Rubrics for the 27th Sunday After Pentecost

Transcription

1 St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church 1100 Hicksville Rd. Seaford, NY, Rev. Fr. Andrew Gromm (516) / stgregoryseaford@gmail.com Website: Sunday Mornings: Hours- 9:15, Liturgy- 9:30, Church School- 10:40 Bible Study Sundays, 5:00 PM December 2, 2018 / 27th Sunday After Pentecost Epistle: Ephesians 6:10-17; Gospel: Luke 20:27-44; Tone 2 Commemorations: St. Habakkuk the Prophet (+650 B.C.); St. Myrope of Chios (+251); St. Ise of Georgia (+555); St. Cyril of Philea (+1110); St. Danax & Companions of Archangelsk (+1937). Wednesday, December 5th 7:00 PM Vespers and Litija Thursday, December 6th 9:00 AM Liturgy (St. Nicholas) Events: Our friends at Holy Trinity Church in East Meadow have their annual Nativity concert on December 8th at 7 PM, which is Saturday. Its flyer is on the bulletin board. Tree: Let s decorate the parish Nativity tree this week or next week! We need children again. Parish Finances: Last week s contributions were $986 and expenses were $2729. Weekly Specials: Birthdays= Rhyan O Leary (5th). Mnohaja L ita! Prayers: Health for Kathleen, Martha, Eugenia, Gregory, Elizabeth, Anthony, Mary, Chris, Mary, Anna, Lydia, Anne, Frank, Paul, Maria, Danielle, Adriana, Mary, Leah, Lisa and Dana. Rubrics for the 27th Sunday After Pentecost 1. TROPARION: (Tone 2) When You submitted to death, O Immortal Life, * You made death powerless by the radiance of Your Divinity. * When You raised the dead from the depths of the earth, * all the heavenly powers exclaimed: * O Giver of Life, Christ our God, Glory to You! 2. KONDAKION: (Tone 2) Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. You arose from the dead, O Almighty Savior! * Death witnessed the miracle and was filled with fear, as the dead arose. * All creation beheld it and rejoices in You * even Adam rejoices. * The universe exalts You, O my Savior, forever. 3. BOHORODICA: (Tone 2) Now and ever and forever. Amen. O Birthgiver of God, all your mysteries * surpass understanding and every glory. * For being sealed in purity and perfectly intact in your virginity, * you became a real mother by giving birth to God the Word. * Intercede with Him for the salvation of our souls.

2 4. PROKIMENON: (Tone 2) The Lord is my strength and my song and He is my salvation. v. The Lord has chastened me sorely, but He has not given me over to death. (Psalm 118:18) The Lord is my strength and my song and He is my salvation. 5. THE EPISTLE LESSON: (Ephesians 6:10-17) The Reading is from the holy Apostle Paul to the Ephesians. Brethren:Draw your strength from the Lord & his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. Our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above. You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day. Do all that your duty requires and hold your ground. Stand fast with the truth as the belt around your waist, justice as your breastplate & zeal to propagate the gospel of peace as your footgear. In all circumstances hold faith up before you as your shield. It will help you extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation & the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. 6. ALLELUIA: (Tone 2) Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! (Repeat after each verse.) v. May the Lord answer you on the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. (Psalm 31:1) v. O Lord, give victory to the king; answer us when we call. (Psalm 31:2) 7. THE GOSPEL LESSON: (Luke 20:27-44) Let Us Be Attentive: At that time, there came to Jesus certain of the Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection), and they questioned him, saying, Master, Moses has written for us: If a man s brother dies, having a wife, and he is childless, his brother shall take the widow and raise up offspring in his brother s name. Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife and died childless. And the second took her and he also died childless. Then the third took her; and in like manner all seven, and they died without leaving children. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection, therefore, of which of them will she be wife? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus, answering, said to them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage. But those who shall be accounted worthy of that world and of the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor take wives. For neither shall they be able to die anymore, for they are equal to the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead rise, even Moses showed in the passage about the Bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: all are alive for him. And certain of the Scribes answered and said, Master, you have spoken well. And they did not dare to question him any further. But he said to them, How do they say that the Christ is the son of David? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore calls him Lord ; how, then, is he his son? He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his Mother. St. Cyprian of Carthage (+258) Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of the price of AmazonSmile purchases to American Carpatho- Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese of the USA when you shop by using AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is the same as Amazon. Just go to our Diocesan website and click on the Amazon Smiles button in the far left column and then shop as usual.

