Sunday Of The Last Judgment (Meatfare) February 24, 2019 Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever! THE CATHOLIC PARISH OF SAINT BASIL THE GREAT A Parish of the Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma 1400 Suther Road Charlotte, North Carolina 28213 Website: stbasil.weebly.com Telephone: 980-785-2764 Email: stbasilcharlotte@gmail.com Saturdays 5:00 PM Vespers Sundays 11:00 AM Divine Liturgy Services: Other Feast Days (As Announced) 6:00 PM Vespers 7:00 PM Divine Liturgy Confessions Sundays Before Divine Liturgy Until 10:40 AM Mission Communities: HOLY CROSS COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA Transfiguration Catholic Church 306 N. Pines Road, Blythewood, SC 29016 Website: colabyzcatholic.weebly.com 2 nd Sunday of the Month 5:00 PM Divine Liturgy Confessions Until 4:40 PM 4 th Sunday of the Month 5:00 PM Vespers & Catechism DORMITION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA St. Rafka Maronite Catholic Church 1215 SC-14, Greer, SC 29650 Website: dormition.weebly.com Sunday, February 24 5:00 PM Divine Liturgy Confessions Until 4:40 PM
ADMINISTRATOR Father Joseph Matlak DEACON Deacon Matthew Hanes Telephone 980-785-2764 Email frjosephmatlak@ gmail.com FEASTS & READINGS FOR THIS WEEK This Sunday: METFARE SUNDAY (Tone 7) First & Second Findings of the Precious Head Of the Holy, Glorious Prophet & Forerunner John the Baptist 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2 2 Corinthians 4:6-15 Matthew 25:31-46 Matthew 11:2-15 MONDAY Holy Father Tarasius of Constantinople 3 John 1:1-15 Luke 19:29-40 22:7-39 TUESDAY Holy Father Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza Jude 1-10 Luke 22:39-42 22:45-23:1 WEDNESDAY Aliturgical Day Venerable Father & Confessor Procopius Joel 2:12-26 Joel 4:12-21 THURSDAY Venerable Father & Confessor Basil, Ascetical Companion of Procopius Jude 11-25 Luke 23:1-34, 44-56 FRIDAY Aliturgical Day Holy Venerable-Martyr Evdokia Zechariah 8:7-14 Zechariah 8:19-23 SATURDAY Saturday Before Cheesefare Sunday Holy Priest-Martyr Theodotus of Cyrenia Romans 14:19-26 Galatians 5:22-6:2 Matthew 6:1-13 Matthew 11:27-30 Next Sunday: CHEESEFARE SUNDAY SUNDAY OF FORGIVENESS (Tone 8) Holy Martyrs Eutropius & His Companions, Cleonicus & Basiliscus Romans 13:11-14:4 Matthew 6:14-21
Pastoral Visit Of Bishop Bohdan Danylo Sunday, March 3 11:00 A.M. St. Basil the Great, Charlotte, NC 5:00 P.M. Holy Cross, Columbia, SC Special Guests: Zhyve TV Producers of the Vibrant Parish Series Concelebrating Clergy & Seminarians Roman Catholic Dioceses of Charlotte & Charleston New Metropolitan Archbishop Of Philadelphia His Grace, +Borys Gudziak On Monday, February 18, 2019, the Vatican Information Service announced that the Most Reverend Borys Gudziak has been appointed as the Seventh Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia, concurring with the recommendation offered by the Synod of Bishops, which met in September 2018 in L viv, Ukraine. His installation will take place on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All are invited!
