Volume 27 Issue 1 January/February 2018

Transcription

1 Volume 27 Issue 1 January/February 2018 A Bi-Monthly Publication of St. Andrew Orthodox Church 4700 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, California Dear Parishioners, The blessing of the Lord and best wishes to all of you for a soul-saving and profitable Great Lent. Last weekend I was greatly blessed to travel with a bus load (about 50 of us) of young people up to San Francisco for the 14th annual West Coast Walk for Life. There, in the civic center of the most morally corrupt city in our nation, some 50,000 people gathered together to raise their voices and prayers in calls for justice and mercy in behalf of our nation's unborn children who are so vulnerable. We did our usual edifying things - arriving at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church late Friday evening, praying vespers in the bus on the way up and compline upon arrival, setting up our sleeping bags around the church gym and playing volleyball and basketball before sleep. Saturday morning we were up early for Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity served by Proestamenos Aris Metrokas and myself followed by a great breakfast provided by the ladies of Holy Trinity. Then we were on the bus and off to the Civic Center for the 11:30am Pro-Life Moleiben prayed by Fr. Serge Kotar with the presence of Archbishop Benjamin and about 10 other priests and many faithful under our "Orthodox Christians for Life" banner. Then the formal rally began at 12:30pm with significant words and testimonies provided by many speakers. At 1:30pm we began the walk down Market St. to the bay at Pier 1. When the walk was completed we all had some free time to walk up to Pier 39 and eat some ice cream. The bus picked us up at 5pm and took us to St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church for Vespers and dinner provided by their ladies. Then back to Holy Trinity to sleep on the gym floor. Sunday morning we rose early and set off for Holy Virgin Mary "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Russian Orthodox Cathedral for morning liturgy, followed by breakfast provided by their ladies and a 2 hour "Pro-Life Training Conference" in their parish hall. By noon we were back on the bus and heading home to the Inland Empire. Whoosh! This is the 5th year in a row that we have done this, and this year our three young adult leaders really improved the experience - from great to even greater. Emily Wilkinson, Matthew Yocum and Charlie Kassaseya organized everything from beginning to end superbly. There were three major "firsts" on this trip. 1. This is the first time we had an Orthodox Bishop in attendance for the Walk and the Prayers. His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin (OCA, San Francisco) led us all day Saturday and it was stupendous. He was invited by the organizers to make the opening invocation on stage standing next to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, and he delivered a beautiful prayer to launch the rally. 2. We also expanded the Pan-Orthodox nature of the weekend by holding vespers for the first time on Saturday night at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, making it a Greek-Russian-OCA-Antiochian weekend. 3. Instead of concluding the weekend by participating in the large Students for Life Conference that takes place all Sunday at the Catholic Cathedral, we held our own mini-conference with speakers arranged by Emily Wilkinson to educate us about practical service to pregnancy counseling centers, side-walk counseling and more. Thank God for Emily, Matthew and Charlie and all the young people who participated and brought back to the parish greater resolve to serve the Pro-Life cause here in our parish and city. Every year the Walk for Life is a great spiritual shot in the arm - so much prayer, everyone confesses and participates in two liturgies, and has the opportunity to venerate the sacred relics of St. John of San Francisco as well as being with so many lovely brothers and sisters. I thank God, and wonder if perhaps some more of you might want to come next year? Let's do it. Fr Josiah V. Rev. Josiah Trenham, Pastor Church Phone (951) Fax (951) For information and schedule of services, go to To submit articles contact Lucy Hanna, editor, at lucy.hanna@sbcglobal.net

