SAINT JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH

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1 SAINT JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH 195 N. Main Street Milpitas, Ca Matins 8:00 a.m. The Very Reverend Fr. Jiris Hanna (408) Liturgy 10:30 a.m. Sunday September 13 (8/31), th Sunday after Pentecost The Placing of the Cincture (Sash) of the Most Holy Theotokos األحد الخامس عشر بعد العنصرة - تذكار وضع زنار والدة االله الفائقة القداسة Matins (Eothina IV): Luke 24:1-12 Epistle: Hebrews 9:1 7 Gospel: Matthew 22:35 46 The Beheading of the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John The day of The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, 9/11 (8/29,) is always a fasting day regardless of what day of the week it falls on. This year it falls on Friday. Wine and Oil allowed. This Friday we participate in a feast that elicits from the depths of our souls conflicting and opposite emotions: The Beheading of St. John the Baptist. We find within ourselves both extreme rejoicing over St. John the Forerunner, that angel in the flesh, and at the same time we are faced with one of the most miserable and repulsive accounts of immorality and murder found anywhere in the history. And we are herein reminded that there are two paths in this life and two fundamentally different kinds of people in this world. There is the narrow road and those on it who have faith in Christ and a life of goodness and spiritual struggle to live that faith, and there is the broad road filled with people whose chief concern is themselves, pleasure seeking, and material acquisition. These two roads are so different and so opposed to each other that on occasion when they cross each other massive sparks fly. This is exactly what happened in the case of the Forerunner and Herod. As persons they were diametric opposites. One a saint, while the other a foul sinner. We can profit greatly from comparing the two. Notice first the difference in heritage. St. John the Baptist came from a family of saints. His parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, are saints of the Church. They obtained St. John by persistent prayer. St. Zacharias died a martyr s death due to the persecution of Herod s father. St. John was sanctified from his mother s womb. Herod came from evil stock. His father was the Herod who ordered the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of our Savior. Piety gives birth to piety. Immorality breeds immorality. Notice second the difference in character. St. John was a humble man. Though he was the greatest man born of woman

2 in the Old Covenant he considered himself unworthy to unlace Jesus sandals. His teaching was that he must decrease and Christ must increase. Herod was a vain man. It is not a coincidence that this whole wicked murder took place in the midst of a raucous party Herod threw for his own birthday. Orthodox have always been careful to celebrate the feast of their patron saints, what we call Name Days, with greater vigor than our own birthdays for this very reason of avoiding vanity and humbling recognizing that the verdict concerning whether our existence has been a good thing for the world is still out. The angels mourn the birthday of some human beings and rejoice in others. Notice third the difference in purity. St. John lived as an angel in the flesh. He forsook lawful marriage and embraced a life of virginity, something most of the Old Testament prophets didn t do. In this he was the Forerunner in another sense. He foreshadowed the coming day following Pentecost when as a result of the presence of the Kingdom thousands of Christians would follow his example, and that of their Lord and His Mother, and take up the life of perpetual virginity in the monastic life. He was a model of restraint, never even touching wine or strong drink. Herod could not even be content with one wife. Instead, that adulterer was driven as a beast by his sexual passions and in the darkness of his hell bound soul put away his lawful wife, and married his brother s wife. This desecrator of marriage violated the sanctity of fraternal relations in his pleasure seeking. He loved entertainment, lustful dancing, and drinking parties. Notice last the difference in integrity. St. John was a man of careful and few words. He lived with almost no human contact for most of his life in the desert. When he gave into human society he preached the word of God. He rebuked, he encouraged, he baptized, he counseled. He used his mouth for God s glory and to the edification of men. Herod had a foul mouth, and his mouth showed what was in his soul. Violating the law of the Lord he made a sinful oath to Salome, and then even after her wicked request for St. John s head he failed to do the right thing by breaking his evil oath. Then he would have had only one thing to repent of the oath. By keeping his sinful oath and severing St. John s head he plunged himself into the darkness of perdition. The Most Holy Trinity be praised and grant us to emulate the Forerunner whose pious martyrdom we celebrate. Amen. Feasts This Week Thursday September 10 (8/28) St. Moses the Black Your mind was filled with a holy inspiration from God, turning you from the lust and pleasures of the flesh, and bringing you to the height of the city of God! Holy father Moses, intercede with Christ God that He may grant us great mercy. لما استغنيت باألشراقات االلهية الشيت ظلمة اآلالم ايها الكلي الغبطة. وباألسهار والصلوات ذل لت اهواء الجسد المتشامخ وصعدت الى ذروة المدينة العلوية. فيا ايها البار ابتهل الى المسيح االله ان يمنحنا الرحمة العظمى Sunday September 13 (8/31) The Placing of the Cincture (Sash) of the Most Holy Mother of God Today your flock celebrates the enshrinement of your precious sash, and it earnestly cries out to you: "Rejoice, O Virgin, boast of all Christians!" ان زنارك المكرم الذي احاط ببطنك القابل االله قد اتخذته مدينتك عزا ال يحارب و كنزا للصالحات ال ي سلب يا ام هللا الدائمة البتولية وحدها.

