St. Michael s Orthodox Christian Church

Transcription

1 St. Michael s Orthodox Christian Church 1182 Ashland St., Greensburg, PA Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. (See the back cover for detailed contact information.) Sunday, March 27, 2016 To all who are present with us this morning, Welcome! Thank you for being here. Please join us for coffee and... in the Fellowship Hall following Divine Liturgy. You May Find the Text of the Divine Liturgy beginning on the bottom page 91 of the Service Book (gold embossed cross on the reddish brown cover) or in the greenspiral-bound book; sheet music can be found in the 8.5 x 11 large, spiral-bound booklet. At the Kiss of Peace our practice is for each of us to greet the person to our right and left with the bowing of our head, hands held in a prayerful clasp or crossed on the chest, while offering each other the Christian greeting, Christ is born! and responding, Glorify Him! Please remember that Holy Communion is reserved for those Chrismated Orthodox Christians who have appropriately prepared themselves through prayer, fasting and Confession to receive the Holy Mysteries of the Church. The bread (anti doron, which means in place of the gifts) which we share after Communion and at the end of the Liturgy is for all. Being mindful we are in church, let us always remember to...be quiet and attentive. Let us sing, pray, stand, sit, kneel and respond where responses are indicated. Let us not talk, look around, text message, play games, etc. Especially let us work at this in the Communion line and when in line to venerate the Cross and depart. If we cannot hear the post-communion prayers being chanted during our church departure, we are way too noisy....refrain from eating, drinking or chewing gum. (most obviously and especially if you will be receiving Holy Communion)....stay put. Except in rare cases, there are few of us who cannot stay in one location for two hours (actually less, for most of us).

2 The Mission of Our Church The mission of St Michael s Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church is to tend the flock of our Lord Jesus Christ and to spread the Good News of Christ to those outside the flock. This mission is to be accomplished by a) living a full liturgical and sacramental life, b) proclaiming the Orthodox Christian faith to all people, c) providing effective charitable and social programs, and d) establishing strong spiritual leadership and resources. SYRIAN CHRISTIAN RELIEF As the Syrian crisis continues, we continue to accept donations to do what we can to help ease the suffering there. Checks may be written to St. Michael s with the note Syrian Relief. The following is a link to International Orthodox Christian Charities ((IOCC) Response to the Crisis in Syria page, with more information on what you can do to help:

3 Sunday, March 27, 2016 Greeting: Christ is in our midst! Response: He is and shall be! Tone: 2 Eothinon: 10 Second Sunday of Great Lent: Commemoration of Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica Martyr Matrona of Thessalonica; Martyrs Philetos the senator, his wife Lydia of Rome and those with them; Paul, bishop of Corinth. THE EPISTLE READING I St. Paul to the Hebrews (1:10-2:3) N THE BEGINNING, thou O Lord, didst found the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end. But to what angel has he ever said, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him. THE HOLY GOSPEL A According to St. Mark (2:1-12) T THAT TIME, when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to Jesus a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus reasoned within themselves, said to them, Why do you reason thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home. And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this!

4 CALEB S CUPBOARD, the big chest you see as you come through the main entrance of our church, is a simple way to help our hungry neighbors. Just bring in a few cans of food or other non- perishables when you come to church and you will be making a difference for someone. Please check that the goods you bring are reasonably close in time to the expiration date. (While we know the food lasts longer than that date, it is not always easy to tell how much longer.) GREETERS TEAM MEETING Sunday, April 3, in the Multi-Purpose Room Following Divine Liturgy in Church St. Michael s Annual Pirate Baseball Game PNC Park Thursday July 21 Pirates vs Milwaukee Brewers See Michelle Gajewski for details! The Spiritual Path: How to Discover, Get On, or Narrow Yours A Conversation to be held at 7:00 PM On the following five Mondays of the Great Fast (following the 6:00 PM Great Compline March 21 - The Spiritual Path: What is it? March 28 - Praying on the Path: How do I grow my soul? April 4 - Fasting on the Path: What tools will I need? April 11 - Compassion on the Path: Who s on it with me? April 18 - The Final Destination: What s the Point of the Path? Food on the Hill Lunch Ministry The next Food on the Hill lunch is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Anyone who would like to support Food on the Hill in any capacity you would like, should contact Gust Flizanes at ( ). Please make checks out to St. Michael s Church with Food on the Hill on the memo line.

