Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church

Parish Bulletin – June 16, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:44:33 +0000

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA

FATHERS OF THE FIRST ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

TONE 6

Acts 20:16-18, 28-36
John 17:1-13

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

We welcome you to the Orthodox Church. Please feel at ease and free to participate in the singing. As a visitor you are welcome to come forward at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy and venerate the Cross offered by the priest. Additionally you may receive the blessed bread (Antidoron) that is offered at that time. If you have questions or would like further information, the priest or one of the members of the parish will be pleased to help.

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

The Orthodox Church does not practice open Communion. Therefore, only members of Canonical Orthodox Churches exercising jurisdiction in America may approach the Chalice for Holy Communion. The Orthodox do not regard Holy Communion solely as an act of personal piety, but also as an expression of union with the Orthodox Church’s faith, doctrine, and discipline. Orthodox visitors wishing to receive Holy Communion should make their intention known to the priest in advance — ask any member of the parish for help in relaying your intention to the priest. Orthodox Christians should prepare themselves to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion through recent Confession, prayers of preparation for Holy Communion, and fasting (at minimum, from midnight before receiving).

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion for the Fathers, in Tone VIII:

Most glorious art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our fathers upon the earth as beacons, and hast thereby guided us all to the true Faith! O greatly Compassionate One, glory be to Thee!

Troparion for Ascension, in Tone IV:

O Christ God, Thou hast ascended in glory, granting Joy to Thy disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through the blessing they were assured that Thou art the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

Kontakion for the Fathers, in Tone VIII:

The preaching of the apostles and the dogmas of the fathers sealed the one Faith for the Church; and wearing the robe of the Truth, woven of theology from on high, she setteth forth in order and glorifieth the great mystery of piety.

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

➢ Purchase of air condition units for the church!

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
Parish Council Meeting following Liturgy today.
Ss. Peter and Paul Men’s Fellowship (with BBQ!) this Tuesday, 6.00 PM at the Bloms’ house. Bring meat to grill.
Our parish Patronal Feast will be Saturday, July 13. Vigil will take place the night before (Friday, July 12), with Liturgy on Saturday morning, followed by a barbeque picnic. Mark your calendars now!
Dunn Baptism on Saturday, 4.00 PM.

Service Schedule this Week:

Wednesday - 6.00 pm, Vespers

Thursday - 6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Saturday - 5.30 pm, Vigil (Holy Pentecost)

Sunday - 8.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy, Kneeling Vespers

Confession after Vespers or by appointment!

Other Activities Next Week:

Tuesday, 6.00 PM – Ss. Peter and Paul Men’s Fellowship (at Bloms’ house)
Saturday, 4.00 PM – Dunn Baptism

“Elder, why does God allow the devil to tempt people?”

So that He can select His children. “Do whatever you want,” God tells the devil, because no matter what he does, in the end, the devil will be smashed on the corner-stone that is Christ. If we believe that Christ is the corner-stone, then nothing will scare us.

God does not give the devil the permission to test us, unless something good is to come out of it. He lets the devil do his job. Do you remember what Herod did? He killed fourteen thousand infants, but, in so doing, he made fourteen thousand martyr angels. Can you believe it, fourteen thousand martyrs and angels! The devil had his face crushed. Diocletian became the devil’s partner when he brutally persecuted Christians, but, against his will, he did great good to the Church of Christ because he enriched it with Saints. He thought that he would eliminate all Christians, but in the end, he fell short of his expectations. He left countless holy Relics for us to venerate and made the Church of Christ stronger.

God could easily have wiped the devil off. He is God, after all. If He wishes, He can wrap him up and send him to hell, but He lets him be for our benefit. He would never allow him to torment and torture His creature without any reason. He let the devil loose up to a point, and for a specific time, so that the devil can help us with his malice by tempting us and sending us running to God for help. He will only allow the devil to tempt us if that is going to do us good. If nothing good will come out of it, He will not allow it God permits everything for our own good; we should believe this. He lets the devil be so that man may keep up the fight. No pain, no gain. If the devil did not torment us, we would have taken ourselves for saints. Thus, God allows the devil to attack us with malice, because these beatings clear out all the dust from our dusty soul.

