Holy Ascension Parish,

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1 Holy Ascension Parish, Newsletter for September 2012 Nativity of the Theotokos, Russian Icon of the 15 th century 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 Father Andrew Frick, deacon Seraphim Englehardt, subdeacon John Herbst, subdeacon ADDRESS 3921 University Drive, Fairfax VA

2 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA Part 1. Our Parish. The Holy Ascension parish welcomes all Orthodox people to its sacraments and welcomes all people with an interest in Christianity and the abiding Tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church. The immediate Holy Ascension parish member 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. Great Holy Days of September. September 2, the 13 th Sunday After Pentecost. The epistle of the day begins with the words Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. The St. Matthew s Gospel reading is the Parable of the Householder Who Planted the Vineyard, which occurs in all four gospels. This parable is about chief priests and Pharisees and was given to the people inside the Temple during the final week before the death of our Lord. The text from the King James Bible is as follows-- There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably 2

3 Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, September 2012 destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. Christus Pantocrator icon, St. Catherine s Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt. The description of the vineyard is from Isaiah 5. A vineyard as a metaphor for Israel was common at the time. It could also be God s covenant, or perhaps the whole world. The produce made at the vineyard might be a metaphor for all the goods produced by the people, which the authorities are not sharing with God, and which they are trying to keep for themselves. The owner of the vineyard is God and the son is Our Lord Jesus. A common interpretation of the servants is that of the Jewish prophets, although they could be all of God s preceding messengers. The meaning of the others who will be given the vineyard is debated. Some proposed inter- 3

4 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA pretations have seen them as other Jews, or Christians, or maybe even the Jewish Christians. They are usually seen as the new Christian community. Consequently the parable is usually interpreted as saying that God (the owner), keeps sending prophets (servants) to collect what is due, the grapes, a symbol of good. The priests (leaseholders), however, refuse to comply with the prophets and instead hurt each servant in turn more than they did the previous, wanting ever more control of Israel (the vineyard) for themselves. But when they finally kill His son, God (the owner) revokes their right to Israel (the vineyard), and He give it the followers of Jesus (the others) instead. September 2 also commemorates the Prophet Samuel, who was the last of the Hebrew judges and the first recognizable Hebrew prophet. He is said to have anointed the two first Israelite kings, Saul and David the Great. Samuel fought the Philistine armies and made ritual sacrifices even though he was neither a priest descended from Aaron nor a Levite. September 9, The 14 th Sunday After Pentecost. The Second Corinthians epistle stresses Divine investment in mankind and St. Paul s willingness to being encouraging words. The reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew is the Parable of the Wedding Feast. To the feast (salvation), many are invited, but the guests must take the step on putting on the wedding celebration garment, which is the white robe of the baptized Christian. August 27/September 3 also commemorates St. Poemen of Sketis, an Egyptian monastery of the fourth century Poemen means shepherd, and the saint excelled in counseling and preaching--unusual skills in a Desert Father. September 11, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. According to the Synoptic Gospels, Herod, who was tetrarch or subking of Galilee within the Roman Empire, had imprisoned St. John the Baptist because he reproved Herod for divorcing his wife (Phasaelis), and unlawfully taking as wife Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I. On Herod s birthday, Herodias daughter (traditionally named Salome) danced before the king and his guests. Her dancing pleased Herod so much that, in his drunken- 4

5 Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, September 2012 ness, he promised to give her anything she desired, up to half of his kingdom. When the daughter asked her mother what she should request, she was told to ask for the head of St. John on a platter. Although Herod was appalled by the request, he reluctantly agreed and had John executed in the prison. St. John the Baptist, The Angel of the Desert, Russian Stroganov School, 1620s. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also relates in his Antiquities of the Jews that Herod killed John, stating that he did so, lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his [John s] power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise), [so Herod] thought it best [to put] him to death. Josephus further adds that many Jews believed that the military disaster that fell upon Herod at the hands of Aretas his father-in-law (Phasaelis father), was God s punishment for his unrighteousness. No source gives an exact date, which was probably in the years 5

6 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA between 30 and 35. According to Josephus the death took place at the fortress of Machaerus. The liturgical commemoration of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist is almost as old as that commemorating his Nativity, which is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest within any liturgy to honor a saint. The Orthodox celebrate this feast on August 29/September 11, as a day of strict fasting. Some pious people do not eat food from a flat plate, use a knife, or eat food that is round in shape on this day. September 16, the 15 th Sunday After Pentecost. The Second Corinthians epistle reading stresses that were are called to seek the light of truth just as God had called the light out of darkness. The Gospel of St. Matthew for the day summarizes Christian duty: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, an with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. The day also commemorates the Hieromartyr Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and those with him suffered during the persecution of Christians by the emperors Diocletian ( ) and Maximian ( ). The persecution became intense after a fire at the imperial court at Nicomedia. September 21, Nativity of the Theotokos. The Holy Virgin and Theotokos Mary was born to elderly and previously barren parents named Joachim and Anna, in answer to their prayers. The Orthodox believe that St. Mary the Virgin indeed inherited ancestral sin, having been conceived as human in the normal way of humanity. Thus she needed salvation like the rest of mankind. Orthodox teaching does not specify whether St. Mary the Virgin ever actually sinned, but it agrees generally that she was cleansed from sin at the time of the Annunciation. On the eve of the Nativity feast, Vespers is sung with three Old Testament readings that have New Testament meaning. In Genesis 28:10-17, Jacob s Ladder that unites heaven and earth points to the union of God with men, which is realized most fully and perfectly in St. Mary the Bearer of God. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! In 6