3 Fr. Ted on Ancient Faith Radio Orthodox Life Sermon 7: Life After Death This in-between time, all our loved ones who have left us and where the soul is and what is going on and where is it waiting and what happens between now and the second coming what happens in this middle stage? It is a very difficult thing for us to explain and discuss, because we simply don t know 100%. It has not been revealed to us by Christ. It has not been revealed to us in Scripture. Many Fathers of the Church over the last 2,000 years have speculated about it. But there have been different miracles; there have been different visions of different saints, who have helped people, so we know the saints are active in some way, those who are close to God. We know God has sent them to help people and give them different information. We know different miracles have happened through the saints and those people who have lived a holy life. So we know there is some type of activity happening in the afterlife, even before the final judgment. But there are many other different opinions and different traditions that exist in the Church, and we ve heard these before. Some people say that for 40 days, the soul goes through spiritual toll-houses, as it ascends towards God, and that the soul is judged by demons and angels, and they weigh our sins and those things that we have done that are good in our lives. So we have those traditions that many people, especially those in the Greek tradition. What is the official teaching of the Church for the last 2,000 years? It is that when we pass from this world to the next that, first of all, the most important thing is the state of our souls at the time that we pass. For example, if I in my life have spent my life trying to repent, trying to fight my passions, trying to do what is good, even though I fail, trying to show love to my fellow human beings, to forgive, to try to be connected to the Church and to the sacramental life, then this love and this communion that I have experienced within my life will be the experience of my life afterwards, as I experience the eternal life. I will be moving towards God who is pure love, who is perfect communion. So in the afterlife I will get a foretaste of this eternal love and this eternal communion with God until the second coming happens and the final judgment happens. Of course, conversely, if I have spent my life at a distance from God, at a distance from my fellow human beings in anger, in hypocrisy, in judgment, in hate and this is the state of my soul when I leave this earth, then that apostasy, that distance from God, will continue in the afterlife. The only difference between this life and the next is that after we pass there is no more repentance. There is no chance to change. Whatever we are when we leave this world, that is what we are for eternity. That s why it s so important for us as Orthodox Christians to be active in our faith, to pray and to participate within the life of the Church and to forgive one another, because we don t know when we leave this life, when we will leave, and we have to be prepared at any given time for the state of our souls to always be in a constant state of forgiveness and of repentance and of love. After death there is no change, but it is rather an eternal reality. This is why it s extremely important for us to continue to be good people at all times, not to take breaks, not to be Christians on Sundays and for the rest of the week we go back and we do whatever we want, because the rest of the week something might happen to us God forbid and we leave this planet with a certain state of our souls that is not necessarily beneficial to us. This is what we understand from the Church: that our souls will be eternal and living before God, going on into the afterlife in an eternal state of whatever state we leave this planet, this world; and also that there will be some type of foretaste of what we will experience after the resurrection of all things and after the final judgment. These are the things, the official teachings of the Church. Because we believe that the soul continues by the grace of God until the second coming, this is why we do memorials. This is why we continue to pray. God is going to have the final say, not us.

