REV. DEACON PAUL LEONARCZYK. August 4, 2013 The Commemoration of the Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

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1 our lady OF THE CEDARS CHURCH A MELKITE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY 140 MITCHELL STREET, MANCHESTER, NH TEL # (603) FAX # (603) oloc.church@comcast.net Website: REV. THOMAS P. STEINMETZ, Pastor RT. REV. ANDRE ST. GERMAIN (retired) REV. ROGER BOUCHER - Weekend Ministry REV. DEACON ROBERT SPENCER REV. DEACON PAUL LEONARCZYK August 4, 2013 The Commemoration of the Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Parish Advisory& Finance Council: PAUL ST. GERMAIN, President, ROBERT ANDERSON, ROBIN ANDERSON, BRIAN CULLEN, MARY CULLEN, MARTHA DAGHER, TIM ERMATINGER, PAUL KEARNEY, MARYLOU LAZOS, MATTHEW LOMANNO, KEN MONTY, NAJWA MOUSSOBA, GERALD OUELLETTE, GRACE ANDERSON N.A.M.Y. Advisor: Sunday School Coordinator: Cedars Society President: ROBIN ANDERSON MARTHA DAGHER MARYLOU LAZOS HOLY MYSTERY OF CONFESSION: Confession is available from any priest before or after any service or by appointment; HOLY MYSTERY OF CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION: Please contact the clergy in advance to arrange for the required baptismal instructions; HOLY MYSTERY OF CROWNING: At least six months prior to the proposed wedding, please contact the clergy to arrange for the required interview and instructions; HOLY MYSTERY OF THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK: Please contact the pastor at any time when this sacrament is needed; HOLY COMMUNION FOR THE SICK: Anyone too infirm to attend our services may receive Communion in the home. Please advise the clergy whenever this sacrament is needed. Please remember to contact the church if a loved one is in the hospital and would like a visit from the priest. The hospitals do not always notify the church!

2 THE ORDER OF TODAY S LITURGY The Troparion of the Resurrection (2 nd Tone) Page 51 The Troparion of the Dormition of the Theotokos (1 st Tone): Page 16 Kondakion of the Transfiguration (7 th Tone): On the mountain You were transfigured, O Christ our God, and Your disciples saw as much of Your glory as they could hold, so that when they should see You crucified, they would know that You suffer willingly, and would proclaim to the world that You are verily the Splendor of the Father. THE PROKIMENON:MY STRENGTH AND MY COURAGE IS THE LORD, AND HE HAS BEEN MY SAVIOR! The Lord has chastised my through His teaching, yet He has not delivered me to death! Today s Readings: 1 Corinthians 9: 2b-12 and Matthew 18: LITURGY INTENTIONS Saturday, 4:30 PM: For the repose of all of the deceased members of our parish Sunday, 10:00 AM: For the repose of Laure El-Chalfoun (40 Day Memorial), by Jamil and Rosemonde Dagher Next Saturday, 4:30 PM: For the repose of David Peter Gula (61 st ), Wady George (40 th ), and Wilfred LeBlanc (38 th ) Next Sunday, 10:00 AM: For the repose of Sam Solomon, who departed from this life on July 31 Vocation View Paul realizes that in his ministry he is sowing spiritual things for the benefit of the faithful, and that he needs their cooperation to do his work. Jesus, in His ministry, sows the teachings about sharing God s forgiveness and compassion with others. We still need sowers of the good seed as priests in our diocese. Can we, the faithful, pray for such vocations and encourage those who may have received the call?

