Every Saturday we have Great Vespers (unless otherwise noted) at 6:00 p.m. Every Sunday - Orthros at 8:50 a.m., Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. Weekday Services are as listed on the Calendar and Community News.
Weekday Services...
Every Sunday we have Orthros beginning at 8:50 a.m. and Divine Liturgy beginning at 10:00 a.m. Saturday evenings we have Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Weekday services are listed below and begin at 9:00 a.m. with Orthros followed by Divine Liturgy. Unless otherwise stated service will be at St. George.
(Note: For the weekday feast - all services are at 9:00 a.m. and at St. George unless otherwise noted)
October
23rd, Saturday - St. James the brother of the Lord
26th, Tuesday - St. Demetrios the Great Martyr
November
1st, Monday - Sts. Kosmas & Damianos
8th, Monday - Holy Archangels
9th, Tuesday - St. Nektarios
13th, Saturday - St. John Chrysostom
25th, Thursday - St. Katherine the Great
30th, Tuesday - St. Andrew the Apostle
The indwelling of Christ and the death of carnal passions
St. John Chrysostom writes, ‘You will ask, “What will happen if Christ is within us?” “If Christ is in you, your body is dead to sin, but your spirit lives unto righteousness” (Rom. 8:10). You see how much evil comes from not having the Holy Spirit within you, to compete with the angels! For to have a body that is dead to sin, means to begin to live in eternal life, to carry within you – even here on earth – the pledge of the resurrection and the reassuring power to advance upon the path of virtue. Note that the Apostle said not only, “the body is dead”, but added, “to sin”, so that you should understand that it is the sins of the flesh, and not the body itself, that is mortified. It is not of the body as such that the Apostle speaks; on the contrary he wants the body, although dead, still to remain alive. When our bodies, in so far as carnal reactions are concerned, do not differ from those that lie in the grave, this is a sign that we have the Son within us, and that in us dwells the Spirit.’
As darkness cannot stand before the light, so all that is carnal, passionate, or sinful, cannot stand before our Lord Christ and His Spirit. But as the existence of the sun does not abolish the fact of darkness, so the presence within us of the Son and Spirit does not abolish the existence within us of something that is sinful and passionate, but only takes away its power. As soon as an occasion arises, the passionate and sinful elements step forward and offer themselves to our consciousness and will. If our consciousness pays attention and occupies itself with them, then our will may also turn towards them. But if, at that moment, our consciousness and will pass over to the side of the spirit and turn to our Lord Christ and His Spirit, then all that is carnal and passionate will disappear immediately like smoke before a breath of wind. This means that the flesh is dead, powerless. Such is the general rule of life for true Christians; but they are at different stages. When someone remains steadfastly with his consciousness and will on the side of the Spirit, then at that time nothing carnal or passionate can so much as show itself, any more than darkness before the sun or cold before flames. In such a case the flesh is quite dead and immobile. It is of this stage that St. Paul is speaking in the text quoted by St. John Chrysostom. St. Makarios of Egypt often describes this stage.
The general course to be followed is the spiritual life is well described by St. Hesychios. The essence of his teaching is this: when the flesh and passions arise, tun away from them with disregard, with contempt, with enmity; and turn with prayer to our Lord Christ who is within you – then the carnal and passionate will depart immediately.
St. Theophan the Recluse
From: An Akathist in Praise of God's Creation
Ikos 1
I was born a weak, defenseless child, but your angel, spreading his radiant wings, guarded my cradle. From my birth, your love has illumined my paths, and has wondrously guided me towards the light of eternity. From my first day until now, the generous gifts of your providence have been wonderfully showered upon me. I give you thanks, and with all those who have come to know you, I exclaim:
Glory to you for calling me into being,
Glory to you for spreading out before me the beauty of the universe,
Glory to you for revealing to me through heaven and earth the eternal book of wisdom,
Glory to your eternity within this fleeting world,
Glory to you for your mercies, seen and unseen,
Glory to you for every sigh of my sorrow,
Glory to you for every step in my life's journey, for every moment of joy,
Glory to you, O God, from age to age.
Metropolitan Tryphon (Turkestanov),1934
Community Connections
Sunday School
Sunday School begins this Sunday, September 12th, after Communion.
Condolences
Condolences are extended to Darlene Pagonis and her family on the passing of her husband Nick. May his memory be eternal.
