September 6, 2015 The Commemoration of the Miracle Worked by the Archangel Michael at Colossae THE 15 TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

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1 our lady OF THE CEDARS CHURCH A MELKITE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY 140 MITCHELL STREET, MANCHESTER, NH TEL # (603) FAX # (603) oloc.church@comcast.net Website: REV. THOMAS P. STEINMETZ, Pastor RT. REV. ANDRE ST. GERMAIN (retired) REV. ROGER BOUCHER - Weekend Ministry REV. DEACON PAUL LEONARCZYK "Enter the Church and repent... for here is the physician, not the judge. Here one is not investigated, one receives remission of sins." (St. John Chrysostom) September 6, 2015 The Commemoration of the Miracle Worked by the Archangel Michael at Colossae THE 15 TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Parish Advisory& Finance Council: KEN MONTY (PRESIDENT), RICHARD ASHOOH, LUKE ANDERSON, ROBERT ANDERSON, ROBIN ANDERSON, MARY CULLEN, MARTHA DAGHER, MARYLOU LAZOS, TERRI LEONARCZYK, MATTHEW LOMANNO, PAUL MANSUR, NAJWA MOUSSOBA, PAUL ST. GERMAIN, AND CHRISTELLE SLAYBE Parish Secretary: ROBIN ANDERSON Cedars Society President: MARYLOU LAZOS Sunday School Coordinator: MARTHA DAGHER N.A.M.Y. Advisor: ROBIN ANDERSON HOLY MYSTERY OF CONFESSION: Before or after any service, or by appointment; HOLY MYSTERY OF CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION: Please contact the clergy in advance to arrange for the required baptismal instructions; HOLY MYSTERY OF CROWNING: At least six months prior to the proposed wedding, please contact the clergy to arrange for the required interview and instructions; HOLY MYSTERY OF THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK: Please contact the pastor at any time when this sacrament is needed; HOLY COMMUNION FOR THE SICK: Anyone too infirm to attend our services may receive Communion in the home. Please advise the clergy whenever this sacrament is needed.

2 THE ORDER OF TODAY S LITURGY The Troparion of the Resurrection (6 th Tone) Page 53 The Troparion of Michael the Archangel (4 th Tone): O Captain and Leader of the armies of Heaven, unworthy as we are, we beseech you without cease to surround us with your intercessions and cover us beneath the shelter of your ethereal glory. We bend our knee and cry out with perseverance: Deliver us from danger, O Prince of the Powers on high! The Troparion of the Dormition of the Theotokos (1 st Tone): Page 16 Kondakion of the Nativity of the Theotokos (4 th Tone): Through your holy birth, O Immaculate One, Joachim and Anne were delivered from the shame of childlessness, and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death. Your people redeemed from the debt of their sins celebrate your birth crying out to you: The barren one gives birth to the Mother of God, the sustainer of our life. THE PROKIMENON: O LORD, SAVE YOUR PEOPLE AND BLESS YOUR INHERITANCE! To You, O Lord, I have called: O my Rock, be not deaf to me! Today s Readings: 2 Corinthians 4: 6-15 and Matthew 22: LITURGY INTENTIONS Saturday, 4:30 PM: For the repose of Assad Burkush (36 th ), Norman Ashkar (59 th ), and Charles Anton (25 th ) Sunday, 10:00 AM: For the repose of Hubert Sweeney (1 year Anniversary) by the Beadle Family and John Cullen For the repose of John Cullen (10 th Anniversary), by his family For the health and salvation of Jack Walker, by Barbara Schultz Next Saturday, 4:30 PM: For the repose of Philip George (4 th ), Carmine Abookalil (50 th ), Joseph Stephen (37 th ), and Zania Fawaz (31 st ) Next Sunday, 11:00 AM: For the repose of Richard St. Onge, the father of Joleen Stephen, who departed from this life on Sept. 5 For the repose of Bernice King, (40 day memorial), and Norman Morin (52 nd Anniversary) by their son Jim Morin

