SAINT JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH

Transcription

1 SAINT JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH 195 N. Main Street Milpitas, Ca Matins 8:00 a.m. Liturgy 10:30 a.m. The Very Reverend Fr. Jiris Hanna (408) Fr. Dcn. Joseph Kawar (408) Sunday April 26 (4/13), 2015 Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women. Righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus St. Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome أحد حامالت الطيب والقديسين يوسف ونيقوديموس تذكار أبينا الجليل في القديسين مرتينوس بابا رومية Matins (Eothina III): Mark 16:9-20 Epistle: Acts 6:1 7 Gospel: Mark 15:43 16:8 About the Myrrh-bearing Women Sunday April 26 This Sunday is the third Sunday of Pascha, and the day on which we commemorate the holy myrrh-bearing women. These pious women served our Lord during His public ministry, providing for Him out of their own financial resources and tending to His needs. Amongst the myrrh-bearers were the following women: Our Lady, Mary the Theotokos; Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Salome; Mary the wife of Cleopas; Susanna; Mary of Bethany; and Martha of Bethany sisters of Lazarus. It was these women who came to our Lord s tomb on the morning of that first Holy Pascha in order to anoint His sacred body. To these pious women the announcement of the Resurrection was first made. They witnessed the angelic testimony and saw the Risen Lord Himself. They bore witness to the Apostles of the Resurrection. Having placed our minds upon the Resurrection of Christ, let us keep them there during these holy days by the means the Church has proscribed: frequent attendance at the services, chanting the Paschal troparion every day, greeting one another with Christ Is Risen, replacing our prostrations with metanias, forgoing kneeling, reading the Acts of the Holy Apostles, forgiving everyone, and considering even those who hate us our brothers by virtue of the Resurrection. In so doing we will find ourselves shining, exulting, and being radiant. Thank God for the righteous Nicodemos and Joseph of Arimathea, and for the holy Myrrh-bearing women. Their love for our Sweet Savior did not lapse at His death. Not in one bit. Their love, rather, was launched into greater expression. What boldness and courage did the noble Joseph demonstrate when he approached Pilate for our Lord s body. For that he was severely punished by the Jewish leaders. He was no longer a respected member of the council (St. Mk. 15:43), but an exile from the synagogue. The piety of the righteous Nicodemos and noble Joseph is demonstrated in their sublime love for Christ after His death. What fearlessness to be identified with Christ did these show forth! And that, while Christ was dead. How much more ought we to fearlessly identify ourselves with the Lord Christ, knowing as we do that He Is Risen, ascended, and is ruling the world! While Christ was still alive they followed Him, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Once Christ was dead they threw off this concern, and with great boldness identified with their Master. This is sublime love. It is one thing to love a living person. Often this love

2 brings with it a return of love. But it is another and deeper thing altogether to love someone deceased. This is selfless love, and love offered with no expectation of return. This is the love demonstrated by Ss. Joseph, Nicodemos, and the Myrrh-bearing women. This is the love demonstrated by their bold request for the Lord s body, by their tender care in bringing Him down from the Cross, washing His wounds, cleaning Him, anointing Him with spices, wrapping Him in pure linen, and burying Him. We have liturgical practices in the Church which call to mind the devotion of the Myrrh-bearers. Every Lord s Day we commemorate the Resurrection of our Savior. Each Sunday being a mini-pascha itself, and during Sunday Orthros we always read one of eleven texts from the Holy Gospels, all of which describe Resurrection appearances. Let us complete our thoughts about love for the dead by remembering that no one loves the dead more, or cares for them more intensely than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We love because He first loved us. We love the dead, because He first loved the dead. Our Savior died and was buried so that He Himself could go to His dead children in Hades and raise them up! By His death He visited the dead. His grave was a passage to the graves of all His children, and a message for all of His children yet to be born. There is no place where our Savior has not gone before us. There is no place that death can take us that our Savior has not already invaded with His presence, and filled with His never-waning light. When we kneel before an open grave and commit our loved ones to the ground we do so knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has already been below the earth and has killed death. He has turned death and the grave into paradisaical doors. It is in this knowledge that we Christians can calmly prepare for our deaths and think often upon them. If the righteous Joseph could have the spiritual care and forethought to have prepared his own tomb (which he offered to Christ) even before the Resurrection of our Savior, how much more ought we, living in the light of the Resurrection, not calmly and studiously think of our own deaths often, and have our graves prepared. May we be numbered amongst the righteous Nicodemos and Joseph and with the Myrrh-bearing women, and all obtain to the reward of the Resurrection of the just in the eternal kingdom of our great God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. األسبوع الثالث للفصح - أحد حامالت الطيب - ٢٦ نيسان في األحد الثالث للفصح. ن عي د للنسوة القديسات اللواتي أتين القبر س ح ر القيامة. يدفعهن الحب ليحنطن بالطيوب جسد ربنا وإلهنا ومخل صنا يسوع المسيح. فاستنرن عوض ذلك بالقيامة المجيدة. ونقلن بشائرالفرح للتالميذ كما أوصاه ن المالك. حامالت الطيب هن مثال رسالة المرأة في الكنيسة. ومثال المحبة المتدف قة بسخاء وقوة وحنان في خدمة الرب. كثير من الجمعيات النسائية التي تهتم بالكنائس والفقراء والمرضى. تعتبر هذا العيد خاص ا بها. كما نعي د أيض ا للقد يس الوجيه يوسف الرامي الذي كان في الخفاء تلميذ ا للرب. وللقد يس نيقوديموس التلميذ الليلي وعضو المحفل. فهذان أنزال الجسد الكريم عن الصليب وجهزاه ووضعاه في قبر جديد. فبشفاعة النسوة حامالت الطيب والقديسين يوسف ونيقوديموس. ألل هم ارحمنا. آمين. You did command the myrrh-bearers to rejoice, O Christ! / By Your Resurrection, You did stop the lamentation of Eve, O God! / You did command Your apostles to preach: The Savior is Risen! أيها المسيح االله لما كلمت النسوة حامالت الطيب بالفرح. كففت بقيامتك نوح حواء األم االولى. وأمرت رسلك أن يكرزوا بأن المخلص قد قام من القبر.

