ST. ANNE SUNDAY BULLETIN

Transcription

1 ST. ANNE SUNDAY BULLETIN WELCOME VISITORS! This week s events Tuesday March 13: Parish Council Meeting 6pm Wednesday March 14: Hours & Typika 5pm Presanctified Liturgy & Potluck 6pm Friday March 16: Hours & Typika 9am Presanctified Liturgy 9:30am Saturday March 17: Divine Liturgy in Newport and Blessing of the Fleet 9am Vigil 5:30pm Because the Deity is goodness itself, true mercy and an abyss of loving bounty - or, rather, He is that which embraces and contains this abyss, since He transcends every name that is named and everything we can conceive - we can receive mercy only by union with Him. We unite ourselves to Him, in so far as this is possible, by participating in the godlike virtues and by entering into communion with Him through prayer and praise. Because the virtues are similitudes of God, the participate in them puts us in a fit state to receive the Deity, yet it does not actually unite us to Him. St. Gregory of Palamas 6000 NE ELLIOTT CIRCLE CORVALLIS OR Thank you for worshipping with us today! We invite you to sign our guest book and to be our guest for a warm, friendly meal downstairs following Divine Liturgy. Only baptized Orthodox Christians are permitted to participate in Holy Communion; however, you are welcome to receive a blessing from the clergy and partake of the blessed bread given at the end of the service. We pray Our Lord Jesus Christ will guard and guide your life now and always. SERVICES (all services in English): Saturday: Vigil 5:30 pm Sunday: Third and Sixth Hours 9:40am Divine Liturgy 10:00am For other services and more information, please visit us at or call (541)

2 Hebrews 1:10-2:3 (Epistle) And: You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail. But to which of the angels has He ever said: Sit at My Today s Readings from the Scripture right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we Continued on page 4 A NOTE ON CHURCH ORDER ST. ANNE, THE GRANDMOTHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST According to the current practice of the Orthodox Church in our diocese during Great Lent, those wanting to receive Holy Communion at the Presanctified Liturgy should begin their fasting preparations no later than sometime during the noon hour on the day of the liturgy. As is the case when receiving the Eucharist on Sunday, proper preparation should also entail: 1) added prayers; 2) recent Confession; and 3) being in an ongoing state of repentance. If any baptized Orthodox Christian over the age of seven is unable to prepare for Holy Communion in this manner for any reason whatsoever (aside from pregnant or nursing mothers, the very sick and those under the dietary care of a physician), please contact Fr. Stephen for guidance and direction before approaching the chalice. Anyone who is not prepared for Communion or who is not Orthodox is invited to receive the blessed bread (antidoron) at the conclusion of the service instead. Please remember as well that it is the expectation of the Church that all devout Orthodox Christians will go to Confession at least once during the 40-day period of Lent. Did you miss a week? Want to see past bulletins? Go see them all at our website:

3 Member News Namesdays, Birthdays, & Anniversaries Namesday: March 7: Richard (Eugene) Rocek Birthday: March 6: Salwa (Catherine) Aswad Anniversary: Newly Departed This Life The deeply beloved Protopresbyter Joseph Kreta (known especially as the founder and former dean of St. Herman Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska), grandfather of our Subdeacon Timothy Kreta and local college student Joseph Dillon has peacefully fallen asleep in the Lord. May his memory be eternal! March 9: Bob (James) and Laura (Larissa) Archer Prayer Requests Please pray for the healing of body, mind, and spirit of Mother Ambrosia, Barbara, Ryan, Donna, Mary, Claudia, Diane, Cindy, Sara, Nicholas, and Greg. Please pray for the health of parishioners Danny Edelman, Kathy Sherman, Lorna (Anne) Sebastian, and Ron (Aidan) Smith. Do you have any photos, news, or requests you d like to see in the bulletin? Please submit them to Kyrie at kyrie.mead@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday for inclusion in the following week s bulletin. Thank you!

4 Scripture Readings, continued neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. Mark 2:1-12 (Gospel) And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise, take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins He said to the paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this! Today s Hymns Troparion (Tone 8): O light of Orthodoxy, teacher of the Church, its confirmation, O ideal of monks and invincible champion of theologians, O wonder working Gregory, glory of Thessalonica and preacher of grace, Always intercede before the Lord that our souls may be saved. Kontakion (Tone 8): Holy and divine instrument of wisdom, Joyful trumpet of theology, Together we sing your praises, O God inspired Gregory. Since you now stand before the Original Mind, guide our minds to Him, O Father, So that we may sing to you: Rejoice, preacher of grace.

