Issue No. 322 Sunday March 28 (3/15), 2010 Palm Sunday The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem Martyrs Agapius and those with him

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1 195 N. Main Street Milpitas, Ca Matins 8:00 a.m. Liturgy 10:30 a.m. The Very Rev. Father Giris Hanna (408) Issue No. 322 Sunday March 28 (3/15), 2010 Palm Sunday The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem Martyrs Agapius and those with him أحد الشعانين تذكار القديسين الشھداء السبعةاغابيوس (حبيب) ورفقته Matins: Matthew 21:1 11, 15 7 Epistle: Philippians 4:4 9 Gospel: John 12:1 18 The Brilliant Feast of our Lord s Entry Into Jerusalem Throughout the entire history of the known world, men have conquered other men. Rulers have conquered cities. Emperors have conquered entire nations. At times, Kings have strived to conquer the entire world. But there remains one uncharted territory that has eluded men of power all throughout history. This unconquered territory is the human heart, and its sole conqueror is Christ the king. This Sunday we celebrate together one of the great feasts of the Church calendar the feast of Palm Sunday. We gather together to celebrate Christ s entry into the city of Jerusalem. We celebrate Christ as the king who enters our own personal Jerusalem our hearts. This feast day is a momentary feast of joy and celebration, because at night we begin the final leg of our journey towards Pascha. Our mood changes from one of joy in the morning of the feast, to one of solemnity, almost of sorrow in the evening as we lead up to the great sacrifice that Christ performed for us on the cross. The feast of Palm Sunday has been celebrated in our Orthodox Church since the earliest days of Christianity, but the use of Palms in connection with religious celebrations goes all the way back to Old Testament times. Oddly enough Palm trees did not grow around the city of Jerusalem, and people would often buy imported Palms for religious celebrations, in particular The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated at the temple in Jerusalem. The Palm branch was used as a visual tool proclaiming the sovereignty of God as the true king of the Israelites. With the expectation of the Messiah, and the events of Christ s ministry on earth, word traveled quickly around Judea that Jesus was the one whom the prophets had spoken about and whom everyone was expecting. This Saturday Christ performs a miracle by raising Lazarus from the dead, the miracle that foreshadowed His glorious resurrection next Sunday. Now everyone is convinced that this is the Messiah-king who will save the Israelites. And Christ fulfils the prophecy of Zachariah, entering Jerusalem on a donkey. All of Israel is preparing to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and Christ enters also as the king who will save Israel not from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, but from the curse of death through His own death and resurrection. For Orthodox Christians around the world, we celebrate these events as they happened not only in the past, but as they also happen today. We celebrate Christ as the king who enters our hearts, our own personal Jerusalem. But is Christ able to enter? Is there room in our hearts for Christ to rule as king? Often the doors of our hearts are locked. Often Christ is unable to

