Christ Is Risen...Truly He is Risen!

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1 ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE Vicariate of the Palestinian & Jordanian Orthodox Communities in the U.S. ST. JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH 195 N. Main Street; Milpitas, CA sjorthodox.org (Office) Very Rev. Fr. Jeries Hanna Fr. Dcn. Joseph Kawar UPCOMING SERVICES Thursday, May 17 The Ascension 10:00 am Divine Liturgy Sunday, May 20 First Ecumenical Councils 10:30 am Divine Liturgy FASTING SCHEDULE May 16 May 18 COFFEE & LUNCH HOUR No coffee hour this Sunday. Please join us at our Annual Picnic LOOKING AHEAD May 20 August 12 Sept Nov. 17 Fast Free Fish is Allowed Annual Picnic Festival Kick-off Event Annual Food Festival Christmas Dinner Bulletin for May 14 - May 20 Issue No. 743 Christ Is Risen...Truly He is Risen! Many Thanks to His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios! The Vicariate and the Parish of St. James Orthodox Church was blessed to have His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America with us this past weekend. During his Eminence s visit, he celebrated the Doxology Service at our church in Milpitas and St. Lawrence Orthodox Church in Felton. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios also presided over the Door Opening Ceremony and Divine Liturgy at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Daly City. May God grant him many years! Confession If you would like to confess with Fr. Jeries, please arrive at church 30 minutes prior to the start of Liturgy. To fear shame during confession is also from pride; they who reproach themselves before God in the presence of a witness receive peace and forgiveness - St. Macarius Annual Picnic - This Sunday, May 20 following Liturgy Join us for lots of fun for the family and great food. We will also have a jump house for the kids, two full playgrounds and plenty of field space to play sports! See attached flyer for more information. Scrip Program A large variety of scrip (gift) cards are available at the church hall following the liturgy. We have Amazon, Gas, Visa cards, your favorite restaurants and much more! By purchasing scrip cards, our church will receive a percentage or kick-back from the company. Please help your church by supporting the scrip program.

2 The Ascension of Our Lord & Saviour Jesus did not live with His disciples after His resurrection as He had before His death. Filled with the glory of His divinity, He appeared at different times and places to His people, assuring them that it was He, truly alive in His risen and glorified body. To them He presented Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God (Acts 1.3). It should be noted that the time span of forty days is used many times in the Bible and signifies a temporal period of completeness and sufficiency (Gen 7.17; Ex 16.35, 24.18; Judg 3.11; 1 Sam 17.16; 1 Kg 19.8; Jon 3.4; Mt 4.2). On the fortieth day after His passover, Jesus ascended into heaven to be glorified on the right hand of God (Acts ; Mk 16.19; Lk 24.51). The ascension of Christ is His final physical departure from this world after the resurrection. It is the formal completion of His mission in this world as the Messianic Saviour. It is His glorious return to the Father Who had sent Him into the world to accomplish the work that He had given him to do (Jn ).... and lifting His hands He blessed them. While blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Lk ). The Church s celebration of the ascension, as all such festal celebrations, is not merely the remembrance of an event in Christ s life. Indeed, the ascension itself is not to be understood as though it were simply the supernatural event of a man floating up and away into the skies. The holy scripture stresses Christ s physical departure and His glorification with God the Father, together with the great joy which His disciples had as they received the promise of the Holy Spirit Who was to come to assure the Lord s presence with them, enabling them to be His witnesses to the ends of earth (Lk ; Acts ; Mt 28.20; Mk ). In the Church the believers in Christ celebrate these very same realities with the conviction that it is for them and for all men that Christ s departure from this world has taken place. The Lord leaves in order to be glorified with God the Father and to glorify us with himself. He goes in order to prepare a place for and to take us also into the blessedness of God s presence. He goes to open the way for all flesh into the heavenly sanctuary... the Holy Place not made by hands (see Hebrews 8 10). He goes in order send the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father to bear witness to Him and His gospel in the world, making Him powerfully present in the lives of disciples. The liturgical hymns of the feast of the Ascension sing of all of these things. The antiphonal verses of the Divine Liturgy are taken from Psalms 47, 48, and 49. The troparion of the feast which is sung at the small entrance is also used as the post-communion hymn. Source: oca.org

3 Visit of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios The arrival of His Eminence to St. James Orthodox Church in Milpitas During the Doxology Service at St. James Orthodox Church A group photo of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Vicariate Clergy and the Altar Servers from St. James Orthodox Church

4 Brunch with His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios following the Doxology Service at St. James Orthodox Church in Milpitas Photo of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, accompanied by His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos, His Grace Bishop Apostolos and the Clergy of the Vicariate following the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

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7 Item Amount Donated By Chicken Shawarma $450 Gyro $400 Kefta Meat A $350 Kefta Meat B $350 Chicken Kabob $500 Pork Souvlaki $200 Lamb Shanks $400 Falafel $300 Hummus $150 Rice & Salad $200 Utensils A $250 Utensils B $250 Water $300 Sodas $400 Beer & Wine $500 Kanefeh $1300 Ice cream/ice $300 Chairs, Tables, Dance Floor $1500 Games (Youth Section) $1500 Permits $3000 Advertising, Marketing, Prints $6000 Festival Wish-List Below is a list of only half of the expected expenses for our next festival, please help if you can. Thank you and God Bless! Festival this year will be on Sept

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