Other times God lets him bite us hard so that we may seek refuge in Him. God is constantly calling us close to Him, but we usually stray away and will run to Him only when we are in danger. When man becomes one with God, there is no place for the veil one to enter and there is no reason for God to permit him to tempt us so that we may take refuge in Him.

Whatever is the case, the devil can benefit us; he helps us become holy. This is the reason that God tolerates him. We should have the spiritual courage to scorn the devil and all his cunning telegrams – our thoughts – and never start a conversation with him. If we want to end all relations with the tempter and avoid being tempted, we must cut off all conversation with him. Did something bad happen to us? Have we been unjustly treated?

Have we been insulted? We should first check and see if we were wrong. If not, we have our reward. There’s no need to carry on. If we carry on with the devil, he will weave his “lace” around us and will cause us great confusion.

- Elder Paisius of Athos

St. Eskil of Tuna

Fr. Andreas — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:31:37 +0000

Today, June 11, the Church celebrates the memory of St. Eskil of Tuna, the Apostle of Södermanland. Eskil was one of the many missionaries who came to Sweden and Scandinavia from England in the mid 1000′s. He was a monk and was ordained a bishop in order to establish churches with full hierarchical authority – we must bear in mind that this was long before the age of trains and aircrafts, and it was not as easy to “fly in” a bishop when the need arose. It was quite common for missionaries to be ordained bishops in order to fulfill their sacred mission.

We have very few sources regarding St. Eskil’s life, but the bishop Brynolf Alogotsson († 1317) had a life written. In this narrative we learn that Bishop Eskil were of English ancestry, and that he mainly worked in Södermanland, Sweden, under Inge the Elder’s reign. King Inge was baptized a Christian through St. Eskil’s mission, but was driven out by his pagan subjects when he refused maintain riksblotet (the pagan sacrifices of the land) at the council in Old Uppsala. Instead, the Swedes made Blot-Sven their new king. The epithet Blot (“blood sacrifice”) was given to the king precisely because he agreed to uphold the old pagan sacrificial traditions.

When Blot-Sven organized a major pagan sacrifice in Strängnäs to honor the Aesir gods, St. Eskil traveled there to preach repentance to the assembled pagans. While the saint preached the pagans were enraged and stoned him. Thus St. Eskil became a martyr for his Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. The body of the holy martyr was buried in Tuna (today’s Eskilstuna) by his friends. The local tradition says that during the journey back to Tuna, his body was at one point placed on the ground and a spring miraculously gushed from that spot, and started to flow out of the mountain side just outside Strängnäs. The spring is there to this day, and is known as the Spring of Saint Eskil. King Inge eventually returned, and dethroned Blot-Sven. Through these events, Christianity gained a permanent foothold in the region.

St. Eskil’s repose was celebrated on June 11. Since this day was dedicated to the Apostles Barnabas and Bartholomew, the commemoration of Hieromartyr Eskil was moved to June 12, by the Roman Catholic Church following the Great Schism. June 12 is therefore still remembered as “Eskilsdagen” (Eskil’s Day) in Sweden. The translation of his relics in Eskilstuna is remembered on October 6th.

Hat tip: Dn. Mikael Fälthammar

Parish Bulletin – June 9, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:03:47 +0000

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA

SUNDAY OF THE BLIND MAN

TONE 5

Acts 16:16-34
John 9:1-38

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion for the Resurrection, in Tone V

Let us, the faithful, praise and worship the Word, / coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, / born for our salvation from the Virgin; / for He willed to be lifted up on the Cross in the flesh, / to endure death, / and to raise the dead // by His glorious Resurrection.

Kontakion for the Resurrection, in Tone V

Thou didst descend into hell, O my Savior, / shattering its gates as almighty; / resurrecting the dead as Creator, / and destroying the sting of death. / Thou hast delivered Adam from the curse, O Lover of Man, // and we all cry to Thee: “O Lord, save us!”

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
Parish Council Meeting following Liturgy next Sunday.
We need a volunteer to water the plants in the garden outside the church once a week. Macrina (who has been responsible for that on Wednesday evenings in the past) is not able to do it for a while. Please coordinate with her if you are willing and able to serve the parish in this way.
Our parish Patronal Feast will be Saturday, July 13. Vigil will take place the night before (Friday, July 12), with Liturgy on Saturday morning, followed by a barbeque picnic. Mark your calendars now!