2 enter because there is already another king of the heart ourselves. And how do we solve this problem of trying to let Christ in? How do we instill within ourselves the one thing that is missing God? The answer is to surrender. Surrender to the will of God. Surrender your life to the one who gave you life. We are constantly bound and held captive by the temporal things of this life. We are prisoners of our own selves, of this world, of our careers, of money, of the politicians who rule over us, we are even slaves to our own passions. The only way to find peace, to find true happiness, to experience true love is to surrender yourself to God, to make Him your king, to live in total communion with Him. And the way in which we turn our hearts from the kingdom of the self into the kingdom of God is through constant daily prayer, reflection, and meditation, frequent Holy Communion, frequent Confession, reading and understanding the Scriptures. So many people complain that they can t find time to come to Church, they can t find time to pray and read the Scriptures, they can t find time to fast, or go to Confession and Holy Communion. The reason they don t have time is that they are slaves to their own selves, to their own will. If we don t have time for God, then why should God have any time for us? But God always has time for us. He is constantly knocking at the door to our hearts, to our lives and asking to come in. Some of the Church Fathers go so far as to liken God to a crazed lover who constantly seeks to be with the one that He loves us, and who would do absolutely anything to be with the people that He loves. This Sunday, as we receive our Palm branches at the end of the Divine Liturgy, let us take them to our homes and place them somewhere where we can always see them. Let the Palms remind us that Christ is the king of our families, that Christ is the king of our hearts, that Christ is the only true answer to happiness and meaning in our lives. And if we do proclaim Christ as our king, let us try and make time for Him in our daily life, let us be reminded that He is the one with whom we will be spending eternity. Let us be reminded that our careers, our education, our finances, our homes, all of the basic material needs in our lives are only temporary. Let us prioritize and place Christ the king as the primary concern in our lives. It is only when we have done this that we will find true peace and happiness in such a confused and complex world. Amen. 28 آذار أحد الشعانين في ھذا االحد الذي ھو أحد الشعانين نعيد للموسم المجيد البھي وھو ذكرى دخول ربنا وإلھنا ومخلصنا يسوع المسيح باحتفال شعبي إلى أورشليم القدس بعد إقامته لعازر من بين األموات قبيل اآلالم المجيدة. وبھذا تتم كلمات زخريا النبي: "إفرحي جدا يا ابنة صھيون. فھوذا ملكك يأتيك وديعا راكبا على أتان وجحش ابن أتان " (زخريا 9). وقال داود عن مستقبلي السيد المسيح: "من أفواه األطفال والرضع ھيأت لك تسبي حا"(مز 8 ). فبتحننك الذي ال يوصف أيھا المسيح إلھنا. إجعلنا غالبين األھواء البھيمية. وأھلنا لمعاينة غلبتك الواضحة على الموت وقيامتك البھية الحاملة الحياة. وارحمنا. آمين. 28 آذار سبت القديس لعازر الصديق في ھذا اليوم الذي ھو السبت قبل أحد الشعانين نعيد إلحياء لعازر الصديق صديق المسيح بعد أربعة أيام من رقاده. (أو ذي األربعة األيام). نقرأ فيه فصل إنجيل القديس يوحنا (يوحا : 45) الذي يروي حاد ثة إحياء لعازر المؤثرة. وھي برھان على قدرة يسوع اإللھية على الموت. ال يزال قبر لعازر موضوع إكرام في بلدة بيت عنيا قرب القدس التي تحمل حتى اليوم اسمه وتدعى بالعربية "العيزرية". إن أعجوبة إنھاض لعازر اثارت حفيظة اليھود على يسوع وعلى لعازر. ويذ كر التقليد أن لعازر ھرب إلى جزيرة قبرص. ثم انتخب رئيس كھنة (مطرانا) عل األكيتين. وھناك توفي ثانية. ثالثين سنة بعد وفاته األولى ودفن ھناك. (كما يذكر انه انتقل إلى مدينة مرسيليا حيث يتمتع باكرام شعبي). فبشفاعة لعازرصديقك أيھا المسيح اإلله ارحمنا وخلصنا. آمين. Fish Lunch This Sunday Fish is allowed on Palm Sunday. Please join St. James parish Family and celebrate the great feast of Palm Sunday with our Traditional Fish Lunch this Sunday at the church hall after the liturgy service. كل عام وأنتم بخير Palm Sunday Professional Family Pictures Have your professional family pictures taken this Palm Sunday at the church. Please see or look for our professional church photographer Rami Razzouk and he will take care of the rest for you.