Welcome Home, Archbishop Borys! Meet The New Metropolitan Archbishop Of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak was born in 1960 in Syracuse, New York, the son of immigrants from Ukraine. He earned a bachelor s degree in philosophy and biology from Syracuse University in 1980 and then studied in Rome, in the circle of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj. He received a baccalaureate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Urban University in 1983, after which he returned to America to pursue a doctorate in Slavic and Byzantine Cultural History at Harvard University, which he successfully defended in 1992. In 1995, he earned a licentiate in Eastern Christian studies from the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In 1992, he moved to L viv where he founded and directed (1992-2002) the Institute of Church History. In 1993, he was appointed Chairman of the Commission for the Renewal of the L viv Theological Academy. From 1995 until 2000, he served as Vice Rector of the L viv Theological Academy, then as Rector from 2000 to 2002. In that year, Gudziak became Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (founded on the basis of the Academy), and, in 2013, its President. He was ordained as a priest on November 26, 1998. In 2012, he was appointed Bishop of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Switzerland. Bishop Borys also serves as member of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and as head of the Department of External Church Relations. In 2016, with the help of American consultants having experience in church administration as well as business, Bishop Borys launched a program of strategic pastoral planning to create an eparchial vision for its future activity and growth, increased the number of priests and parishes, established a new financial model for the eparchy s sustainability, and widely engaged the laity. During the 2013-2014 Maidan movement for human dignity, Bishop Borys was an active supporter and appeared regularly on leading global TV channels and media providing expert commentary. Bishop Borys has received numerous awards and distinctions. In 2015 he became a Cavalier of the Order of Legion of Honor (Chevalier de l Ordre national de la Légion d honneur), the highest decoration in France. In 2016, he was awarded the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Award in Wroclaw, Poland, in recognition for his work in shaping civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2018 he received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Syracuse University, and a literary award from the Ukrainian chapter of PEN International. He travels globally with lectures and talks on theology, history, spirituality, education, society, and current challenges in Ukraine.
Fifth Excerpt From The Pastoral Letter of the Synod of Bishops On Responsibility For the Proclamation Of The Word Of God And Catechesis Catechists: Reliable Helpers of Priests in Catechetical Ministry We turn to you, dear catechists laity and consecrated men and women, and we thank you sincerely for your dedicated service in the parishes. You are the reliable helpers of priests in the mission of Christian teaching and educating the next generations of the faithful of our Church. The Church highly values your vocation and ministry. Your vocation to pass on the faith in the living Christ stems from the joy of your personal encounter with Him and your membership in the church parish community. Your desire to share this joy with others, to help others encounter Christ, is the response to the strivings of a person today, who seeks the Way, the Truth and the Life. Help the child, youth and adult of today encounter Jesus, recognize His teaching and be nourished by the Word of God and the Blessed Eucharist. On behalf of the Church, awaken, inspire and support the fervor to discover the Word of God and the truths of the faith, to live by them. Nurture in yourselves a life of personal prayer and lead to prayer those whom you are forming. Take care of your personal ongoing formation, in order to better serve God s purpose and better respond to contemporary challenges. Be active and creative in your parish community. Be people of prayer and witnesses of Christian life.
Sunday of the Last Judgment Meatfare Today s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46, the Parable of the Last Judgment. It reminds us that while trusting in Christ s love and mercy, we must not forget His righteous judgment when He comes again in glory. If our hearts remain hardened and unrepentant, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressions simply because He is a good and loving God. Although He does not desire the death of a sinner, He also expects us to turn from our wickedness and live (Ezekiel 33:11). The priest expresses this same idea in the prayer he reads after the penitent has confessed his or her sins. The time for repentance and forgiveness is now, in the present life. At the Second Coming, Christ will appear as the righteous Judge, Who will render to every man according to his deeds (Romans 2:6). Then the time for entreating God s mercy and forgiveness will have passed. As Father Alexander Schmemann reminds us in his book Great Lent, sin is the absence of love. It is separation and isolation. When Christ comes to judge the world, His criterion for judgment will be love. Christian love entails seeing Christ in other people, our family, our friends, and everyone else we may encounter in our lives. We shall be judged on whether we have loved, or not loved, our neighbor. We show Christian love when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. If we did such things for the least of Christ s brethren, then we also did them for Christ (Matthew 25:40). If we did not do such things for the least of the brethren, neither did we do them for Christ (Matthew 25:45). Today is traditionally the last day for eating meat and meat products until Pascha, though eggs and dairy products were permitted every day during the coming week. This limited fasting serves to prepare us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent. IN ORDER TO HONOR THOSE OBSERVING THE GREAT FAST, PARISHIONERS ARE KINDLY ASKED NOT TO BRING MEAT PRODUCTS FOR FELLOWSHIP FROM TODAY UNTIL PASCHA.