The Entry of the Mother of God Into the Temple. Volume 33 November 19, 2017 Number 45

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1 The Church Herald Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church 2053 North Road, NE Warren, OH Church Phone: (330) Rectory Phone: (330) Pastor: The Very Rev. Protopresbyter Kenneth M. Bachofsky, D. Min. Parish Web Page: Volume 33 November 19, 2017 Number 45 The Entry of the Mother of God Into the Temple If a tree is known by its fruit, and a good tree bears good fruit (Matthew 7:17; Luke 6:44), then is not the Mother of Goodness Itself, She who bore the Eternal Beauty, incomparably more excellent than every good, whether in this world or the world above? Therefore, the coeternal and identical Image of goodness, Pre-eternal, transcending all being, He Who is the preexisting and good Word of the Father, moved by His unutterable love for mankind and compassion for us, put on our image, that He might reclaim for Himself our nature which had been dragged down to uttermost Hades, so as to renew this corrupted nature and raise it to the heights fo Heaven. For this purpose, He had to assume a flesh that was both new and ours, that eh might refashion us form out of ourselves. Now He finds a Handmaiden perfectly suited to these needs, the supplier of Her own unsullied nature, the Every-Virgin now hymned by us, and Whose miraculous Entrance into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, we now celebrate. God predestined Her before the ages for the salvation and reclaiming of our kind. She was chosen, not just form the crowd, but from the ranks of the chosen of all ages, renowned for piety and understanding, and for their God-pleasing words and deeds. In the beginning, there was one who rose up against us; the author of evil, the serpent, who dragged us into the abyss. Many reasons impelled him to rise up against us, and there are many ways by which he enslaved our nature: envy, rivalry, hatred, injustice, treachery, slyness, etc. In addition to all this, he also has within him the power of bringing death, which he himself engendered, being the first to fall away from true life. The author of evil was jealous of Adam, when he saw him being led from earth to Heaven, from which he was justly cast down. Filled with envy, he pounced upon Adam with a terrible ferocity, and even wished to clothe him with the garb of death. Envy is not only the begetter of hatred, but also of murder, which this truly man-hating serpent brought about in us. For he wanted to be master over the earth-born for the ruin of that which was created in the image and likeness of God. Since he was not bold enough to make a face to face attack, he resorted to cunning and deceit. This truly terrible and malicious plotter pretended to be a friend and useful adviser by assuming the physical form of a serpent, and stealthily took their position. By this God-opposing advice, he instills in man his own death-bearing power, like a venomous poison. If Adam had been sufficiently strong to keep the divine commandment, then he would have shown himself the vanquisher of his enemy, and withstood his deathly attack. But since he voluntarily gave in to sin, he was defeated and was made a sinner. Since he is the root of our race, he has produced us as deathbearing shoots. So, it was necessary for us, if he were to fight back against his defeat and to claim victory, to rid himself of the death-bearing venomous poison in his soul and body, and to absorb life, eternal and indestructible life. It was necessary for us to have a new root for our race, a new Adam, not just one Who would be sinless and invincible, but one Who also would be able to forgive sins and set free from punishment those subject to it. And not only would He have life in Himself, but also the capacity to restore to life, so that He could grant to those who cleave to Him and are related to Him by race both life and the forgiveness of their sins, restoring to life not only those who came after Him, but also those who already had died before Him. Therefore, St. Paul, that great trumpet of the Holy Spirit, explains: the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit! (I Corinthians 15:45). Except for God, there is no one who is without sin, or life-creating, or able to remit sin. Therefore, the new Adam must be not only Man, but also God. He is at the same time life wisdom truth love and mercy and every other good thing, so that he might renew the old Adam and restore him to me through mercy,