3 Sept. 8: The Nativity of the Theotokos According to an ancient tradition, Joachim and Ann, who did not have children, received a visit from an angel of the Lord, who announced to them the conception of a daughter who was reserved for an exceptional gift: Destined before all ages to conceive God s Son, she is praised in hymns as the one from whom rose the Sun of Justice, Christ our God. Taking away the curse, He imparted the blessing, and by abolishing death He gave us everlasting life. (Troparion of the Feast) The Most Holy Virgin Mary surpassed in purity and virtue not only all mankind, but also the angels. She was manifest as the living Temple of God, so the Church sings in its festal hymns: "the East Gate... bringing Christ into the world for the salvation of our souls" (2nd Stikhera of Vespers). The Nativity of the Theotokos marks the change of the times when the great and comforting promises of God for the salvation of the human race from slavery to the devil are about to be fulfilled. This event has brought to earth the grace of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of Truth, piety, virtue and everlasting life. The Theotokos is revealed to all of us by grace as a merciful Intercessor and Mother, to whom we have recourse with filial devotion. This is a major feast of the Church year. The feast will be commemorated with the celebration the Divine Liturgy Monday evening at 7:00 PM. Please come for the celebration! Next Sunday, Sept. 13, we will return to our regular Sunday Liturgy schedule. Sunday Liturgy will be offered at 11:00 AM beginning on that day. The Saturday Liturgy will continue to be offered at 4:30 PM. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Annual Family Picnic Our Lady of Perpetual Help Melkite Catholic Church, located at 256 Hamilton St., Worcester, MA, will be holding their Annual Picnic next Sunday, September 13, 2015 from 12 noon 5 PM. The event will feature Entertainment by Mitchell Kaltsunas, Middle Eastern Food, activities for the kids, and free admission. All are welcome. Attendance Last Week: Sat. 4:30 PM: 23 Sun. 10:00 AM: 122 Last Weekend s Collection: $ 1, Mortgage: $ The average Sunday envelope donation: $ The balance remaining on our mortgage is: $ 289, SERVICES FOR THE WEEK Mon., Sept. 7 7:00 PM Divine Liturgy: The Feast of the Nativity of the Theokokos Wed., Sept 9 No services on Wednesday night this week Thurs. Sept 10 8:30 AM Orthros (In the basement chapel) Sat., Sept. 12 4:30 PM Divine Liturgy: The Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Cross Sun., Sept :15 AM Sunday Orthros Sun., Sept :00 AM Divine Liturgy: The Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Cross

4 The Miracle of the Holy Archangel Michael at Colossae In Phrygia, not far from the city of Hieropolis, in a place called Cheretopos, there was a church named for the Archangel Michael, built over a miraculous spring. This church was built by a certain inhabitant of the city of Laodicia in gratitude to God for healing his mute daughter. The holy Archangel Michael appeared to this man in a dream and revealed to him that his daughter would receive the gift of speech after drinking from the water of the spring. The girl actually did receive healing and began to speak. After this miracle, the father and his daughter and all their family were baptized. In fervent gratitude, the father built the church in honor of the holy Chief Commander Michael. Not only did Christians begin to come to the spring for healing, but also pagans. In so doing, many of the pagans turned from their idols and were converted to the faith in Christ. At this church of the holy Archangel Michael, a certain pious man by the name of Archippus served for sixty years as church custodian. By his preaching and by the example of his saintly life he brought many pagans to faith in Christ. With the general malice of that time towards Christians, and especially against Archippus, the pagans thought to destroy the church in order to prevent people from coming to that holy place of healing, and at the same time kill Archippus. Toward this end they made a confluence of the Lykokaperos and Kufos Rivers and directed its combined flow against the church. St Archippus prayed fervently to the Chief Commander Michael to ward off the danger. Through his prayer the Archangel Michael appeared at the temple, and with a blow of his staff, opened a wide fissure in a rock and commanded the rushing torrents of water to flow into it. The temple remained unharmed. Seeing such an awesome miracle, the pagans fled in terror. Archippus and the Christians gathered in church glorified God and gave thanks to the holy Archangel Michael for the help. The place where the rivers plunged into the fissure received the name Chonae, which means plunging. FISH FRY at Northeast Catholic College Fish Fry at Northeast Catholic College on Friday, September 18 from 5:00 7:00 p.m., 511 Kearsarge Mountain Road, Warner, NH. $10 per adult; $5 per child 6-12; 5 and under Free. Call for more information. Also, please visit our website When the first empire-wide persecution of Christians came to

