strengthen our faith for the Church’s New Year. A man fell at Christ’s feet, saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” (Matthew 17:15-16). Christ is visibly upset with the lack of faith He perceives not only from the boy’s father, but also the Disciples.
When we know His disappointment, it is less surprising to read Him say, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” (Matthew 17:17) In every step He takes, our Lord is aware of His coming Passion. Truly, it is not accidental that in the conclusion of this passage He once more reveals His salvific mission to the Disciples: “As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’” (Matthew 17:22-23) However, even in His Human anguish, He is still God: He successfully expels the demon and intends to teach His Disciples the importance of strengthening our faith.
After He heals the boy, Jesus is privately approached by the Disciples who ask, “Why could we not cast it out? (Matthew 17:19). Jesus is very clear with them: “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.’” (Matthew 17:20-21) The images of the tiny mustard seed, against a large mountain are so great, that many read this passage, secure that they understand we are to pray and fast more, in order to strengthen our faith. All these things are true: faith, as with any other aspect of our lives, requires exercise and strengthening; and both prayer and fasting are kinds of spiritual “exercising”. Now I ask you: why did our Lord choose a mustard seed for His example?
We know from the Parable earlier in St. Matthew’s Gospel how the mustard seed is used to illustrate that the smallest of things can become great: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed… it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32) However, the choice of a mustard seed is not simply because of its size. For such a terribly small seed, mustard is incredibly hot; to use even a little in food changes the taste entirely. Our Lord knows that it is not the “size” of our faith that matters, but the warmth that dwells within our souls. In their doubt both the Disciples and the father of the affected child show that doubt quenches the zeal, the heat of faith.
My children, as we prepare to renew our Ecclesiastical Year, the Fathers of our Church have given us this passage to remind us that we should also resolve to pray more, fast with greater discernment, study the scriptures, and receive the appropriate sacraments—so that in this New Year we might demonstrate to all how great is our faith in our God, and how our hearts burn for His righteousness.
+ALEXIOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta
On Youth Safety Protocols
From Father George Tsahakis, Chancellor: On behalf of His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios and Monica Gjerde, our Metropolis Youth Coordinator, I commend you for working to achieve the ongoing safety and protection of our youth. Please review the following:
Login in to Armatus Administration to see your Parish Summary Now!*
https://armatus2.praesidiuminc.com/armatusUser/login
In closing, we understand this effort requires 100 percent compliance. The parish I serve, St. Christopher Church is 100 percent compliant with the above protocol. If your parish is at 100 percent, email me so I can add you to the listing for His Eminence's review. He is both supportive and has completed his background check, the 2-part Youth Safety and 1-part youth worker regulations online training. This is an ongoing responsibility for all our clergy and their youth workers... we support your efforts to guide your parish to 100 percent compliance. Thank you.
*If you misplaced your password, contact your Parish Youth Safety Admin to get it.
For information on Policies for the Safety of Youth and Children, please click https://atlmetropolis.org/policies-for-the-safety-of-youth-and-children!
Please remember that all parishes must comply and sign their parish contracts to host any youth ministry programs or events on the parish level (Sunday School) or to participate on a District or Metropolis Level Events (Retreats, WYR & HDF).
Journey of Marriage (Pre-Marital Seminar)
All couples marrying in the Metropolis must attend a Metropolis-sponsored Journey of Marriage seminar prior to their wedding. The couple will present their certificate of completion to their parish priest after the seminar.
To see the full list of seminars in Florida and in our entire Metropolis for 2022 and to register, please visit:
https://atlmetropolis.org/pre-marital-seminars-journey-of-marriage
Registration is online. Materials costs are included in the registration. The seminars are currently being conducted by Zoom meeting.