5 Food For Hungry People boxes are assembled and ready to be picked up at the office window in the main hallway. Please be sure to take a box home, fill it, and return it to Joyce Eger, for the sake of hungry people around the world. Annual Spring Church Cleanup Day Saturday, April 9th following Divine Liturgy Come and do your part. Easter Bake Sale - Order forms are available at the entrance to the church. Order Deadline - Sunday, April 10; Pickup - Sat., April 16, noon or Sunday, April 17. Save a Life! Red Cross BLOOD DRIVE 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Saturday April 2 St. Michael s Church 1182 Ashland St. Greensburg, PA Sign up at our main entrance. Donors are urgently needed! Thank you to everyone who planned, set up and attended last Friday s visit by His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH. GREGORY PALAMAS (14 cent.) asserted that the prophets in fact had greater knowledge of God, because they had actually seen or heard God himself. Addressing the question of how it is possible for humans to have knowledge of a transcendent and unknowable God, he drew a distinction between knowing God in his essence (in Greek, ουσία) and knowing God in his energies (in Greek, ενέργειαι). He maintained the Orthodox doctrine that it remains impossible to know God in his essence (God in himself), but possible to know God in his energies (to know what God does, and who he is in relation to the creation and to man), as God reveals himself to humanity. In doing so, he made reference to the Cappadocian Fathers and other early Christian writers. Gregory further asserted that when the Apostles Peter, James and John witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor, that they were in fact seeing the uncreated light of God; and that it is possible for others to be granted to see that same uncreated light of God with the help of repentance, spiritual discipline and contemplative prayer, although not in any automatic or mechanistic fashion. He continually stressed the Biblical vision of the human person as a united whole, both body and soul. Thus, he argued that the physical side of hesychastic (stillness) prayer was an integral part of the contemplative monastic way, and that the claim by some of the monks of seeing the uncreated light was indeed legitimate. Like St. Simeon the New Theologian, he also laid great stress in his spiritual teaching on the vision of the divine light. (orthodoxwiki.com)

6 ON YOUR MARKS GET SET go! As for me and my house, We will serve the Lord! - Joshua 24:15 Combined Dioceses Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic Diocese of New York and Washington, D.C Parish Life Conference Wednesday, June 29 thru Sunday, July 3, 2016 Antiochian Village 140 Church Camp Trail Bolivar, PA This year s Parish Life Conference is all about service. Many of you are all about service. This commercial is all about service. You can serve all the planners of this Conference (AV staff and host church parishioners alike) by doing one thing this week (Pretty please, with a cherry on top.) registering! at... (Now, please. Right away, ok? Please, now.) antiochianevents.com

7 REMEMBER, the Second Week of this schedule may change: ALWAYS USE THE MOST CURRENT BULLETIN! March 27 through April 2 Sunday, March 27 - Gregory Palamas - 8:30 AM - MATINS - 9:30 AM - Choir Rehearsal - 10:00 AM - DIVINE LITURGY - Antiochian Women s sermonette - Church School - God grant you many years - Church School Assembly on Confession in church - AMEN Meeting in MP Room - 2:30 PM - check your local TV listings for The Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer - Bishop JOHN Abdalah and others - 4:00 PM - LENTEN VESPERS at St. Michael Church 1201 Patton Ave. Monessen Mon., March 28-6:00 PM - GREAT COMPLINE - Lenten Conversation follows Praying of the Spiritual Path: How do I grow my soul? Tuesday, March 29-7 AM to 10 AM - CONFESSIONS Wednesday, March 30-9 AM to 11 AM - CONFESSIONS - 5:30 PM - 9th HOUR - 6 PM - PRESANCTIFIED LIT GY - soup and bread fellowship - Choir Rehearsal follows Friday, April 1-6:00 PM - Lenten Covered Dish - 7:00 PM - AKATHIST HYMN to the Theotokos - CONFESSIONS follow Saturday, April 2-9:00 to 2:00 PM - Blood Drive There will be no Divine Liturgy this morning or Vespers this evening as Fr. John will be traveling to Bethesda, Maryland today for the annual Spring Delegates Meetings of our Diocese. April 3 through April 9 Sunday, April 3 - The Life Giving Cross - 8:45 AM - MATINS - 9:30 AM - Choir Rehearsal - 10:00 AM - DIVINE LITURGY - Procession with Holy Cross - God grant you many years - Church School - Greeters Team Meeting - 4:00 PM - LENTEN VESPERS at St. George Cathedral 3400 Dawson St. Pittsburgh (Oakland) Monday, April 4-6:00 PM - GREAT COMPLINE - Lenten Conversation follows Tuesday, April 5-7 AM to 10 AM - CONFESSIONS Wednesday, April 6-12 PM to 3 PM - CONFESSIONS - 5:30 PM - 9th HOUR - 6 PM - PRESANC. DIV. LIT GY - soup and bread fellowship - Choir Rehearsal follows Thursday, April 7-7:00 PM - Church School Meeting Friday, April 8-3 PM to 6 PM - CONFESSIONS - 6:00 PM - Lenten Covered Dish - 7:00 PM - AKATHIST HYMN to the Theotokos - CONFESSIONS follow Saturday, April 9-9:00 AM - DIVINE LITURGY Soul Saturday - Church Clean-Up follows - 6:00 PM - GREAT VESPERS - CONFESSIONS follow Holy Saturday Divine Liturgy of Christ s Descent into Hades 9:00 AM, April 30 Come see for yourself the beauty of this Paschal Service.