...And ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father (The Symbol of Faith) The Mt. of Olives: Church of the Ascension

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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 34 May 20, 2018 Number 33...And ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father (The Symbol of Faith) Immediately after confessing Christ s Resurrection from the dead, the Symbol of Faith affirms that He ascended into Heaven and sits at the Right Hand of the Father. Our next question, therefore, is what do these words express about our faith and about our life; to what are we called when we affirm Christ s Ascension into Heaven? At this point we must first pause to reflect on the word heaven,: to see how Christianity hears it. This is essential because those who oppose religion often use this word to argue that Christians are clinging to a primitive, prescientific, physical understanding of heaven as a place in the universe where God lives and is enthroned. This ancient belief has nothing in common with the Christian understanding, sense and use of the word heaven. Yes, of course it comes from that natural spatial symbolism common to all cultures, and in this sense it can be compared to our use of such words as high and low, broad and narrow and so forth. When we speak of one form of behavior as high and another as low, it is obvious to everyone that we are talking not about space, but The Mt. of Olives: Church of the Ascension about the moral, spiritual value of the given behavior. Similarly, describing a person as broad or narrow obviously has nothing to do with his physical appearance. So the word heaven in the language of almost all people has always had, in addition to its natural sense, a symbolic or spiritual meaning as a symbol of that which is transcendent, pure, or even beyond all superlatives and descriptions. Yes, in his primordial understanding of world and cosmos, primitive man often understood this symbolism literally. Primitive cosmology divided the world, the universe, into three levels heaven, earth and the underworld. Quite naturally, heaven was the realm of the holuy, t he divine, the transcendent, while the evil, sinful and frightful dwelt in the underworld. As in the physical world and in physical experience, heaven is naturally beautiful, full of light, pure, exalted. But Christianity s understanding of heaven has no relation whatever to this physical cosmology, since heaven is an inner, spiritual reality. This can be seen in St. Paul, for example, who calls on Christians to set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are earthly. (Colossians 3:2) And St. John Chrysostom joyfully says:...what do I care about going up to heaven as a word and symbol does have decisive meaning within Christianity. First of all, in the story of God s creation of the world, the world is described as heaven and earth. In the beginning, the Bible opens, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) For the Christian Faith, therefore, heaven is not something outside the world, it is not another world. It is something intrinsic to the world, intrinsic to creation, its spiritual or vertical dimension. Heaven is whatever in the world is transcendent, pure, spiritual: and within man, it is what Christianity calls his spirt, his soul Materialists, those who do not believe in God, deny the very existence of a spiritual, transcendent, holy reality intrinsic to the world. For them, everything in the wordl is explained from below, from matter, from the world s purely physical and impersonal laws. But for the believer, it is not the earth, not matter, but heaven which is the standard against which life is measured and receives meaning: the earth cannot provide the means to understand heaven, but heaven provides the means to understand both the earth and the earthly. According to the Christian Faith, man is t he one who brings heaven into the world. Man is created in the image and likeness of God, man is given a mind, and therefore knowledge of the good; man is given a spirit, and therefore the possibility of attaining beauty and perfection. But in his freedom, man is able to fall away from the heaven within. He can choose to live an exclusively earthly life, or, to speak figuratively, he can choose to lower his eyes,

2 his spiritual sight, his heart, and only look down. This is what Christianity calls sin and the fall. Christianity believes and affirms that Christ came to save us precisely from this sin and this fall, this separation from heaven. By coming into the world, by becoming man, Christ once again reveals heaven on earth, the image of life directed upward, toward God, or in other words, toward all that is transcendent, pure, good, true, beautiful toward everything from which man was torn away when he reduced life to the earth and the earthly. Christ opened and gave us heaven; through Himself He showed us life s original meaning as a continuous surging upward, ascent, ascension. Christ filled not only the earth but also speaking in the language of primitive symbols the underworld itself with the power, truth, and divine perfection of heaven. Christ descended to earth, He descended to