HOLY ASCENSION PARISH MARCH 2011 NEWSLETTER

Transcription

1 HOLY ASCENSION PARISH MARCH 2011 NEWSLETTER The Raising of Lazarus, 15 th -century, Novgorod THE HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH is the Washington, DC, parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), under the omophor (or the conciliar leadership) of Metropolitan Agafangel (Pashkovsky), Bishop of Odessa & Taurida. The Holy Ascension Parish was organized on Ascension Day, 17 May BISHOPS & LOCAL CLERGY Metropolitan Agafangel, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, and Bishop of Odessa & Taurida Vicar Bishop Joseph (Hrebinka) of Washington Father John Hinton, priest Seraphim Englehardt, subdeacon Subdeacon Andrew Frick Subdeacon John Herbst 3921 UNIVERSITY DRIVE, FAIRFAX VA

2 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 PART 1. OUR PARISH The Holy Ascension parish welcomes all Orthodox people to its sacraments and all people with an interest in Christianity and the abiding Tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church. The immediate Holy Ascension parish background is Russian émigré and American with many other English-speaking members. Members, visitors, and people in touch online come from all ethnicities. The Church is One PART 2. THE GREAT LENT A. Great Lent should prepare the faithful Christian not only to commemorate, but also to enter into the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Great Lent is a workshop to lift and strengthen the character of the believer, where his life is rededicated to the principles and ideals of the Gospel; where fasting and prayer culminate in deep awareness of eternal life; where apathy and selfishness turn into vigorous faith and good works. B. Great Lent observes (1) abstinence from certain foods, (2) intensified private and public prayer, (3) self-examination, confession, personal improvement, repentance and restitution for sins committed, and (4) almsgiving. The foods generally set aside traditionally are meat and dairy products, fish, wine, and oil. C. The additional liturgical celebrations occur while Orthodox Christians are expected to increase their private prayer. According to Orthodox theology, when asceticism increases, prayer also increases The Church Fathers have referred to fasting without prayer as the fast of the demons since demons neither eat nor pray. C. The weeks of Great Lent run from Monday to Sunday, and most weeks are named for the lesson from the Gospel read at Divine Liturgy on its concluding Sunday. The entire season is anticipatory, leading to Pascha, the greatest Sunday of all. PART 3. PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD During Great Lent, the Church also increases frequency of its prayers for the dead, reminding the believer of his own mortality and need for penitence, as well as his need for charity in praying for 2

3 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ABROAD, DIOCESE OF WASHNGTON the departed. A number of Saturdays during Great Lent are Saturdays of the Dead, with many of the hymns of the Daily Office and at the Divine Liturgy dedicated to the memory of the departed. These Saturdays are the Saturdays of Meatfare Week, and the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Saturdays of Great Lent. In addition, the Litya, a brief prayer service for the departed, may be served on each weekday of Great Lent, provided there is no feast day or other special observance on that day. PART 4. THE PARTS OF GREAT LENT The period of the Triodion text, the Great Lent, can be divided into three sections: (1) the Pre-Lenten period (February-March 2011), (2) the Great 40 Days (March-April 2011), and (3) Holy Week (April 2011). FORGIVENESS SUNDAY. Forgiveness Sunday, also called Cheesefare Sunday, is the final day of pre-lent. It is the Sunday after Meatfare Sunday and the Sunday before the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this last Sunday before Great Lent, the last day that traditionally Orthodox Christians eat dairy products until Easter, the Church remembers the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. God commanded them to fast from the fruit of a tree (Genesis 2:16), but they did not obey. In this way Adam and Eve and their descendants became heirs of death and corruption. On Forgiveness Sunday many people come to the Forgiveness Vespers on the eve of Great Lent. They hear the Lord's teaching about fasting and forgiveness and enter the season of the fast, forgiving one another so that God will forgive them. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses (Matthew 6:14). The Gospel reading of the day also gives advice on fasting. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (Matthew 6:16-18). 3

4 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 THE RITE OF FORGIVENESS After the dismissal at Vespers, The priest stands beside the analogion, or before the ambon, and the faithful come up one by one and venerate the icon, after which each makes a prostration before the priest, saying Forgive me, a sinner. The priest also makes a prostration before each God forgives. Forgive me. The person responds, God forgives and receives a blessing from the priest. Meanwhile the choir sings quietly the Irmoi of the Paschal Canon, or else the Paschal Stichera. After receiving the priests blessing, the faithful also ask forgiveness of each other. Kontakion (Tone 6) Master, Teacher of wisdom, Bestower of virtue, You teach the thoughtless and protect the poor: Strengthen and enlighten my heart. Word of the Father, Let me not restrain my mouth from crying to you: Have mercy on me, a transgressor, O merciful Lord! Expulsion From Paradise, The Lord Confronts the Disobedient Adam & Eve. Mosaic from the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily. Mid-12 th Century 4