3 AUGUST 6: THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD Among the miraculous manifestations of the Lord's omnipotence, the Transfiguration holds an exceptional place in the series of progressive preparations by which Christ introduced His redeeming mission to His disciples. For the three Apostles, the representatives of the new humanity, it is a particular Theophany, a personal demonstration of Christ's absolute supremacy that presents itself between Moses and Elijah, the two great witnesses of the Law and the Promise. It affirms Christ's eternal reign over all time, over the beginning and the end. The Transfiguration announces the Savior's Resurrection and His return in glory at the end of time. The Apostles did not understand Him on that very day. "For he (Peter) did not know what to say, for they were struck with fear" (Mark 9:5). The image of the event remained engraved in their hearts, with the Father's words: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him" (Matthew 17:5). The Great Feast of the Transfiguration will be commemorated with a celebration of the Divine Liturgy and Blessing of Grapes tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM. Mahrajan 2013, August 16-18: Some Ways to Help: Sign-up sheets are available downstairs for volunteers to sign up for working the Mahrajan. Please sign up for specific times and locations where you are willing to help. Posters are available to advertise our event. Please take a few from the back of the church and help post them Consider making a cash donation so that we can buy foodstuffs that we need for this event. There are sign-up sheets for this in the church hall. Please purchase the raffle tickets you have received in the mail. First prize in the raffle is $1,000! Remember to invite your friends, neighbors, and family to the Mahrajan! Attendance: Last Sat. 4:30 PM: 31 Last Sunday 10:00 AM: 97 Last Weekend s Collection: $1, Mortgage: $ The average Sunday envelope donation in last week s collection: $ The balance remaining on our mortgage is: $ 376, SERVICES FOR THE WEEK Wednesday and Thursday services will be held in the basement chapel Mon., Aug. 5 7:00 PM Divine Liturgy: Feast of the Transfiguration Wed., Aug. 7 7:00 PM Paraklesis Thurs., Aug 8 8:30 AM Divine Liturgy: For the health of Tarrant Smith Sat., Aug. 10 4:30 PM Divine Liturgy: The 12 th Sunday After Pentecost Sun., Aug. 11 9:15 AM Sunday Orthros Sun., Aug :00 AM Divine Liturgy: The 12 th Sunday After Pentecost

4 We need help for the coming Sunday School year. Is anyone interested in helping to teach Grades 4-5? If you would like to help, please see Martha Dagher. Please pray for the release of Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim who were abducted on April 22 when gunmen stopped their vehicle near the battleground northern city of Aleppo, where both are based. The deacon who was driving their car was shot and killed in the attack. The Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Boston, Mr. Ibrahim Hanna, was awarded the Medal of Merit (Wissam Al Isthkaq) by the Lebanese Republic, signed by the President of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, and the Prime Minister, Najib Meqatti, for his endeavors in public relations and development services. Congratulations to Mr. Hanna for his generous service. The Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus were friends from childhood, and all were in military service together. When the emperor Decius ( ) arrived in Ephesus, he commanded all the citizens to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Torture and death awaited anyone who disobeyed. The seven youths were denounced by informants, and were summoned to reply to the charges. Appearing before the emperor, the young men confessed their faith in Christ. Their military belts and insignia were quickly taken from them. Decius permitted them to go free, however, hoping that they would change their minds while he was off on a military campaign. The youths fled from the city and hid in a cave on Mount Ochlon, where they passed their time in prayer, preparing for martyrdom. Learning where the young men were hidden, the emperor ordered that the entrance of the cave be sealed with stones so that the saints would perish from hunger and thirst. Two of the dignitaries at the blocked entrance to the cave were secret Christians. Desiring to preserve the memory of the saints, they placed in the cave a sealed container containing two metal plaques. On them were inscribed the names of the seven youths and the details of their suffering and death. The Lord placed the youths into a miraculous sleep lasting almost two centuries. In the meantime, the persecutions against Christians had ceased. The owner of the land, discovered the stone construction, and his workers opened up the entrance to the cave. The Lord had kept the youths alive, and they awoke from their sleep, unaware that almost two hundred years had passed. Their bodies and clothing were completely undecayed, and the coinage they possessed was issued in the time of the emperor Decius. At the entrance to the cave the bishop found the sealed container and opened it. He read upon the metal plaques the names of the seven youths and the details of the sealing of the cave on the orders of the emperor Decius. Soon the emperor himself arrived in Ephesus and spoke with the young men in the cave. Then the holy youths, in sight of everyone, lay their heads upon the ground and fell asleep again, this time until the General Resurrection.