Service Schedule this Week:

Wednesday - 5.30 pm, Vigil (Holy Ascension)

Thursday - 6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy (Holy Ascension)

Saturday - 6.00 pm, Great Vespers

Sunday - 8.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Confession after Vespers or by appointment!

Other Activities Next Week:

Thursday, 7.00 PM – Ss. Mary and Martha Women’s Fellowship (at Stavroula’s house)
Saturday, 4.30 PM – Choir practice

“Receive thy sight. Thy faith has saved thee.”

Suffering is the surest sign that man is specially chosen by God. He Who showed His love for us to the end through His suffering unto death grants us the possibility of suffering for His Name’s sake, that we may be more perfectly united to Him. “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Phil 1:29). If someone turns to God when he is sentenced to death, God will surely hear him. The thief was the first to enter Paradise, not simply because he said, “Remember me, O Lord…” but because he pronounced these words on the cross, at the very moment when his life was suspended over the abyss of eternal darkness. If we, as humans, respect the wishes and last words of the dying, how much more does God hear the pleas uttered by them that turn to Him in faith when they are confronted by death!

Those who are at death’s door pray differently; they speak from the very depths of their hearts, even though they may not be consoled or aided by grace. Whatever form of death I am stricken by, be it illness, persecution or God’s withdrawal of His grace, if I gather strength enough to stand and say, “Glory be to Thee, O Lord: to Thee be all justice, to me all shame for my sins and transgressions”, God will ensure that my faith in Him shall conquer.

In times of crisis, man reviews his whole life and can no longer fall into superficiality or light-heartedness. His mind concentrates on a single thought. He speaks to God in utter seriousness, and this is exactly what God awaits and longs for. When man cries from the depths of his heart, his lament reaches the ears of God and all Heaven hearkens unto him. The Lord sees in him the humility of Zacchaeus, the faith of the Canaanite woman, and the poverty of the blind man who cried out with all him might, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” And the Lord will draw near him and ask, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” This is the question the Savior puts to all of us who are poor and blind, and sit by the wayside. The crowd, that is, this world and its deceptions, will rebuke us and discourage us from calling upon the holy Name of the Son of God.

But if we persevere and cry the louder to the Lord, we will finally ask for the most important thing: “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” And God will unfailingly open the eyes of our soul and grant us spiritual sight. We will behold Christ, the true and living God, and we will hear His blessed voice saying, “Receive thy sight: thy faith has saved thee.”

- Archimandrite Zacharias

Parish Bulletin – June 2, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Fri, 31 May 2013 21:16:30 +0000

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA

SUNDAY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

TONE 4

Acts 11:19-26, 29-30
John 4:5-42

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion for the Midfeast, in Tone VIII

In the middle of the feast, O Savior, / fill my thirsting soul with the waters of piety as Thou didst cry to all: / “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink!”// O Christ God, Fountain of our life, glory to Thee!

Kontakion from the Pentecostarion, in Tone VIII

The Samaritan Woman came to the well in faith; / she saw Thee, the Water of wisdom and drank abundantly.// She inherited the Kingdom on high, and is ever glorified!

Kontakion for the Midfeast, in Tone IV

Christ God, the Creator and Master of all, / cried to all in the midst of the feast of the Law: / “Come and draw the water of immortality!” / We fall before Thee and faithfully cry:// “Grant us Thy mercies, for Thou art the Fountain of our life!”

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
Next Sunday (June 9), there will be a Panikhida following the fellowship meal, requested by the Krupnaks.
Our parish Patronal Feast will be Saturday, July 13. Vigil will take place the night before (Friday, July 12), with Liturgy on Saturday morning, followed by a barbeque picnic. Mark your calendars now!

Service Schedule this Week:

Wednesday - 6.00 pm, Vespers

Thursday - 6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Saturday - 6.00 pm, Great Vespers

Sunday - 8.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Confession after Vespers or by appointment!

Other Activities Next Week:

Wednesday (following Vespers) – Introduction to Orthodoxy
Saturday, 4.30 PM – Choir practice

How does One Live a Holy Orthodox Life amidst Worldliness?