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4 May his memory be eternal Sunday School Summer Break Sunday May 31 is the last day Sunday School classes will be on break June September Please join Naiel Ammari and all the Ammari family this Sunday 4/26 for the 40-day Trisagion memorial service for his father, the servant of God ماجد ذياب عم اري - Ammari Majed Diab Icon Painting On Glass This Monday April 20 5:00pm 7:00pm St. James Orthodox Church parish extends its deepest condolences to his wife Mrs. Mofieda George Farha Ammari, his children: Nabeel & Majd Ammari, Nazeh & Rania Ammari, Nader & Emanuela Ammari, Naiel & Shereen Ammari, his daughters: Nermeen and her husband Royce Owens, Nasreen and her husband Issam Akkawi. Condolences and Meal of Mercy will be offered in the church hall after the service. فليكن ذكره مؤبدا Attention Parents and Friends of 2015 Graduates! *** 9 Weeks Until Deadline *** You can post a FREE personal congratulation message to your graduates in the bulletin. Just your greetings to sjoc@earthlink.net Graduates: Please your graduation picture or regular pictures to sjoc@earthlink.net to be posted in the bulletin. Graduates pictures and greetings will be posted during the week of June 22. sjoc@earthlink.net or call (408) for your bulletin personal announcements, comments, or feedback. Please RSVP with AnaCamelia Toma by phone (510) or by johntoma@sbcglobal.net. Please arrive 30 minutes early to allow enough time to setup. $7 per person to cover cost of material. Scrip Scrip Scrip For Moms & Grads Graduations and Mother s Day are just around the corner. Please consider buying Scrip gift cards for your graduates and moms. Big variety of restaurants and department stores. Complete list of retailers at Please allow one week for delivery. See or call Lilian (408) to place your order early.

5 GOOD WORKS We know from the Holy Scriptures that we were not just created to eat what tastes good to us, to live a pleasant life. We were created to do good works, by which in this brief life, we might obtain eternal blessedness, to which all are called by the grace of God. Thus, this present life of ours is the time for continuous physical and spiritual works, while in the future life we will be rewarded according to our works. - St. Moses Dunlap / Hume Lake Trip August 5 8, 2015 We plan to have a short trip, 3-nights/4-days, to visit the Life Giving Spring monastery and also head to the summit to Hume Lake and enjoy a day at the lake and beautiful nature. We need a minimum of 15 people to book St. Nicholas Ranch Retreat Center. Please talk to Dcn. Joseph for details or to sign-up if interested. We would like to have a headcount as early as possible! This Was From Me You made plans and have your own goals; your brought them to Me to bless them. But I want you to leave them all to Me, to direct and guide the circumstances of your life by My hand, because you are merely an instrument and not the operator. Have unexpected obstacles in life come upon you and despondency seized your heart? Know then, that this was from Me.