3 THE MYRRH-STREAMING ICON OF THE IVERON MOTHER OF GOD We are Blessed, once again, to have the Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Theotokos of Iveron to visit St. James Orthodox Church in Milpitas all the way from Hawaii. What a Blessing this really is. Our Holy Mother chooses to be with us this Friday evening March 26 th right before the Holy Week. The icon will arrive between 7 and 7:30pm (Please note this new time). We will hold a Little Compline service for the Mother of God for this beautiful occasion. Please spread the word to everyone, for this special event. Read the story of this miraculous icon that occurred in Hawaii From Reader Nectarios Letter (Owner of this icon) Letter below was lightly modified for clarity. Full letter can be found at Sometime around June or July of 2007, my wife and I noticed a hint of the scent of roses in the area surrounding our icon corner in our home chapel. Something made us look at our Cross icon of Christ (located behind our family reliquary), we noticed a small bead of liquid around the side wound on the image of the Christ, where the "soldier pierced His side with a lance". The liquid smelled very sweet, like myrrh. My experience with myrrh is quite limited, my only contact being a cotton ball soaked with myrrh from the Montreal Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon and several cotton balls of myrrh from the Myrrh-streaming St. Nicholas Icon. We told no one of this and proceeded to "keep an eye" on the icon for any new developments or any possible continuation of the "streaming". The bead of myrrh eventually dried out and we eventually forgot about it. Now on to the most recent developments in my story During the last week of September (2007) I began to notice an unbelievably strong smell of myrrh, at home, in my car, even at work. I couldn't explain it. Was it all in my head? I asked my wife and she said she didn't smell anything. I spoke with several other people who visited our home, and they too said they didn't smell anything. I was convinced it was all in my imagination. This was on September 27th, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Then in the first week of October (2007), my wife and I were extremely ill and missed Vespers that night. We don't miss too many of the church's divine services, so we did take notice of the date, October 6th (Feast day of the Conception of St. John the Baptist). Around 10:30 p. m. that night, I was working in my office, which also doubles as our home chapel where our icon corner is located. My cat walked into the office and began to sniff around as if he smelled something. I did not smell anything. He proceeded to walk toward the area were our reliquaries are kept. I thought this was strange since he would never go near the reliquaries; amazingly something always stopped him, and he's a nosy cat. Yet this time he stood on his hind legs and sniffed around, I assume in order to figure out what the smell was. I still didn't smell anything. I proceeded to pick him up and then I noticed the scent. It was so strong, even overwhelming. Never have I smelled anything like that in my life. I couldn't explain why I hadn't smelled it before. It was like a thousand roses had fallen into the room. I crossed myself and guarded myself with the Jesus Prayer. I put the cat down and proceeded to look at the icons. I admit I was afraid to look at the icons near the reliquaries. I finally came to the icon of the Cross and noticed that the bead of myrrh by the side-wound of Christ was still dry, for a split second I regained some composure, even as the smell of roses was getting stronger. I then looked down and my hand was wet -- it was myrrh. How did it get there? The icon was dry? Or was it? I then noticed that the left knee of the image of Our Lord was forming a bead of myrrh right before my eyes. I then called out to my wife. She came running, and when I asked her if she had spilled anything on the icons, she said no. She hadn't gone near them. I showed her the icon. She was in shock. I told her the smell is too strong. Help me look at the other icons. So she did. In my office I have two bookshelves, at the top of them are icons. We have many icons, maybe too many. I stood on my toes to reach

4 for the icons at the top of my bookshelves. My wife did the same. Finally I grabbed the icon of Iveron given to me by Fr. Anatole. It was completely wet. And then the smell got even stronger. Even my wife could smell it. For those of you who don't know my wife, her sense of smell is very limited; she is only capable of smelling citrus scents. We were afraid. We asked one another if we cleaned or anointed the icons recently, and both of us said 'no'. 