death. But with Christ and in Him, heaven was returned both to life and to death; the path was cleared for victory over everything exclusively earthly whose final and hopeless end is the darkness of death. Having accomplished all this, Christ ascended to heaven. For Christian Faith this means that in Christ, man ascended to heaven, man has been united to heavenly truth; he has returned to God, to the knowledge of God, and in Him, to the only genuine and therefore Eternal Life! Every time we affirm in the Symbol of Faith that Jesus ascended into Heaven, we speak not only about Christ but about ourselves as well. If we believe in Christ, if we are one with Christ, then we are in heaven, or at least our faith, our spirit, our love is directed toward heaven, toward Christ, toward God. We recognize Heaven as our authentic life, and it is in this recognition that meaning and joy are given to our earthly life, because in Christ, everything becomes an upward movement, an ascension!!! - I Believe, by Fr. Alexander Schmemann - Our Worship Schedule Sunday, May 20th 9:30 a.m. The Reading of the Third Hour. 10:00 a.m. The 7th Sunday of Pascha: The Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical C o u n c i l, Tone 6. (Page 211). The Martyr Thalelaeus, Relics of St. Aleksy and the Martyr Aselas are commemorated. Epistle Acts 20:16-18, Gospel John 17:1-13 Wednesday, May 23rd 4:00 p.m. The Akathist Service to the Theotokos with prayers for the sick and anointing of the faithful. Saturday, May 26th 9:00 a.m. The Final All Souls Saturday: Liturgy with Memorial Service and the Reading of the Dyptics! *10:45:00 a.m. The Memorial Service before the Cross Shrine at our section at Pineview Cemetery, followed with the Blessing of Graves of the departed faithful. *4:00 P.M. THE GREAT VESPER SER- VICE WITH LYTIA FOR THE FEAST OF PENTECOST! SUNDAY, MAY 27TH 9:30 A.M. THE READ- ING OF THE THIRD HOUR! 10:00 A.M. THE FEAST OF THE DE- SCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE APOSTLES! FEAST OF HOLY PENTECOST! KNEELING PRAYERS! (Page 213) EPISTLE ACTS 2:1-11 GOSPEL JOHN 7:37-52, 8:12 MONDAY, MAY 28TH 9:00 A.M. PENTE- COST MONDAY! THE FEAST OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! (Pages ). EPISTLE EPHESIANS 5:9-19 GOSPEL MATTHEW 18:10-20 Wednesday, May 30th 4:00 p.m. The Akathist Service to the Theotokos with prayers for the sick and anointing of the faithful. Saturday, June 2nd 4:00 p.m. The Evening Vesper Service. Sunday, June 3rd 9:30 a.m. The Reading of the Third Hour. 10:00 A.M. THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS: The Martyrs: Lucillian & the Four Youths, the Hieromartyr Lucian, and the Relics of St. Dimitry are commemorated. Epistle Hebrews 11:33-12:2 Gospel Matthew 10:32,33,37,38:19:27-30 Monday, June 4th Beginning of the Apostles Fast! Wednesday, June 6th 4:00 p.m. The Akathist to the Theotokos with prayers for the sick and anointing of the faithful. Happy Birthday! Sotirios Theologitis. Bill Keriotis... Chris Ahladis. Elmer Yenchochik... Sandy Bates...

3 Nicolette Pitinii.. Carol Lee... Happy Anniversary! Dave & Linda Sekela. Nick & Tracy Macrinos. Greg & Relay Choma A Church Outing In past years it has been the tradition of our parish, because of all the hard work from the kitchen and outreach activities during the year, to plan a few Church Outings during the spring and summer months, for everyone to get together, relax and enjoy each other, and have a good time! We are pleased to inform everyone that the first Church Outing has been planned for Sunday, May 20, 2018 and we hope that many will be able to attend! All are invite all of you to join us this afternoon, for lunch at the Riverside Garden, located at 123 McKinley Avenue. Gravity Deli runs the Restaurant and they are open until 4:00 p.m. We will be leaving from Church parking lot and go directly to the restaurant for lunch. If anyone would like to attend please see either Gib or Diana Pugh this morning, after Liturgy. Don t let the inability to drive keep you for attending. We have parishioners willing to take anyone with them to the restaurant. We hope to have a nice group join us for a delicious mean and an enjoyable, relaxing afternoon! Parish Meeting N o w that we have e v e r yt h i n g ready we would like of officially announce that the faithful of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church will gather together as a Family-in-Christ on Sunday, May 27, 2018 for their Parish Meeting. This meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall after the Coffee Social. We ask that all of the officers, trustees and faithful of our parish please attend so that we may discuss various matters concerning the operation of our parish. During the meeting the agenda will include: the reading and taking of minutes, financial reports of the parish and parish organizations, maters of concern for parish life, and the elections of a officers and trustees. Your stewardship of time and talent is needed for the growth of our parish and its stability. In order to have an accurate recording of the reports from the parish organizations it would help if the representatives provide the following information: Name of parish group, leaders/officers, purpose