Condolences are extended to the Papasarantou family on the passing of Maria. May her memory be eternal.
Community News
Sunday, November 7th - 40-Day Memorial for Nick Pagonis. A breakfast will be held in his memory. May his memory be eternal.
Sunday, November 14th - 40-Day Memorial for Maria Papasarantou. A breakfast will be held in her memory. May her memory be eternal.
Philoptochos Corner
Philoptochos Meeting Sunday October 31st after church
Light lunch will be served
All ladies who are interested are welcome to attend
We look forward to fellowship and planning for upcoming events!
Our BUZZED with BLESSINGS fundraiser continues in a time of social distancing. The Bees might be a nice alternative! $50, includes 30 Bees, occasion card & honey. Thank you! Take care & prayers for our community. Contact the Church office or a Philoptochos member to schedule any upcomming BUZZED with BLESSINGS date.
Fellowship Hour...
We are having Fellowship Hour after Church and they are available for sponsorship.
Prosfora Schedule
October
3rd, Sunday - Catherine Chrysant (2nd Sunday of Luke)
10th, Sunday - Vana Economopoulos (3rd Sunday of Luke)
17th, Sunday - Litsa Angelidis (7th Ecumenical Council)
23rd, Saturday - Catherine Chrysant (St. James the brother of the Lord)
24th, Sunday - Catherine Chrysant (6th Sunday of Luke)
26th, Tuesday - Catherine Chrysant (St. Demetrios the Great Martyr)
31st, Sunday - Katerina Stavrakis (5th Sunday of Luke)
November
1st, Monday - Catherine Chrysant (Sts. Kosmas & Damianos
7th, Sunday - Patrick Ingle (7th Sunday of Luke)
8th, Monday - Fofo Bargeliotis (Holy Archangels)
9th, Tuesday - Fofo Bargeliotis (St. Nektarios)
13th, Saturday - Patrick Ingle (St. John Chrysostom)
14th, Sunday - Peter & Diana Theophilos (8th Sunday of Luke)
21st, Sunday - Elaine Bappert (Entrance of the Theotokos)
25th, Thursday - Catherine Chrysant (St. Katherine the Great Martyr)
28th, Sunday - Beth Huntley (13th Sunday of Luke)
30th, Tuesday - Catherine Chrysant (St. Andrew the Apostle)
St. Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in rememberance of me.'" (1 Cor. 11:24).
We are in need of Prosfora bakers. Our ladies and gentlemen have diminished over the years. The greatest part of this is everyone qualifies! Anyone young and old can make Prosfora. We would only ask a few times per year to prepare bread for a Divine Liturgy. What better way for a family to give of themselves and their love for the Church.
Prosfora can be kneaded in a bread machine, with a mixer that has dough hooks, or by hand. It can easily bge an individual's or an offering made by the whole family. Children love to knead bread or be able to put the seal on and for the children it is a learning experience. It is a great offering of life and love to God.
Please call the Church office if you would like to offer this gift.
Seventh Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from John 20:1-10
On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Prokeimenon. First Mode. 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 Second Letter to the Corinthians 9:6-11.
Brethren, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever." He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
6th Sunday of Luke
The Reading is from Luke 8:26-39
At that time, as Jesus arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, there met him a man from the city who had demons; for a long time he had worn no clothes and he lived not in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me." For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When the herdsmen saw what happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Reading is under copyright and is used with permission, all rights reserved by: Holy Transfiguration Monastery
These Martyrs contested for piety's sake in the year 524 in Najran, a city of Arabia Felix (present-day Yemen). When Dhu Nuwas, ruler of the Himyarite tribe in south Arabia, and a Judaizer, took power, he sought to blot out Christianity, especially at Najran, a Christian city. Against the counsels of Arethas, chief man of Najran, the city surrendered to Dhu Nuwas, who immediately broke the word he had given and sought to compel the city to renounce Christ. Led by Saint Arethas, hundreds of martyrs, including women, children, and babes, valiantly withstood his threats, and were beheaded and burned. After the men had been slain, all the free-born Christian women of Najran were brought before the tyrant and commanded to abjure Christ or die; yet they rebuked the persecutor with such boldness that he said even the men had not insulted him so contemptuously. So great was their faith that not one woman was found to deny Christ in all Najran, although some of them suffered torments more bitter than most of the men. In alliance with Byzantium, the Ethiopian King Elesbaan liberated Najran from Dhu Nuwas soon after and raised up churches in honour of the Martyrs. Najran became a place of pilgrimage until the rise of Islam a century later. At the end of his life King Elesbaan, who was also called Caleb, retired into solitude as a hermit; he sent his crown to Jerusalem as an offering to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He also is commemorated on this day as a saint. Saint Arethas' name in Arabic, Harith, means "plowman, tiller," much the same as "George" does in Greek.