6 Saints This Week Saturday 4/25 (4/12) St. Basil the Confessor You royally served the King of all, holy hierarch Basil. You revealed divine truths and became a whole burnt offering. You cry to those who honor you: "The honor given to an icon ascends to Christ." ايها المغبوط باسيليوس. لقد أشرق تذكارك للمؤمنين. متأللئا بأشد بهاء من الشمس. منيرا الخليقة باألشعة األلهية. مالشيا ديجور األهواء. وظالم األبالسة. فلذلك نغبطك ونعي د سنويا لرقادك المقدس. ممجدين المخلص. Happy Birthdays Reem Ganim 4/20 Michael Dabaie 4/21 James Mostoufi 4/21 Nawal Bateh 4/24 Gewargis Toma 4/25 عقبال المئة سنة!!! Glory to Thy Holy Cross O Lord Our new cross has been raised up high on our church O Lord, save Your people, And bless Your inheritance. Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians Over their adversaries. And by virtue of Your Cross, Preserve Your habitation A Greater Tragedy By Rev. Andrew Demotses When I was a young child, we lived in a small town. Not far from my house was a vast tract of woodlands that extended for uncounted acres in every direction. One quiet day, a young child was lost in the woods, and the town mobilized to find her. Search parties were organized, volunteers gathered, and alarms were sounded. After many hours of searching by hundreds of people, the small girl was found huddled under a tree, thankfully unhurt. The irony, however, was that at the same time that hundreds of people rallied to save a solitary child, dozens of children were being lost in other parts of our town and not a finger was lifted to help any of them. They were lost to the drug peddler who conducted business behind the school yard. They were being poisoned by the parents who were too busy to provide them with values and needed guidance. They were destroyed by the pornographers who taught them that they had no personal value or dignity. Far more lives were destroyed in the streets and open spaces of my home town than were ever lost in the woodlands that were nearby. But the fact is that no effort was ever made to find these youngsters or to eliminate the dangers that they encountered each day of their lives. Where we live today, nothing is different. Our children are surrounded by constant dangers. As parents and adults we are duty-bound to prepare our children to face and conquer these dangers. More often than not, however, we warn of the danger that destroys the body but ignore those that poison character and deaden the soul. We respond with alarm to the small tragedy but do nothing to avert the one which is far greater.

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8 How much do you know about our Scrip Program? Our church has been participating in Scrip Program from at least 6 years or more. It could become a major income to our church with active on-going participation. What Is It?: The Scrip Program is a national program that many schools, churches, and other non-profit organizations rely on as one of the major incomes to the organization. It has generated tens of thousands of dollars annually for many organizations. Many retail stores participate in it by giving donations to the church. We can definitely use such as donation! How Does It Work?: The church buys Scrip cards at a discounted price. When we sell the Scrip cards at their face value, the church make a profit. The Scrip cards are just like a store credit. You can use it any time you shop at your favorite store. For example: you go to Safeway to shop as normal. You don t pay cash or credit card. Instead, you pay the cashier using your Safeway Scrip card that you purchased from the church. You keep the card until its balance runs out. Done! Easy! How Much Does It Cost Me? NOTHING! You pay $20, you get $20. You pay $100, you get $100. You will not pay an extra penny from your pocket. For example: you buy Toy-R-Us Scrip card for $20 from the church, you get a store credit for $20 that you can use anytime at Toys-R-Us. You would spend this money any way when you go to Toys-R-Us, so why not pay by Scrip Card instead of paying cash or check or credit card? What Is the Possible Profit To My Church?: Look at this example below (These are average amounts that could be higher or lower with different families): If we have only 40 families use Scrip program actively all the time: Don t you spend $300 on Groceries every month? Don t you spend $200 on Gas for your cars? Don t you spend $100 on Dining out every month? Don t you spend $100 on Clothing every month? Don t you spend $40 on Entertainment every month? Don t you spend $200 on Home Improvement or Repairs every month? If the 40 families use Scrip Cards for all the above, our church would make a net profit of $19,488 every year!!! We definitely need this money. What Stores Participate In This Program? Almost all stores that you shop at normally, participate in this program. From Safeway, CVS Pharmacy, Rite Aid, Home Depot, Macy s, Red Lobster, Arco, Shell, Subway, Pizza Hut, fast food, airlines, hotels,, and the list is very very long. For a complete list, please visit and you are guaranteed to find most of your favorite stores listed. More Questions: Please contact Scrip Coordinator Lilian Kawar at (408) and you will have your questions answered. Or simply visit the Scrip table in the church hall every Sunday and talk to Lilian and place your order or see what we have already in stock. An easy and very simple program to raise much needed money for our church without spending an extra penny and without any effort! Please help us generate this income to our church.

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