2 wisdom and righteousness. These are the opposites of the things which the author of evil used to bring about our aging and death. As the slayer of mankind raised himself against us with envy and hatred, so the Source of life was lifted up [on the Cross] because of His immeasurable goodness and love for mankind. He intensely desired the salvation of His creature, i.e., that His creature would be restored by Himself. In contrast to this, the author of evil wanted to bring God s creature to ruin, and thereby put mankind under his own power, and tyrannically to afflict us. And just as he achieved the conquest and the fall of mankind by means of injustice and cunning, by deceit and his trickery, so has the Liberator brought about the defeat of the author of evil, and the restoration of His own creature with truth, justice and wisdom. It was a deed of perfect justice that our nature, which was voluntarily enslaved and struck down, should again enter the struggle for victory and cast off its voluntary enslavement. Therefore, God deigned to receive our nature from us, hypostatically uniting with it in a marvelous way. But it was impossible to unite that Most High Nature, Whose purity is incomprehensible for human reason, to a sinful nature before it had been purified. Therefore, for the conception and birth of the Bestower of purity, a perfectly spotless and Most Pure Virgin was required. Today we celebrate the memory of those thing that contributed, if only once, to the Incarnation. He Who is God by nature, the Co- Unoriginate and Co-Eternal Word and Son of the Transcendent Father, becomes the Son of Man, the Son of the Ever-Virgin. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8), immutable in His divinity and blameless in His humanity, He alone, as Prophet Isaiah prophesied, practiced no iniquity, nor deceit with His lips. (Isaiah 53:9). He alone was not brought forth in iniquity, nor was He conceived in sin, in contrast to what the Prophet David says concerning himself and every other man (Psalm 50:5). Even in what He assumes, He is perfectly pure and has no need to be cleansed Himself. But for our sake, He accepted purification, suffering, death, and resurrection, that He might transmit them to us. God is born of the spotless and Holy Virgin, or better to say, of the Most Pure and All- Holy Virgin. She is above every fleshly defilement, and even above every impure thought. Her conceiving resulted not form fleshly lust, but by the overshadowing of the Most Holy Spirit. Such desire being utterly alien to Her, it is through prayer and spiritual readiness that She declared to the angel: Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it to Me according to Your Word! (Luke 1:38), and that She conceived and gave birth. So, in order to render the Virgin worthy of this sublime purpose, God marked this Ever-Virgin Daughter now praised by us, form before the ages, and form eternity, choosing Her from out of His elect. Turn your attention then, to where this choice began. From the sons of Adam God chose the wondrous Seth, who showed himself a living heaven through his becoming behavior, and through the beauty of his virtues. That is why he was chosen, and from whom the Virgin would blossom as the divinely fitting chariot of God. She was needed to give birth and to summon the earth-born to heavenly son ship. For this reason also all the lineage of Seth were called sons of God, because from this lineage of son of man would be born the Son of God. The name Seth signifies a rising or resurrection, or more specifically, it signifies the Lord, Who promises and gives immortal life to all who believe in Him. And how precisely exact is this parallel! Seth was born of Eve, as she herself said, in place of Abel, whom Cain killed through jealousy (Genesis 4:25): and Christ, the Son of the Virgin, was born for us in place of Adam, whom the author of evil also killed through jealousy. But Seth did not resurrect Abel, since he was only a fore type of the resurrection. But our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Adam, since He is the very Life and the Resurrection of the earth-born, for whose sake the descendents of Seth are granted divine adoption through hope, and are called the children of God. It was because of this hope that they were called sons of God, as is evident form the one who was first called so, the successor in the choice. This was Enos, the son of Seth, who was Moses wrote, first hoped to call on the Name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26). In this manner, the choice of the future Mother of God, beginning with the very sons of Adam and proceeding through all the generations of time, through the Providence of God, passes to the Prophet-King David and the successors of his kingdom and lineage. When the chosen time had come, then from the house of the posterity of David, Joachim and Anna are chosen by God. Though they were childless, they were