“For now I will just say that, for you to shun everyone is, of course, impossible; but refuse as much as possible to enter into this circle of worldly life. When it does pull you against your will, act as if you were not there; look, but do not see; listen, but do not hear. Let what you see pass by your eyes, and what you hear pass by your ears. Outwardly behave like everyone else, be straightforward and sincere; but guard your heart from sympathies and attractions. The main thing is to guard the heart, then you will be there in body only, but not in soul, faithfully carrying out the commandment of the Apostle: Be as…they that use this world, (but) don’t abuse it (I Cor. 7:31). ‘World’ here refers to worldly life. You will be using the world, that is, you will have a need to come into contact with worldly life; but when you keep your heart at a distance, then you will not be abusing that life; that is, you will not be participating in it out of sympathy and desire, but out of being obliged by your present circumstances.”

- St. Theophan the Recluse

Repentance and Salvation: The Healing of the Human Soul

In our Orthodox Tradition it is known that sin is not something moralistic, it is ontological, namely, the course from life “according to nature” to life “contrary to nature”. Thus, repentance is man’s return from life contrary to nature to life according to nature. With sin, man lost his communion with God, with his brother and with the creation. With repentance he acquires this communion once again.

So, repentance is associated with a progression in man’s liberation from everything enslaving him. The Fathers described this progression in three words: purification, illumination, deification, and this is what is called therapy. This happens throughout life.

Therefore, salvation is related to therapy. The physician of the body examines us, makes a diagnosis and recommends an appropriate therapeutic method which we should apply. The same holds true for the illness of the soul. A confession at the time of death opens for man the way to salvation. If he did not have time to be cured spiritually, then the Church with its prayers helps man to salvation, bearing in mind that perfection is endless, it is a dynamic not a static state.

Throughout our life we must have this “spirit of repentance”. We should consider how we were created by God and the point we have reached because of sin. If we read carefully the book of Genesis, according to the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, and see how Adam and Eve lived and what they became afterwards because of sin, then repentance will develop inside us. So, someone who has the “spirit” of repentance throughout his life feels this repentance at the hour of death, and actually he feels it to a great degree.

On the contrary, when he lives his life without repentance it is difficult to show repentance at the last moment. My Elder, of everlasting memory, the Metropolitan of Edessa Kallinikos, lived continuously with the memory of death. When he was told by the doctors that he had a tumor in the brain, he confessed right away, he wrote his will, he prayed and had absolute faith in God, saying: “Perhaps God said to me ‘stop’. I don’t need you any more”. He would pray continuously saying “Thy will be done”. He gave himself up to God and had a peaceful and saintly end, similar to his whole life.

Therefore, even though there is a possibility for someone who had some spark of love for God in him to repent at the hour of death, we should repent when we are healthy, so as to have the ability to be cured, that is, to proceed from self-love to the love of God and love of men, to reach selfless love out of selfish love.

- Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Parish Bulletin – May 26, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:45:03 +0000

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA

SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC

TONE 3

Acts 9:32-42
John 5:1-15

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion for the Resurrection, in Tone III:

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 the world // great mercy.

Kontakion from the Pentecostarion, in Tone III

By Thy Divine authority, O Lord, raise up my soul, / which hath been grievously paralyzed / by all manner of sins and unseemly deeds, / as of old Thou didst raise up the paralytic, / that saved, I may cry: // O compassionate Christ, glory to Thy dominion.

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
Our parish Patronal Feast will be Saturday, July 13. Vigil will take place the night before (Friday, July 12), with Liturgy on Saturday morning, followed by a barbeque picnic. Mark your calendars now!

Service Schedule this Week:

Wednesday - 6.00 pm, Vespers

Thursday - 6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Saturday - 6.00 pm, Great Vespers

Sunday - 8.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Confession after Vespers or by appointment!

Other Activities Next Week:

Saturday, 4.30 PM – Choir practice

“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Blessed is the man who uses his sufferings, knowing that all suffering in this brief life is loosed on men by God in His love for mankind, for the benefit and assistance of men. In His mercy, God looses suffering on men because of their sins – by His mercy and not His justice. For, if it were by His justice, every sin would inevitably bring death, as the Apostle says” “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15). In place of death, God gives healing through suffering. Suffering is God’s way of healing the soul of its sinful leprosy and its death.