5 August 1 to 14: The Fast of the Dormition Q. What is the purpose of the Fast of the Dormition? Every Orthodox Christian is aware and generally knows the reason behind the fasts for Pascha and Christmas. But while they may know of the Dormition Fast, there remain more than few questions about why it is there what the purpose of this fast is. First, given the pervasive misunderstanding of the purpose of fasting itself, a refresher on its purpose is always a good idea. There is a perception that we should fast when we want something, as though the act of fasting somehow appeases God, and seeing us suffer gets Him to grant our request. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is not our fasting that pleases God, it is the fruits of our fast (provided we fast in the proper mind set, and do not merely diet) that please Him. We fast, not to get what we want, but to prepare ourselves to receive what God wants to give us. The purpose of fasting is to bring us more in line with another Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and away from their sister Martha, who in the famous passage was anxious and troubled about many things. Fasting is intended to bring us to the realization of the one thing needful. It is to help us put God first and our own desires second, if not last. As such it serves to prepare us to be instruments of God s will, as with Moses in his flight from Egypt and on Mt. Sinai, as well as our Lord s fast in the wilderness. Fasting turns us away from ourselves and toward God. In essence it helps us become like the Theotokos, an obedient servant of God, who heard His word and kept it better than anyone else has or could. So why do we fast before Dormition? In a close-knit family, word that its matriarch is on her deathbed brings normal life to a halt. Otherwise important things (parties, TV, luxuries, personal desires) become unimportant; life comes to revolve around the dying matriarch. It is the same with the Orthodox family; word that our matriarch is on her deathbed, could not (or at least should not) have any different effect than the one just mentioned. The Church, through the Paraklesis Service, gives us the opportunity to come to that deathbed and eulogize and entreat the woman who bore God, the vessel of our salvation and our chief advocate at His divine throne. And as, in the earthly family, daily routines and the indulgence in personal wants should come to a halt. Fasting, in its full sense (abstaining from food and desires) accomplishes this. Less time in leisure or other pursuits leaves more time for prayer and reflection on she who gave us Christ, and became the first and greatest Christian. In reflecting on her and her incomparable life, we see a model Christian life, embodying Christ s retort to the woman who stated that Mary was blessed because she bore Him: blessed rather are those who hear His word and keep it. Mary did this better than anyone. As Fr. Thomas Hopko has stated, she heard the word of God and kept it so well, that she of all women in history was chosen not only to hear His Word but give birth to it (Him). So while we fast in contemplation of her life, we are simultaneously preparing ourselves to live a life in imitation of her. That is the purpose of the Dormition Fast. From

6 70 x 7 = Infinity WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING to accept in Christianity? Is it the doctrine of the Trinity? The idea that God became man? Or that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ? While these teachings may meet with obstacles in our minds, the hardest thing for us to accept in practice is the absolute need to forgive others. In our broken humanity we are much more at home with seeking vengeance. We are often more comfortable with the pre-christian vision of a vengeful God: And the LORD said to him, Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold (Gen 4:15). The Torah enshrined the concept of vengeance in its laws concerning violence: But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe (Ex 21:23-25). While modern law is not as demanding, it still endorses the idea of vengeance, clothed in modern dress as Justice and Closure (which often comes down to a question of money). Perhaps the best comment on this principle is by the author Kahlil Gibran, An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind. Forgiveness: the Heart of the Gospel Contemporary Catholic writer Scott Hurd describes the Gospel ideal of forgiveness as both the central idea of Christianity, and an assault on the conventional human understanding of justice. It is an assault because it challenges the very nature of the world s way of handling things. It is the heart of our faith because it is the basic attitude of God toward us and the model of how we can act as the images of God. Yours it is to show mercy we say to God in many prayers, because He is by nature the forgiving Father, the One who runs to welcome home His prodigal children after they stray. God incarnate in Jesus Christ expresses this forgiveness in His humanity when He prayed for His killers, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do (Lk 23:34). And so it is in imitation of God that His disciple, the Protomartyr St Stephen, prayed for those who delivered him to death: And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59-60). That forgiveness is required, not an option, in the Christian life we see from the Lord s words in the Sermon on the Mount, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mt 6:14-15). With these words He was in fact highlighting what we say repeatedly in the Lord s Prayer, perhaps with little intention of putting it into practice. Christ would come back to this theme again and again, doubtlessly more often than the Gospels record:

7 - Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you (Lk 6:37-38). - Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, I repent, you shall forgive him (Lk 17:3-4). - Forgiveness is particularly necessary when we presume to pray: - And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. (Mk 11:25-26). - It is especially necessary when we look to make an oblation: - Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Mt 5:23-24). - The kiss of peace at the Eucharist of all the historic Churches is a rite based on this requirement of the Lord. The Parable of the Unjust Debtor In story form this passage, unique to Matthew, repeats the Lord s fundamental teaching that forgiving others is a prerequisite for being forgiven by God. The call for the godly-minded to forgive others was already common in late Judaism, but in a limited way. Thus the second century rabbinic scholar Issi ben Judah wrote, If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time they do not forgive. Rabbi Yossi bar Hanina, writing in the second half of the third century AD counsels, He who begs forgiveness from his neighbor must not do so more than three times. By this standard Peter was being downright generous when he suggested forgiving seven times as the new standard. Christ replies by turning around Lamech s rule of vengeance ( If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold Gen 4:24). Now, Christ says, consider forgiving others seventy times seven, a number meaning without limit. St John Chrysostom saw a particularly damning indictment of the tendency to hold grudges or seek vengeance in this parable. Pointing to the fate of the unforgiving servant, Christ says, So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses (Mt 18:35). Chrysostom offers this interpretation: Note that He did not say your Father but my Father for it is not proper for God to be called the Father of one who is so wicked and malicious (Homily on Matthew 61, 4). These harsh words go unheard by many in the Church who hold grudges, often for many years. People often feel that broken relationships have nothing to do with our faith. In reality our unwillingness to forgive says that we think God is a sucker for being so compassionate: we know better. As Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, the rift is with more than our relative or neighbor. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

8 Please remember to pray for the health and protection of Genevieve Allen, Elizabeth Ashooh, Elsie Ashooh, Louise Ashooh, Al Auclair, Alice Auclair, Erin Baroody, Michael Baroody, Ted Baroody, Anthony Blando, Helena Burkush, Pere Busquets, Danielle Caron, Meghan Connors, Lucy Corriveau, Julie Cullen, Theresa Cullen, Jamileh Dagher, Nicholas Daniak, Lynn Dargie, Marie Dargie, Sher Farrow, Declan Finn, Julie Fregeau, Mary Fregeau, Peter Fregeau, Christine Freitas, Anne Gallagher, Nick Haddad, Jean Hannoush, Lucille Harper, Howard Jabaley, Laura Jorba, Virginia Kearney, Shirley Lanoue, Roger Lawrence, Sadie Grace McCallum, Miriam McCallum, James McCloskey, Susan Merrill, Margaret Mitchell, Alfred Nasr, Afef Nasr, Blaise Notter, Steven O Leary, Denis O Keefe, Helen Baroody Payne, Josephine Paquette, Virginia Pichette, Jean Poleatewich, Sheila Quinn, Deborah Roberts, Adam Rubin, Robert Siwik, Nassim Sleiman, Salwa Sleiman, Tarrant Smith, Sam Solomon, Sheila Swiderek, Catherine Waldron, and Iris Angelina Velasquez. If you are visiting our church, our parish family is delighted to welcome you here! Please give us the chance to get to know you by joining us for some coffee, pastry, and conversation in the church hall following the Divine Liturgy. If you would like to know more about the Melkite Catholic Church, check out the brochure entitled Welcome to this Holy House, located on the table in the back of the church. NORTH HILLS REALTY GROUP, LLC Residential Real Estate Brokers Abraham Dagher, Realtor 814 Elm St., Suite # 302 Manchester, NH (603) STEPHEN LAW GROUP ROBERT S. STEPHEN, MANAGING ATTORNEY SERVING ALL OF YOUR LEGAL NEEDS! (603) Elm St., Suite 303, Manchester NH Your Ad Here $300 per Year GLENWOOD INVESTMENT GROUP CHARLES L. STEPHEN 814 ELM ST., SUITE 503 MANCHESTER, NH TEL # (603) TOLL FREE 1 (866) chuck@glenwoodinvestment.com GEORGE AZZO R&G Construction, LLC NEW CONSTRUCTION, REMODELING, REPAIRS, ALL JOBS BIG AND SMALL! Free Estimates (603) Check out the Mahrajan Website: Your ad here: $300 per year