5 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ABROAD, DIOCESE OF WASHNGTON FIRST WEEK, MARCH 7-13 The first week of Great Lent really begins on Clean Monday. The name Clean Week refers to the spiritual cleansing of each faithful Orthodox Christian is encouraged to undergo through fasting, prayer, repentance, reception of the Holy Mysteries and begging forgiveness of his neighbor. It is traditionally also a time for spring cleaning, so that one's surroundings at home can match one s inward life. This week s fasting is strictest. Those who have the strength are encouraged to fast completely, eating only on Wednesday and Friday evenings, after the Presanctified Liturgy. Those who are unready to keep such a strict fast are encouraged to eat only a little, and then to eat uncooked food only and just once a day. Larger meals are served on Saturday and Sunday, but without meat or animal products such a butter and milk. At Great Compline, during the first four days of the Fast (Monday through Thursday), the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is divided into four parts and one part is chanted each night. The First Saturday is called Saint Theodore Saturday in honor of Saint Theodore the Recruit, a 4 th -century martyr. At the end of the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday (since, liturgically, the day begins at sunset) a special canon to Saint Theodore, composed by Saint John of Damascus, is chanted. Then the priest blesses kolyva (boiled wheat with honey and raisins), which is distributed to the faithful in commemoration of the following miracle worked by Saint Theodore on the First Saturday of Great Lent: Fifty years after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate ( ), as a part of his general policy of persecution of Christians, commanded the governor of Constantinople during the first week of Great Lent to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplaces with the blood offered to pagan idols, knowing that the people would be hungry after the strict fasting of the first week. St Theodore appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the marketplaces, but rather to eat cooked kolyva. The First Sunday of Great Lent, March 13 th, is the FEAST OF ORTHODOXY, which commemorates the restoration of the veneration of icons after the Iconoclast controversy, which is considered to be the triumph of the Church over the last of the great heresies that troubled her (all later heresies being simply a renewals earlier heresies). Before the Divine Liturgy on this day, a special service, 5

6 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 known as the Triumph of Orthodoxy is held in cathedrals and major monasteries, at which the synodicon is proclaimed, containing anathemas against heresies and encomia of those who have held fast to the Christian faith. The theme of the day is the victory of the True Faith over heresy. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith (1 John 5:4). Also, the icons of the saints bear witness that man, created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), may become holy and godlike through the purification of himself as God's living image. The First Sunday of Great Lent originally commemorated the Prophets such as Moses, Aaron, and Samuel. The Liturgy's Prokeimenon and alleluia verses as well as the Epistle and Gospel readings appointed for the day continue this older usage. SECOND WEEK, MARCH A the end of the second week, the Second Sunday of Great Lent commemorates Saint Gregory Palamas ( ), the defender of the Orthodox doctrine of Hesychasm against its attack by Barlaam of Calabria. Hesychasm is continuous, intense, silent prayer that re-affirms the Triumph of Orthodoxy Saint Gregory taught that when Saints Peter, James, and John witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, that they were in fact seeing the uncreated light of God; and that it is possible for others to be granted to see that same uncreated light of God with the help of certain spiritual disciplines and contemplative prayer, although not in automatic or mechanical fashion. In 1351 the Council of Blachernae upheld the Orthodoxy of his teachings, and he has also become a saint of the Roman Catholic calendar. THIRD WEEK, MARCH 21 MARCH 27 The Veneration of the Cross is celebrated on the third Sunday of Grdat Lent, March 27 th this year. The veneration comes on this day 6

7 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ABROAD, DIOCESE OF WASHNGTON because it is the midpoint of the 40 days. The services for this day are similar to those on the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14). During the All-Night Vigil the priest brings the cross out into the center of the church, where it is venerated by the clergy and faithful. It remains in the center of the church through Friday of the week following (the Fourth Week of Great Lent. Palm Sunday icon, 15 th - century, Tver FOURTH WEEK, MARCH 28 APRIL 3 This week is celebrated as a sort of afterfeast of the Veneration of the Cross, during which some of the hymns from the previous Sunday are repeated each day. On Monday and Wednesday of the Fourth Week, a Veneration of the Cross takes place at the First Hour (repeating a portion of the service from the All-Night Vigil of the previous Sunday). On Friday of that week, the veneration takes place after the Ninth Hour, after which the cross is solemnly returned to the sanctuary by the priest and deacon. The Sunday that ends the fourth week is dedicated to Saint John Climacus, whose Ladder of Divine Ascent has been read throughout the Great Lenten Fast. PART 5. CEREMONIES IN THE CIVIL CALENDAR MONTH OF MARCH 2011 All Sunday Liturgies at the Church of the Holy Ascension, Fairfax, begin at 10:00 AM. A luncheon buffet always follows. Volunteers may offer to help with luncheon fare by cooking food at home and by preparation and service at the church. A volunteer may also bring monastic food for Bishop Joseph on Sundays that are not already Lenten fasts. Currently a regular schedule also designates a family that is responsible for cleaning the church after the services. The duty is for one month at a time. If you wish to volunteer, please see the warden/starosta, Mr Gontscharow. Saturday, March 5, Vigil at 5 PM. Sunday, March 6, FORGIVENESS SUNDAY, Hours, Divine Liturgy, & Forgiveness Vespers at 9:40 AM. FIRST & SECOND FINDINGS OF THE HEAD OF TH FORERUNNER SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST. Cheesefare Sunday. Fasting starts not only from all animal products. 7

