August 30
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
Publish Date: 2020-08-30
Bulletin Contents
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
General Information
- Phone:
- 434-973-2500
- Web:
- 33-ad.org
- Street Address:
- 7581 Rockfish Gap Turnpike
- Charlottesville, VA 22906
- Mailing Address:
- PO Box 6981
- Charlottesville, VA 22906
Past Bulletins
- Publish Date:
- 2020-09-06
- Publish Date:
- 2020-08-23
- Publish Date:
- 2020-08-16
- Publish Date:
- 2020-08-09
- Publish Date:
- 2020-08-02
- Publish Date:
- 2020-07-26
Weekly Update
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST! GLORY FOREVER!
Update: Weather and Weekend Schedule of Services
As Laura moves across the Mid-Atlantic, damaging wind gusts, severe thunderstorms and localized flash flooding are forecast across the region. Out of an abundance of caution (especially given recent flooding events nearby in Staunton) and for the safety of parishioners, the Saturday morning Divine Liturgy is cancelled. All Sunday services will proceed according to normal schedule. Those who have signed up for Confession on Saturday afternoon are advised to exercise caution before and during travel, and to please cancel via Sign-up Genius and/or contact Father directly if you will not be able to attend Confession.
Reminder: Safety Procedures in the Church
A reminder to all the faithful that in accordance with state law and public health directives, we have adjusted certain practices and procedures for your safety and the safety of your sisters and brothers in Christ. Everyone must wear a mask while in the church. Please remember to maintain at least 6 feet of social distance between you and others who do not live in your household. Masks and hand sanitizer are available in the Narthex, and Greeters will assist in helping you find a place to stand or sit. We will refrain from exchanging the kiss of peace, and we will venerate icons, the cross, the Gospel book and the priest's hand by bowing rather than kissing. The social hall and narthex have been reorganized to facilitate social distancing and safe ingress and egress -- please refrain from congregating in the narthex following Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy will continue to be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person. And as always, anyone who has a fever or is otherwise unwell should stay home, for the safety of others.
Signup Links
St. Nicholas Live Streaming Services
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A reminder that the Divine Liturgy is livestreamed each Sunday here on the St. Nicholas Greenwood YouTube channel -- don't forget to subscribe to the channel to receive updates
Opportunities to Serve Your Neighbor
As we celebrate the Lord's Resurrection each Sunday, we must continue to remember the critical importance of loving our neighbor (Mt 22:34-40), as the Lord commanded us to do ( "my neighbor is my salvation"). Love is demonstrated both in prayer and deed. Please remember your neighbors in this time of acute need. Here are some specific ways to help:
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Virginia hospitals across the state are experiencing a severe shortage of blood, and the UVA Medical Center is encouraging healthy and eligible individuals to contact the American Red Cross to make an appointment to donate. Our Archbishop Daniel and our seminarians have already done so!
- Cultivate Charlottesville, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and its network, Cville Community Cares, and Albemarle County’s Equity and Inclusion Office have worked together in various combinations to create the food availability schedules and a beautiful new online Food Map showing some of the food resources on our City and County. (Source: Charlottesville Community Cares' Newsletter June 23)
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Grace Grocery, our neighborhood food pantry at Crozet United Methodist Church, has several volunteer opportunities including set up, client help and clean up for food distributions, unloading food from truck, computer assistant, which are listed on the website. They provide training for first time volunteers. You can ask to be placed on their volunteer email list. Email: foodpantry@crozetunitedmethodist.org Phone: 434-823-4420
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Please also keep an eye on Support Charlottesville, which is a hub for opportunities to give (and receive) material support. This is a very good way to stay informed, get involved and help your neighbors in need.
Stewardship Reminder
Despite the current (temporary) modification to the parish's schedule of services, meetings, and events, all parishioners are reminded of the pledges they have made as part of their stewardship commitment of time, talent and treasure. Some parishioners may encounter financial hardship during this time of crisis, and we can only give as we are able. That said, the parish must continue to meet its budgetary obligations and operating expenses. Please continue sending your contributions by to the church via US Mail:
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
PO Box 6981
Charlottesville, VA 22906
Special Intentions, Needs and Requests
A reminder to contact Father directly (fr.charles@mailbox.org | 443-204-4542) with any special prayer requests, intentions or concerns/needs, and he will make sure these are addressed.
Recent Prayer Requests
+All who have reposed in the Lord this week due to the pandemic
+All those who have suffered and reposed in the explosion this week in Beirut, Lebanon
+Eugene (uncle to Sue M.)
+Syl (newly-departed, great uncle to Stephanie J.), and for Mable (solace)
+Sam (friend of Darya L.)