Only the foolish think that suffering is evil. A sensible man knows that suffering is not evil but only the manifestation of evil and healing from evil. Only sin in a man is a real evil, and there is no evil outside sin. Everything else that men generally call evil is not, but is a better medicine to heal from evil. The sicker the man, the more bitter the medicine that the doctor prescribes for him. At times, even, it seems to a sick man that the medicine is worse and more bitter than the sickness itself! And so it seems at times to the sinner: the suffering is harder and more bitter than the sin committed. But this is only an illusion – a very strong self-delusion. There is no suffering in the world that could be anywhere near as hard and destructive as sin is.

All the suffering borne by men and nations is none other than the abundant healing that eternal mercy offers to men and nations to save them from eternal death. Every sin, however small, would inevitably bring death if mercy were not to allow suffering in order to sober men up from the inebriation of sin; for the healing that comes through suffering is brought about by the grace-filled power of the Holy and Life-giving Spirit.

It is, therefore, clear that suffering must be born with patience and hope in God, with thanksgiving to God and with joy. “O what great troubles and adversities hast Thou shewed me”, King David says to God, “and yet didst Thou turn and refresh me; yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again… Unto Thee will I sing upon the harp, O Thou holy One of Israel (Ps. 71: 20). The Apostle Peter even counsels the faithful: “Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4:13). “of Christ’s” – that means consciously and with understanding, meekly and with patience, for the cleansing from our sins, for new life, for the nurturing of the living Christ in us and around us. When great Chrysostom was dying in exile, tormented and despised by men, his last words were: “Glory to God for everything!”

- St. Nikolai of Zhicha

Veneration of the Holy Scriptures

Fr. Andreas — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:20:23 +0000

Sometimes various Christians in the West find it strange that we show our veneration to the Scriptures, icons and holy object by kissing them. However, this video of (presumably Protestant) Chinese Christians receiving Bibles for the first time shows how natural this love and veneration of holy things are. When was the last time we showed this kind of heartfelt love and gratefulness for the Holy Scriptures?

Parish Bulletin – May 19, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:15:27 +0000

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PASCHA

THE MYRRHBEARING WOMEN

TONE 2

Acts 6:1-7
Mark 15:43-16:8

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion from the Pentecostarion, in Tone II:

The noble Joseph, / when he had taken down Thy most pure Body from the Tree, / wrapped it in fine linen and anointed it with spices, / and placed it in a new tomb. / But Thou didst arise on the third day, O Lord, // granting the world great mercy.

Kontakion from the Pentecostarion, in Tone II

Thou didst command the Myrrhbearers to rejoice, O Christ God. / By Thy Resurrection, Thou didst stop the lamentation of Eve, the first mother. / Thou didst command them to preach to Thine Apostles: // “The Savior is risen from the tomb!”

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
This Wednesday, May 22^nd, Fr. Andreas will have a class following Vespers, especially for catechumens and those interested in becoming Orthodox. This class will meet roughly every other week.
Ss. Peter & Paul Men’s Fellowship on Tuesday, 6.00 PM at church.
An all-Parish Meeting will take place today, during our fellowship.
8.30 am next Sunday is the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children.
Our parish Patronal Feast will be Saturday, July 13. Vigil will take place the night before (Friday, July 12), with Liturgy on Saturday morning, followed by a barbeque picnic. Mark your calendars now!

Confession are heard this week by appointment!

Pascha of Incorruption

Salvation is healing. Salvation is freedom from corruption. Salvation is a return to the original goodness of incorruption; for man was created in incorruption. Needed was the restoration to health of human nature.

This restoration is given in the incarnation of the Son of God. “We could not have become incorrupt and immortal, had not the Incorrupt and Immortal One not been first made what we are.” The Incorrupt and Immortal One, in His unity of persons, has assumed “the corruption and death of my stolen nature.” The nature of corruption received the inoculation of incorruption, and the process of creation’s renewal, the process of man’s deification, has begun, as has also begun the creation of god-humanity. The sting of death has been blunted. Corruption is conquered, for the antidote for the illness of corruption is given. All those born of earth have inevitably come to those gates of death and hid behind them, trembling with horror. But now, Christ is resurrected!

What does this mean? This means that salvation is truly wrought. For, human nature has joined with Divine nature in the person of Christ, “unmingled, unchanged, undivided, and inseparable.” It is not God Who has passed through the gates of death, and not before God were the “eternal chambers open wide,” not for God’s sake was the stone rolled away from the doors of the tomb, but for the sake of the God-Man.