8 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 Monday, March 7, Matins, Hours, Typica, & Vespers at 6 AM. Great Compline With the Reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, at 6:30 PM. Great Lent Begins. Tuesday, March 8, Matins, Hours, Typica, & Vespers at 6 AM Great Compline With the Reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, at 6:30 PM. Wednesday, March 9, Hours, Presanctified Liturgy, & Vespers at 6 AM. Great Compline With the Reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, at 6:30 PM. Thursday, March 10, Matins, Hours, Typica, & Vespers at 6 AM. Great Compline With the Reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, at 6:30 PM. Friday, MARCH 11, Matins, Hours, Typica, & Vespers at 6 AM. Matins at 6:30 PM. Saturday, March 12, FIRST SATURDAY OF GREAT LENT. Hours, Divine Liturgy, & the Blessing of Kolivo at 8:40 AM. SAINT THEODORE S SATURDAY. Saturday, March 12, Vigil at 5 PM. Sunday, March 13, FIRST SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT. Hours, Divine Liturgy, & Moleben for the Conversion of the Erring at 9:40 AM. TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY, GREAT-MARTYR THEODORE. Wine & Oil Allowed. Saturday, March 19, Vigil at 5 PM. Sunday, March 20, SECOND SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT. Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 AM. SAINT GREGORY PALAMAS. Pastoral Visit of Metropolitan Agafangel. Wine & Oil Allowed. Monday, March 21, Vigil at 6:30 PM. Tuesday, March 22, FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE. No service. Wine & Oil Allowed. Wednesday, March 21. Vespers & Akathist at 7:00 PM. 8

9 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ABROAD, DIOCESE OF WASHNGTON Friday, March 25, Matins at 6:30 PM. Saturday, March 26, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 8:40 AM. Saturday, March 26, Vigil With the Veneration of the Holy Cross at 5 PM. Sunday, March 27, THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT. Hours and Divine Liturgy at 9:40 AM. SUNDAY OF THE VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS. Wine & Oil Allowed. Wednesday, March 30, Vespers & Akathist at 7 PM. Saturday, Vigil at 5 PM. Sunday, April 3. FOURTH SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT. Hours & Divine Liturgy. SAINT JOHN OF THE LADDER. Wine & Oil Allowed. PART 6. METROPOLITAN S VISIT. Metropolitan Agafangel (Pashkovsky) will revisit the United States from March 11 th to the 22 d. He will visit Holy Trinity Parish in Astoria, New York, on March 13, and then will lead a Lenten retreat of the ROCA clergy on March 15 th - 16 th at Saint Sergius of Radonezh Parish in Valley Cottage, New York. The clergy retreat will be followed by a special meeting of the Synod of Bishops from March 17 th to 19 th. The Metropolitan will celebrate the Liturgy at our parish, he Holy Ascension, Fairfax VA, on March 20 th. PART 7. FINDINGS OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST According to Church tradition after the execution of Saint John the Baptist, his disciples buried his body at Sebaste, Palestine, but Queen Herodius took his severed head and buried it in a dung heap. Later, Saint Joanna, who was married to King Herod's steward, secretly took his head and buried it on the Mount of Olives, where it remained hidden for centuries. The First Finding occurred in the fourth century. The property on the Mount of Olives where the head was buried had passed into the ownership of a government official who became a monk with the name Innocent. He built a church and a monastic cell there. When he started to dig the foundation, he uncovered the vessel with the head of Saint John. Fearful that the relic might be abused by unbelievers, 9