5 On the Nativity of the Theotoks -St. Andrew of Crete The present Feast is for us the beginning of feasts. Serving as boundary to the law and to prototypes, at the same time it serves as a doorway to grace and truth. "For Christ is the end of the law" (Rom 10:4), Who, having freed us from the letter (of the law), raises us to spirit. Here is the summit of Christ's beneficence towards us! The present God-graced day, the first of our feastdays, showing forth the light of virginity and the crown woven from the unfading blossoms of the spiritual garden of Scripture, offers creatures a common joy.. Be of good cheer, it says, behold, this is the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and of the renewal of the human race! The Virgin is born, She grows and is raised up and prepares Herself to be the Mother of the All-Sovereign God of the ages. All this, with the assistance of David, makes it for us an object of spiritual contemplation. The Theotokos manifests to us Her God-bestown Birth, and David points to the blessedness of the human race and wondrous kinship of God with mankind. Let there now be one common festal celebration in both heaven and on earth. Let everything now celebrate, that which is in the world and that beyond the world. Now is made the created temple for the Creator of all; and creation is readied into a new Divine habitation for the Creator. Now our nature having been banished from the land of blessedness receives the principle of theosis and strives to rise up to the highest glory. Today Adam offers from us and for us elements unto God, the most worthy fruit of mankind: Mary, in Whom the new Adam is rendered Bread for the restoration of the human race. Now is opened the great bosom of virginity, and the Church, in the matrimonial manner, places upon it a pure, truly spotless pearl. Today human worthiness accepts the gift of the first creation and returns to its former condition; the majesty darkened by formless sin, through the conjoining by His Mother by birth "of Him Beauteous by Goodness," man receives beauty in a most excellent and God-seemly visage. And this creating is done truly by the creation, and recreation by theosis, and theosis by a return to the original perfection! Today a barren one has become a mother beyond expectation, and the Theotokos has given birth without knowing man, and She sanctifies natural birth. Now the majestic color of the Divine purple is readied and impoverished human nature is clothed in royal worthiness. Now, according to prophecy, sprouts forth the Offshoot of David, Who, having eternally become the green-sprouting Staff of Aaron, has blossomed forth for us with the Staff of Power: Christ. Today from Judah and David is descended a Virgin Maiden, rendering of Herself the royal and priestly worthiness of Him Who has taken on the priesthood of Aaron according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:15). Now the renewal of our nature is begun, and the world responding, assuming a God-seemly form, receives the principle of a second Divine creation. This Virgin is the Theotokos, Mary, the Most Glorious of God, from Whose womb the Most Divine came forth in the flesh, and by Whom He Himself arranged a wondrous temple for Himself.

6 Taking a Stand WE KNOW FROM SEVERAL of his epistles how adamant St. Paul was against keeping the prescriptions of the Torah circumcision, the dietary rules, and the like. In the Epistle to the Galatians, we see one reason why some new Christians proposed keeping them: they wanted to fit in with the Jewish community in order to avoid persecution. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ (Gal 6:12). First persecutors of this new community, the followers of Jesus, were Jews. Paul himself had been one of the most dedicated. The Acts of the Apostles describes his zeal in combating them. Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1). By being circumcised, keeping the Torah rules and not mingling with Gentiles, some Jewish followers of Jesus felt that the opposition of the more fervent Jews would be muted. St Paul approached the issue from the other side. The message of the Gospel was that neither the Torah nor the Temple saved; only faith in the Lord Jesus. If believers in Jesus continued to observe these Jewish practices, he argued, it is the Gospel message which would be muffled. People would no longer see Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6), the only way to the Father. The unique saving role of Christ in God s plan would be forgotten. The Practice of Fitting In Christians throughout the history of the Church have found themselves is situations where they were eyed with suspicion. Christians were considered outsiders at best or traitors at worst if they did not conform to the religious or ethical practices of the majority. The choice believers had in such cases has always been either to confront the majority by upholding their faith in Christ, to adopt the religion of the majority or to attempt a compromise: to keep their faith privately while seemingly observing non-christian practices. For the first three centuries of Christianity (the Roman era) Christians were suspected of superstitious practices corroding the fabric of the empire. They refused to take part in the state ceremonies honoring the gods and held secret rites behind closed doors. Their neglect of the ancient gods, many believed, would bring disaster on the empire. When confronted, some Christians resisted and upheld their faith. They are revered today as martyrs or confessors. Others renounced their faith, offering sacrifices to the Roman gods or burning incense before their statues. Still others found ways of seeming to fit in. Some signed certificates stating that they honored and sacrificed to the gods. Often no sacrifices were offered; such documents were simply bought by bribing the officials. Other Christians went into hiding until the danger passed.