3 The Placing of the Cincture of The Most Holy Mother of God Sunday September 13 (8/31) The Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in a church of Constantinople's Chalcoprateia district took place during the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Younger. Before this the holy relic, entrusted to the Apostle Thomas by the Mother of God Herself, was kept by pious Christians at Jerusalem after Her Dormition. During the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise ( ), his wife Zoe was afllicted with an unclean spirit, and he prayed that God would heal her. The empress had a vision that she would be healed of her infirmity if the Belt of the Mother of God were placed upon her. The emperor then asked the Patriarch to open the coffer. The Patriarch removed the seal and opened the coffer in which the relic was kept, and the Belt of the Mother of God appeared completely whole and undamaged by time. The Patriarch placed the Belt on the sick empress, and immediately she was freed from her infirmity. They sang hymns of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos, then they placed the venerable Belt back into the coffer and resealed it. In commemoration of the miraculous occurrence and the twofold Placing of the venerable Belt, the Feast of the Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos was established. Parts of the holy Belt are in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos, in Trier monastery, and in Georgia New Sunday School Start Date Sunday October 4 Immediately after Holy Communion Parents: Please keep you children seated with you in the church until the start of Sunday School If you need more information, please contact Heba Khoury or Luma Theodossy. Pledge Reminder Are you up-to-date with your church pledge? Time flies! We are almost 9 months down the year! Please don t forget to stay up-to-date with your pledged amount. Happy Birthdays Georgette Iseid 9/7 Joey Isied 9/7 Gladys Khoury 9/7 Anthony Dahdah 9/8 Nataly Hina 9/8 Nisrein Saydawi 9/8 Fayrouz Zaghmout 9/8 Anwar Behnam 9/9 Shatha Aboujudom 9/9 Maggi Isied 9/10 عقبال المئة سنة!!! sjoc@earthlink.net for your bulletin personal announcements, comments, or feedback.

4 I Believe In God But I Don't Go To Church By Archimandrite Paul Papadopoulos We often hear the above phrase from acquaintances, friends and relatives, so our discussion will focus a little more on spiritual matters. The basic argument of people who say that they believe in God yet do not go to church to participate in the Mysteries of our Orthodox Church, is that they are bothered by certain things, such as the luxuriousness of churches, obnoxious priests and chanters, the language is ancient (they don't understand it), the microphones, the lights, the candle offering (where they give money for a candle), the time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, etc. The excuses are certainly a lot when someone DOES NOT WANT to live according to how the Church says. Unfortunately these people consider themselves outside the Church since they do not accept the basic components of the life in Christ, which is the participation of a Christian in the Mysteries of the Church. These people are not Christians, at least not Orthodox, because while they (supposedly) believe, they do not follow any word of Christ. The issue of course is that most baptized Christians do not know who Christ is or what the Church is, and what Christ and the Church offer to people. Thus they do not attend church, because essentially they do not know what they are missing, and they do not know what the sacramental life can offer. The Church, with all Her Mysteries, transforms us, sanctifies us, and brings us into communion with God. Our participation in the Mysteries of the Church is the key to this personal resurrection of ours. The Church does not exist merely to take the position of medicine and exhaust all its capabilities, as some wrongly treat it. The Church exists to lead people, the faithful, to the Love, the Light and the Life in Christ through the Mysteries. To say you believe in God is easy, but to believe in God in an Orthodox manner and to do corresponding works is difficult, though not impossible. If a person really wants to know Christ, they can do this through the sacramental life offered by the Church. If you want to fool yourself you can claim to achieve this on your own. However, I do not know anyone that has been sanctified outside the Church. (The crazy thing is that some people consider as saints people like Elder Paisios, Elder Porphyrios, etc., yet they do not accept their lives. Twisted people!) All this happens for just one reason: Egoism. When each person believes themselves to be a better interpreter of the Scriptures, and they believe the God-bearing Fathers of the Church are beneath them, and they believe they are smarter, more worthy and holier than the old "religionists" as they call them, and when they believe they have no need to repent of any of their sins (!), and they could be saved by themselves (whatever that means to them), then this text will probably not trouble them at all, rather it has been a long time since they fell into the abyss of selflove and delusion.