by their virtuous life and good disposition the finest of all those descended form the line of David. And when in prayer they besought God to deliver them form their childlessness, and promised to dedicate their child to God form its infancy. By God Himself, the Mother of God was proclaimed and given to them as a child, so that form such virtuous parents the all-virtuous child would be raised. So in this manner, chastity joined with prayer came to fruition by producing the Mother of virginity, giving birth in the flesh to Him Who was born of God the Father before all ages. Now, when righteous Joachim and Anna saw that they had been granted their wish, and that the divine promise to them was realized in fact, then they on their part, as true lover of God, hastened to fulfill their vow given to God as soon as the child had been weaned form milk. They have now led this truly sanctified child of God, now the Mother of God, this Virgin into the Temple of God. And She, being filled with Di-

3 vine gifts even at such a tender age,...she, rather than others, determined what was being done over Her. In Her manner She showed that She was not so much presented into the Temple, but that She Herself entered into the service of God of her own accord, as if she had wings, striving towards this sacred and divine love. She considered it desirable and fitting that she should enter into the Temple and dwell in the Holy of Holies. Therefore, the Holy Priest, seeing that this child, more than anyone else, had divine grace within her, wished to set Her within the Holy of Holies. He convinced everyone present to welcome this, since God had advanced it and approved it. Through His angel, God assisted the Virgin and sent Her mystical food, which She was strengthened in nature, while in body She was brought to maturity and was made purer and more exalted than the angles, having the Heavenly spirits as servants. She was led into the Holy of Holies not just once by was accepted by God to dwell there with Him during Her youth, so that through Her, the heavenly Abodes might be open and given for an eternal habitation to those who believe in Her miraculous birth giving. So it is, and this is why She, from the beginning of time, was chosen from among the chosen. She Who is manifest as the Holy of Holies, Who has a body even purer than the spirit purified by virtue, is capable of receiving...the Hypostatic Word of the Un Originate Father. Today the Every-Virgin Mary, like a Treasurer of God, is stored in the Holy of Holies, so that in due time, (as it later came to pass) She would serve for the enrichment of, and an ornament for, all the world. Therefore, Christ God also glorifies His Mother, both before birth, and also after birth. We who understand that salvation begun for our sake through the Most Holy Virgin, give Her thanks and praise according to our ability. And truly, if the grateful woman (of whom the Gospel tells us), after hearing the saving words of the Lord, blessed and thanked His Mother, raising her voice above the din of the crowd and saying to Christ, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that have nursed you! (Luke 11:27), then we who have the words of eternal life written out for us, and not only the words, but also the miracles and the Passion and the raising of our nature from death, and its ascent form earth to Heaven, and the promise of immortal life and unfailing salvation, then how shall we not unceasingly hymn and bless the Mother of the Author of our Salvation and the Giver of Life, celebrate Her conception and birth, and now Her Entry into the Holy of Holies! - By: St. Gregory Palamas - Worship Schedule Sunday, November 19th 9:30 a.m. The Reading 10:00 a.m. The 24th Sunday After Pentecost, Tone 7 (Page 99). The Prophet Obadiah, and the Martyrs: Barlaam and Heliodorus are commemorated. Epistle Ephesians 2:14-22 Gospel Luke 12:16-21 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST 9:00 A.M. THE FEAST OF THE ENTRANCE OF THE THEOTOKOS INTO THE TEMPLE! EPISTLE HEBREWS 9:1-7 GOSPEL LUKE 10:38-42;11:27,28 Wednesday, November. 22nd 4:00 p.m. The Akathist Service to the Theotokos with prayers for the sick and anointing of the faithful! Sunday, November 26th 9:30 a.m. The Reading 10:00 a.m. The 25th Sunday After Pentecost, Tone 8 (Page ). The Venerable Alypius the Stylite, Stylianus and the Repose of St. Innocent are commemorated. Epistle Ephesians 4:1-6 Gospel Luke 13:10-17 Wednesday, November 29th 4:00 p.m. The Akathist Service to the Theotokos with prayers for the sick and the anointing of the faithful. Saturday, December 2nd 1:00 3:00 p.m. Advent Confessions of the Faithful. 4:00 p.m. The Evening Vesper Service followed by Bible Study Class. Sunday, December 3rd 9:30 a.m. The Reading 10:00 a.m. The 26th Sunday After Pentecost, Tone 1 (Page ). The Prophet Zephaniah, Venerable Sabbas of Storozhev, and John the Silent are commemorated. Epistle Ephesians 5:9-19 Gospel Luke 18:18-27 Patronal Celebration This coming Wednesday begins the Advent Season of spiritual preparation for the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. During this holy season, Holy Mother Church will bring to our remembrance St. Nicholas of Myra, the Wonder- Worker, our beloved Patron! Once again it will be our good pleasure to join in this celebration, and we invite your participation! We offer the