'What is going on?' I asked. I put the icons back where they were; we took a few pictures with our digital camera. Then I said an Akathist to the Mother of God in honor of her Iveron Icon and went to bed, or at least tried to. The next day, Sunday October 7 th (2007), after much debate, we left the icons at home and went to church. We told Fr. Anatole what had happened. He listened patiently and said, 'Bring the icons to church!' We then arranged with the priest, to bring the icons to church the next Wednesday, October 10th. Up until that Wednesday, the icons continued to stream. I collected the myrrh on cotton and before them I said prayers for my sister who was ill and for several other people. [Fr Anatole's Note: The next day, his sister called her father to say that her doctor cannot explain it, but that her pancreas, which had completely stopped functioning had returned to its normal state and that her diabetes was under control.] We couldn't wait until Wednesday. On Wednesday October 10th, we brought the icons to church and placed them on two analogia (lecterns) in the center of the church. Fr. Anatole inspected them and wiped them down with cotton and proceeded to start the service of the Akathist Hymn of the Iveron Icon. After the service, the icons were wiped down again; they had streamed a little during the service. Fr. Anatole confirmed to us that it is 'definitely streaming myrrh' and that it is 'a very pure myrrh'. The smell of roses filled the air. I asked him what we were to do? He asked us to leave the icons in church for the time being. No one knew about the icons; they were safe at church. The next Saturday, October 13th, just happened to be "clean the church day". We were preparing our church for the upcoming feasts; our parish feast day (November 24), Christmas, the Serbian bishop's visit, etc. So my wife, myself and another person were put in charge of cleaning. While we were cleaning the church we couldn't take our eyes off the two myrrh-streaming icons, which slowly streamed while we were cleaning. The smell of roses was quite pungent. The icons seemed to exude a strong smell of roses. The Icon of the Mother of God seems to smell more like 'roses' than the other icon. The Cross has a spicier smell to it. I can't explain it. While we were cleaning the church, our kumovi (Colette and her family) came to see the icons. Not many folks could wait for Vespers that evening. Colette later remarked to me that she's the 'doubting Thomas' and really couldn't believe it until she saw it for herself. Understandable. She didn't realize that the icons were actually streaming as we were cleaning. (They don't stream continuously). She venerated the Cross and kissed the feet of Our Lord. She got a nice helping of myrrh in her mouth. Like the doubting Apostle Thomas who put his fingers in Christ's Hands and Side, she put her mouth right in the myrrh, where myrrh wasn't supposed to be! I couldn't help but laugh. The next day, Sunday October 14th, was the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, and Fr. Anatole revealed the icons to the people. The icons streamed quite heavily; there was enough myrrh for everyone. They have continued streaming ever since. Many have come to see the icons, Russians, Greeks, Serbs, Roman Catholics, Protestants. All who approach the icons feel the Grace of God! There have been days when the icons have been completely dry, while on other days they are covered in myrrh. Yet whether they stream or not, they continuously give off an extremely strong scent of roses. It is truly a great miracle! I sometimes wonder if it is a warning. Now that I look back, it seems that 'revelation' has been the central theme of late. The icons initially revealed themselves to us on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. We revealed them to our priest on the Feast of the Conception of St. John the Baptist. He was the one man who revealed Christ to the world. Our priest revealed the myrrh-streaming icons to the church on the Feast day of the Protection of the Mother of God. These cannot be coincidences! Our parish is dedicated to the original Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon, an icon that had never traveled to Hawaii. Br. José wanted to come here, but never made it. I must confess to you, sometimes I feel that our fellow Orthodox brethren on the mainland have forgotten our little parish, our little community. Living out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we struggle to survive as an Orthodox parish. Struggle to pay the bills, struggle to make the rent. I sometimes wonder, when will we have a church of our own? Has the Lord forgotten us? Are

5 we to struggle forever? Have we done something wrong? Have we angered You, O Lord? Whether or not our fellow clergy, our fellow Orthodox faithful have forgotten us, one thing is clear The Most Holy Mother of God has not forgotten us. She has not abandoned us. She will not abandon us! Through these icons, I now have hope that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. Whether or not we are blessed to have a church of our own, it really doesn't matter; God has shown us that He has not forgotten us! And that's all that is needed. God is telling us that He is real! Dare we ignore this revelation? Dare we turn our backs on this great miracle? Dare we forget Christ? May God forgive us if we do. In Christ's Love, Rdr. Nectarios December 2007 Prayer Services For This Week 3/22 3/28 Monday 3/22: Great Compline Services 7:30pm Thursday 3/25: Great Compline Services 7:30pm Friday 3/26: Special Little Compline Service 7:30pm Saturday 3/27: Divine Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday 10:00am Sunday 3/28: Palm Sunday 10:30am Have a blessed week! How do we make the large Palms? This Thursday 3/25 at 4pm The Asfour ladies ask all the ladies and any one who likes to learn how to make large Palms for Palm Sunday or to give a hand and help making them, to please come to the church this Thursday at 4pm. If you ordered Large Palms, please pick them up on Friday evening or Saturday morning. Palm Sunday Bake Sale كعك و معمول وحلويات عربية Thank you to all the ladies for Working and Baking very hard for the last couple of weeks! God Bless you. Please support your church and the church Ladies and purchase your delicious Middle Eastern sweets and pastries this Sunday after Palm Sunday service. Prayer Services For the Holy Week 3/29 4/4 Great Monday 3/29: Holy Monday Service 7:30pm Great Tuesday 3/30: Holy Tuesday Service 7:30pm Great Wednesday 3/31: Blessing of the Oil and Seven Gospels Service (Holy Unction Service) 7:30pm Great Thursday 4/1: Divine Liturgy of the Mystical Supper 10:00am Holy Thursday and Twelve Gospels Service 7:30pm Great Friday 4/2: The Burial Procession 7:30pm Divine Liturgy 12:00am (Midnight) Saturday 4/3: The Bright Resurrection of our Lord 9pm (Hajmeh at 10pm) Sunday 4/4: No Services. Parents: Please feel free to bring sleeping bags or blankets for your little ones if they like to sleep in the upstairs room during any of the late night services. Have a blessed Pascha! Bier of Christ We will purchase the flowers for the Bier of Christ next week. Flowers donation forms for the Bier of Christ are still available at the church entrance and in this bulletin. Please write the names of your living and departed loved ones very clearly so they can be commemorated during the Holy Week services.

6 Easter Potluck Sign-up Easter Potluck Dinner/Breakfast Saturday Night April 3 after Easter Liturgy. A potluck menu sign-up is available at the church entrance. Please sign-up for a dish or see Ghada Khoury or Maha Raie. Myrrh-Streaming Icon Video in St. James Please visit Rami Razzouk s web site and watch a video of the Myrrh-streaming icon s last visit to St. James and other videos. Altar Boys Meeting Saturday 3/27 All altar boys Please plan to come to church this Saturday 3/27. We will have a meeting for all Altar Boys to go over Palm Sunday and Holy Week services and Altar Boys duties. We will also review some basic altar rules. The meeting will be around 12:30pm right after the morning Divine Liturgy of Lazarus. Thank you for all your hard work! Attention St. James Parish Members and Visitors We are now renting the Child Care facility to Wonderland Day Care. We are required by the laws of the Department of Social Services and Licensing, that the outside bathrooms to be restricted for Wonderland Day Care use only during Day Care business hours Monday Friday, 7am 6pm. The bathrooms are also to remain locked on Sundays. Parish members can use the church bathrooms during those hours. The outside bathrooms will only be opened and used for special events with prior arrangement with Day Care management. Thank you for your understanding and helping us accommodate our Day Care tenants. Thank You! Many thanks to St. James family members and their guests for supporting our annual Crab Feed event on Saturday, whether by attending the event, or by donating items to the event or who worked very hard for its success. Many thanks to all members of the event Committee. God bless you all sjoc@earthlink.net or call (408) for your bulletin personal announcements, comments, feedback, or business advertising.

7 From the Youth Group s visit to St. John Maximovitch relics in San Francisco The Youth Group spent a beautiful day saying Hello to St. John Maximovitch at the Holy Virgin Cathedral and St. Tikhon Church in San Francisco on Saturday 3/20. The group started by attending the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral at 9am. The group then proceeded to venerate the holy relics of St. John and praying at the side of his uncorrupted body. The group then headed to St. Tikhon Administration building (where St. John actually lived!). The group listened to the life story and miracles of St. John presented by Fr. James from St. Tikhon Orthodox Church. The group also visited St. John s office and sat on St. John s own chair! (where he used to sleep on) for private individual prayers. The group then visited St. Tikhon church, where Fr. James placed St. John s own robe on every individual with a prayer to St. John, then anointed each one with Holy Oil. The group ended the trip watching a video about St. John s life while having lunch with Fr. James. What a blessed and touching day that every single person loved so much! Glory to God for giving us this opportunity to be so close to his saint St. John s own chair where he used to sit and pray and sleep on. Every one in the group had a chance to sit on this church and have a private prayer to St. John. One of the many beautiful icons of St. John. At St. Tikhon Administration building where it used to be his residence. Youth Group and family members right at the entrance of the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco on Saturday.