4 Below are saintly reports of the soul s power over earthly existence by the grace of God. St. Habakkuk the Prophet The Holy Prophet Habakkuk, wrote the eighth book of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. He was descended from the Tribe of Simeon and prophesied around 650 B.C. The Prophet Habakkuk foresaw the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the Babylonian Captivity & the return of the captives to Israel. During the war with the Babylonians, the prophet withdrew to Arabia, where the following miracle occurred. When he was bringing dinner to the reapers, he met an angel of the Lord and was instantly transported by the strength of his spirit to Babylon, where the Prophet Daniel was languishing in prison. The food intended for the reapers assuaged the hunger of the exhausted Prophet Daniel (Daniel 14:33-37). After the end of the war with the Babylonians, the Prophet Habakkuk returned to Israel and died at a great old age. His relics were found at the time of Emperor Theodosius he Younger ( ), together with the relics of the Prophet Micah. St. Myrope of Chios The Holy Martyr Myrope was born in the city of Ephesus at the beginning of the third century. She lost her father at an early age and her mother raised her in the Christian Faith. Saint Myrope frequently visited the grave of the Martyr Hermione, daughter of the holy Apostle Philip, took myrrh from her relics, and healed the sick with it. During the persecution by Decius ( ), Myrope went with her mother to the island of Chios, where they spent their time in fasting and prayer. Once, by order of the cruel governor of the island, the soldier Isidore, a man of deep faith and great piety, was martyred. Saint Myrope secretly removed the body of the martyr and buried it. The soldiers, who had been ordered not to allow the Christians to take Isidore s body, were sentenced to death. Saint Myrope took pity on the condemned & told the soldiers and the governor what she had done. At the trial she confessed herself a Christian. For this they gave her a fierce beating and then threw her in prison. At midnight, while she was praying, a light shone in the prison. Saint Isidore appeared surrounded by angels and Saint Myrope surrendered her soul to God. The prison was immediately filled with a sweet fragrance. The pagan guard, trembling at the vision, told this to a priest. Later, he accepted Baptism & a martyric death for his confession of Christ. St. Ise (Jesse) of Georgia Saint Jesse of Tsilkani arrived in Georgia in the 6th century with the other Syrian fathers and companions of Saint John of Zedazeni. At the recommendation of St. John of Zedazeni, Catholicos Evlavios of Kartli consecrated St. Jesse as bishop of Tsilkani. The holy father traveled throughout his diocese preaching the Holy Gospel. Passing from city to city, from valley to mountain, the kind shepherd worked wonders, healed the infirm, cleansed lepers, cast out demons & raised those who were confined to beds. Once, with the blessing of his teacher Saint John of Zedazeni, Saint Jesse performed a miracle to strengthen the people in their Faith. He descended to the bank of the Ksani River, followed by Fr. John and a multitude of people. He made the sign of the Cross over the river, touched his staff to the water and commanded: In the name of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, I command you, river: follow me! Immediately the river reversed its current and began to flow backwards, following in Saint Jesse s footsteps right up to Tsilkani Church. Those living near Mtskheta and Tsilkani who witnessed this miracle glorified the Lord Jesus Christ for bestowing upon one of His children the gift of wonder-working. When the Lord made known to the saint the day of his repose, he gathered his disciples and church servitors, bade them farewell, blessed them, partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and reposed in peace. His last words were Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit!

5 St. Gregory of Nyssa Orthodox Church 1100 Hicksville Rd. Seaford, NY, Rev. Fr. Andrew Gromm (516) / stgregoryseaford@gmail.com Website: Weekly Bible Message December 2, 2018 Because so many people of today have a tougher time thinking spiritually on a regular basis, it is good to be reminded of life after death. Our cultures constantly try to brainwash us to believe that God does not exist, there is no soul or life after death and the world came into existence by accident. But the Lord Jesus Christ did not believe any of this. Some Sadducees wanted Jesus to answer one of their riddles. Since they didn t believe in life after death, they wanted to know how a woman who had 7 husbands on earth could live in Heaven with only one husband. But the Lord explained that they were thinking according to earthly life which has been corrupted by sin. At the resurrection, people will be different, not marrying as it is experienced now, but living like the angels. Then He quoted the Bible which indicates that God is the God of the living, not of the dead, since all people are alive to Him at all times. As Christ explains, we see people as dead, but they are alive to God. Our souls still exist when they leave their bodies. In other words, after we die, we are still alive, not because we left behind signs and symbols of our existence, but because our souls continue to live after death. As Jesus says, God created living humans, which do not change from existence to non-existence, not even being re-created. Jesus believed that life is unchanging and comes from the Holy Spirit, not from chemicals. We see things in earthly ways through our bodily senses; however, we are called to pray and think spiritually. Jesus Christ says that He is the Life & the Resurrection. So when we think of life, we must not think of it as only a collection of dirt and water. The soul is there as well, all of it from God. And even though the body dies & stops living, the breath of life from God continues because God s love never ends for us. And this love is an unbroken & eternal communion with Him from the moment we exist. So, disbelieving in the soul is a way of corrupting God s love. Give thanks to Him alone & remember to think spiritually always because it s the power of real love.