SAINT JAMES ORTHODOX CHURCH 195 N. Main Street Milpitas, Ca 95035 www.sjorthodox.org Saturdays Vespers 5:00 p.m. Sundays Matins 8:00 a.m. Sundays Liturgy 10:30 a.m. The Very Reverend Fr. Jiris Hanna (408) 509-8802 Fr. Dcn. Joseph Kawar (408) 398-6357 Issue No. 651 Sunday July 17 (7/4), 2016 4 th Sunday after Pentecost St. Andrew, archbishop of Crete (740) أبينا تذكار األحد الرابع بعد العنصرة الجليل في القديسين اندراوس االورشليمي الدمشقي رئيس اساقفة كريت ناظم القانون الكبير Matins (Eothina IV): Luke 24:1 12 Epistle: Romans 6:18 23 Gospel: Matthew 8:5 13 Have a blessed feast! عيد الرسل كل عام وانتم بخير Services This Week Monday 7/11 at 7pm The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul Wednesday 7/13 at 10am Commemoration of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Twelve Apostles Fish is allowed on this day The commemoration of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy Twelve Apostles of Christ appears to be an ancient Feast. The Church honors each of the Twelve Apostles on separate dates during the year, and has established a general commemoration for all of them on the day after the commemoration of the Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul. The holy God-crowned Emperor Constantine the Great built a church in Constantinople in honor of the Twelve Apostles. There are instructions for celebrating this Feast which date from the fourth century. Our Lord originally appointed twelve apostles as his initial Church community, commissioned with the task of sharing the faith. As told in the Gospels, Judas Iscariot was originally one of them, but with his apostasy and death, he was replaced with Matthias. The names of the Twelve Apostles are: Peter, Andrew, James the Son of Zebedee, John the Theologian, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the Evangelist, James the Son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus (or Jude the brother of James), Simon the Zealot, Matthias, and Paul. Let us also remember here how these most holy and selfless men in the history of the world died and finished their earthly course:
Peter was crucified upside-down. Andrew was crucified.james was beheaded. John the Theologian died in a wondrous way. Philip was crucified. Bartholomew was crucified, then flayed and beheaded. Thomas was pierced with five spears. Matthew was burned by fire. James the Son of Alphaeus was crucified. Thaddeus was crucified. Simon the Zealot was crucified. Matthias was stoned, then beheaded with an axe when dead. Paul was beheaded. Monday July 11 Last day of ing Wednesdays & Fridays fasting resumes on Wednesday July 13 *** Food for the Soul *** Youth Bible Study Every 1 st & 3 rd Thursday of the month Next Session Thursday 7/21/16 at 7:30pm Fr. Moen would like to see all the youth at every Bible Study Mark Your Calendar St. James 11 th Annual Food Festival September 16, 17, 18 E-mail sjoc@earthlink.net for your bulletin personal announcements, comments, or feedback.
THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD When fulfilling the commandments of God we must have humility, and if the power of the commandments weakens in us, then humility will intercede for us. But when we do good works and want to be assured that we are being saved, and see salvation in the palm of our hand, then we are very much mistaken. We should do good works without noticing them, and credit our correction to God and His help, and truly humble ourselves, not falsely. - St. Macarius An Eye for An Eye Is it Christian? These days, it is very common that the first thing that comes to our mind when we get hurt by someone is how to get even with them. We would not rest until we get even and make sure that we give it back to them! even if it takes weeks or months, and sometimes years. We will not forget or rest until we get even!. But is this the act of a faithful Christian? Or is it actually the act of an evil spirit? Do not be vengeful; do not return evil for evil. The evil from your neighbor is sufficient. If you return evil for evil to him, you will double the evil in the world. If you do not return evil for evil to him, he can still burn out his evil through repentance. Thus, you will reduce evil in the world through patience and forgiveness. Do not be vengeful; do not return evil for evil. "But wait on the Lord," He sees and remembers and, in your time, even you and your evil doer will know that God sees and remembers. You ask yourself: What have I done in that I have not returned evil for evil? You have done the wisest deed that you could do in the given situation, i.e.; you have relinquished your struggle to the One Stronger than yourself and the Stronger will victoriously fight for you. If you enter into battle with the evil doer you might be defeated. But God cannot be defeated. Therefore, relinquish your struggle to the Victorious and Undefeated One and patiently wait. Learn from a small child. If someone attacks a child in the presence of his parents, the child does not return the attack by attacking, but rather looks at his parents and cries. The child knows that his parents will protect him. How is it that you do not know what a little child knows? Your heavenly Parent is constantly beside you. That is why, do not be vengeful; do not return evil for evil, rather look at your Parent and cry. Only in this way will you guarantee victory for yourself in conflict with evil men. Almighty Lord Who said: "Vengeance is Mine" (Romans 12:19 Hebrews 10:30), protect us from the unrighteous ones by Your almighty hand and restrain us from vengeance. Counsel us by Your Holy Spirit that the greater heroism is to endure rather than to avenge. So as we prepare ourselves to receive the Body of Christ during the Holy Communion, let us remember the words we pray at every service forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us let us ask ourselves do we really want God to forgive us the way we forgive others? To You be glory and thanks always. Amen. We wish everyone a blessed, beautiful, restful and spiritually enriching summer!
