Nativity of Our Lord Orthodox Church Weems Road Manassas, Virginia 20110

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1 Nativity of Our Lord Orthodox Church Weems Road Manassas, Virginia Fr. Nectarios Trevino August 28, 2016 Let all who enter our Holy Church heed the words of the Cherubic Hymn: Let us now lay aside all earthy cares The reason why God has accorded us this present life is to give us a place for repentance. Were this not the case, a person who sinned would at once be deprived of this life. For otherwise of what use would it be to him? St. Gregory Palamas DAILY SCRIPTURE READING & LIVES OF THE SAINTS SAINTS AND FEASTS 10th Sunday of Matthew Moses the Black of Scete Diomedes & Laurence the Martyrs 33 Martyrs of Nicomedea ΛΩ Prayers & Readings Prayer Before Reading Holy Scripture O Master Who loves mankind, illuminate our hearts with the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open the eyes of our mind to understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, that we may overcome all carnal desires, entering upon a Stewardship Diocesan Stewardship Mission Statement Orthodox Christian Stewardship is a Christcentered lifestyle, which Page 1 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

2 spiritual life and understanding and acting in all things according to Your holy will. For You are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies, O Christ God, and to You we give glory together with Your eternal Father and Your all-holy, gracious and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen. Epistle Reading St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 4:9-16 Prokeimenon. Mode 1. Psalm 32.22,1 Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us. Verse: Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous. BRETHREN, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. Gospel Reading 10th Sunday of Matthew The Gospel according to Matthew 17:14-23 At that time, a man came up to Him and kneeling before Him said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him." And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day." 1. VENERABLE MOSES THE BLACK [THE ROBBER] acknowledges accountability, reverence, and responsibility before God. Orthodox Christian Stewardship is a call to all of the faithful to share willingly and cheerfully the gifts that God has bestowed on them including sharing these gifts for God s work in His Church. On Stewardship and the Orthodox Life - Part 108: Well Done! Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25: 23 The Parable of the Talents is one of the several parables relating to stewardship in the New Testament. Christ tells an inquiring scribe and his disciples in another parable that there are two great commandments, love the Lord God with all your heart and being and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12: 29-31). Christ goes on to say that there are no commandments greater than these two. If you love somebody will you not take care of that person? Will you not be happy when they are happy, sad when they are Page 2 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

3 Moses was an Ethiopian by birth and by profession, at first, a robber and leader of a band of robbers and, after that, a penitent and great ascetic. As the slave of a master, Moses escaped and joined the robbers. Because of his great physical strength and arrogance, the robbers chose him as their leader. Suddenly, Moses was overcome with pangs of conscience and repentance for the misdeeds, which he had committed. He left the group, entered a monastery and gave himself completely in obedience to his spiritual father and to the monastic rule. He benefited much from the teachings of Saints Macarius, Arsenius and Isidore. Later, he withdrew to solitude in a cell where he dedicated himself completely to physical labor, prayer, vigils and godly-thoughts. Tormented by the demon of fornication, Moses confessed to Isidore, his spiritual father, and from him, received counsel to fast even more and never to eat to full satisfaction. When even this did not help he, at the counsel of the elder, began to keep vigil at night and to pray standing; after that, he began the practice of bringing water to the elderly monks from a distant well all night long. After six years of terrible struggles, St. Isidore finally miraculously healed him of fornicating thoughts, fantasies and dreams brought about on him by demons. Moses was ordained a priest in old age. He founded his own monastery and had seventy-five disciples and lived in this life for seventy-five years. He foresaw his death and, one day, he told his disciples to flee for the barbarians were going to attack the monastery. When the disciples also urged him to flee with them, Moses said that he must die by violence for, at one time, he himself committed violence and, according to the words: "For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (St. Matthew 26:52). He remained there with six brethren and the barbarians came and slew them. One of the brethren, hidden in the vicinity, beheld and saw seven shining wreaths as they descended upon the seven martyrs. 2. THE VENERABLE SAVA OF PSKOV AND KRYPETSK Sava was a Serb by descent. He lived a life of asceticism, at first, in the monastery of the Holy Birth-giver of God in Pskov and then was abbot of that monastery. But they praised him and he fled from the glory of men and withdrew to the shores of Lake Krypetsk where he founded a new community dedicated to St. John the Theologian. Nevertheless, even here, he was unable to conceal his fame and prominence. He was visited by Prince Yaroslav of Pskov and his wife. Sava would not allow his wife to enter the monastery but rather blessed her and prayed to God for her outside the monastery and healed her of a certain disease. This saint of God found rest in the year 1495 A.D. and his relics were and remained miracle-working. Among his visitors to Krypetsk, the Abbot Dositheus is mentioned. 3. THE ASSEMBLY OF ALL THE CHOSEN MEN OF GOD OF THE MONASTERY OF THE CAVES IN KIEV sad? Will your heart not break when their heart breaks? Will you not DO everything possible to help that person you love? The key word here is DO, just as in the scripture verse above. Christ says, well done to the faithful servant. He did what was asked of him. Notice that in the parable, Christ does not say, Well said, well planned, well thought, or well-intended. He says, WELL DONE. What will Christ say to you when you stand before Him? And we will all stand before His judgment. Have you done what our Master has asked us to do? Have you given back a portion of what Christ has given you in time, talents and resource so that it might multiply and bear fruit? You, brothers and sisters, will have to stand before Christ and answer that question. How DO you thank God for your blessings? The emphasis for us Christians is on doing. *** For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints... Page 3 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