These Martyrs were disciples of Saint Paul the Confessor (see Nov. 6). Martyrius was a subdeacon, Marcian a chanter and reader. They were beheaded by the Arians in the year 346. Miracles were wrought at their tomb, and demons were cast out; Saint John Chrysostom began the building of the church in their honour in Constantinople, and it was completed by patriarch Sisinius.
Saint Demetrius was a Thessalonian, a most pious son of pious and noble parents, and a teacher of the Faith of Christ. When Maximian first came to Thessalonica in 290, he raised the Saint to the rank of Duke of Thessaly. But when it was discovered that the Saint was a Christian, he was arrested and kept bound in a bath-house. While the games were under way in the city, Maximian was a spectator there. A certain friend of his, a barbarian who was a notable wrestler, Lyaeus by name, waxing haughty because of the height and strength of his body, boasted in the stadium and challenged the citizens to a contest with him. All that fought with him were defeated. Seeing this, a certain youth named Nestor, aquaintance of Demetrius', came to the Saint in the bath-house and asked his blessing to fight Lyaeus single-handed. Receiving this blessing and sealing himself with the sign of the precious Cross, he presented himself in the stadium, and said, "O God of Demetrius, help me!" and straightway he engaged Lyaeus in combat and smote him with a mortal blow to the heart, leaving the former boaster lifeless upon the earth. Maximian was sorely grieved over this, and when he learned who was the cause of this defeat, he commanded straightway and Demetrius was pierced with lances while he was yet in the bath-house, As for Nestor, Maximian commanded that he be slain with his own sword.
The great earthquake commemorated here took place in 740, during the reign of Leo the Isaurian, the first of the Iconoclast emperors.
As mentioned in the account concerning Saint Demetrius (October 26), this Saint contested during the reign of Maximian, in the year 290.
The Feast of the Protection commemorates the appearance of the most holy Theotokos in the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople in the tenth century, as recorded in the life of Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ's sake. While the multitudes of the faithful were gathered in church, Epiphanius, the friend of Saint Andrew, through the Saint's prayers, beheld the Virgin Mary above the faithful and spreading out her veil over them, signifying her unceasing protection of all Christians. Because of this we keep a yearly feast of gratitude, imploring our Lady never to cease sheltering us in her mighty prayers.
The Feast is celebrated on October 1. In the 1950s, the Church of Greece began to observe the Feast on October 28.
Both the country and the time of the martyrdom of these holy Martyrs are unknown. All were beheaded, after having endured many bitter torments.
Saint Steven passed his life in ascetical discipline in the Monastery of Saint Sabbas, from whence also he received the name Sabbaite. He was consecrated bishop and reposed about the year 790, bequeathing to the Church a number of melismatic troparia.
Saint Anastasia, who was young in age and lived in a convent, was seized by the impious. Confessing Christ openly and with boldness and enduring manifold torments, she was beheaded in the year 256, during the reign of Valerian.
Our Righteous Father Abramius, born in Edessa in Mesopotamia in 296, took up the monastic life and brought many pagans to Christ. Mary, his niece, upon the death of her parents, joined Abramius at his hermitage and under his guidance advanced swiftly in the love of God. Through the wiles of the evil one, however, she fell into sin, and falling from them into despair, she left her uncle and became a harlot. When he learned where his niece was, Abramius put on the clothes of a man of the world and went to visit her in disguise. Through his exhortations, Mary returned to her first hope in the mercy of God, was rescued from the life of harlotry, and ended her life in great holiness. He himself reposed in the year 366. Saints Abramius and Mary were friends of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, and it was he who wrote their account.
These Saints were from Aegae in Cilicia, brought up in piety by their parents. Zenobius was a physician, and healed many freely by the power of God; because of his virtue he was consecrated Bishop of Aegae. With his sister he was taken by Lysias the Governor, and after many tortures they were beheaded, about the year 290, during the reign of Diocletian.