Tag Archive for: A Devoted Heart

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-October 16, 2016

/in /by

sunday-of-the-7th-ecumenical-council

Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council

On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and Theophilus.

 

 

 

 

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, Jeffrey Bartfield, John Ioannou, Jr., Anna Merkel, Katherine Ziegler

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-September 18, 2016

/in /by

st-eumenios-the-wonderworker-bishop-of-gortynaEumenius the Wonderworker

Bishop of Gortynia

This Saint took up the monastic life from his youth, and later became Bishop of Gortynia in Crete. He travelled to Rome, and to Thebes in Upper Egypt, where through his prayers he ended a drought; there also, after working many miracles, he reposed in deep old age. His holy relics were returned to Gortynia and buried at the place called Raxos.

 

 

 

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, Jeffrey Bartfield, John Ioannou, Jr., Anna Merkel, Demetri Rapanos, Katherine Ziegler

 

Artoklasia

Today’s Artoklasia for the health of the Columbus, Hitsos, Kitsos and Peters families is offered by Sandy Columbus.

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-August 28, 2016

/in /by

Moses the Black of SceteMoses the Black of Scete

Saint Moses, who is also called Moses the Black, was a slave, but because of his evil life, his master cast him out, and he became a ruthless thief. Later, however, coming to repentance, he converted, and took up the monastic life under Saint Isidore of Scete. He gave himself over to prayer and the mortification of the carnal mind and later became a priest of exemplary virtue. He was revered by all for his lofty ascetical life and for his great humility. Once the Fathers in Scete asked Moses to come to an assembly to judge the fault of a certain brother, but he refused. When they insisted, he took a basket which had a hole in it, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. When the Fathers saw him coming they asked him what the basket might mean. He answered, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and I am come this day to judge failings which are not mine.” When a barbarian tribe was coming to Scete, Moses, conscious that he himself had slain other men when he was a thief, awaited them and was willingly slain by them with six other monks, at the end of the fourth century.

 

Parish Council on duty: Basil Economou, Michael Fossler, George Georgakakis, Marion Koliniatis, Harry Tangalakis, Mark Zaden

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-June 19, 2016

/in /by

Pentecost

Holy Pentecost

When the Most High came down and confounded tongues of men (Babel), He divided the Nations. When He dispensed the Tongues of Fire, He called all to unity, and with one voice we glorify the Most Holy Spirit.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

 

Visiting Clergy

Today we welcome Fr. Alfonso Gustavo who celebrates the Divine Liturgy.

 

Parish Council on duty:

Basil Economou, Michael Fossler, George Georgakakis, Marion Koliniatis, Harry Tangalakis, Mark Zaden

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-June 12, 2016

/in /by

Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council

The Church was strengthened into one faith through the preaching of the Apostles and the  doctrines of the Fathers. The Church is robed in truth woven of the word of God from above.  It teaches truth, and glorifies the great mystery of faith.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

 

 

 

 

 

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, John Ioannou, Jr., Tony Maiorana,  Anna Merkel, Demetri Rapanos, Katherine Ziegler

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-June 5, 2016

/in /by

Sunday Sunday of the Blind Manof the Blind Man

I come to You, O Christ, as the man blind   from birth. With the eyes of my soul blinded,    I cry out to You in repentance, “You are the resplendent Light of those in darkness.”

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

 

 

 

Parish Council on duty:

Basil Economou, Michael Fossler, George Georgakakis, Marion Koliniatis, Harry Tangalakis, Mark Zaden

 

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-May 15, 2016

/in /by

Holy MyyrhbearersSunday of the Myrrhbearers

When You descended to death, O Immortal Life, then, the light of Your divinity destroyed Hades. When You raised the dead from the depths of darkness, all the    heavenly powers cried out, “Glory to You our Christ, the   Giver of Life.” Lowering Your pure body from the Cross, Joseph wrapped it in clean muslin with fragrant spices and laid it in a new tomb. Standing by the tomb the angel said to the Myrrh-bearing women: “Myrrh is for the dead; but Christ has shown Himself stranger to death.”  Apolytikion in the Second Tone

