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Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2019-02-24
Bulletin Contents
Welcome to Saint Mary's Orthodox Church
Liturgical/Class Schedule
Hymns of the Day
Gospel and Epistle Readings
From Father Vincent's Desk
Saints and Feasts
Wisdom of the Fathers
Saint Mary's News
Orthodox Christian Mission Center
Prodson
Organization Icon
Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Church

General Information

  • Phone:
  • (570) 640-2517
  • Street Address:

  • 187 Justin Lane

  • Bluefield, WV 24701

Contact Information

Father Vincent Dranginis
Pastor

(570) 640-2517

Mr. Michael Peters
Parish President

(304)922-0310

Services Schedule

Saturday Vespers: 6 pm

Feast Day Vespers: 6pm

Sunday Divine Liturgy: 10 am

Feast Day Divine Liturgy: 9 am

Orthodox Catechism Class: Wednesdays at 6:30 pm

 

Past Bulletins


Welcome to Saint Mary's Orthodox Church

Welcome to The Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Christian Church (Saint Mary's) which is a parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church of the USA whose presiding Bishop is His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa. The American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese is an Autonomous Diocese under the spiritual protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of which His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the ruling Patriarch.

We are thankfully to Almighty God that you are here in God's House to Worship with us Today!

If you are new to the Orthodox Church you will find that our worship is abit different than what you maybe used to, or it maybe entirely new all together! It's okay!!! All of us were new to the Faith at one time or another, but we encourage you to participate as you feel comfortable. The Blue Book in your pew has the whole Service of what we call the Divine Liturgy in it so you can follow along.

Please, if you have any questions about what you see or hear today at the Divine Liturgy, we have a Coffee Hour in the Church Hall after service that you are invited to attend! Come and join us for fellowship to have something to eat and have all your questions answered either by Our Pastor Father Vincent or a friendly member of the Church.  

If you have been on a long or short spiritual journey looking for the True Church you have found it here in the Orthodox Church!

We pray that what you find and experience here is none other than the peace of Christ Jesus Our Risen Lord and the Kingdom of Heaven!

If you are ready or interested in becoming an Orthodox Christian please see Father Vincent at Coffee Hour or contact him at (570) 640-2517 or email him at vincedranginis@gmail.com

 

 

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Liturgical/Class Schedule

Saturday February 23rd Choir/Music Practice 4:00PM - Topic: The 6th Tone and parts of Vespers and Matins. Everyone is welcome to attend!

 Saturday February 23rd Vespers 6:00PM- The Prodigal Son/1st & 2nd Discovery of the Head of John The Baptist and Saint Erasmus

 Sunday February 24th Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom 10:00AM - Second Pre-Fast Sunday - The Sunday of The Prodigal Son/1st & 2nd Discovery of the Head of John The Baptist and Saint Erasmus

MEATFARE SUNDAY IS NEXT WEEK ALREADY!! PLEASE MAKE SURE TO USE UP OR FREEZE ALL MEATS IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD THIS WEEK!

Wednesday February 27th Orthodox Catechism Class 6:30PM - Topic: The Second Section of the Public Part of the Divine Liturgy  

Saturday March 2nd Choir/Music Practice 4:00PM - Topic: The 7th Tone and Parts of Vespers and Matins. Everyone is welcome to attend!!

Saturday March 2nd Vespers 6:00PM- The Last Judgement/Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus, Basiliscus, Righteous Zeno & Zoilus

Sunday March 3rd Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom 10:00AM - 3rd Pre-Fast Sunday - The Sunday of The Last Judgement & Meatfare Sunday/Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus, Basiliscus, Righteous Zeno & Zoilus

FAREWELL TO MEAT ON THIS SUNDAY OF THE LAST JUDGEMENT

This Sunday is also called Meatfare Sunday, because we begin our Lenten Fast from meats starting on this day! This means that all meat and meat products are not to be eaten after sundown on Sunday March 3rd!

 

The first Sunday that Orthros will be celebrated is March 17th starting at 8:30am followed by Divine Liturgy. This is also The Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is a very special day for me because that was the day that I became an Orthodox Christian!! Remember to bring your favorite Icon that day for our Icon procession! Please make every effort to come to Church early on Sunday Mornings to attend both Orthros and Divine Liturgy!

 

 

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Hymns of the Day

Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Sixth Tone

Angelic powers were before Your grave,* and the guards became like dead men:* Mary stood at the grave* seeking Your most pure Body.* You captured death, but were not tempted by it.* O Giver of life, You met the Virgin.* O Lord, You arose from the dead.* Glory to You.

Apolytikion of The Prodigal Son in the Third Tone

Thy Fatherly Embrace do Thou make haste, make haste to open unto me, for I have wasted my life as the Prodigal, in the unfailing wealth of Thy mercy, O Savior, reject not my heart in its poverty. For with compunction I cry to Thee, O Lord: Father I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee!

