Epistles: Acts. 5:12-20 & 1 John 1:1-7 Gospels: John 20:19-31 & John 19:25-27; 21:24-25

Transcription

1

2 Sunday May 8 Antipascha - 2 nd Sunday of Pascha. Tone 1. St. Thomas Sunday. Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (1 st c.). Ven. Arsenius the Great ( ). Ven. Arseny the Lover of Labor (14 th c.). and Pimen the Ascetic, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves - 12 th c.). Epistles: Acts. 5:12-20 & 1 John 1:1-7 Gospels: John 20:19-31 & John 19:25-27; 21:24-25 Please Pray for the Health of: Archpriest John Mason, Archpriest Theodore Bobosh, Deacon Zachery, Matushka Krystyna Kolenda, Child Sydney Foster, Fredrick DeBellis, Jeffrey Wetshtein, Harry Mlynar, Vasily Burlingame, Barbara Rogers, Karen Ann Yuschak, Howard Simpson, Paul Simpson, Martin Vronick, Jeffery Honneycutt, Helen Bellack, John Paluch, Robert Bresky, Sophia Blanar & Caroline Savage. In Memory of: Dr. John Kuziak Schedule of Services Saturday May 14...No Vespers Today Sunday May 15..Myrrhbearing Women - Church School & Adult Class...8:55 a.m. The Third Hour...9:45 a.m. Divine Liturgy...10:00 a.m. Epistle: Acts 6:1-7 Gospel: Mark 15:43-16:8 Liturgy Book Helps for Today Troparia, Kontakia, Prokimena, and Alleluia Verses: Pages: , Daily Scripture Readings Day Epistle Gospel Monday Acts 3:19-26 John 2:1-11 Tuesday Acts 4:1-10 & 1 Cor, 4:9-16 John 3:16-21 & Matt. 13:54-58 Wednesday Acts 4:13-22 & Heb. 7:26-8:2 John 5:17-24 & Matt. 5:14-19 Thursday Acts 4:23-31 John 5:24-30 Friday Acts 5:1-11 John 5:30-6:2 Saturday Acts 5:21-33 John 6:14-27

3 Memorial Candle Offerings! Altar Table Candles: In loving memory of our Mother & baba, Irene DeBellis, offered by her children and grandsons. Royal Door Vigil: In loving memory of Brother/Uncle, Randy O Grady (21 yrs. On 5/11) offered by Janet Rogers, Jennifer and Timothy. Table of Oblation Candles: In loving memory of Katherine Kachurchak, offered by Anne, Gary, Nicholas, Samantha and Lee. May her memory be eternal. Standing Vigil: In loving memory of my husband, Don Olenick, on his birthday, offered in love by, Linda, Don, Hannah, Jann, Brett, Matt, Tyler & Jake. Standing Vigil: In memory of Baba, Mom, Mary Headley, offered by Saundra, Jim, Jayme & Julie. Standing Vigil: In loving memory of Jim Chuma, brother & father, offered by Jay, Marianne, Lisa, Crissie, Michelle, Brandon, Nicole & Nick. Standing Vigil: In loving memory of Lisa Chuma, sister-in-law 7 mother, offered by Jay, Marianne, Lisa, Crissie, Michelle, Brandon, Nicole & Nick. Standing Vigil: In memory of American soldier Roy and Russian soldier Mikhail, who both were fighting in WW II and in honor of Victory Day, offered by the Stallings family. May May 15 May 22 May 29 Greeters Schedule Jamie & Lisa Armstrong Garrett & Debbie Daniels College students Continue The Celebration! The feast of Pascha is a 40 day event, not just a single Sunday! Therefore it is only right that we continue to celebrate the feast for its entire length! Everyone who prepared and participated in the sacraments of Holy Confession & Communion for the Lenten Season and Pascha are encouraged to continue the celebration by coming throughout the Paschal Season! Festival News Our festival has a chair - Judy Paduchik Time will go quickly so all department chairs need to start planning workshops and looking at possible dates. Before scheduling any dates, please see Judy to verify hall availability. Food For the Soul! Announcements! Antipascha: St Thomas Sunday Some icons depicting this event are inscribed The Doubting Thomas. This is incorrect. In Greek, the inscription reads, The Touching of Thomas. The Slavonic inscription is, The Belief of Thomas. When St Thomas touched the Life-giving side of the Lord, he no longer had any doubts. This day is also known as Antipascha. This does not mean opposed to Pascha, but in place of Pascha. Beginning with this first Sunday after Pascha, the Church dedicates every Sunday of the year to the Lord s Resurrection. Sunday is called Resurrection in Russian, and the Lord s Day in Greek. Venerable Arsenius the Great Saint Arsenius the Great was born in the year 354 at Rome into a pious Christian family, which provided him a fine education and upbringing. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, and mastered the Latin and Greek languages. St Arsenius gave up philosophy and the vanity of worldly life, seeking instead the true wisdom praised by St James pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits (Jas. 3:17). He entered the