10 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 he hid it again in the same place where he had found it. Upon his death, the church fell into ruin. The Second Finding occurred in the year 452. During the days of Constantine the Great, two monks on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem reportedly saw visions of Saint John, who revealed to them the location of his head. They uncovered the relic, placed it in a sack and proceeded home. Along the way they encountered an unnamed potter and gave him the bag to carry, not telling him what it was. The Forerunner appeared to him and ordered him to flee from the careless and lazy monks, with what he held in his hands. He did so and took the head home with him. Before his death he placed it in a container and gave it to his sister. After some time, a hieromonk named Eustathius, an Arian, came into possession of it, using it to attract followers to his teaching. He buried the head in a cave, near Emesa. Eventually, a monastery was built at that place. In the year 452, Saint John appeared to Archimandrite Marcellus of this same monastery, and indicated where his head was hidden in a water jar buried in the earth. The relic was brought into the city of Emesa, and later transferred to Constantinople. PART 8. SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE Saint Andrew (Andreas) of Crete (also known as Andrew of Jerusalem) (c. 650 July 4, 712, 726 or 740) was an 8 th -century bishop, theologian, homilist, and hymn writer. Born in Damascus to Christian parents, Saint Andrew was a mute from birth until the age of seven, when, according to his hagiographers, he was miraculously cured after receiving Holy Communion. He began his church career at fourteen in the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, near Jerusalem, where he quickly gained the notice of his superiors. Theodore, the locum tenens of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem ( ) made him his Archdeacon, and sent him to Constantinople as his official representative at the Sixth Ecumenical Council ( ), which had been called by the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, to counter the heresy of Monothelitism. Shortly after the council he was summoned back to Constantinople and appointed Archdeacon at the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom. Eventually Andrew was appointed to the metropolitan bishopric of Gortyna on Crete. His sermons are dignified and harmoniously phrased. He died on the island of Mytilene. His relics were later transferred to Constantinople. His feast day is July 4/17. 10

11 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ABROAD, DIOCESE OF WASHNGTON Today Saint Andrew is known chiefly as a hymn writer. He is credited with the invention (or at least the introduction into Orthodox liturgical services) of the canon, a new form of hymnody by which he expanded these verses into developed poetic Odes, each of which begins with the theme (Irmos) of the scriptural canticle, but then goes on to expound the theme of the feast being celebrated that day. His masterpiece, the Great Canon (also known as the Canon of Repentance or the Great Canon of Repentance), is the longest canon ever composed (250 strophes). It is written primarily in the first person, and goes through the entire Old and New Testaments, drawing examples (both bad and good) that it correlates to the need of the sinful soul to repent repentance and a to return humbly to God. It is divided into four parts (called methymony) that are chanted at Great Compline on the first four nights of Great Lent (one part per night). Later, it is chanted in its entirety at Matins on Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent. PART 9. SAINT THEODORE THE GREAT The legends of Saint Theodore the Great, of Amasea, say that he was a recruit serving in the Roman army at Amasea, which is the modern Amasya in Northern Turkey, about 30 miles south of the Black Sea coast at Sinope and Samsun. When he refused to join his fellow soldiers in pagan rites of worship, he was arrested, but then (perhaps on account of his youth) set free after a warning. However he then set fire to the temple of Cybele (the local mothergoddess) at Amasea. He was condemned to death, tortured, and thrown into a furnace. His remains were said to have been obtained by a woman from Eusebia and interred at Euchaita where he had been born. This Byzantine city longer exists but may correspond to modern Avkhat, about 30 miles from Amasea. A shrine to Saint Theodore was built there, and became an important place of pilgrimage. Saint Gregory of Nyssa preached in honor of Saint Theodore in his sanctuary in the late 4 th century and this is the earliest source for any information about him. He said nothing about his life beyond the basic legend as given above, but he told how he could influence the 11 Saints Theodore of Amasea, the Great; with Saint Theodore Stratilates A fresco from Kremikocvtsi Monastery, near Sofia, Bulgaria

12 HOLY ASCENSION ORTHODOX CHURCH, MARCH 2011 lives of his hearers and specifically mentioned that he could intervene in battles. This became a particularly important attribute of St Theodore. He was adopted by crusaders as their patron. PART 10. THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste or the Holy Forty Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata ( Armed with Lightning ), who became martyrs for their Christian faith in 320. They were killed near Sebaste, in Lesser Armenia, victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who, after the year 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. The earliest account of their existence and martyrdom is given by bishop Basil of Caesarea ( ), in a homily delivered on the feast of the Forty Martyrs. The feast is consequently more ancient than the episcopate of Basil, whose eulogy on them was pronounced only 50 or 60 years after martyrdom. According to Saint Basil, 40 soldiers who had openly confessed themselves Christians were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, so that they would freeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions, sought the warm baths near the lake, that had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant. One of the guards set to keep watch over the martyrs then saw a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing the men and he at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off Ivory relief icon from Constantinople, 10 th century. Bode Museum, Berlin. his garments, and placed himself beside the 39 other soldiers of Christ. Thus he preserved the number 40. At daybreak, the stiffened bodies of the confessors, which still showed signs of life, were burned and the ashes cast into a river. The Christians collected the precious remains, and the relics were distributed throughout many cities. In this way the veneration paid to the Forty Martyrs became widespread, and numerous churches were built in their honor. Please send correspondence, and with all corrections, to the newsletter preparer, Patrick Brown, hpcjfbrown@cox.net 12