Together with Christ, our human nature has passed through the mysterious gates of death. Death reigns, but not forever!

Death was terrible to the human race before Christ’s death, but after Christ’s resurrection, man became terrible to death, for One of us has conquered death; He did not remain in the tomb, and did not see corruption. Passover was the freeing of Israel from Egypt. Our Pascha frees us from the slavery of death and corruption. Christ is risen! I now know that my salvation is truly wrought. I know that God truly appeared on earth. There have been great people, conquerors of the elements, conquerors of nature; but death cut them all down and revealed our common nothingness. Who has passed through the doors of death? It can only be God. This means that God was truly incarnate on earth, truly brought the healing cure against the corruption that corrodes and torments me. Incarnation and resurrection are united into one. The incarnation gave meaning to the resurrection, and the resurrection irrefutably convinces us of its truth and reality as something that is not a phantom or a dream.

My sinful illness is curable—the resurrection of Christ convinces me of this. To me is opened the blessedness of paradise. Let no one lament his poverty when entering the Kingdom of all! Joy has come to all, because hope for incorruption, for redemption from sinful corruption, has also come. Christ God has brought us out of death into life.

- Hieromartyr Hilarion

Paschal Hours

Fr. Andreas — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:17:51 +0000

From the Holy and Great Sunday of Pascha until the Saturday of Renewal Week, in place of the usual Morning and Evening Prayers, Nocturns, the Hours, Compline, and the Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion, the following is read:

[After the exclamation by the priest, we say:]

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! (3)

Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We venerate Thy Cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Thy Holy Resurrection, for Thou art our God, and we know no other than Thee: we call on Thy name. Come, all you faithful, let us venerate Christ’s holy Resurrection, for behold, through the Cross joy has come into all the world. Let us ever bless the Lord, praising His Resurrection, for by enduring the Cross for us, He has destroyed death by death. (3)

Before the dawn, Mary and the women came and found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They heard the angelic voice: Why do you seek among the dead, as a man, the One who is everlasting Light? Behold the clothes in the grave! Go and proclaim to the world: the Lord is risen! He has slain death, as He is the Son of God, saving the race of man.

O Christ our God, though Thou didst descend into the grave, yet didst Thou overthrow the power of Hades, and rise as an immortal conqueror: Thou didst greet with joy the myrrh-bearing women, and to Thine Apostles hast sent Thy peace, and to the fallen, O Lord, didst bring resurrection.

In the grave bodily; in Hades with Thy soul, though Thou wast God; in Paradise with the thief; and on the Throne with the Father and the Spirit wast Thou who fillest all things, O Christ the Uncircumscribable.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

How life-giving, how much more beautiful than paradise, and truly more resplendent than any royal palace proved Thy grave, the source of our resurrection, O Christ.

Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Rejoice, O sanctified and divine tabernacle of the Most High; for through Thee, O Theotokos, joy is given to them that cry: Blessed art thou among women, O all-immaculate Lady.

Lord, have mercy. (40)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, thou who without corruption gave birth to God the Word, the very Theotokos thee do we magnify.

[At Compline we also say this prayer; otherwise, we proceed with Christ is risen... as set forth below.]

A Compline Prayer of St. Basil the Great

Blessed art Thou, 0 Almighty Master, Who hast enlightened the day with the light of the sun and hast illumined the night by the rays of fire, Who hast deemed us worthy to pass through the length of the day and draw nigh to the beginning of the night. Hearken unto Our supplication, and that of all Thy people. Forgive all of us our sins, voluntary and involuntary, accept our evening entreaties, and send down the multitude of Thy mercy and compassions upon Thine inheritance. Encompass us with Thy holy Angels; arm us with the armour of Thy righteousness; surround us with Thy truth; protect us by Thy might; deliver us from every grievous circumstance and from every conspiracy of the adversary. And grant unto us that this evening together with the coming night and all the days of our life may be perfect, holy, peaceful, sinless, without stumbling and vain imaginings; by the intercessions of the holy Theotokos and of all the Saints who, from ages past, have been well-pleasing unto Thee. Amen.

And likewise again: Christ is risen … (3).