Apolytikion for 1st and 2nd Finding of the Head of the Forerunner in the Fourth Tone

The Forerunner's sacred head, having dawned forth from the earth, doth send incorruption's rays unto the faithful, whereby they find healings of their ills. From on high he gathereth the choirs of the Angels and on earth he summoneth the whole race of mankind, that they with one voice might send up glory to Christ our God.

Resurrectional Kontakion in the Sixth Tone

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Christ, as the origin of all life, You raised the dead from the valley of darkness. You, as God, restored all the righteous. You resurrected the human race. You are the Savior, as well as Resurrection, the Life and the God of all.

Seasonal Kontakion in the Third Tone

When I Foolishly disobeyed in ignorance, and separated myself from Your Fatherly Glory, * I squandered in wickedness the riches You had given me. * So now I cry out to You with the voice of the Prodigal Son, saying: * "I have sinned before You, O Compassionate Father, * receive me repentant, and make me as one of Your hired servants."

Resurrectional Theotokion in the Sixth Tone

Now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen! O Lord, You named Your Mother the ever Blessed One. You accepted the passion of Your own free will. On the Cross, You showed Yourself radiantly. You sought to restore Adam, saying to the angels, "Rejoice in Me! For I have found the lost piece of silver!" For all is founded in Your Wisdom, O God: Glory to You!
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Gospel and Epistle Readings

Matins Gospel Reading

Sixth Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Luke 24:36-53

At that time, Jesus, having risen from the dead, stood in the midst of his disciples and said to them, "Peace to you." But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high."

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Gospel Reading

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
The Reading is from Luke 15:11-32

The Lord said this parable: "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

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From Father Vincent's Desk

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory be Forever!

   Today is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son! We are approaching Great Lent very fast, this is the 3rd Sunday before Clean Monday the official start of Great Lent!

 We have heard in the Holy Gospel according Saint Luke the parable that Jesus spoke about a Father(Who is God the Father) who had two Sons (Mankind), one the youngest and one the oldest, who both lived with their Father in His House (The Kingdom of Heaven), on His property, on the family estate. The youngest son was unhappy with living in the Father's House and having his Father constantly caring for him, loving him, and providing for his every need both his physical and spiritual well-being.

   The Father's youngest Son believed that he knew better than his Father in all of these matter's and made the decision of his own free will to leave the House of his Father where he grew-up, lived, moved, and had his being. This young Son was so self-centered, self-absorbed, and egocentric, that he wished that his Father's death had already happened and asked for his inheritance to his Father's Face!! This narcissistic Son asked for half of his Father's estate! How bold and self-reliant can a person possibly become, to demand his inheritance before his Father death! This is the soul destroying Sins of Pride and Avarice, this youngest Son has listened well to the whisperings of demons that lead him into a life of sin as we have heard in the Gospel of Luke which calls it a life of "loose living." 

   This young, know it all Son recieves his half of the inheritance from his Loving and Compassionate Father and goes into a far land and spends all the wealth that he had recieved on a Life of Sin and becomes poor, penniless, and full of sinful passion. The Gospel tells us that he was so poor that he joined himself to a farmer who raised pigs as the one who would feed them. This young Son was so hungry for food, that we wanted to eat the feed of the pigs which was back in those days acorns and chaff or ashes. But, the Gospel tells us that no one gave him any of this to eat!!

   Finally, in the mud and manure of a pig pen this young Son "COMES TO HIS SENSES!" The eyes of his heart and soul are opened and he realizes firstly that he is a great sinner and secondly that the servants in his Father's House have more than enough to eat and he is lying here in a pit of mud starving! So, the young Son came up with a plan of REPENTANCE and returned to his Father's House!! When the young Son was returning to the Father's House, when he was still a far way off, His Father caught the sight of him of whom He thought was dead, and the Father ran to meet His long lost Son and welcomed him back home with a great celebration!

  My Dear Brothers and Sisters, we are all the Prodigal Son that we heard about in the Gospel today! Not one of us are without sin, and not one of us are perfect! We all have in our own ways recieved all the gifts and inheritance that Almighty God has given us and spent it all by disobeying the commandments of God and falling into all kinds of sin and passions whether big or small. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Healer of our Souls and Bodys calls us all to have that same "COMING TO OUR SENSES" moment that the Prodigal Son had in today's Gospel! We must throw away and the trash of sin in our lives and return with repentant hearts to Our Father's House which is the Holy Orthodox Church! We are called to change our way of thinking, and our ways of living, and commend our whole life to Christ Our God! We have the perfect opportunity to return to Our Father's House with all our being, our Body, Soul, and Spirit to be healed of the sickness of Sin during this coming Season of Great Lent! REPENTANCE/THE MYSTERY OF CONFESSION is the key to a True Life in Christ! So, please be sure to schedule time to go to Confession this Lent and experience the Forgiveness of Almighty God in Our Father's House! For true you are His Beloved Sons and Daughters, of whom He desires to Inherit the Kingdom of Heaven! Amen!