2 Volume 27 Issue 1 ST. ANDREW COMMUNITY NEWS St. Andrew 25th Anniversary Celebration... The weekend of Saturday, November 25 and Sunday, November 26, 2017, was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration in the life of our St. Andrew parish. The weekend began with the arrival of our Father in Christ, His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH who presided over Great Vespers and procession of St. Andrew Relics around the Temple. Following Vespers we gathered in the Fellowship Hall for the elegant Patronal Banquet attended by over 250 people. During the banquet we heard teaching from our featured speaker, Fr. Chad Hatfield, president of St. Vladimir Seminary. Fr. Josiah summarized the 25-year history of the parish since it s founding in 1992 and we heard from our current Parish Council Chairman, Gordon Trendt and the 2 longest serving PC chairmen, George Ruben and Kent Joris. Our St. Andrew choir, under the leadership of Teri Stevens sang the Alleluia by Fr. Sergei Glagolev and Non Nobis Domine. Our resident violinists, Jeanne Skrocki and her daughter Laura Evans, serenaded us with their outstanding music and our former parishioner Tony Charles was Master of Ceremony. Our Metropolitan ended the celebration with his teaching and words of congratulations on the past 25 years, encouragement to continue our work to spread Orthodoxy in the Inland Empire and awarded two of the founders, Lucy Hanna and Saba Saba, the Order of St. Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn Silver Award for their work over the years. The success of the event could not have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of the co-chairmen of the event, Suzie Wahbeh and Chris Kassaseya and the amazing committee heads and their teams who worked tirelessly for months so we can enjoy this blessed event. Please refer to page 38 in the 25th Anniversary Journal for the names of all the committee heads, too many to name here. Congratulations to all for a job well done. Page 2

3 Volume 27 Issue 1 Page 3 On Sunday, November 26, the 25th anniversary was crowned by the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and the ordination to the Holy Priesthood of another son of our parish, Fr. Jeremiah Phillips. Following the Divine Liturgy we processed to the south side of the temple where His Eminence blessed the new St. Andrew Legacy Walls and blessed and buried the Time Capsule. Receive thou this pledge, and preserve it whole and unharmed until thy last breath, because thou shalt be held to an accounting therefor in the second coming of our great Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Above: One of two tile Legacy Walls sponsored by families from St. Andrew parish. Right: Stone with inscription dedicating the buried Time Capsule to mark the 25th anniversary in the year 2017 to be opened 25 years later in the year 2042.

4 Page 4 Volume 27 Issue 1 Shrine to the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called On Saturday morning, December 24, following the Divine Liturgy for the Paramon of the Nativity, the newly built Shrine to the Holy Apostle Andrew was blessed by Fr. Josiah and other clergy present. The top part containing the in icon of St. Andrew in repose and his holy relic, was carried in procession around the temple and then everyone had the opportunity to venerate the icon and relic. Many thanks to George Ruben assisted by his son Elias who built the shrine for the commissioned icon and the holy relics. The shrine is now located in the north Apse under the icons depicting the life of our holy patron. On New Year s day 2018, Paul Jacubowski and Victoria Trenham were united in Holy Matrimony at St. Andrew Church. The beautiful ceremony was followed by a very elegant reception in the Fellowship Hall. Congratulations and many years to the bride and groom and to Fr. Josiah and Khouriya Catherine and all their families. And, yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, Fr. Josiah took his princess to the dance floor for a swirl! It was precious.