8 The Youth Corner Attention Youth: Calendar of Youth events for the next 3 months are out. If you don t have a copy of it, please contact Rajaie Dabaie for a copy and mark your calendars for these events in April: Friday April 2: Bier of Christ decoration 10am All night vigil in the church following Great Friday evening services. Friday/Saturday April 16/17: People s Park preparations (Feed the homeless) and Movie night at church. Distribute the food to the homeless on Saturday at the park. Sunday April 18: Youth Meeting Friday April 23: Bible Study Sunday April 25: Youth sponsored luncheon at the church. Happy Birthdays Benjamin Dougherty 3/22 Abid Mogannam 3/23 Aileen Nijmeh 3/27 عقبال المئة سنة!!! St. James Basketball Games for This Week St. James adults team scored its second win against St. Gregory adults team 40/39 in a nice and challenging game. The Basketball Tournament is now on break until after Easter. Next games for St. James are on Sunday April 11. Place Your Add Here FREE Do you own a business? Are you a Pledging Member This is your opportunity to advertise your business in our weekly bulletin to over 380 recipients every week. Not a pledging member? No problem. Pledge forms are available with the treasurers every Sunday. Please fill one out. In ignorance, many people labor more to avoid suffering in old age and terminal illness than to avoid the torments of hell in the life after old age and death. Such was the case of an unmarried and avaricious man who, from year to year, and with ever greater passion, amassed for himself unnecessary wealth. When asked why he strove so much to pile up excess wealth he replied: ``I am gathering it for my old age. This wealth will heal and feed me in old age and sickness.'' And indeed, his foreboding came true. In old age, a grave and long-lasting illness befell him. He distributed his accumulated wealth to physicians so they would heal him, and to servants so they would care for him and feed him. His wealth was soon spent, and the illness continued. The physicians and servants abandoned him, and he fell into despair. His neighbors brought him bread until his death, and he was buried at the expense of the community. He had used his wealth for that which he had intended it. God had even done for him according to the man's will. God had sent him the illness that he had, in a sense, desired, and for which he had prepared great wealth. Nevertheless, all his wealth was unable to alleviate his sufferings in this world-so with what would he be able to alleviate his sufferings in the other world? Nothing, if he took with him neither faith, nor hope, nor charitable deeds, nor prayers, nor repentance! Specially for Orthodox Kids Lesson 19: Our Father Who Art in heaven We saw how the Bread and the Wine was changed to Holy Communion. Now all of us with the Saints and Angels say: Our Father, who art in heaven, Jesus was the One who taught us this prayer.

9 Lets think about the words of this prayer for little while. Our Father, who art in heaven: Jesus taught us to call God our Father. We in the church are one family, brothers and sisters, and God is the Father of all of us. Hollowed be thy name: Which means that God s name is Holy, and we become Holy through Him. We must be careful of how to use God s name because it is Holy. Thy kingdom come: We want God to be the Master of our life. We have a hope that the Heavenly Kingdom come to us through our prayers and that we will live with God in His Kingdom. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: We want to obey God and do what He wants from us and accepts all that happens to us because it is the will of God. The Saints and Angles always obey God. Give us this day our daily bread: The daily bread is what is necessary for our daily life. We ask God to give us all we need to live by His will and be happy with what He gives us. And forgive us our trespasses: We ask God to forgive our sins. As we forgive those who trespass against us: We promise God to forgive people who hurt us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: We pray so that God will protect us from the bad things and give us the strength to avoid the bad and do the good. Lesson 19 Exercise: 1. On a card board, draw the people in the church while praying. On the other side of the card, write the Lord s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, Lesson #20 next week: We take the Gift of Jesus Christ

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