Lydia (Mother of Elaine B., healing)
Doina (Godmother to Florin M., healing)
Stephanie and the child she bears
Infant John David (health)
Toby and family
Gabriel (catechumen)
Tatiana (illness)
Liubov (mother of Anya B., healing)
Nicholas (friend of Sue M., healing)
Karen B. (healing)
Dorian (health and protection)
Chaplain Robby (serving those in prison)
Chaplain Joseph (serving those in prison)
Bill (mission work)
Elaine (mission work)
Fr. Robert and Pani Dobrodyka Christine (retirement)
All those working in defense of human dignity, justice and equality during this time of unrest
The hungry and the homeless, and all those struggling with mental illness and infirmity
All children born and unborn and for their parents
All those struggling financially during the pandemic, and for those whose basic necessities are out of reach
All medical personnel, first responders and others ministering to the sick, and those rendering vital services to their neighbors
All those in high-risk populations during this pandemic
Schedule of Upcoming Services
Sunday 30 August
9am: 3rd & 6th Hours
9:30am: Divine Liturgy
4pm: Moleben for the Ecclesiastical New Year
Sunday 6 September
9am: 3rd & 6th Hours
9:30am: Divine Liturgy
Hymns of the Day
Resurrectional Apolytikion in the 3rd Tone
Let the heavens rejoice! Let the earth be glad! For the Lord has shown strength with His arm. He has trampled down death by death. He has become the first born of the dead. He has delivered us from the depths of hell, and has granted to the world great mercy.
Apolytikion for Apodosis of the Forerunner in the 2nd Tone
The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner. You were shown in truth to be the most honorable of the Prophets, for you were deemed worthy to baptize in the steams of the Jordan Him Whom they foretold. Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, you proclaimed to those in hell God Who appeared in the flesh, Who takes away the sin of the world and grants us great mercy.
Resurrectional Kontakion in the 3rd Tone
On this day You rose from the tomb, O Merciful One, leading us from the gates of death. On this day Adam exults as Eve rejoices; with the Prophets and Patriarchs they unceasingly praise the divine majesty of Your power.
Kontakion for the Forerunner in the 5th Tone
The glorious beheading of the Forerunner became an act of divine dispensation,
for he preached to those in hell the coming of the Savior. Let Herodias lament, for she entreated lawless murder, loving not the Law of God, nor eternal life, but that which is false and temporal.
Gospel and Epistle Readings
Matins Gospel Reading
First Orthros Gospel
The Reading is from Matthew 28:16-20
At that time, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Amen."
Epistle Reading
Prokeimenon. 3rd Tone. Psalm 46.6,1.
Sing praises to our God, sing praises.
Verse: Clap your hands, all you nations.
The reading is from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 15:1-11.
Brethren, I would remind you in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Gospel Reading
12th Sunday of Matthew
The Reading is from Matthew 19:16-26
At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, "Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Wisdom of the Fathers
The sign that thou lovest God, is this, that thou lovest thy fellow; and if thou hatest thy fellow, thy hatred is towards God. For it is blasphemy if thou prayest before God while thou art wroth. For thy heart also convicts thee, that in vain thou multipliest words: thy conscience rightly judges that in thy prayers thou profitest nought.
ON ADMONITION AND REPENTANCE.
Wherefore then doth Christ thus reply to him, saying, "There is none good?" Because He came unto Him as a mere man, and one of the common sort, and a Jewish teacher; for this cause then as a man He discourses with him. And indeed in many instances He replies to the secret thoughts of them that come unto Him.
Homily 63 on Matthew 19, 4th Century
'But I say to you,' the Lord says, 'love your enemies; do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.' Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one you loves all equally in imitation of God.
Unknown, 7th century
Saints and Feasts
August 30
Apodosis of the Feast of the Forerunner
August 30
Alexander, John, and Paul the New, Patriarchs of Constantinople
Saint Alexander was sent to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea as the delegate of Saint Metrophanes, Bishop of Constantinople (see June 4), to whose throne he succeeded in the year 325. When Arius had deceitfully professed allegiance to the Council of Nicaea, Saint Alexander, knowing his guile, refused to receive him into communion; Arius' powerful partisans threatened that they would use force to bring Arius into the communion of the Church the following day. Saint Alexander prayed fervently that God might spare the Church; and as Arius was in a privy place relieving nature, his bowels gushed forth with an effusion of blood, and the arch-heresiarch died the death of Judas. Saint Alexander was Bishop from 325 until 337, when he was succeeded by Saint Paul the Confessor, who died a martyr's death at the hands of the Arians (see Nov. 6). The Saint John commemorated here appears to be the one who was Patriarch during the years 562-577, surnamed Scholasticus, who is also commemorated on February 21. He was from Antioch, where he had been a lawyer (scholasticus); he was made presbyter, then was sent to Constantinople as representative (apocrisiarius) of the Patriarch of Antioch, and was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by the Emperor Justinian. Saint Paul was Bishop of Constantinople during the years 687 - 693, in the reign of Emperor Justinian II, and presided over the Quinisext Council in 692.