5 Volume 27 Issue 1 Page 5 Journey to Pascha 2018 chart made by Fr. Jonathan Bannon From Ancient Faith Publishing

6 Volume 27 Issue 1 Page 6 The Icon of Atskuri Theotokos By Maya Budjiashvili After the Ascension of Our Lord, the Mother of God together with the Apostles drew lots over who would go to what country for preaching and spreading Christianity. By the Lord s providence, Iberia (Georgia), where the robe (or gown or shirt) of her Son was buried, was the country allotted to the Most Holy Virgin. The Theotokos prepared to leave for Georgia but she couldn t make it her Dormition time was approaching and the Lord appeared to her saying, Mother, I shall not disregard thy nation, distinguished of all the relatives [nations] through your assistance. Send Andrew the first-called there in your stead. Give him thy image that will appear on a plank by putting it against your face. Let thy image protect and guard them [country & nation] until the end of the world cometh. The Mother of God did as she was directed. First she washed her face, and then put a piece of plank against her face and the image of the Virgin Mother with the Divine Baby in her arms was miraculously transferred onto the plank. She gave this very icon to St. Andrew and told him to take it to her country so she could assist and be the steward of the lives of the people there. St. Andrew came first to Trabzon (now Turkey) then Byzantium, crossing over into Achara (province in Georgia) and began spreading the words of Jesus Christ there. When St. Andrew the First-Called placed the holy icon provided by the Mother of God on the soil of Achara, a spring began to flow with healing properties. This attracted the attention of many people and lots of them came to see it. With the help of God and the Holy Icon, many of the local population were baptized and many of the sick were cured. A chapel was erected, and priests and deacons were appointed. The locals asked the Apostle to leave the icon there but he couldn t as by the Lord s Providence the icon was to go somewhere else. St. Andrew requested a plank of the similar size and put it on the icon the Queen of the Heaven gave to him. The image was transferred onto the plank. The divinely created copy of the divinely created icon was placed in the chapel with great honor. (This icon is lost now.) The apostle continued his way to Samtskhe (province in Georgia), came to a settlement called Atskuri, and placed the icon in its fortress. At night the inhabitants of the area could see a light emanating from the walls of the fortress. This miracle stunned the locals and the word of a man with a beautiful icon who had an ability to raise a person from the dead passed on rapidly. At that time, the ruler of the province was a widow named Samdzivari. Her son had just died and she was desperate. Samdzivari was told about Andrew the First- Called, whose presence and help she requested immediately. The Apostle came and told the widow that if she believed in Jesus Christ, the true God, all would be provided through her faith. The woman accepted the Savior with all her heart. St. Andrew placed the icon on the body of the dead boy and started praying. With the assistance of the Mother of God and through the heartfelt prayers of the Apostle, the boy was resurrected. The joyous mother, together with her entire household, asked to be baptized. She wrote and summoned other rulers and nobility to Atskuri informing them about Andrew the First-Called and Christianity. The miracle was of such great magnitude that lots of people came to see the resurrected boy and many of them converted to Christianity. A lot of people gathered in Atskuri, and they began discussing and arguing which god was true: Jesus who raised people from the dead or the deities of Apollo and Artemis, worshiped there. St. Andrew suggested placing the holy icon together with the idols in the temple for the night to see which of them possessed more power the idols or the icon. Given the fear that St. Andrew somehow would sneak inside the temple and change something there, the priests of the temple of Apollo and Artemis locked the building and put 3 layers of guards around it. In the morning the temple was wrapped in light and when the door was opened everyone saw smashed idols and the Icon of the Most Holy Virgin was shining like the Sun. This brought a complete victory to the Apostle who then revealed the origin of the icon to his newly converted parish. Andrew the First-Called stayed in Samtskhe for a while, taught them about Christianity, appointed