July 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10:00 am Divine Liturgy Nativity of St. John the Baptist 8 10:00 am Divine Liturgy Holy Apostle Jude & St. John Maximovitch 9 10 11 7:00 pm Divine Liturgy Holy Apostles Peter & Paul 12 13 10:00 am Divine Liturgy Holy 12 Apostles 7:30 pm Board of Trustees Meeting 7:30 pm Parish Bible Study 17 18 19 20 21 7:30 pm Parish Bible Study 14 15 16 22 23 12:00 pm St. James Annual Picnic 24 25 26 10:00 am Divine Liturgy Holy Archangel Gabriel 27 28 29 30 31 Notes: 1-year Trisagion memorial for Deebeh Khashan
Keep Your Children s Souls Safe Please consider local Orthodox education institutions for your children St. Lawrence Academy (grades K - 8th): Felton, California http://www.stlawrenceacademy. com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ St. John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy (grades K 12 th ): San Francisco, California www.stjohnsacademysf.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ St. Katherine College ENCINITAS, CA http://www.stkath.org/ من اقوال القديسين + في حياة الشركة, نفقد السالم اإللهي قبل أي شيء آخر, ألننا لم نتدر ب بعد على محبة األخ بحسب وصية السيد. فإذا أغضبك أخوك و قبلت في تلك اللحظة فكرا ضده, أو إذا حكمت عليه, أو كرهته ل ما صنع معك, فإنك ستحس بأن النعمة تخل ت عنك وأنك فقدت السالم. + ال تحكم على اآلخرين, فكثيرا ما نحكم سيئا بالقول أو بالفكر على من ال نعرف من البشر, بينما يكون هو مشابها للمالئكة في نفسه. + ليس باستطاعتنا حفظ سالم الروح إذا لم نسهر على نفوسنا, يعني إذا لم ندفع عن ا األفكار التي ال ترضي هللا, و ن بقي التي يحب ها. على عقلنا أن يكون يقظا ل ما يمر في قلبنا, و يفحص دوما إذا كان في سالم أو ال. وإذا لم يكن القلب في سالم, فافحص بماذا أخطأت. القديس سلوان اآلثوسي Lunch This Sunday July 17 will be provided by Stephan & Mary Isaid & family Mark Your Calendar St. James Annual Christmas Party Saturday November 19, 2016 Thank you and God bless you. Happy Birthdays Alexander Wahhab 7/11 Hanna Saoud 7/12 Emad Nimri 7/13 Vi Ly 7/15 Bernadette Nijmeh 7/17 عقبال المئة سنة!!! Samer & Luma Theodossy 7/15 For Many Years!