  

 

  

 

 

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Saints and Feasts

Prodson
February 24

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

Through the parable of today's Gospel, our Saviour has set forth three things for us: the condition of the sinner, the rule of repentance, and the greatness of God's compassion. The divine Fathers have put this reading the week after the parable of the Publican and Pharisee so that, seeing in the person of the Prodigal Son our own wretched condition -- inasmuch as we are sunken in sin, far from God and His Mysteries -- we might at last come to our senses and make haste to return to Him by repentance during these holy days of the Fast.

Furthermore, those who have wrought many great iniquities, and have persisted in them for a long time, oftentimes fall into despair, thinking that there can no longer be any forgiveness for them; and so being without hope, they fall every day into the same and even worse iniquities. Therefore, the divine Fathers, that they might root out the passion of despair from the hearts of such people, and rouse them to the deeds of virtue, have set the present parable at the forecourts of the Fast, to show them the surpassing goodness of God's compassion, and to teach them that there is no sin -- no matter how great it may be -- that can overcome at any time His love for man.

07_john2
February 24

First & Second Finding of the Venerable Head of John the Baptist

The first finding came to pass during the middle years of the fourth century, through a revelation of the holy Forerunner to two monks, who came to Jerusalem to worship our Saviour's Tomb. One of them took the venerable head in a clay jar to Emesa in Syria. After his death it went from the hands of one person to another, until it came into the possession of a certain priest-monk named Eustathius, an Arian. Because he ascribed to his own false belief the miracles wrought through the relic of the holy Baptist, he was driven from the cave in which he dwelt, and by dispensation forsook the holy head, which was again made known through a revelation of Saint John, and was found in a water jar, about the year 430, in the days of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, when Uranius was Bishop of Emesa.

Allsaint
February 25

Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople

This Saint was the son of one of the foremost princes in Constantinople, and was originally a consul and first among the Emperor's private counselors. Then, in 784, he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople by the Sovereigns Irene and her son Constantine Porphyrogenitus. He convoked the Seventh Ecumenical Council that upheld the holy icons, and became the boast of the Church and a light to the clergy. He reposed in 806.

Allsaint
February 26

Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza

Saint Porphyrius had Thessalonica as his homeland. He became a monk in Scete of Egypt, where he lived for five years. He went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, after which he spent five years in much affliction in a cave near the Jordan. Stricken with a disease of the liver, he departed to Jerusalem, where he was ordained presbyter and appointed Keeper of the Cross at the age of 45. Three years later he was made Bishop of Gaza. He suffered much from the rulers and pagans of Gaza; but with the friendship of Saint John Chrysostom, and the patronage of the Empress Eudoxia, he razed the temple of the idol Marnas in Gaza and built a great church to the glory of God. He reposed in 450.

Photini
February 26

The Holy Great Martyr Photine, the Samaritan Women

Saint Photine was the Samaritan Woman who encountered Christ our Saviour at Jacob's Well (John 4:1-42). Afterwards she laboured in the spread of the Gospel in various places, and finally received the crown of martyrdom in Rome with her two sons and five sisters, during the persecutions under the Emperor Nero.

Nicholasplanas
March 02

Our Holy Father Nicholas Planas

 

Saint Nicholas Planas was born in 1851 A.D. on the island of Naxos in Greece. He was married as a teenager and soon after ordained to the diaconate and then the priesthood. His wife reposed soon after and so he assumed the burden of being a widowed father and a parish priest. He was known for his zeal in serving the liturgy, especially his habit of serving the Divine Liturgy every day for 50 years. Many altar boys would see him radiating light or raised off the ground while serving the liturgy. Being so revered by his parishioners, he became known as “Papa,” which is an affectionate term for a parish priest. Papa Nicholas reposed in 1932 and was formally canonized as a saint in 1992.