5 New Saints of America Glorified Holy Fathers Sebastian and Mardarije, pray for us! On Saturday, September 5, amidst great celebration at Saint Steven s Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Alhambra, CA, the names of two new saints entered into the liturgical calendar of the Orthodox Christian Church: the holy Bishop Mardarije and the holy Archimandrite Sebastian, Apostles to America. Saint Mardarije worked in the Eastern states and established Saint Sava Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, his center of activity. Saint Sebastian was born in San Francisco and built the first Serbian Orthodox church in Jackson, California. Saint Sebastian was the first American-born to be ordained a priest and to be tonsured a monk in the Orthodox Church of North America. Both labored tirelessly for the faithful in America. Saint Sebastian especially, having grown up and worked so close to us, needs to be known and venerated by us. Like Saint John Maximovitch, Saint Sebastian knows us, our land, our people, our history, our needs and strengths and weaknesses. He knew what it meant to experience being a religious minority as an Orthodox Christian. He saw the gold rush, spent time at sea and on horseback, traveled the hills of California looking for lost souls. He overcame incredible spiritual, social, material, financial, and logistical challenges that we benefit from spiritually and historically. He labored for those he knew, those he encountered providentially, and for us! As did all the American apostles, Saint Sebastian labored and traveled to an unimaginable extent in order that the Orthodox faithful would be saved and the Faith preserved. Thanks be to God, Saint Sebastian s life and few writings are well preserved. Find an icon of this new saint and put it in your prayer corner. Read his life and his works. From heaven, united with us in Christ, he continues to intercede for the faithful that he encounters. Call upon him with boldness along with all the American saints. They are our saints! And they await our effort to begin a relationship with them. Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Mardarije and Sebastian, - Fr. Thaddaeus Hardenbrook THE SPIRITUAL LIFE It is better to agree to endure a thousand deaths than to depart from the divine commandments of the Holy Gospel and the wondrous monastic precepts. - St. Barsanuphius A place of Transition It is in the narthex that we slow down our thoughts and begin our prayer. The narthex is a place of preparation for our entrance into another reality, the heavenly worship of the Church. Pause in the narthex when entering the church. Take a breath. Put away cares. Acknowledge in your heart that you have entered the house of God.

6 The Life of Saint Mardarije, Bishop of Libertyville ( ) Born in the village of Kornet, Ljesani County, in Montenegro, on November 2, 1889, to pious parents Petar and Jela Uskokovic, he was baptized in his village church dedicated to St. George and received his baptismal name, Ivan. His mother was from the well-known Bozovic family. Both of his parents were well respected in their community, holding the office of leadership, and particularly his father was a captain of their clan. Considering his parents status, young Ivan was sent to further his education, first in Rijeka Crnojevic, Cetinje, and then in Belgrade, Serbia. While in Belgrade, young Ivan advanced his childhood desire to serve God and the Church, and so from there he headed to Studenica Monastery, where after a short period of novice life he was tonsured into monasticism, having received the name Mardarije, and later ordained deacon. By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the young Hierodeacon Mardarije was sent to Russia, where he spent twelve years ( ) furthering his theological education and growing in wisdom. From there, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church sent him to the United States of America to organize the Serbian Orthodox Church. On December 1, 1923, now Archimandrite Mardarije was appointed as administrator of the Serbian American-Canadian diocese, with the see in Chicago. That same year, he purchased around ten acres of land in Libertyville, Illinois, where later St. Sava Monastery was built. He was elected by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church as the first bishop for the newly established diocese in America on December 7, His consecration took place on Palm Sunday, the Feast of the Entrance of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, on April 25, From then on His Grace Bishop Mardarije, the first bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America, labored tirelessly in building churches and St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, sowing Christian love, spreading peace, preaching, and witnessing the Gospel of Christ throughout his diocese. In spite of inescapable worldly trends, he lived in spontaneity of truth and a provision of grace, just because Life has dawned from the Tomb and is dawning still. Having labored as bishop for a little over nine years, he died peacefully on December 12, 1935, hospitalized in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while writing his last Nativity Encyclical to his beloved flock. His earthly remains were laid to rest at St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville. The Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, during its regular session held from May 14 29, 2015, brought forth a decision that his name be added to the Diptych of saints of the Holy Orthodox Church. From the Holy Hierarch Mardarije, we see how the grace of God reaches the heart of our cities, bringing to the confusion of the world the breeze of the Spirit and the serenity of the age to come. Saint Mardarije, pray to God for us!