Glory; both now. Lord, have mercy. (3)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.

Know that from the Holy and Great Sunday of Pascha until the Feast of Pentecost, the introductory prayers, Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. Heavenly King, O Comforter … are not said.

And from the Holy and Great Sunday of Pascha until the giving up of Pascha on the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, in place of Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal … and a come, let us worship … we say, Christ is risen from the dead … (3).

Each One of Us is Potentially a Judas

Fr. Andreas — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:10:30 +0000

A sermon given by Blessed Fr. Seraphim Rose
during Great Lent, 1982

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as he sat at meat. But when His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, ‘To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.’ When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, ‘Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me. For ye have the poor always with you; but Me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall be also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.’ Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, ‘What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you.’ And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

St. Matthew 26:6-16

In this passage of Scripture, we read how, as our Lord prepared for His Passion, a woman came and anointed Him with very precious ointment; and it is very touching how our Lord accepted such love from simple people. But at the same time Judas—one of the twelve who were with Him—looked at this act, and something in his heart changed. This was apparently the “last straw,” because Judas was the one in charge of the money and he thought that this was a waste of money. We can even see the logical processes going on in his mind. We can hear him think about Christ: “I thought this man was somebody important. He wastes money, he doesn’t do things right, he thinks he’s so important…” and all kinds of similar little ideas which the devil puts in his mind. And with his passion (his main passion was love of money), he was caught by the devil and made to betray Christ. He did not want to betray Him; he simply wanted money. He did not watch over himself and crucify his passions.

Anyone of us can be exactly in that position. We have to look at our hearts and see which passion of ours will be devil hook us on in order to cause us to betray Christ. If we think that we are something superior to Judas—that he was some kind of a “kook” and we are not—we are quite mistaken. Like Judas, everyone of us has passions in his heart. Let us therefore look at them. We can be caught with love for neatness, with love for correctness, with love for a sense of beauty: any of our little faults which we cling to can be a thing that the devil can catch us with. Being caught, we can begin to justify this condition “logically”—on the basis of our passion. And from that “logical” process of thinking we can betray Christ, unless we watch over ourselves and begin to realize that we are filled with passions, that each one of us is potentially a Judas. Therefore, when the opportunity comes—when the passion begins to operate in us and logically begins to develop from a passion into betrayal—we should stop right there and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

We must not look at life through the glasses of our passions, nor see how we can “fit” life into being what we would like it to be—whether this is a life where there is peace and quiet or where there is a lot of noise and excitement. If we try to make life “fit” like this, a total disaster will result. In looking at life, we should accept all the things which come to us as God’s providence, knowing that they are intended to wake us up from our passions. We should pray to God to show us some God-pleasing thing that we can do. When we accept what comes to us, we begin to be like the simple woman in the Gospel who heard the call from God and was thus able to be His minister. She was proclaimed to the ends of the world, as our Lord says, because of the simple thing she did—pouring out the ointment upon Him. Let us be like her: sensitive to watching God’s sings around us. These signs come from everywhere: from nature, from our fellow men, from a seeming chance of events… There is always, everyday, something that indicates to us God’s will. We must be open to this.

Once we become more aware of the passions within ourselves and begin to fight against them, we will not let them begin the process which was seen in Judas. Judas started from a very small thing: being concerned for the right use of money. And from such small things we betray God the Saviour. We must be sober, seeing not the fulfillment of our passions around us, but rather the indication of God’s will: how we might this very moment wake up and begin to follow Christ to His Passion and save our souls.

Parish Bulletin – Palm Sunday, 2013

Fr. Andreas — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:44:08 +0000

PALM SUNDAY

ENTRY OF OUR LORD TO JERUSALEM

TONE 6

Philippians 4:4-9
John 12:1-18

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” - I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion from the Triodion, in Tone I:

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion, / Thou didst confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God! / Like the children with the palms of victory, / We cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of death; / Hosanna in the Highest! // Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!

Troparion from the Triodion, in Tone IV

When we were buried with Thee in Baptism, O Christ God, / We were made worthy of eternal life by Thy Resurrection! / Now we praise Thee and sing: / Hosanna in the highest! // Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!

Kontakion from the Triodion, in Tone VI

Sitting on Thy throne in heaven, / Carried on a foal on earth, O Christ God! / Accept the praise of angels and the songs of children who sing: // Blessed is He that comes to recall Adam!