The Placing of the Honorable Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos at Blachernae Friday July 15 (7/2) During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Great (457-474), the brothers Galbius and Candidus, associates of the emperor, set out from Constantinople to Palestine to venerate the holy places. In a small settlement near Nazareth they stayed in the home of a certain old Jewish woman. In her house they noticed a room where many lamps were lit, incense burned, and sick people were gathered. When they asked her what the room contained, the pious woman did not want to give an answer for a long time. After persistent requests, she said that she had a very precious sacred item: the Robe of the Mother of God, which performed many miracles and healings. Before Her Dormition the Most Holy Virgin bequeathed one of her garments to a pious Jewish maiden, an ancestor of the old woman, instructing her to leave it to another virgin after her death. Thus, the Robe of the Mother of God was preserved in this family from generation to generation. The jewelled chest, containing the sacred Robe, was transferred to Constantinople. St Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the emperor Leo, having learned of the sacred treasure, were convinced of the incorrupt state of the holy Robe, and they certified its authenticity. At Blachernae, near the seacoast, a new church in honor of the Mother of God was constructed. On June 2, 458 St Gennadius transferred the sacred Robe into the Blachernae church with appropriate solemnity, placing it within a new reliquary. Afterwards, the maphorion (i.e., the outer robe) of the Mother of God, and part of Her belt were also put into the reliquary with Her Robe. This circumstance also influenced the Orthodox iconography of the Feast, in connecting the two events: the Placing of the Robe, and the Placing of the Belt of the Mother of God in Blachernae. More than once, during the invasion of enemies, the Most Holy Theotokos saved the city to which She had given Her holy Robe. Thus it happened during the time of a siege of Constantinople by the Avars in 626, by the Persians in 677, and by the Arabs in the year 717. Church. Reflection A thick rope is made from thin, fibrous strands of hemp. One thin fiber cannot hold you tied nor can it strangle you. For you will easily, as in jest, break it and free yourself from it. If you are tied by a thick rope, you can be held bound and even be strangled by it. Neither can you break it easily nor free yourself from it. As a thick rope consists of thin and weak fibers, so the passions of man consist of minor sins. Man can break off and turn away from the beginnings of minor sins. But, when sin after sin is repeated, the weave becomes all the more stronger and stronger until in the end a passion is created, which then turns man into some kind of monster as only it knows how. You cannot easily cut it off, nor distance yourself from it, nor can you divorce yourself from it. O, if only men would beware and take care of the beginnings of sins! Then, they would not have to endure much in freeing themselves from passions. "To cut off rooted passions is as difficult as cutting off the fingers," said a monk from the Holy Mountain. To free himself from sinful passions, St. Emilianus was helped by thinking thoughts of death and, understandably, the Grace of God, without which it is extremely difficult to rid oneself of the fetters of passion. To think often of impending death, to repent and to implore Grace from Almighty God, these three save a man from the bondage of sin. St. Sisoes was asked, "At which time can passions be uprooted?" The saint replied, "As soon as one passion takes root in you, uproot it immediately."
Proper Confession and Communion Before confession one should attempt to recall all the sins which one has committed voluntarily or involuntarily. One must attentively re-examine one's life in order to recall not only those sins committed since the last confession, but also those which have not been confessed through forgetfulness. Then, with compunction and a contrite heart, approach the Cross and the Gospel and begin the confession of your sins. 1. Confess your sins honestly, remembering that you open them not to a man, but to God Himself. God knows your sins already and only wants your admission of them. You should not be embarrassed before your spiritual father: he is a person just as you are. He knows human shortcomings well, man's tendency towards sin. For this reason your spiritual father cannot be your terrible judge at confession. Is the reason that you are embarrassed before your spiritual father that you are afraid to lose his good opinion of you? On the contrary, your spiritual father will have all the more love for you when he sees your open, honest confession. Furthermore, if you are afraid to reveal your sins before just one person, your spiritual father, how will you overcome your embarrassment when you appear at God's Last Judgment? There, all your sins which you have not confessed will be opened before God Himself, the Angels and all the people. 2. Be specific when you confess, listing all your sins separately. St. John Chrysostom says: "One must not only say: I have sinned, or I am sinful, but one must declare each type of sin." "The revelation of sins," says St. Basil the Great, "is subject to the same law as the Declaration of physical ills..." The sinner is spiritually ill, and the spiritual father is the physician or healer. It stands to reason that one must confess or tell about one's sins in the same way as one who is physically ill describes the symptoms of his illness to a physician from whom he expects to receive healing. 