4 HYMN OF PRAISE VENERABLE MOSES THE BLACK [THE ROBBER] Blessed is he upon whom God shows mercy! The mercy of God is joy, In both worlds joy. Moses Murin [the Black] as a prodigal son Repented and to God returned, By much weeping, many sins repaid By much fasting, himself withered, Black in the face, shining in the soul. By many all-night vigils, passions he tamed, Of demons authority, freed himself. While his soul, as a lake became Atop the mountains that, into the heavens gaze. In which heaven mirrors its face. When once, they asked Moses "Do not the sins of others sadden you?" "Sinful men, do they not concern you?" Saint Moses tearfully replied: "Whoever has a corpse in the house That one does not weep over someone else's corpse Rather weeps over his own corpse." The lion, into a lamb, often changes, Such a miracle, only Christ performs. Moses, a lion in the mountain was And, a gentle lamb became. By his holy prayers, let God grant salvation to us also. REFLECTION A true Christian avoids the praise of men; not only avoids, but has a true fear of it. St. Sava of Pskov left the office of abbot, the monastery and the good brotherhood of the monastery and fled to a desolate place to escape the praise of men, for praise of men robs our heart. A devout prince, upon hearing of the mortification of St. Moses Murin [the Black], went with his retinue into the desert to see him. Informing Moses that the prince was coming to his monastery, Moses quickly ran out and began to flee and to hide somewhere, but he unexpectedly encountered the high-ranking visitors. "Where is the cell of Abba Moses?" the servants of the prince asked not suspecting that this was Moses himself. Moses opened his mouth and said: "What do you want him for? He is an ignorant old man, very untruthful and completely impure in life." Hearing this, the visitors were astonished and continued on. When they arrived at the cell of Moses, they inquired about the elder and the monks said that he was not there. Then they began to relate what a monk on the road had said about Moses. The (2 Corinthians 8: 3-4 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3 Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition. (Titus 3: 10 Be doers of the word, and not hears only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1: 22 For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. (Matthew 6: 21 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9: 8 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2: 10 I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing Page 4 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

5 monks were saddened and asked them: "How did he look, this old man, who spoke to you mocking words about this holy man?" and when they said that he was very dark in the face, tall and in a miserable garment; the monks cried out loudly: "but that was indeed the Abba Moses!" By this incident, the prince benefited greatly spiritually and rejoicefully returned to his home. CONTEMPLATION To contemplate the nobility of David (2 Samuel 1-2 Kings 1): 1. How a messenger arrived and informed David about the death of Saul and Jonathan thinking to receive a reward for that; 2. How David bitterly mourned and lamented for Saul who wished him [David] nothing but death. HOMILY About the forms of the Messiah "And we saw that He had no form nor comeliness" (Isaiah 53:2). This, the prophet speaks about Christ the Lord as a man: "He had no form nor comeliness!" How is it that He Who gave form to every created thing and who created the beautiful angels of heaven and all the beauty of the universe, that He did not have form and comeliness [beauty]? Brethren, this need not confuse you. He was able to appear in the manner in which He willed. But he did not want to appear in angelic beauty as He did not want to appear in royal power and in the luxury of the wealthy. He who enters a house of sorrow does not dress in the most beautiful clothes, neither does a doctor dress in his best clothes when he visits the gravely ill. But the Lord entered a house of sorrow and into a hospital. The body is the garment of the soul. He dressed in a simple garment to impress us, not by His dress but rather by the power of the spirit. We do not know exactly what His appearance was. According to tradition, His face was swarthy and His hair was of a chestnut color. When King Abgar sent Ananias his artist to paint the face of the Lord, he was not able to draw even a line on the cloth for, it is said that, Christ's face shown with an unusual light. After all, even if Christ had clothed Himself in the most beautiful body, such a body as only He is able to fashion, what would that physical beauty of His be in comparison to the immortal beauty of His Divinity? The greatest earthly beauty is merely only a shadow of the heavenly beauty. The Prophet Daniel was a young and handsome man but when an angel of God stood before him, he himself said: " there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness turned in me into one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4: 1-3 On Prayer *** Matthew the Poor says the following about prayer, "Let him who does not pray expect nothing whatsoever from Godneither salvation nor renewal no direction nor grace. Rather, he is consigned to the whims and fancy of his own mind, the will of his own ego, and the direction of his own thinking. He is like one who has rejected the intervention of the Lord Jesus in his life, like one who hides himself from the Spirit of God. A man who does not pray is one who is content with his own condition. He wishes to remain as he is and not be changed, renewed or saved. His life unconsciously changes from bad to worse. He recedes spiritually day after day. The ties that bind him to the earth and to the flesh increase without his awareness. His ego remains the source of all his desires and ambitions. As for his relationship with Christ, it remains only superficial and outward. It has no power to change or Page 5 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