of the group, past year s activities, monies taken in and spent, and the financial states/reports of funds on hand. It would also help if this information can be provided prior to the meeting. Thanks, your help and cooperation will enable proper minutes to be taken an recorded for the meeting. Graduates of 2018! A t - tention Class of 2018 Graduates! If you are g r a d u a t i n g from High School or C o l l e g e, please kindly inform Father Ken by as soon as possible! On Sunday, June 10, 2018, along with the students of the First Confession Class, we would like to honor our graduates as well! We are always proud of your accomplishments and are look forward in sharing in these celebrations in your young lives. When informing Father of your graduation please give him a short bio information to be published in The Church Herald. At the Liturgy on June 10th, prayers will be offered for God s blessings upon you and your future endeavors and a gift from the Church will be presented to you as a prayerful remembrance of this milestone in your life! Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We, as a parish, look forward to sharing in this celebration with our graduation. 1st Confession Class W e are pleased to announce that we have three students preparing themselves to participate, for the first time, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Confession, here at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church! That Solemn 1st Confession has been scheduled for Sunday, June 10, 2018 prior to the beginning of the Divine Liturgy! We ask that everyone circle this date on their calendar and join us for this historic moment in the spiritual life of these young people! They will have a small part within the Divine Liturgy and Father Ken will have a short

4 Sermon aimed at their spiritual milestone! The students will be presented with the gift of the Come to Me Prayer Book and a special First Confession Certificate from the parish. All will be invited to the Fellowship Hall for a Church Luncheon which they and their families will be the guests of honor! What a wonderful opportunity for everyone to extend their congratulations to these students and to enjoy the Christian fellowship of the day! A Special Class: Father Ken will have a special class with the First Confession students on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. He will share some additional thoughts about sin and forgiveness as well as have a tour of the sanctuary and a rehearsal of their part in the Liturgy the next day. Students will also have an opportunity to ask question and share some thoughts on their newly learned class. Samaritan Outreach N e x t on the docket for the St. Nicholas Samaritan Outreach will be a Free Dinner schedule for T u e s d a y, May 22, It will be held at the American Legion Hall in Windham, Ohio. Dinner will be served from 5:00 p.m. until 6:-00 p.m. that evening. The menu will feature: Roast Pork, Potato, Vegetable, Beverage, Bread & Butter, Coffee, and Dessert. As always, we are in need of people to cook, work at the dinner, as well as clean up afterwards. If anyone is able to give us a helping hand please contact either Father Ken or Deacon Ed Brisbine during the Sunday coffee socials by phone or ! Your dedication of time and talent will be greatly appreciated! Annual Grave Blessing On Saturday, May 26, 2018 our Orthodox Church will observe the fifth and final All Souls Saturday on the liturgical calendar. You will find the traditional services scheduled in the Worship Schedule of this edition of The Church Herald along with the Annual Blessing of Graves! Father Ken would like everyone to attend the Divine Liturgy/Memorial Service that morning beginning at 9:00 a.m. After that service we will go to our section of the Pineview Cemetery for the Annual Blessing of the Graves of the departed loved one interred in this consecrated ground. Your presence and prayers are requested! 35th Orthodox VCS Attention all parents and students! Be sure to allow time on your summer schedule to attend the 35th Annual Orthodox Vacation Church School scheduled from June 18th until June 22nd! The theme of the week is Following Jesus into the Desert for our Salvation! Classes will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 12 noon each day for students going into kindergarten to teenage years. St. Nicholas Church is pleased to be the hosts of this historic event! Don t forget to round up all of the children in the neighborhood and bring them with you! VCS Packet: There is a special Orthodox VCS Information Packet available on the blue table in the atrium of the parish complex for all parents to pick up this morning! Please take as many as you will need for your children as well as for those of your family and neighbors! The packet contains all of the information needed along with the Registration Form. Please fill out the forms, return it to Father Ken as soon as you can, so that we can have enough time to order the food, arts & craft supplies as well as T-Shirts for this year s wonderful program! Next Meeting: Please remember, the next meeting for the Orthodox Vacation Church School will be on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. here