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

Announcements:

Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
We are still in need of a large bookcase for the fellowship hall, as we are expanding our library. If you have one, please contact Fr. Andreas.
Parish Meeting will take place May 19^th, and not May 12^th as the email this week said. Please try to be there, as we will discuss things pertaining to the future of our community.
There will be an ongoing reading of the Book of Acts at the Tomb on Saturday. Please talk to Anna South if you would like to participate.
During Bright Week, we will have Paschal Vespers on Wednesday night (6.00 PM), and Liturgy on Thursday morning (7.00 AM).

Confession are heard this week by appointment!

The Meaning of Holy Week

Lazarus Saturday

Following the forty days of the Fast, and immediately before the days of darkness and mourning of Holy Week, there come two days of joy and triumph. This Saturday celebrates the raising of Lazarus. The miracle is performed by Christ as a reassurance to His disciples before the coming Passion: they are to understand that, though He suffers and dies, yet He is Lord and Victor over death. The event foreshadows Christ’s own Resurrection eight days later, and at the same time it anticipates the resurrection of all the righteous on the last Day.

Palm Sunday

This is the feast of Christ the King – welcomed by the children at His entry into Jerusalem, and to be welcomed likewise by each one of us into our own heart. On Palm Sunday we welcome not only the Lord who entered Jerusalem long ago, riding on a donkey, but the Lord who comes again in power and great glory, as King of the Future Age. Palms are blessed at Vespers the evening before and are held throughout the services of the Feast.

Bridegroom Matins

The days following His entry to Jerusalem Christ spoke to His disciples in particular about the signs that will precede the last Day – this forms the theme of the first part of Holy Week. This is summed up in the moving troparion of the Matins service: “Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night….” These services re-present the urgent call of all Great Lent: the End is near; be watchful; repent while there is still time.

Holy Thursday

At the Vesperal Liturgy this day, four Gospel events are commemorated in association with our Lord’s last days: the washing of the disciples’ feet, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas. Heard often from the service of this day, a text of singular beauty combines these themes of Communion, Judas’ treachery, and the confession of the Good Thief:

“At Thy mystical Supper, O Son of God, Accept me today, as a communicant: For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies; Neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; But like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”

Holy Friday

On this day we fast, remembering the sufferings of Christ: the mockery, the crown of thorns, the scourging, the nails, the thirst, the vinegar and gall, the cry of desolation, and all that the Savior endured on the Cross; also the confession of the Good Thief. At the same time, the Passion is not separated from the Resurrection; even on this day of our Lord’s deepest self-abasement, we look forward also to the revelation of His eternal glory.

Friday Matins is celebrated on Thursday evening – taking on a special form with a series of twelve Passion Gospels read throughout the service. Royal Hours Friday morning take a solemn form in light of the Cross – with an Old Testament reading, and Epistle and Gospel at each “hour.”

At the end of Vespers this day the “Epitaphion” (Gr.) or “Plashchanitsa” (Slav.), i.e. the Burial Shroud of Christ, is carried in procession from the sanctuary to the center of the church, placed in the tomb, and venerated by the faithful.

Holy Saturday

We celebrate the burial of Christ and His descent into Hell. At Matins, served Friday Evening the Lamentations, or funeral service, of Christ is sung before the Tomb. God in the flesh now observes His Sabbath rest in the tomb, but we look forward to the moment when He will rise again, bringing new life and recreating the world. At the end of the service a procession is made around the church – indicating Christ’s triumphal procession through the darkness of Hell, announcing to Adam His coming Resurrection.

Vesperal Liturgy the morning of Holy Saturday has a strong baptismal character. Three connected themes of Passover, Resurrection, and Baptismal initiation – reflected in the prescribed fifteen Old Testament readings – dominate the service. In the tomb Christ is already triumphant over the gates of Hell; thus the colors change from dark to white at this service in anticipation of His glorious Resurrection for us on earth.

Late this evening we will gather once again in the darkened church for the midnight service of Nocturns. All wait in silence and contemplation for the moment the priest will come out from the sanctuary with a burning candle symbolizing the light of the risen Christ at the very first moment of that glorious Third Day.

Then will we cry out the eternal cry of the faithful:

“Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!”