SAINT NICHOLAS ORTHODOX CHURCH P.O. Box 777 Barton, OH

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1 A Parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Follow our Diocese online: Diocesan Website: Camp Nazareth: Facebook: Twitter: You Tube: Very Rev. Father Michael C. Kabel Pastor & Dean OFFICE PHONE (740) Church Hall Phone (740) WEB SITE: PARISH FACEBOOK: ACRY FACEBOOK: MYSTERY OF HOLY CONFESSION: Before & after Saturday evening Vespers. Other Sacraments by appointment. GOING TO THE HOSPITAL? Please notify Father when you are admitted if you want him to visit. Kindly notify Father also when you are discharged. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2019 DIVINE LITURGY 10:00 AM GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST! SLAVA ISUSU CHRISTU! SAINT NICHOLAS ORTHODOX CHURCH P.O. Box 777 Barton, OH GLORY FOREVER! SLAVA NA V IKI! THE SUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE & POST-FEAST OF THE MEETING: The Lenten Triodion begins. Regular Sunday Antiphons and the Beatitudes. Tropar for Tone 5 on p. 93. Tropar for the Feast on p Glory... Kondak for the Publican and Pharisee on p Now & ever... Kondak for the Feast on p Prokimen & Alleluia verses can be found on p. 95. Glorification & Irmos are from the Feast on p There will be Mirovanije (festive anointing) today in honor of the 3 Holy Hierarchs and the Meeting. EPISTLE: II Timothy 3: GOSPEL: Luke 18: SCHEDULE OF DIVINE SERVICES For the week of February 17: Sun., February 17: (After Liturgy) Panachida in memory of +Anna Katherine Timko. Requested by Bob & Liz Good. Sat., February 23: (6:00 PM) Great Vespers for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Propers for Tone 6 and the Prodigal Son.

2 Sunday, February 24: Sunday of the Prodigal Son 9:30 AM: Preparation Prayers for Holy Communion. 10:00 AM: Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. Regular Sunday Antiphons and the Beatitudes. Tropar for Tone 6 on p. 96. Glory... Kondak of the Prodigal Son on p Now & ever... Zastupnice. Prokimen & Alleluia verses for Tone 6 can be found on p. 98. THE TETRAPOD LAMPS burn with prayers for Special Intentions. Requested by Theresa Reese. LENTEN SYNAXARION. We will once again be reading the Lenten Synaxarion before the beginning of Divine Liturgy each Sunday. Why not come a little early and learn more about the themes of the pre-lenten, Lenten and Paschal Sundays? TEACHERS MEETING. There will be a meeting of all church school teachers TODAY, after the services. FAST-FREE WEEK. The week following the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is a fast-free week. Meat may be eaten on Wednesday and Friday of this week. The Church wishes to teach us that we should imitate the humility of the Publican, who trusted in God s mercy; and not the pride of the Pharisee, who tried to justify himself by his legalistic observance of the precepts of the Law. THE LADIES ALTAR SOCIETY will have their monthly meeting next Sunday, February 24 after the Divine Services. PLAIN & DECORATED BLESSED CANDLES from the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple are available for purchase in the back of church. ALL SOULS SATURDAY observances begin on Saturday, March 2. Please update your list of departed family members and submit your list and donation to Father ASAP. PLEASE RETURN. If you happened to borrow any of the baking pans used for paska bread baking, please return them to the church kitchen ASAP. HOUSE BLESSINGS. Please call the rectory and schedule an appointment if you would like to have your home blessed this year. Or see Pan i after Liturgy to make an appointment. The House Blessing season ends on Friday, March 8. Time is running out! BOOKSTORE SALE. In preparation for the Lenten season before us, the bookstore is offering a 25% discount on all books and prayer books now through March 17 th. Make a good read part of your spiritual journey this Lent! DIOCESAN LENTEN RETREAT. The Central Region Lenten Retreat will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2019 from 9:00 AM til 5:00 PM at Saint Nicholas Church in Homestead, PA. Let Pan i Kelley know if you want to attend, so that we can register and attend as a group. Sponsored by the National A.C.R.Y. All welcome! A YOUNG ADULT RETREAT will be held at Camp Nazareth from March 29-31, Registration is now open. Please visit: for more information and to register. SENIOR CAMP. Our Diocese will be hosting the second annual Senior Retreat at Camp Nazareth from May Online Registration will begin on February 1, Visit acrod.org for more information and to register for the Retreat. You may also call the Camp for more information at (724)

