Tag Archive for: Sunday Before Nativity

Matthew 19:10-22

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The Gospel of Matthew

Session 43 – 12/21/2014

Fr. John Codis

19:10-22

The realization of the Ideal, Jesus’ Welcome for the Children, The Great Refusal

Only the Christian can accept the Christian ethic

Christ speaks about celibacy as a gift from God, just as marriage between a man and woman is also a gift from God.

“The holiness of virginity not as a rejection of marriage, but as a special calling for those to whom it has been given.”

Christ acknowledges not everyone can make room in his heart for this word of teaching, and that most men will find it difficult, to not marry. In the world, it is easier to regard marriage simply as a contract one can make or break at will. But those to whom it has been given by God to become His disciples are not of the world. They belong to the Kingdom and can, through God, do the apparently impossible.

Christ Welcomes Children

Although the disciples rebuke the mothers and their children, Christ instead allowed the children to approach him and said let these children be the example to all of you; they are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Great Refusal

We are to be wholly open to all the things Christ asks of us, even it if makes us uncomfortable in our minds. This feeling of discomfort can only be cured by picking up our cross and following Christ.

If we truly wish to become disciples of God, then we must not be like the young man and feel sorrow for when we must give up the lap of luxury. We must rejoice that God has a higher calling for us, a calling to perfection which we are made for.

 

 

Weekly Sunday Bulletin – Sunday before Nativity

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Holy NativityDecember 21, 2014

Best wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and

A Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year!!!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα κάι Έυτυχισμένο tό Νέο Έτός 2015!

Parish Council on Duty:

George Georgakakis, Manny Daskos, Eleni Varvoutis, Michael Haralambis, Michael Fossler, Juanita Antley

Weekly Sunday Bulletin – Sunday before Nativity

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Holy Nativity

Best wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy, Healthy and  Blessed New Year!!!

Kaλα Χριστουγεννα και Ευτυχισμενο to Νεο Ετος 2014!!!

Encyclical of Archbishop Demetrios for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ

 

Parish Council on Duty

George Georgakakis, Manny Daskos, Medon Michaelides, Delcho Ogorelkoff, Eleni Varvoutis

Weekly Sunday Bulletin – Sunday Before the Nativity

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[WSB Cover:http://stdemetrios.org/weekly-sunday-bulletin-sunday-before-the-nativity/, Liturgical:http://stdemetrios.org/liturgical-sunday-before-the-nativity/, Announcements:http://stdemetrios.org/announcements-sunday-before-the-nativity/]

On the Sunday that occurs on or immediately after the eighteenth of this month, we celebrate all those who from ages past have been well-pleasing to God, beginning from Adam even unto Joseph the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos, according to genealogy, as the Evangelist Luke hath recorded historically (Luke 3:23-38); we also commemorate the Prophets and Prophetesses, and especially the Prophet Daniel and the Holy Three Children.

Parish Council on duty:

Peter Angelakos, John Argiropoulos, Anna Merkel, Medon Michaelides, Chris Nichols, Peter Synoyannis, Eleni Varvoutis

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Liturgical – Sunday Before the Nativity

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[WSB Cover:http://stdemetrios.org/weekly-sunday-bulletin-sunday-before-the-nativity/, Liturgical:http://stdemetrios.org/liturgical-sunday-before-the-nativity/, Announcements:http://stdemetrios.org/announcements-sunday-before-the-nativity/]

Apolytikion Δ-4

Τό φαιδρόν τής αναστάσεως…
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 the Preparation of the Nativity of Christ

Έτοιμάζου Βηθλεέμ…
Prepare O Bethlehem. Eden is open to all. Adorn yourself O Efratha for, in the cave, the Tree of Life has blossomed forth from the Virgin. Her womb has been revealed as a noetic Paradise wherein lies the divine seedling. If we partake of it we shall live, is not, then we shall die as Adam. Christ is born, restoring the once fallen image.

Apolytikion for the Pre-Nativity

Μεγάλα τα τής πίστεως κατορθώματα…
Great are the accomplishments of faith. In the fountain of flame, the three Holy Youths rejoiced as though they were resting by the waters. And the Prophet Daniel showed himself to be a shepherd to the lions, as though they were sheep. Through their prayers, O Christ our God, save our soul.

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

Ή Παρθένος σήμερον, τόν προαιώνιον Λόγον…
Today the Virgin comes to the cave to ineffably give birth, to the eternal Logos. Hearkening to this, rejoice, O Universe, with the angels and shepherds glorify Him, the God before all ages, who willed to be beheld as a young child.

 

Memorial

George Hondroulis (40days) survived by his wife Vilma and son Demetrios

Trisagion

A. James Hampares (4yrs)survived by his beloved sister Dr. Kay Hampares and friends Dr. Nelly Santos and son
Zaharia Haralambis (7yrs) survived by his wife Clara, 3 sons, 1 daughter and 10 grandchildren
Stella Vlahos survived by her daughter Mantha Mehallis and grandson Spero (Rocio)
Peter (husband 20yrs) and Evangelos( son 12yrs) Kourakos and Evangelos Androutsopoulos (grandson 21yrs) – the beloved men in the life of Katherine Kourakos
Athanasios and Panagiota Kyriazis parents of Maria Caravas
Eleni (2yrs) and Vasiliki (5yrs) Kyriazis sisters of Maria Caravas

 

Scripture Readings

Epistle Reading

St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews 11:9-10; 32-40

BRETHREN, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us,that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Gospel Reading

Matthew 1:1-25
Sunday before Nativity

The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel”(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.