at St. Nicholas Church. We are still in need of more teachers and arts & crafts directors and assistants. More staff personal can also be used. If you would like to give of your time and talent please come and join us for this next meeting! God bless you for your anticipated cooperation! St. Nick s Book Club There will be a meeting of the St. Nick s Book Club this morning! It will be held in the Church Library during the coffee social. We want to make sure that everyone has had enough time to read the latest book Wounded by Love, that was chosen by the club members. If everyone has read the book we want to choose a date, place and time to get together to discuss the book. We are open for anyone suggestions. The last suggestion we discussed was a pot luck dinner here at the Church. We hope to see everyone at the meeting! Church Lawn Mowing There is a special request that is being made

5 TEST here at PAGE St. Nicholas 5 TEXT this morning. We are in need additional help cutting the Church lawn. Now we have two people who divide the lawn each week. One of our lawn cutters, Gib Pugh, needs help and would like to have someone every second week cut his section of the lawn. It does not have to be only one person. If anyone is able to assist him in this responsibility please see him this morning or contact him. You help will really be appreciated! God bless you! 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 s Diving Liturgy: Regular Offering $828.0/ Candle Offering $106.00/ Church Donation $350.0/ Total Church Offering = $1, May our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, bless all of you 100 fold for your gracious gifts offered for the continuing salvic work being done here at our beloved St. Nicholas Church!!! Holy Trinity News The Faculty and Administration of Holy Trinity Academy would like to extend their thanks and appreciation to all of our parishioners who supported the most recent 10th Annual Sweepstakes & Banqu et! T h e y wanted our parishioners to know that our support was noticed and much appreciated! Approximately eighty people were in attendance. Because of you and other like you the net profit for this fundraiser was $8,725,00 dollars. A detailed financial report has been posted on the vestibule bulletin board for your information. Again, every dime and every prayer is appreciated! May the Lord abundantly bless all of you! Student Enrollment: Please be informed that enrollment for students for the academic year is being conducted at the academy! This fall with be the 16th year of operation of our education ministry at Holy Trinity Academy and we are so proud of our excellent reputation! Parents can register their child by contacting the academy at (330) or to ask questions and even arrange tours of the building. Ed Choice scholarship are available. Spring Festival: All are invited to attend the 15th Annual Spring Festival of the Holy Trinity Academy! It will be held at the Holy Resurrection Church Hall (1836 North Road, N.E. - Warren, Ohio), May 31st at 6:00 p.m. Each student will be representing a country from around the world and making a delicious dish for you to try. There will be over 50 countries represented!!! We are very excited for a wonderful evening! Bon Appetit! Romanian Dinner Our neighbors on North Road at the Holy Resurrection Romanian Orthodox Church invite us to attend their May Memorial Day Dinner. It will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2018 and held in their Church Hall. The dinner will begin at 12:15 p.m. that afternoon. The menu: Oven Roasted Pork Chops, Bread Stuffing with Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Cole Slaw & Apple Sauce, Bread & Butter, Dessert, and Coffee. The minimum donation per dinner is $10.00 dollars. This dinner is chaired by the Kitchen Committee. The proceeds of the dinner will benefit the Holy Resurrection Church. Liturgical Articles We are pleased to announce the addition of three new additional liturgical items that will be added to the splendor of the worship of the service here at St. Nicholas Church! They were solemnly blessed after the Liturgy this morning. At this time we would like to acknowledge the follow items and their donors: A Green Set of Priestly Vestments, that will be used for the Feast of Pentecost and that season of the liturgical year, a gracious gift from Gib & Diana Pugh and Mitchell Duchnak. They are being donated in loving memory of +Baba Anna Staviski and +Sophia Brozier. A Gold Lytia Tray, used for the Great Feast of the Church, a gracious gift from: Sis Albers, Deacon Ed Brisbine, Elias & Pauline Kotsatos, Cheryl Ciulei and an Anonymous donor. The tray is donated in loving memory of: +Kerya Brisbine, +Claudia Sulin, +Stephen & +Christine Ciulei. Also the good health of the Kotsatos, Albers, Anzivino, Chaney, and Millik Families. A Holy Oil Blessing Set, that will be used to bless the Holy Unction Oil, is a gracious gift from Louise Sgambati. This is being donated in loving memory of the newly departed servant of God, +Angelo Sgambati, a good friend of our parish. May the Lord bless all of our gracious donors with peace, good health, joy and salvation for Many Years! Eternal Memory to the honored departed!