Holy Myrrhbearers Sunday

About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when the Lord Jesus was going throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had received of His beneficence left their own homeland and from then on followed after Him. They ministered unto Him out of their own possessions, even until His crucifixion and entombment; and afterwards, neither losing faith in Him after His death, nor fearing the wrath of the Jewish rulers, they came to the sepulchre, bearing the myrrh-oils they had prepared to anoint His body. It is because of the myrrh-oils, that these God-loving women brought to the tomb of Jesus that they are called the Myrrh-bearers. Of those whose names are known are the following: first of all, the most holy Virgin Mary, who in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 is called “the mother of James and Joses” (these are the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, and she was therefore their step-mother); Mary Magdalene (celebrated July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the names of the rest of them, the evangelists have kept silence (Matt 27:55-56; 28:1-10. Mark 15:40-41. Luke 8:1-3; 23:55-24:11, 22-24. John 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14).

Together with them we celebrate also the secret disciples of the Saviour, Joseph and Nicodemus. Of these, Nicodemus was probably a Jerusalemite, a prominent leader among the Jews and of the order of the Pharisees, learned in the Law and instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He had believed in Christ when, at the beginning of our Saviour’s preaching of salvation, he came to Him by night. Furthermore, he brought some one hundred pounds of myrrh-oils and an aromatic mixture of aloes and spices out of reverence and love for the divine Teacher (John 19:39). Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was a wealthy and noble man, and one of the counsellors who were in Jerusalem. He went boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and together with Nicodemus he gave Him burial. Since time did not permit the preparation of another tomb, he placed the Lord’s body in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, as the Evangelist says (Matt. 27:60).

 

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, John Ioannou, Jr., Tony Maiorana,  Anna Merkel, Demetri Rapanos, Katherine Ziegler

 

Flowers:

Today’s flowers for the Altar have been donated in memory of Katina Maounis by her daughter Zoi DeTuro and family.

 

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin April 3, 2016

/in /by

Sunday of The Holy CrossThird Sunday of Lent ~ Sunday of The Holy Cross

This is the day of the veneration of the Precious Cross. Now it is placed before us and shines with the brightness of Christ’s Resurrection. Let us all draw near and kiss it with great rejoicing in our souls. Let heaven and earth give praise with one accord, for the all -blessed Cross is now set forth before us all, on which Christ’s Body was nailed when He was offered in sacrifice. Let us  venerate it with great rejoicing in our souls.

Orthros– Sunday of the Holy Cross

 

On this Sunday, the third Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the veneration of the honorable and Life-Giving Cross, and for this reason: inasmuch as in the forty days of fasting we in a way crucify ourselves…and become bitter and despondent and failing, the Life –Giving Cross is presented to us for refreshment and assurance for remembrance of our Lord’s Passion, and for comfort…. We are like those following a long and cruel path, who become tired, see a beautiful tree with many leaves, sit in its shadow and rest for a while and then, as if rejuvenated, continue their journey; likewise today, in the time of fasting and difficult journey and effort, the Life-Giving Cross was planted in our midst by the holy fathers to give us rest and refreshment, to make us light and courageous for the remaining task…Or, to give another example: when a king is coming, at first his banner and symbols appear, then he himself comes glad and rejoicing about his victory and filling with joy those under him; likewise, out Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to show us His victory over death, and appear to us in the glory of the Resurrection Day, is sending  to us in advance His scepter, the royal symbol-the Life-Giving Cross-and it fills us with joy and makes us ready to meet, inasmuch as it is possible for us, the King himself, and to render glory to His victory… All this in the midst of Lent which is like a bitter source because of its tears, because also of its efforts and despondency… but Christ comforts us who are as it were in a desert until He shall lead us up to the spiritual Jerusalem by His Resurrection.. for the Cross is called the Tree of Life, it is the tree that was planted in Paradise, and for this reason our fathers have planted it is the midst of Holy Lent, remembering both Adam’s bliss and how he was deprived of it, remembering also that partaking of this Tree we no longer die but are kept alive…