7 Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, September 2012 Ezekiel 43:27-44:4, the vision of the temple with the door to the East perpetually closed and filled with the glory of the Lord, symbolizes Mary. And Proverbs 9:1-11 identifies Mary with the house that Divine Wisdom has built for itself. Nativity of the Theotokos. St, Savva Church, Pskov, 16 th - or 17 th -century Russian Icon Sometimes Matins is served on the morning of the feast. The Gospel reading is from Luke 1:39-49, 56. It is read on all feasts of the Theotokos and includes the Theotokos saying: My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Divine Liturgy is served on the day on the feast. The epistle reading is from Philippians 2:5-11, and speaks of Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. The gospel reading is taken from Luke 10:38-42 and 11:27-28 together; this passage reading is read on all feasts of the Theotokos. In it, the Lord says, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it! 7

8 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA September 23, the 16 th Sunday After Pentecost. Another Second Corinthians epistle calls Christians to take life seriously and to set an honorable example to outsiders: as dying, behold we live, as chastened, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, an yet possessing all things. The St. Matthew Gospel reading is the Parable of the Talents. A good man has left his country and has given his three servants sums of money. The first got five talents, the second two, and the third only one. In New Testament times, a silver talent was worth 5,000 dinars and one dinar was the income of a general laborer for one day. In the parable, when the master returns, he finds that the first and second servants have invested and profited, doubling their gain. But the third has wasted his opportunity. An the master said Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The parable may confuse readers with its unmystical financial imagery. But traditionally the parable has been read as a call to use God-given gifts in the service of God, and to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. These gifts have been seen to include personal abilities ( talents in the everyday sense), as well as personal wealth. The parable fascinated the non-orthodox English poet John Milton, referring to it repeatedly, most notably in the sonnet On His Blindness : When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent, which is death to hide, Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest He, returning, chide. The day also commemorates the Virgin Martyr sisters Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora (died c ). According to tradition, the three women were sisters from Bithynia in Asia Minor. They chose not to marry and to forsake the world. They found a home in the remote countryside and spent their days in fasting and prayer. The Roman governor Frontonius had them killed for their good deeds. Their relics are at Mount Athos in the Protection Cathedral of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, and Metrodora s 8

9 Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, September 2012 hand is at the Monastery of the Pantocrator on Mt. Athos. September 27, Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-creating Cross commemorates both the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena in 326 and its recovery from the Persians in 628. It is one of the Twelve Great Orthodox Feasts of the church year, September 14/27,which is always a fast day without meat, dairy, or fish. The feast has a oneday forefeast and an eight-day afterfeast. The Saturday and Sunday before and after the feast day have special epistle and gospel readings about the Cross at the Divine Liturgy. At vespers on the eve of the feast, the cross is taken from the vessel repository, placed on a tray covered with an Aër (a liturgical veil) and decorated with fresh basil leaves and flowers, and with a candle burning before it. The priest carries it on his head to the Holy Table, where it is set in the place of the Gospel Book. Those portions of the vespers and matins that in sundry local customs take place before the Icon of the Feast (or example, the chanting of the Polyeleos and the Matins Gospel) instead take place in front of the Holy Table. The cross is venerated. The cross remains in the center of the temple throughout the afterfeast, and the faithful venerate it whenever they enter or leave the church. Finally, on the leave-taking (the apodosis) of the feast, the priest and deacon cense the cross, and there a final veneration of the cross follows. And then they will solemnly bring the cross back into the sanctuary through the Holy Doors. This same pattern of bringing out the 9

10 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA cross, veneration, and returning the cross at the end of the celebration is repeated at a number of the lesser Feasts of the Cross. September 30, the 17 th Sunday After Pentecost. The Second Corinthians epistle reading explores the human personality as a temple of God. As God has said, For you are the temple of the living God. The St. Matthew Gospel reading retells the healing of the daughter of a woman from Canaan who showed great faith. This day also commemorates the Saint Sophia the Martyr (died 137 AD), venerated in the Orthodox Church on September 17/30. Born in Italy, Sophia had three daughters: Faith (age 12), Love (age 10) and Hope (age 9), who were named after virtues listed in order by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. They are said to have been martyred during the reign of Hadrian ( ). The guards took Sophia s daughters one by one, and tortured them to death. Sophia buried her daughters bodies and remained by their graves for three days until she died herself. Part 3. Liturgies During the Civil Month of September All Sunday Liturgies begin at 10:00 am. A luncheon buffet follows all Sunday liturgies. Volunteers may offer help with cooking at home and last preparation at the church. 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, September 1, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, September 2, the 13th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 am. Afterfeast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Prophet Samuel. 10

11 Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, September 2012 Wednesday, September 5, Vespers & Akathist at 6:00 pm. Saturday, September 8, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, September 9, the 14th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 am. Saint Poemen. Monday, September 10, Vigil at 6:30 pm. Tuesday, September 11, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. Hours & Divine Liturgy at 6:40 am. Saturday, September 15, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, September 16, the 15 th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours,& Divine Liturgy. Hieromartyrs Anthimus & Companions. Thursday, September 20, Vigil at 6:30 pm. Friday, September 21, the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 6:40 am. Saturday, September 22, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, September 23, the 16 th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 am. Martyrs Menodora & Companions. Wednesday, September 26, Vigil at 6:30 pm. Thursday, September 27, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Lord, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 6:40 am. Saturday, September 29, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, September 30, the 17 th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 am. Martyrs Sophia & Daughters. Wednesday, October 3, Vespers & Akathist 6:30 pm. Saturday, October 6, Vigil at 5 pm. Sunday, October 7, the 18 th Sunday After Pentecost, Hours & Divine Liturgy at 9:40 am. Martyr Thecla. 11

12 Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, Fairfax, VA Please send questions and corrections to the newsletter preparer--patrick Brown 12