7 When the first empire-wide persecution of Christians came to an end in 260, many of those who had sacrificed or bought certificates returned to the Church. Christians did not agree on whether or how they should be received. Most Churches received these people back but with varying penalties. In some places those who had actually offered sacrifices were received as penitents who would only receive absolution and Communion on their deathbeds. Those who had obtained certificates without actually offering sacrifices were to remain as penitents for two years. Those who had betrayed other believers or who had handed over the Church s Scriptures or holy vessels to be destroyed received additional penances before being readmitted to Communion. Crypto-Christians In the Middle East and throughout the Ottoman Empire communities of Crypto or Hidden Christians arose. These people seemingly converted to Islam while adhering to Christian practices in secret. Many of these communities survived until the dawn of the modern era. There are reportedly still Crypto-Armenian Christians in Turkey and Crypto-Christian groups of Greeks, Latins, and Maronites in Turkish-dominated parts of Cyprus. Perhaps the most famous Crypto-Christians are the Kakure Kirishitan of Japan who found ways of adapting and concealing their faith during persecutions in the seventeenth century. Images of Christ and the saints were transformed to look like Buddhist figures and prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chants. Some 30,000 of these secret Christians emerged in the nineteenth century when religious freedom was restored. Most rejoined the Catholic Church. Fitting-In in a Secular Age In our society conflicts with other recognized religions such as Buddhism are nowhere near as common as conflicts with the value-free lifestyles promoted by many in our secular society. Observers see a number of areas in modern life in addition to health care presenting similar conflicts, like: Medical: Most people recognize that the historic Churches oppose abortion and have done so since the first century. Other sanctity of life issues such as euthanasia and the profit-driven restrictions on treatment of some managed care systems demand similar choices. Nurses, technicians, and other medical personnel may be faced with difficult dilemmas. Education Activists pressure schools to endorse homosexuality, same-sex marriage or sexual permissiveness in their curricula and student activities, putting teachers and parents in untenable positions. Politics Catholics and Orthodox in politics must daily choose between accepting the agendas of their donors and constituents or following the Gospel. Even those outside the political arena are facing great pressure to submit to and even celebrate - the modern Gospel of gay marriage, abortion, pornography, euthanasia, and a host of other issues. Meanwhile, elsewhere In the Middle East and in other regions of the world, Christians are suffering greatly because they refuse to abandon Christ and convert to another faith. Their love of Christ overwhelms their desire to fit in, or go along, even at the cost of their lives. While our secular society can place great pressure on modern Christians, let us be mindful of those who are quite literally taking up their cross and following Christ.

8 Please remember to pray for the health and protection of Genevieve Allen, Elizabeth Ashooh, Elsie Ashooh, Ernie Ashooh, Louise Ashooh, Al Auclair, Alice Auclair, Erin Baroody, Michael Baroody, Ted Baroody, Sarah Beadle, Anthony Blando, Helena Burkush, Fr. Michael Carl, Danielle Caron, Michael Cavanaugh, Meghan Connors, Theresa Cullen, Jamileh Dagher, Sher Farrow, Declan Finn, Janet Drake, Julie Fregeau, Mary Fregeau, Peter Fregeau, Christine Freitas, Loretto Gauvin, Nick Haddad, Jean Hannoush, Lucille Harper, Howard Jabaley, Laura Jorba, Virginia Kearney, Shirley Lanoue, Roger Lawrence, Sadie Grace McCallum, Miriam McCallum, Susan Merrill, Margaret Mitchell, Alfred Nasr, Afef Nasr, Blaise Notter, Steven O Leary, Denis O Keefe, Helen Baroody Payne, Josephine Paquette, Russell Pond, Sheila Quinn, Deborah Roberts, Adam Rubin, Fr. Andre St. Germain, Nassim Sleiman, Salwa Sleiman, Tarrant Smith, Mary Stephen, Catherine Waldron, Laura Weingast, and Iris Angelina Velasquez. If you are visiting our church, our parish family is delighted to welcome you here! Please give us the chance to get to know you by joining us for some coffee, pastry, and conversation in the church hall following the Divine Liturgy. If you would like to know more about the Melkite Catholic Church, check out the brochure entitled Welcome to this Holy House, located on the table in the back of the church. NORTH HILLS REALTY GROUP, LLC Residential Real Estate Brokers Abraham Dagher, Realtor 814 Elm St., Suite # 302 Manchester, NH (603) Your Ad Here $300 per Year Check out the Mahrajan Website: Your Ad Here: $300/year!! Check out -new educational material is posted regularly!