6 corruption" (Daniel 10:8). What is the face of man from earth in comparison to the likeness of an immortal angel of God? As darkness in comparison to the light! Of course, even the prophet looking at Christ the Immortal King in the flesh of man and comparing His earthly likeness with His Immortal likeness, had to cry out: "He had no form nor comeliness." O Gentle and All-gentle Lord, Who for our sake was clothed in our miserable physical garment to serve us and not to frighten us, to You be glory and thanks, to You be glory and thanks. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen. Post-Communion Prayer Prayer Of Saint Basil I thank you, Christ and Master our God, King of the ages and Creator of all things, for all the good gifts you have given me, and especially for the participation in your pure and life-giving mysteries. I, therefore, pray to you, good and loving Lord: keep me under your protection and under the shadow of your wings. Grant that to my last breath I may with a pure conscience partake worthily of your gifts for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life. For you are the bread of life, the source of holiness, the giver of all good things, and to you we give glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen. amend anything. The possibility to even deny Christ at times of danger, temptation, illness, or poverty becomes imminent. So if man does not pray, he can never be changed or renewed, and he who is not changed or renewed can have no genuine or effective relationship with Christ. His worship, however active, is nothing but an outward protrusion or a superficial growth. In the end it breaks off, bearing no fruit." Sixth Hour Prayers O You Who on the sixth day and hour nailed to the cross the sin which rebellious Adam committed in Paradise, Tear asunder also the bond of our iniquities, O Christ our God, and save us. Prayer of St. Basil God, Lord of hosts and Maker of all creation, who in Your great compassion and mercy sent down Your Only-Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for the redemption of mankind and by His precious Cross destroyed the record of our sins, triumphing over the source and power of darkness: O Lord and Lover of mankind, accept also the thanksgiving and fervent prayers of us sinners. Deliver us from every dark and harmful transgression and from all the visible and invisible enemies that seek to destroy us. Nail our flesh to the fear of You, and do not incline our hearts to deceitful words or thoughts, but wound our souls with love for You, that always looking to You, guided by Your light, and seeing You, the eternal and ineffable Light, we may give You unceasing praise and thanksgiving: to the Father without beginning, with Your Only-Begotten Son and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. O LORD, SAVE THY PEOPLE AND BLESS THINE INHERITANCE. GRANT VICTORY OVER THEIR ENEMIES TO ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS, AND PROTECT THY PEOPLE WITH THY CROSS. Page 6 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

7 DIVINE LITURGIES Wednesday 10:00 A.M. Spanish Liturgy Saturday 6:30 P.M. Sunday English Divine Liturgy 10:00 A.M. VESPERS Saturday 5:00 P.M. CONFESSIONS Monday-Friday, 4:00-6:00 P.M. By appointment Before Sunday Divine Liturgy ORTHODOX WORKER MEALS TUESDAYS & FRIDAYS 11:30 A.M TO 1:00 P.M Either the demons tempt us themselves or they equip those who do not fear the Lord to act against us: themselves, when we are alone, away from others, just as they tempted the Lord in the desert; through others, when we associate with them, as they tempted the Lord through the Pharisees. It is for us to look to our model and beat them back on both fronts. St. Maximus the Confessor Λ Ω For all that we have That so many nations and people do not have We should all say GOD BLESS AMERICA & GOD BLESS HIS GRACE BISHOP GREGORY Λ Ω Page 7 of 8 Sunday Bulletin

8 MIND THE SPIRITUAL GAP! WHEN DID YOU LAST INITIATE THE HOLY MYSTERY OF REPENTANCE? * IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS OCCURRING IN GOD'S CHURCH, ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN HIS CHURCH. Only two kinds of men publicly admit to doing evil: those who repent of their deeds and are willing to accept the consequences for having acted wrongly, and those who are comfortable with their conduct and believe that no serious consequences will come from divulging it Page 8 of 8 Sunday Bulletin