7 Volume 27 Issue 1 Page 7 bishops, priests and deacons and continued his apostolic road later. He left the icon in Atskuri and it has been known as Atskuri Icon of Theotokos since then. The miracles worked by the Holy Icon surprised the then world many times. Lots of people, Christians and other confessions went to see it. Some even tried to own the icon. In the 7 th century, the emperor of Byzantium, Flavius Heraclius Augustus, raided Georgia. He laid siege to Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) but failed to capture the city. Later, the emperor continued on his way and went to pay homage to the wonderworker icon of which he had heard so many things. According to Chronicles of history, Caesar Heraclius started building a cathedral for Atskuri Icon. In 1283 during the Passion Week, a most powerful earthquake hit the province of Samtskhe. Spiritual degradation was blamed as the reason for the disaster. After the conquest by the Mongolian Golden Horde, conditions became unbearable for ordinary people; the king began living in sin, rulers and nobility plundered church properties, and some of them adopted Mongolian ways. The first quake hit the area on Wednesday and the second, on Friday. No one paid heed to the warnings, and there was no repentance. The devastating strike came on Saturday when people were preparing for Easter. The earthquake was so strong that there was no building left standing in the province. Countless people died. Powerful earthquakes continued on and off throughout Bright Week and relatively small ones for a month. Atskuri Cathedral, with the Holy Icon inside it, was torn down to the ground too. Later an amazing thing was revealed while cleaning the debris. Atskuri Icon of the Theotokos survived without as much as a scratch. The night preceding the disaster the icon had been placed in the center of the cathedral for litany and had been left there. During the earthquake the dome crumbled down around the Atskuri Icon covering it like a hat. The huge calamity and astounding miracle served as a turning point for Georgians. In 1476 Uzun Hasan, the Sultan of Iranian Azerbaijan, which included parts of present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Azerbaijan, invaded Georgia. Rampaging in Samtskhe, he captured and killed lots of people and stole the Atskuri Icon. For 7 years the icon was their captive. Meanwhile, something unexplainable happened to their empire everything went barren. No woman gave birth, no animal or bird reproduced, no field or tree yielded harvest. Questions were asked to investigate what had caused their misfortune. A richly decorated plank with a very beautiful image on it, which was taken from a church, was suspected to be the cause of their misery. Those who stole the Icon informed the investigative body that at night the plank was put at the bottom of their luggage but each morning, they would find it sitting on top and glowing. A discussion ensued and a verdict issued; the icon would be placed on the back of an unbroken horse. The horse would be released, and they would see where it would go. The horse went in the direction of Georgia. On seeing this, riches were donated to the Holy icon and mules loaded with gold, gems and silver accompanied the horse. By the Lord s province, the horse quickly reached Georgia. When entering Samtskhe, Atskuri, the Icon of Theotokos emitted a light so bright that it was likened to lightning, and the place was named Elavsi. Elavs means lightning in Georgian. In 1486 Turkomans of the White Sheep Empire led by Yaqub Khan invaded Georgia. He abducted the Icon, plucked precious stones off of it, had a bonfire made, and put the icon in it. The Holy Icon did not burn in the fire. The miracle was witnessed by a non -Orthodox Christian who stole and hid it with great respect. That same night, the Holy Virgin appeared to him requesting the icon to be returned back to Georgia. (Afterwards, Principal Manuchar of Samtskhe redeemed the icon). Yaqub Khan later poisoned his mother, brother and then himself, wiping out all his kin off of the surface of the earth. In 1540 Ottoman Empire occupied Samtskhe. In 1546 King Bagrat of Imereti went to war against the Ottomans. He failed to regain the province but managed to bring back the Atskuri Icon. The current repoussé covering the icon was made in around 17 th century. The triptych repoussé was created in 1764 at the order of King Solomon the first of Imereti. In the 19 th century, Russia entered and occupied Georgia. They annulled the Patriarchate and introduced Exarchs. They whitewashed all the churches covering all murals and frescos. At the order of an exarch, Russian painter Gagarin restored the Atskuri Icon. The badly damaged but still existing image was completely disregarded and a new image repainted. In 1921 the Red Army and Bolsheviks invaded Georgia. Georgian Aristocracy and the existing government fled the country taking with them most of the treasure of the Georgian Orthodox Church, including the Atskuri Icon. The holy treasure returned to Georgia in The Atskuri Icon of Theotokos has been captured, stolen and taken away from Georgia many times throughout its 2000 year history, but it has always come back to Georgia. Tribulations have tested those who dared to insult or possess her. Now she is in the State Museum of Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia.

8 St. Andrew Orthodox Church 4700 Canyon Crest Drive Riverside, CA St. Andrew Orthodox Church of Riverside is a parish of the Self-ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, the See of the Most Reverend Metropolitan JOSEPH