4 ranks of the clergy as a deacon in one of the Roman churches, dedicating himself to the service of God. The emperor Theodosius ( ), who ruled the eastern half of the Roman Empire, heard about his erudition and piety, and he wished to entrust Arsenius with the education of his sons Arcadius and Honorius. Arsenius, however, protested that he had given up secular studies in order to serve God. Against his will, but in obedience to the will of Pope Damasus (December 11), St Arsenius agreed to teach the imperial children, hoping to teach them Christian piety as well. When he arrived at Constantinople, Arsenius was received with great honor by the emperor Theodosius, who charged him to educate his sons not only in wisdom, but also in piety, guarding them from the temptations of youth. Forget that they are the emperor s sons, said Theodosius, for I want them to submit to you in all things, as to their father and teacher. With fervor the saint devoted himself to the education of the youths, but the high esteem in which he was held troubled his spirit, which yearned for the quietude of monastic life. St Arsenius entreated the Lord to show him the way to salvation. The Lord heard his prayer and one time he heard a voice telling him, Arsenius, flee from men, and you shall be saved. And then, removing his rich clothing and replacing it with old and tattered garments, he secretly left the palace, boarded a ship for Alexandria, and he made his way to Sketis, a monastery in the midst of the desert. Arriving at the church, he asked the priests to accept him into the monastic brotherhood, calling himself a wretched wanderer, though his very manner betrayed him as a cultivated man. The brethren led him to Abba John the Dwarf (November 9), famed for his holiness of life. He, wishing to test the newcomer s humility, did not seat Arsenius with the monks for the trapeza meal. He threw him a piece of dry bread saying, Eat if you wish. St Arsenius got down on his hands and knees, and picked up the bread with his mouth. Then he crawled off into a corner and ate it. Seeing this, Elder John said, He will be a great ascetic! Then accepting Arsenius with love, he tonsured him into monasticism. St Arsenius zealously passed through his obediences and soon he surpassed many of the desert Fathers in asceticism. The saint again heard the Voice while he was praying, Arsenius, hide from people and dwell in silence, this is the root of virtue. From that moment St Arsenius settled in a solitary cell deep in the desert. Having taken on the struggle of silence he seldom left his seclusion. He came to church only on Sundays and Feast days, observing complete silence and conversing with no one. When Abba Moses asked him why he hid himself from people, St Arsenius replied, God knows that I love you, but I cannot remain with God and with men at the same time. The Heavenly Powers all have one will and praise God together. On earth, however, there are many human wills, and each man has his own thoughts. I cannot leave God in order to live with people. Though absorbed in constant prayer, the saint did not refuse visiting monks with his counsel and guidance, giving short, but perceptive answers to their questions. Once, a monk from Sketis saw the great Elder through a window standing at prayer, surrounded by a flame. The handicraft of St Arsenius was to weave baskets, for which he used the fronds of date palms soaked in water. For a whole year St Arsenius did not change the water in the container, but merely added a little water to it from time to time. This caused his cell to be permeated with a foul stench. When asked why he did this, the saint replied that it was fitting for him to humble himself in this way, because in the world he had used incense and fragrant oils. He prayed that after death he would not experience the stench of hell.