3. Do not mention anyone else during confession, i.e. do not complain about anyone - what sort of confession is this? It is not confession, but judgment and a new sin. 4. Do not attempt to justify yourself in any way during confession: blaming weakness, custom, etc. The more one justifies himself during confession, the less one is justified by God. The more one denounces, judges and accuses oneself, the more one is justified in the eyes of God. 5. When questioned by your spiritual father, do not say: "I can't remember, maybe I committed that sin." God commanded us to always remember our sins. In order not to justify ourselves with not remembering, we must confess our sins as often as possible. Those who, because of carelessness, confess and take communion infrequently, and because of this forget their sins, have no one to blame but themselves. They cannot hope for remission of the sins which they failed to confess. Thus, it is imperative that we try to recall all our sins. When someone owes us something we are sure to remember this. Yet we forget our own debts before God! Does this not reveal an utter absence of concern for our soul on our part? 6. Unless asked by your spiritual father, do not list the sins you have not committed or things you have not done. Doing this, you liken yourself to the Pharisee of the Gospel. You do not confess your sins, but boast, thereby increasing your judgment. 7. We must confess with sorrow and a contrite heart the sins by which we have grieved our Lord God. It is not good that many tell of their sins matter-of-factly, without any remorse. They speak as though they are engaged in some casual conversation. What is worse, some even allow themselves to laugh during confession. These are all signs of un-repentance. Confessing in this manner, we do not cleanse ourselves of our sins, but rather increase them. 8. Finally, confess your sins with faith in Jesus Christ, with hope in His mercy. Only with faith in Jesus Christ and hope in Him can we receive forgiveness of our sins. Without faith, we cannot receive remission. An example of this is Judas the traitor who was remorseful of what he did, but did not have faith in Jesus, no hope in His mercy, and thus ended his own life. This then, is how we must confess in order to receive remission of our sins from our Lord God. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)
Prayerful Preparation for Communion Of all of the days in the life of a Christian, the happiest is the day on which we receive Holy Communion worthily, with complete attentiveness and preparation. Through confession, we have washed ourselves of all sins, opened before the Lord our entire soul, and received into the house of our soul the Holy Heavenly Guest, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said "He who eats of My Body and drinks of My Blood abides in Me and I in him." On the day on which we receive Communion, it is extremely important for us to recognize what we are doing, and in participating in the awesome Mystery, to understand what responsibility we are taking upon ourselves. To receive the Divine Guest carelessly, without the requisite attention, is to condemn ourselves. May it not be so! Here is the minimum that is essential for us to do in order to derive spiritual benefit. 1. At the end of this article you will find "A Brief Confession Before the Confessor." Before coming to confession, read it at home to help you recall the sins which you have committed, or bring it with you when you come to confession. 2. Read the Prayer Rule before Holy Communion. The Rule consists of a series of Psalms, a Canon, and Prayers before Communion. The more zealous may add to this rule the Canon to Sweetest Jesus, the Canon and Akathist to the Mostholy Theotokos, and the Canon to the Guardian Angel. 3. On the day of Holy Communion, it is essential to come to the church by the beginning of the Liturgy, and on an empty stomach, i.e. having abstained since midnight from food and drink, as well as from smoking. Those who come to church late are not supposed to approach the Holy Chalice. 4. Female parishioners should ensure that when they commune, they not wear lipstick, and that they have their heads covered. 5. The Church instructs those who approach for Communion to cross their arms over their chest, and to approach with lips confessing Christ, and hearts filled with a fervent love for Him and with thanksgiving. In 961, the 6th Ecumenical Council established this Canon: "Whosoever wishes to partake...let him form his hands into the shape of a cross, and thus approaching, let him receive the communion of grace... (Canon 101). 6. In the instructions for the Order of Service it is stated that upon receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, swallow them with reverence and wipe their lips. 7. After Communion, read the thanksgiving prayers. At our church, these prayers are found in the white prayer books towards the end. The Food of the Mystical Supper is the Heavenly Food of our restoration, of the New Testament between God and mankind. Whoever receives this food without due preparation brings on the opposite destruction. May it not be so! A Brief Confession Before Father Confessors From the Full Confession of St. Demetrius of Rostov I confess to the Lord my God and before thee, venerable father, all my countless sins, committed by me unto this very day and hour, in deed, word and thought. I sin daily and hourly by mine ingratitude toward God for His great and countless blessings and benevolent providence over me, a sinner. I have sinned through: idle talking, judging others, stubbornness, pride, hard-heartedness, envy, anger, slander, inattention, negligence concerning my salvation, carelessness, indifference, impertinence, irritability, despondency, rendering evil for evil, bitterness, disobedience, complaining, self-justification, contradicting others, self-will, being reproachful, gossiping, lying, light-mindedness, tempting others, self-love, ambition, gourmandizing, eating and drinking to excess, vanity, laziness, entertaining unclean thoughts, acquisitiveness, impure glances, absence from divine services because of laziness and
carelessness, absent-mindedness at prayer both in church and at home; I have sinned in deed, word, thought; in sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and the rest of my mental and physical senses; of all my sins I repent and beg forgiveness. (Here one should mention specifically any other sins which may be burdening the soul.) I also repent and ask forgiveness for all those sins that I have not confessed because of their multitude and my forgetfulness. Forgive and absolve me, venerable father, and bless me to commune of the holy and life-creating Mysteries of Christ unto the remission of sins and life everlasting.