(taken from the synaxarion of the Sunday of the Cross)

 

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, John Ioannou, Jr.,Tony Maiorana,  Anna Merkel, Demetri Rapanos, Mark Zaden, Kathy Ziegler

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin-March 20, 2016

/in /by

 

Sunday of OrthodoxyMarch 20, 2016

Sunday of Orthodoxy

 

For more than one hundred years the Church of Christ was troubled by the persecution of the Iconoclasts of evil belief, beginning in the reign of Leo the Isaurian (717-741) and ending in the reign of Theophilus (829-842). After Theophilus’s death, his widow the Empress Theodora (celebrated Feb. 11), together with the Patriarch Methodius (June 14), established Orthodoxy anew. This ever-memorable Queen venerated the icon of the Mother of God in the presence of the Patriarch Methodius and the other confessors and righteous men, and openly cried out these holy words: “If anyone does not offer relative reverence to the holy icons, not adoring them as though they were gods, but venerating them out of love as images of the archetype, let him be anathema.” Then with common prayer and fasting during the whole first week of the Forty-day Fast, she asked God’s forgiveness for her husband. After this, on the first Sunday of the Fast, she and her son, Michael the Emperor, made a procession with all the clergy and people and restored the holy icons, and again adorned the Church of Christ with them. This is the holy deed that all we the Orthodox commemorate today, and we call this radiant and venerable day the Sunday of Orthodoxy, that is, the  triumph of true doctrine over heresy.

 

First Sunday of Lent – Sunday of Orthodoxy

There are three major Christian denominations in the world today: Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Protestanism. Each has its own customs and traditions. The Protestant Churches have eliminated most of their customs, traditions and symbols during the last 400 years. The Roman Catholics adorn their Churches with religious statues. Orthodox Christians grace their Churches with Holy Icons. Iconography (the painting of Holy pictures) does not have as its aim to reproduce a saint or an incident from the Gospel or the lives of the saints, but rather to express them symbolically, to impart to them a spiritual character. In Byzantine Iconography the saint is not represented as he is in actual life, that is naturalistically, but as he is now in the heavenly kingdom, as he is in eternity. This is called Liturgical art.

A noted writer once said about our art as he visited our most famous Church (St.Sophia which is now in the hands of the Turks in Constantinople), “Below the dome of St. Sophia I felt that the Byzantine idea has a world wide mission. Never in all the evolution of human art have painters succeeded in spreading the heaven before us so superbly, so truly, so profoundly at no other time did the feeling of rhythm and artistic knowledge find such a mature expression; at no time was art so living and real.” Western painters paint with their eyes’ the Byzantine painters paint with their heart and soul.

These Holy pictures called Icons have always graced our Churches since the Apostolic age. During the seventh century, a Byzantine Emperor attempted to remove all Icons from our Churches believing that Icons should not be worshiped but only God. He actually succeeded in doing away with the Icons, and for over 150 years Orthodox Christians were banned from using Icons in any  shape or form in the Churches and on March 11, 843 AD a great celebration was held in the Church of St. Sophia. There was a great meeting held during that period which defined the position of the Icon in Orthodox worship. The Icons produce within us a sense of repentance of our sins which sanctifies our soul. They are spiritual mirrors through which we see the Heavenly Saints. They are the symbol of our faith in Jesus Christ in accordance with our Orthodox tradition. This is why this Sunday of the restoration of the Icons in our Churches is called “Sunday of Orthodoxy” It is truly a victory for Orthodoxy which has withstood for almost 2000 years. The Sunday of Orthodoxy is celebrated all over the world and is one of the most important feast days of our Faith.

(Lives of the Saints and Major Feast Days by Rev. Fr. George Poulos)

Parish Council on Duty:               

John Argiropoulos, John Ioannou, Jr., Tony Maiorana,  Anna Merkel, Demetri Rapanos, Mark Zaden, Kathy Ziegler