3 CAMP NAZARETH NEWS. Our Tri-State Deanery Camp Week is Week 1 this year, July 14-20, Plan now to be there! 2019 A.C.R.Y. ANNUALS have arrived! Dues-paying A.C.R.Y. members are entitled to a complimentary copy. Annuals are available to everyone else at a cost of $15.00 per copy, while supplies last. This is an exciting time for the A.C.R.Y. Annual and Diocesan Yearbook. For the first time in its long history, the Annual is available in full-color from front to back, and is also available as a downloadable digital file. If you are an A.C.R.Y. member, or have purchased a hard-copy of the A.C.R.Y. Annual, you may access and download your digital copy by visiting and entering your Free-Access Code found on Page 3 of the book: If you are not an A.C.R.Y. member and have not purchased a hard copy of the A.C.R.Y. Annual, you may purchase a downloadable version for just $6 by visiting: _for_o MARK YOUR CALENDARS. Our annual Flea Market is scheduled for Saturday, June 8, UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2019 Please mark your calendars now! Week of February 17 Vestibule Chandelier Project. Friday, March 1 Camp Registration opens. Saturday, March 2 First All Souls Saturday observance. Friday, March 8 Last Day for House Blessings. Monday, March 11 Great Lent Begins. Sunday, March 17 Sunday of Orthodoxy. Sunday, March 31 Cross Veneration Sunday. Lenten Mission here at our church. Sunday, April 28 PASCHA. Sunday, May 12 Mother s Day. Monday, May 13 thru Thursday, May 16 Senior Citizens Retreat at Camp Nazareth. Monday, May 27 Memorial Day. Friday, May 31 thru Sunday, June 2 Family Camp at Camp Nazareth in Mercer, PA. Sunday, June 2 Family Day Celebration at Camp Nazareth in Mercer, PA. Sunday, June 16 Father s Day. Sunday, June 16 Pentecost Sunday. Sunday, July 14 to Saturday, July 20 Tri-State Deanery Summer Camp Week. Sunday, September 8 Church School Begins. Sunday, October 13 thru Wednesday, October 16 XXIV Diocesan Council-Sobor in Johnstown, PA. CHURCH ATTENDANCE Saturday Vespers (2/9) 6 Sunday Divine Liturgy (2/10) 64 Three Holy Hierarchs Vesperal Liturgy (2/11) 12 Meeting of Our Lord Vespers (2/14) 3 Meeting of Our Lord Divine Liturgy (2/15) 10

4 OUR JOURNEY TO PASCHA! 2019 Created by Fr. Jonathan Bannon (ACROD) SUNDAYS Fast - Free Week FEBRUARY 17th Normal Fast Week FEBRUARY 24th Meatfare MARCH 3rd FAREWELL TO MEAT TODAY Cheesefare MARCH 10th FAREWELL TO CHEESE TODAY 1st Sunday of Lent MARCH 17th 2nd Sunday of Lent MARCH 24th 3rd Sunday of Lent MARCH 31st 4th Sunday of Lent APRIL 7th 5th Sunday of Lent APRIL 14th FLOWERY (PALM) SUNDAY! APRIL 21st GREAT WEEK BEGINS GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY APRIL 26th FEAST OF FEASTS! APRIL 28th NO FASTING! THEMES / GOSPEL READING HOW TO PARTICIPATE: TRIODION WEEKS Publican and the Pharisee Trust in God, not yourself! Ask for His help before every task this week! 2 Timothy 3: Luke 18: The Prodigal Son Returns! 1 Corinthians 6: Luke 15: The Last Judgment 1 Corinthians 8: 8-9: 2 Matthew 25: Adam and Eve are cast from Paradise! FORGIVENESS SUNDAY Romans 13: 11-14:4 Matthew 6: Schedule a Confession. Use up/freeze meats this week. Pray facing East this week. Christ is returning from the East and we wait for Him! Use up/freeze dairy this week. Ask each other for forgiveness each evening this week before bed. GREAT FAST BEGINS WITH FORGIVENESS VESPERS SUNDAY of ORTHODOXY Bring an icon to church for a procession. Hebrews 11: 24-26, 32-12:2 John 1: Bring a prayer rope to be blessed today! ST GREGORY PALAMAS Hebrews 1:10-2:3 Mark 2: 1-12 VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS HALF WAY TO PASCHA! Hebrews 4: 14-5: 6 Mark 8:34-9: 1 ST JOHN of the LADDER Hebrews: 6:13-20 Mark 9: ST MARY of EGYPT Hebrews 9: & Heb 2:11-18 Mark 10: & LK 1:24-38 GREAT AND HOLY WEEK Use it and pray the Jesus Prayer each day this week. Wear your cross to church and kiss the cross each morning with a bow! Every time you climb stairs this week ask St. John to help you reach Paradise with the sign of the cross! Ask the Theotokos to offer you and the world pure thoughts and ideas this week. ENTRY OF OUR LORD INTO JERUSALEM Philippians 4: 4-9 John 12: 1-18 GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS CHECK WITH YOUR PARISH FOR ROYAL HOURS AND VESPERS SCHEDULE BRIGHT WEEK HOLY PASCHA! (CHRIST IS RISEN!) Epistle: Acts 1:1-8 John 1: 1-17 Place your palm branches and pussywillows behind an icon at home and in your car! Refrain from TV, Internet, & Phones to honor Christ's Death. Greet everyone with CHRIST IS RISEN! & say it before good morning and goodnight!