4 following Patronal Celebration Schedule: Tuesday, December 5th: 6:00 p.m. The Great Vespers with Lytia will be served. Father Jerry Hall, pastor of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Akron, Ohio will deliver a topical homily. The Patronal Icon will be enthroned and venerated and faithful will be anointed with the Holy Oil. A light meal will follow in the Fellowship Hall for everyone s enjoyment. Wednesday, December 6th: 9:30 a.m. Festal Divine Liturgy concelebrated by Father Ken and visiting clergy will be served followed by Festive Anointing with the Holy Miro and the Veneration of Relics of St. Nicholas. Sunday, December 10th: 11:30 a.m. The St. Nicholas Banquet in the Fellowship Hall. Our Special Guest, St. Nicholas, will visit us giving stockings filled with treats to all of the children present celebrating this feast! Photo opportunities will be available! A Free-will Offering will be taken after the banquet. All proceeds will benefit the educational ministry being done at our Holy Trinity Academy. Please give generously! We are calling upon all of the faithful of our parish to attend these festivities to Glorify the Lord and honor our beloved patron! St. Nicholas of Myra provides us a perfect example of true Christian living by way of his charity and humility. The hymns also provide us a unique opportunity to spiritually prepare ourselves for the celebration of our Lord s Nativity. Happy Birthday! Logan Diles. Cassidy Hluchin.. Christine Van Valien... Karin Christley... Antonia Theologitis Filippos Theologitis. Denise Delida. Happy Anniversary! Elias & Pauline Kotsatos... Thanksgiving Holiday This coming Thursday is the national celebration of Thanksgiving Day! We pray that everyone have a very safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving holiday! As you gather together with your family and friends, don t forget to take some time to reflect on all of the blessing received from the Lord and offer a Prayer of Thanksgiving! Outreach Dinner: The Annual St. Nicho- las Samaritan Outreach Thanksgiving Day Dinner will be held on Thursday, November 23, 2017, at the American Legion in Newton Falls, Ohio! The Dinner will be served from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. to all of our wonderful guests! We are in need of our parishioners stewardship of time, talent and treasure in order to sponsor this dinner. There are so many of our neighbors facing some financial difficulties, or who are lonely during this holiday season! There is a Thanksgiving Sign -Up Sheet posted on the bulletin board in the parish Atrium. Please sign you name to the food item you will be donating or for volunteering your time to work at the dinner. We are going to need a lot of turkeys! We are asking that you not only cook the turkeys, but also carve off the meat and put it into an aluminum tray. We do not have time to cook and carve the turkeys the day of the dinner! Thanks so much for your cooperation in this matter! If you are able to work at the dinner, cook, or donate cash or food items, please sign the sheet. You can also contact either Father Ken or Deacon Ed Brisbine. Your help and cooperation will be greatly appreciated by us and most especially our beloved guests joining us on Thanksgiving Day! Kerya s Little Angels We are so pleased to say that for the first time in over 25 year all of the angels have been taken! What a wonderful testimonial to the warmth, compassion and charity that is so much a part of our parish! Thank you all and God bless you!!! It is our goal to provide these children with both the Needs and Christmas Wishes that they warmly asked, which are so humble and reasonable! When putting together the gifts place them in a large shopping or garbage bag, and return them to the Christmas Angel Table in the Fellowship Hall. We need all angels returned on or before Sunday, December 3, The bags will be gathered and prepared for pick up by Paula and her volunteers from the Head Start Program. They will then be given to the parents/guardians of the children to open on Christmas Day! As in the past, our objective for participation in this program is for the Glory of the Newly Born Savior, and in honor of our beloved Patron, St. Nicholas of Myra, known as the patron of children! Christmas Bake Sale Your orders for the Walnut, Apricot and Poppy Kolachi Rolls, and the Baklava are now being taken for the Holy Trinity School Christmas Bake Sale! The Kolachi Rolls are $12.00 each and a try of Baklava is $15.00 each. They will be decorated in