5 FELLOWSHIP AND FAITH St. Gregory palamas, freedom, and the self The second Sunday on the Orthodox Calendar commemorates St. Gregory Palamas perhaps the most significant theologian and teacher of the late Byzantine period. He particularly is important when considering the nature of the Christian experience of God. Orthodoxy believes that it is truly possible to know God though He remains unknowable. The mystery of this true knowledge constitutes the heart of St. Gregory s work. I offer this small reflection on the topic of freedom in his honor. Part of the experience of being involved in religious activities in the late 60 s and early 70 s was the not infrequent encounters with members of cults (they seemed to be everywhere). I m not certain how I would define a cult (not purely by doctrine but certainly by its destruction and control of its members as whole persons). I worked in a coffee house (which in that particular time period, oddly enough, was not associated with coffee) for a couple of years playing music and being involved in the adhoc ministry that was part of that world. We encountered young people from across the country (there was hardly anywhere else to go on the weekends, unless you drank or did drugs the coffee house had neither). But a common thread in my encounters with cult members was an absence it was as though nobody was home. Conversations could be attempted but the answers came back as selected quotes. Doubt, questioning, many of the things that you would expect from most people in conversations regarding God, were part of the absence. It is little wonder that people involved in cults were often treated as though they had been brain-washed. Something like that seemed to be the case. Since then I have occasionally (though not often) encountered the same phenomenon in people who were not members of what anyone would think of as a cult. However, the same sense of absence, of a rigidity replacing freedom, marked the encounter. Several years back I came across a small book that offered interesting insight into all of this: In Search of the Person: True and False Self according to Donald Winnicott and St. Gregory Palamas (Alexander Press, 2002). With a title like that, how could I resist? I was not familiar with Winnicott, though

6 known as himself. To summarize (hopefully without doing injustice) our freedom, an essential part of what it means to be a person, is frequently suppressed in the name of religion (or other ideologies). Fearing immorality (or something similar), or seeking conformity at any cost, it is easy to reduce a person s freedom, substituting a false obedience, that results in the creation of a false self. This false self is the absence I encountered in some cult members and others. from what I read his work is pretty standard psychological fare. The author is Fr. Vasileos Thermos, who is both a practicing Psychotherapist and an Orthodox priest, living and working in Greece. I was struck by a quote in the book from Fr. Dimitri Staniloae: To the extent that man does not use his freedom, he is not himself. In order to emerge from that indeterminate state, he must utilize his freedom in order to know and be Freedom is a paradox. It is an utterly inherent part of our existence a critical part of our salvation and yet threatening in its power. Freedom of the self can seem a threat to every kind of order (religious, political, social, etc.). Nevertheless we are told in Scripture that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (freedom) (2 Corinthians 3:17). St. Paul will also warn in his letter to the Galatians (5:13) that our liberty should not be used as an excuse to sin. And thus the paradox is set. Without freedom, we will not become the whole person we were created to be and which is the proper end of our salvation. But freedom can also be directed incorrectly,

7 leading to yet another bondage (to sin). But substituting a religious bondage for a sinful bondage is not the answer. Of course, Scripture also speaks of our being the slaves of Christ, a true statement when rightly understood, but also capable of misunderstanding and misuse. This is, for me, part of the paradox of Orthodoxy. When I converted, a number of acquaintances in my former Church, made explanations to themselves that my conversion was an effort to hide from and avoid the discomfort of freedom. There was an assumption on their part that because the Orthodox Church s teachings are clear and conservative on certain points (certainly in comparison to liberal Protestantism), that the Church must therefore be rigid and controlling. This is simply not the case. It is easy to assume that canon law, because it is canon law, suppresses our freedom and makes us slaves. And yet this is not at all the case. The canons and Tradition (like Scripture) point us in the proper direction and enlighten us in the path of salvation. But the Orthodox application of the canons is guided by something other than a rigid literalism. We fast, but not as though the fast were a law. Every Bishop and Priest who serves as a custodian of the canons, has to apply them with salvation in mind (this is the proper use of what is termed economia ). Different persons, different situations, require different applications of the canons. One rule does not fit all. This mystery extends throughout the Church. This is not a reduction of canons into mere guidelines but the requirement of wisdom in their application as we seek to direct souls towards a proper relationship with God. The freedom of the person has to be respected in a manner such that what is nurtured is the true self and not a humanly created automaton (the false self ), or simply the ego quoting what it does not truly know. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The paradox of our relationship to God is that obedience in our relationship to Him does not enslave us but sets us free. It is the same as the paradox of the Cross. Christ said of the Cross, No man takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own self (John 10:18). Our own salvation can be no different. No one can take our life from us we must lay it down of our own self.