5 The Distracted Mind and Our Spiritual Life Presvytera Elizabeth Tervo Have you ever seen this sign at a church door: Please turn off your cell phones? We all know that we need to turn them off before Liturgy. We know that only the gravest emergency should interrupt church. When we think about cell phones, we think about how connected we are, nowadays, to a wide community through the internet. We might think that our age poses a unique challenge for the Christian soul. We are connected with all kinds of news, events, and other people s passing thoughts, in an instant, and constantly, in a way that human beings never experienced before. However, the problem of the distracted mind was quite well known to the Fathers and saints of our church, since ancient times. The distracted mind is nothing new. Passing thoughts, called logismoi, are not important, yet they can spoil our peace. Even if our cell phone is off, we may still be distracted by our thoughts. That is why we have a narthex. That is the area in the back of the church where we light candles. We light a candle and say a short prayer. This helps us to take a breath and leave the outside world behind. Now our mind is ready to focus on Liturgy. I do not mean that we are to ignore the world and our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, or our illnesses and problems. On the contrary, the Liturgy gives us many opportunities to pray for the whole world. We do not forget, but we put these people and things into their right place in the context of our relationship with God. Stray logismoi, however, are another thing. Our brains are constantly busy. Nerve connections are made and thoughts occur to us. Some are ordinary, such as My garden has a lot of weeds, but others are thoughts that lead us toward temptation, such as So and so s shoes are nicer than mine. In either case, while we are at prayer, the Fathers teach us to do the same thing with this kind of thought: ignore it! Then it will pass right out of your mind. There is no thought as important as your prayer. If something is truly important, it will recur to you after the Liturgy. You do not need to try to remember it later or note it down. If you let a whole train of logismoi start from that one thought, or even if you try to think out reasons why it is not a good thought, it is much more difficult to let it go. You may start with: I need to weed the garden and continue with: What is the weather today? Will I have time in my schedule? Nobody is helping me with the weeding. By now not only are your thoughts getting involved, but you re also becoming resentful! It s harder to bring your mind back now. How much easier it would have been to ignore the weeds in the first place! Likewise, do not get angry with yourself and say, Why am I thinking about my garden during church? Or someone else s shoes? I can not focus! You get yourself wound up again, just in another way. Don t get frustrated with yourself. Just try again. Stop thinking that thought is easy to say. Here s what to do. Immediately move your mind on to something else. Say, Lord have mercy. Notice where we are in the Liturgy and focus on the actual words being said. Look at an icon and contemplate it. Bring yourself back to where you are standing, or sitting, or kneeling. Make the sign of the cross to remind yourself to pay attention. In a minute you will even forget you had the thought. We know that St. John Chrysostom knew about the distracted mind, because there are so many times in the Liturgy where our attention is called back. For example: Let us be attentive! Wisdom! Let us attend! Wisdom, arise! Literally, we might say that this means, Straighten up! People s minds always need to be reminded to pay attention! It s not just us in the 21st century. So... this means we have no excuse. We are still able to quiet our minds, as Christians in earlier ages have been able to do. When our mind is quiet, then we can pray and participate fully in our beautiful Liturgy.