7 The Life of Saint Sebastian, Archimandrite of Jackson ( ) This apostle of North America was the first American-born Orthodox priest. His parents, Ilija and Jelena Dabovic, were the first recorded immigrants on the West Coast. They lived in San Francisco, operated a small shop, and were blessed with seven children. St. Sebastian was their fourth child, who at baptism received the name John. He was born on June 21, His ministry in the Church started at an early age. After he finished high school, he served his parish as a reader and teacher. Before he was sent to Russia, he spent time in Sitka, Alaska, assisting with parish ministries at St. Archangel Michael Cathedral. After three years of study at the St. Petersburg and Kiev Theological Academies, John was tonsured a monk and received the monastic name Sebastian in That same year he was ordained a hierodeacon. He served as deacon at the San Francisco Cathedral until Bishop Nicholas ordained him a priest on August 16, As a newly ordained hieromonk, Fr. Sebastian tirelessly preached the Gospel, served Divine Liturgies, counseled, and established many parishes throughout the country. During his life he conveyed the light of liturgical certainty and calm to a world that was spiritually hungry and suffering. Archbishop Tikhon asked Fr. Sebastian to lead a Serbian mission in the North American diocese, elevated him to archimandrite on August 15, 1905, and sent him to Chicago, Illinois, where this holy man served as parish priest. In 1910, he asked for release from the parish so that he could return to missionary work. Having spent three years at the newly opened St. Platon Seminary in Tenafly, New Jersey, he went back to Serbia to serve as a chaplain in the Serbian army in the Balkan Wars and WWI. After his brief visit to the Unites States in 1915 and 1917, the rest of his life he spent in Serbia, where he peacefully reposed in Zicha Monastery on November 30, His earthly remains were laid to rest there until they were exhumed and translated to Jackson, California, on September 1, 2007, at St. Sava Church, the oldest and one of many Serbian Orthodox Churches in America, which he founded in Fr. Sebastian built up souls, organized the Church, erected houses of prayer, and was devoted to charitable work. In addition to establishing many churches, St. Sebastian also wrote many articles and sermons. His last spoken words and wish were: The Heavenly Kingdom without end! Meaning: the kingdom of the virtues whence the miracle of eternal surprises bursts forth. The Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, during its regular session held from May 14 29, 2015, inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, decided that his name be added to the Diptych of saints of the Holy Orthodox Church. From the Holy Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich ( ) we realize how historical predicaments become a starting point for knowledge of God and spontaneous praise. From the celebration of the glorification of Ss. Mardarije and Sebastian may droplets of consolation fall upon the heart of those who, living in the heart of America, seek what is fair and honest. Saint Sebastian, pray to God for us!

8 Lunch This Sunday September 13 Naiel & Christin Ammari 9/7 For Many Years! will be provided by Bassam & Ghada Khouryi & family Thank you and God bless you. St. James 10 th Annual Food Festival 2014 September To Allow More Time To Enjoy The Festival, The Liturgy Service on Sunday 9/28 will start at 9:30am We will be doing the service of the Elevation of the Cross at the end of the liturgy service Thank you in advance for your support.

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11 You Are Cordially Invited to the Annual Dinner Fundraiser for The Life-Giving Spring Monastery Sunday, October 4, :00 pm St. Nicholas Community Center 1260 Davis Street, San Jose, CA $60 Adults $30 Children under 12 yrs Hosted by Paul, Nick & George Pries Organized by Maria Anagnostos Questions & Tickets I Dig the Monastery A structure is built with boards and beams. The expansion of a Monastery is built with love and dreams. Together, we can make this dream come true Your presence and support is greatly appreciated. The proceeds will help to defray the costs of the Monastery s Expansion Project.

12 For Tickets Contact: Maria Anagnostos Georgette Isied Angela (Kiki) Kasidiaris Presvytera Lisa Koo Presvytera Madalina Lapustsia Theoni Maroudas Pam Xenia John & Camelia Toma Maria Tsamboukos God Bless You!

13 Hello Parents, Sunday School Registration Form Ages 3-12 Sunday School is the perfect opportunity for your children to learn about Orthodoxy and to grow close to their faith. Sunday School will offer the children a chance to achieve spiritual growth through the teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our Sunday School is now much more structured, ATTENDANCE IS THE KEY FOR ITS SUCCESS. Please bring your children to church every Sunday so that they do not fall behind on the lessons and learning. As a parent, please try your very best to encourage your children to sit with you during the service and attend class on time (immediately after communion) every Sunday. By the end of the school year, in June, the students will have developed extensive knowledge on the Orthodox religion. One of our main goals as teachers this year is to make the children eager about going to church. We appreciate a $25 donation per student to help us buy required Sunday School supplies, books, and snacks. Thank you for your support. Father s Name: Mother s Name: First Name Last Name Middle First Name Last Name Middle Home Address: (where mail) (can be sent) City: Home Telephone: Zip Code: Student s Name: Birthdate: First Name Last Name Middle Month/Date/Year Grade in School: Has the Student been Baptized Orthodox? YES NO Circle One Notes:

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