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Wisdom of the Fathers

Thank God every day with your whole heart for having given to you life according to His image and likeness - an intelligently free and immortal life...Thank Him also for again daily bestowing life upon you, who have fallen an innumerable multitude of times, by your own free will, through sins, from life unto death, and that He does so as soon as you only say from your whole heart: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee!' (Luke 15:18).
St. John of Kronstadt
My Life in Christ: Part 1; Holy Trinity Monastery pgs. 104-105, 19th century

He who truly wishes to believe in God must be lifted above himself, his mind, and even the whole world. For this reason, the value of faith is considered higher than the value of man. It is even higher than the value of the whole world. Therefore, the reward of faith should be higher than all of man's possessions along with the glories of this world. The reward of faith is God.
Fr. Matthew the Poor
Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way, p. 74, 20th century

For "these many years," saith he "do I serve thee, neither transgressed I thy commandment at any time, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but when this thy son is come who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." So great is the power of repentance.
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

... but since he repented, and did not despair, he was restored, even after such great corruption, to the same splendour as before, and was arrayed in the most beautiful robe, and enjoyed greater honours than his brother who had not fallen.
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

But if he had despaired of his life, and, ... had remained in the foreign land, he would not have obtained what he did obtain, but would have been consumed with hunger, and so have undergone the most pitiable death: ...
St. John Chrysostom
AN EXHORTATION TO THEODORE AFTER HIS FALL, 4th Century

What is it that I love when I love you? Not the beauty of a body or the comeliness of time. Nor the luster of the light pleasing to the eyes, nor the sweet melodies of all manner of songs, nor the fragrance of flowers, ointments and spices, not manna and honey, nor limbs welcome to the embrace of the flesh - I do not love these when I love my God. And yet there is a kind of light, a kind of voice, a kind of fragrance, a kind of foods, a kind of embrace, when I love my God, who is the light, voice, fragrance, food, embrace of the inner man, where there shines into the soul that which no place can contain, and there sounds forth that which time cannot end, where there is fragrance which no breeze disperses, taste which eating does not make less, and a clinging together which fulfillment does not terminate. It is this that I love when I love my God.
St. Augustine
Confessions 10.6 in The Confessions of St. Augustine, p. 244, 5th century

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Saint Mary's News

 House Blessings To be Scheduled

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am happy and excited to Bless everyone's Homes after I am Ordained to The Priesthood on March 10th. But, we need to come up with a schedule for me to travel around to everyones house. Yes, I know we will be in the first weeks of Lent, but the Blessing of Homes as I have gathered since my wife and I have been with you here in Bluefield is a much beloved tradition that we simply cannot dismiss.

So, I am asking everyone who would like me to come and Bless your Home with the Waters of the Jordan River that Our Lord Jesus Christ was Baptized in on the Feast of Theophany, to kindly sign up on my traveling list at coffee hour this week and next week.

I would like to have visited everyone's home by the end of March! So, please when you sign up for the Blessing include your Name, Address, phone number, the Time and the Day in March that you would like me to visit!

Working in His Vineyard with much Love,

Father Vincent

General Parish Council Meeting

The General Parish wide Meeting will be held on Sunday March 3rd after Divine Liturgy!

Everyone is encouraged to attend the Parish Wide Meeting to discuss the different affairs of Our Church, particularly to discuss the celebrations of the upcoming Lenten Season and Pascha.

Saint Mary's Cook Book Project

We need volunteers to oversee the creation of our New Saint Mary's Cook Book! All who are interested in this project please see a member of the Lady's Altar Society. We also are in need of new recipes to be included in the cook book. If anyone would like to contribute to the contents of the cook book please give your recipes to a member of the Lady's Altar Society. We would like this New Cook Book to become a reality by the Annual Food Festival, so please respond ASAP! Thank you in advance for your help!

Saint Mary's Book Store News

The New Saint Mary's Book Store is under construction and will be relocated from the Narthex Hallway to it's new location in the old business office in the Narthex. There are new item's for sale in the Book Store which include a new Book by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlahos; "Entering the Orthodox Church" which is a catechism and instruction on Baptism for adults, the price is $15.00. Another new item is the "Blue" Prayer Book's printed by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston Massachusetts; "A Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians," the price is $18.00. Coming soon items include "Great Lent" by Fr. Alexander Schmemann, a wonder meditation book on the 40 days of Lent, a spiritual companion that would be useful to all of us as we journey through Great Lent together. Also, another coming soon item is "Lenten Spring" by Fr. Thomas Hopko which is another meditation book for the season of Great Lent. There are many new icons that are available in the Book Store as well, please visit the Book Store to check out these new items! Please see Ginny or Michael for assistance with Book Store purchases.  

 Diocesan Assessments-Last Call to make your Payment!!!

Diocesan Assessments are past due! They were to be sent to our Chancery in Johnstown on January 1st. The assentment dues per parish member is $75 dollars. Please if you have not paid or are unable to pay the whole amount please see Michael Peters or Father Vincent. To paid your assentment please drop it into the offering basket on Sunday Morning and if paying by check please make out the check to Saint Mary's Orthodox Church. Thank you for your support of our Diocese!

 

 

 

 

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Orthodox Christian Mission Center

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