5 holiday style and will make great Christmas Presents! All baked goods are soled fresh and can be easily frozen for the holiday. Preorders are taken until December 6, 2017 by calling Holy Trinity Academy and Pre School are (330) or you can sign your name on the order forms posted on our parish bulletin boards. Orders can be picked up on Saturday, December 9th from 2-4 p.m. in our Fellowship Hall. Make checks payable to: Holy Trinity Academy! Christmas Preparations With this week s celebration of Thanksgiving we realize that C h r i s t m a s i s quickly coming upon us! As a preparation for this celebration we are bringing these following information to everyone s attention. Decoration: We are in need of volunteers to decorate the sanctuary of our Church for the Christmas season. It is the custom of our parish to have these decorations up for the Feast of St. Nicholas! A beautifully decorated Church adds to the dignity and solemnity of the Nativity Service and Celebration! Please give us a helping hand! Flower Donations: At this time we would like to solicit donations for the beautiful red and white poinsettia plants for Christmas. These plants will adorn the Holy Altar and Sanctuary of our Church for the Nativity of the Lord and Theophany Feasts. We are asking a donation of $10.00 per small red plant and $20.00 per large white plant. Or course any size donation will be graciously accepted. Please fill out the attached Christmas Flower Order Form and return it with your donation to the Vestibule Office on or before Sunday, December 17, The names of the donors and their intentions will be printed in the Christmas edition of The Church Herald and the intentions will be remembered at the Festal Divine Liturgy Proskomedia. Church Kitchen Report We are pleased to report that the Lord has blessed us with many blessings this past week, in our Church Kitchen! Many of our loyal and new customers can to enjoy our Internationally Renowned Holupki & Perohi Dinners and take out food! We are indeed so grateful! The income from the sake of diners and take outs was $3, The weekly expenses were $ This gave us a wonderful profit of $3, We remind you that our Church Kitchen will be closed this coming Thursday in observance of the National Thanksgiving Day Holiday. The doors of the Church Kitchen will reopen on Thursday, November 30th for our ethnic dinners. Hope to see our customers and our Kitchen Crew then! Have a blessed holiday! Vigil Offering The Eternal Lamp that burns before the Holy Altar of the Lord is being offered this coming week for the good health and wellness of Dan Fako and good friend to many! This is being donated by Gene and Pat Oblinsky. Film Documentary The Youngstown-Warren Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society will be honoring our American armed forces veterans by showing a film documentary on the life of Sergeant Michael Strank entitled: Our Flag Still Waves this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. free admission. The film will be shown at the Sts Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church Social Hall at 180 Belvedere N.E. Warren, Ohio. Michael Strank (November 1919 March 1, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps Sergeant of Carpatho Rusyn descent, born in Jarabina, Slovakia and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was killed in action during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He is best known for being one of the six flag-raisers and organizing the raising of the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 as captured in the iconic photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. Our Church Offerings One of the many acts of worship conducted at each Sunday Divine Liturgy, is performed in our generous donations made during the Church Offering! This is an excellent way of expressing our love, devotion to the Lord, as well as our thanksgiving for the many blessings received from His Hands! We would like to share with you the Church Offerings from last Sunday: Regular Offering $882.00/ Candle Offering $85.0/ Total Church Offering = $ May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, bless all of you 100 fold for your gracious gifts offered for the continuing salvic work being done at our beloved St. Nicholas Church!!!