5 The fame of the great ascetic spread far, and many wanted to see him, and they disturbed his tranquility. As a result, the saint was forced to move around from place to place. But those thirsting to receive his guidance and blessing still found him. St Arsenius taught that many take upon themselves great deeds of repentance, fasting, and vigil, but it is rare for someone to guard his soul from pride, greed, jealousy, hatred of one s brother, remembrance of wrongs, and judgment. In this they resemble graves which are decorated outwardly, but filled with stinking bones. A certain monk once asked St Arsenius what he should do when he read the Holy Scriptures and did not comprehend their meaning. The Elder answered, My child, you must study and learn the Holy Scriptures constantly, even if you do not understand their power... For when we have the words of the Holy Scriptures on our lips, the demons hear them and are terrified. Then they flee from us, unable to bear the words of the Holy Spirit Who speaks through His apostles and prophets. The monks heard how the saint often urged himself on in his efforts with the words, Rouse yourself, Arsenius, work! Do not remain idle! You have not come here to rest, but to labor. He also said, I have often regretted the words I have spoken, but I have never regretted my silence. The great ascetic and keeper of silence was given the gift of tears with which his eyes were constantly filled. He spent fifty-five years at monastic labors and struggles. He spent forty years at Sketis, and ten years on the mountain of Troe near Memphis. Then he spent three years at Canopus, and two more years at Troe, where he fell asleep in the Lord. Our holy, God-bearing Father Arsenius reposed when he was nearly one hundred years old, in the year 449 or 450. His only disciples seem to have been Alexander, Zoilos, and Daniel (June 7). Holy Pascha: The Blast of a Trumpet From the prophecies of Isaiah: It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:13). The prophet here surveys the world around him, and sees how the people of God were languishing in exile, scattered to the four winds and perishing helplessly in the lands of the mighty superpowers of the day, Assyria and Egypt. Israel was tiny, powerless, unable to lift a finger to help; the superpowers sat invincible on their haughty thrones, intent upon keeping their prey within their grip. But help would arrive, and it would come about that in the day God arose to shake the towers and counsels of the great, He would save His people. A great trumpet would be blown, the signal of deliverance and freedom, a summons for the exiles to arise and be free and come home. Why a trumpet? Why not (for example) a signal fire, or the waving of a standard? Why a trumpet blast, and what did the blast of a trumpet mean to Israel? For one thing, it meant the Year of Jubilee. In the Law, every seventh year was a year of release, a year when all the slaves were to be set free (Exodus 21:1), and after every forty-nine years i.e. seven times seven years freedom would come to all in the land: You shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family (Leviticus 25:10). No matter what had happened by way of poverty or misfortune, whatever the disaster which had forced the poor man to sell his land to pay his debts, once every lifetime, once every fifty years, everyone had a second chance to start over. Everyone could go free, everyone could go home. The downtrodden waited to hear the blast of that jubilee trumpet and indeed the very word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word for ram s horn or trumpet. When the Septuagint writers

6 encountered the Hebrew word, they rendered it signal of release. This prophecy of restoration, like all such prophecies, finds its fulfillment in Christ. He is our Jubilee, the Jubilee of all the world, and His Resurrection is the trumpet which announces it. With the rolling away of the stone from the door of the tomb, a trumpet began sounding which has never ceased to sound. It calls all the exiles home, announcing the forgiveness of every debt, liberation from every bond of sin and death. And not just the Jewish exiles, for Christ died not only for the Jewish nation, but He that might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad, Gentiles as well as Jews (John 11:52). As many in the world whom God taught and who heard the voice of the Shepherd, just as many God would gather into one, and they shall become one flock with one Shepherd (John 10:16). It did not matter whether or not one was a great sinner, or bound by shackles of addiction and despair. It did not matter whether or not one lived in the land of Assyria or the land of Egypt Christ came to forgive and liberate all, and gather the exile safe and sound in His holy flock. What then is our responsibility? Pascha calls us to live like men and women who have heard the blast of a trumpet, who have arisen like those alive from the dead, living in joy. Nietzsche famously said that he would believe in the Redeemer when the Christians looked a little more redeemed. Fair enough: let us live in such a way that all may know that we have been redeemed living each day in freedom and joy. Formerly we lived like everyone else, helpless and trembling in the shadow of death, debtors to sin in the lands of Assyria and Egypt. But no longer. Now we are going home, our faces radiant with Pascha, the faces of those who have heard the blast of the Jubilee trumpet. Let that trumpet sound in the ears of the weary world, loud enough to wake the dead: Christ is risen! F a c t s & F i g u r e s - Week of May 1, 2016 Attendance 275 General Offerings $8, Candles $ Pascha Flowers $10.00 Mortgage Reduction $ Pascha Offering $16, Total $24, This Week Collected Required for Budget Short /Surplus Per Envelope $23, $5, $17, $ Based On 160 Envelopes: Budgeted Amount Per Envelope Per Week: $36.06 Year To Date Collected Required for Budget Short/Surplus Per Envelope $90, $109, $19, $119.51

7

8

9

10

11

12 Honor s Sunday Sunday May 22, 2016 It s time again to prepare to honor our graduates as they accomplish their educational goals and move on to a new part of their life! This year we will honor them on Sunday May 24, 2016 at and following the Divine Liturgy. Thus it is time to begin to gather the necessary information to compile our annual Salute to Graduates. Graduate Bio forms for High School and College graduates and a photo publication permission slip are available in the Church at the candledesk. Pick one up soon and return it as soon as possible so that we can honor them and their accomplishments! The Deadline for Bio forms to be submitted is Sunday, May 15, 2016