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Apolytikion Ήχος Δ-4
Το φαδρόν τής αναςάσεως κήρυγμα…
When the tidings of the resurrection from the glorious angel was proclaimed unto the women disciples and our ancestral sentence also had been abolished to the apostles with boasting did they proclaim that death is vanquished ever more and Christ our God has risen from the dead and granted to the world. His great mercy.
Apolytikion for St. John Climacus
Ταίς τών δακρύων σου ροαίς…
With the rivers of your tears, you have made fertile the barren desert. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundredfold. By your miracles, you have become a light shining upon the world. O John, our Holy Father, intercede to Christ our God to save our souls.
Apolytikion of St. Demetrios
Μέγαν εύρατο έν τοίς κινδύνοις…
The world found in you a great champion in dangers a victor who could turn the nations back! As you restrained Levi in the arena, you also inspired Nestor to courage! Therefore, holy, great martyr, Demetrios, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy!
Kontakion
Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ Στρατηγῷ τὰ νικητήρια…
To you, Theotokos, invincible Defender, having been delivered from peril, I your city, dedicate the victory festival as a thank offering. In your irresistible might, keep me safe from all trials, that I may call out to you: “Hail, unwedded bride!”
Memorials
Ernest Constantine (40days) survived by his sister Kalliope Hanlon
Maria Duddleston (40days) survived by her husband Frank, niece Anastasia Arvantitis and Loukia Richardson
Martha Sellas (40days) survived by her children Eleni Uher, Marilyn McClory, and George; granddaughter Nicole and great-grandaughter Alexa
Perry Valentine (40days) nephew and cousin of Betty and Mona Monezis
Costas Pappas (1yr) survived by his wife Anastasia and children John and Andy and siblings Louis, Niko, Christina, Betty and Eleni and family
Trisagia
Constantine Marchelos (3yrs) survived by his children Adrianne and Nick Diakonikolas, Spiro and Nikki Marchelos, Louis and Martha Marchelos, grandchildren Irene (Tommy) Drivas, Vasiliki Victoria, Marionna and Stephanie and 2 great-grandchildren
Nicholas Stamm (9yrs) survived by his wife Pauline sons Perry and Anthony (Kathi) , daughter Pamela, 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren
St. John Climacus (St. John of the Ladder)
On this Sunday of Great Lent, we remember St. John Climacus or St. John of the Ladder. He was the abbot of the Monastery of St. Katherine on Mt. Sinai during the seventh century. St. John wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is a guide to ascetic living (living a spiritually disciplined life). This book is read in every Orthodox monastery during Great Lent. In this book, St. John writes about 33 rungs of the ladder we climb in our ascent to heaven. Each rung represents a different Christian virtue (obedience, repentance, love, humility, etc.).
In today’s Gospel passage, we are shown that through faith in Christ all things are possible. We too need to cry as the father in today’s Gospel, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Furthermore, this passage reveals that faith to conquer our demons comes only from prayer and fasting. At this point, Christ begins to reveal to the disciples about His upcoming suffering. St. John of the Ladder is commemorated on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. His Feast Day is on March 30.
The Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, Faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, love to Thy servant.
Yes, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors And not to judge my brother; For you are blessed unto ages of ages.
Amen
Scripture Readings
Epistle Reading
St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews 6:13-20
BRETHREN, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore to himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Gospel Reading
Mark 9:17-31
Sunday of St. John Climacus
At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
