Saint Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church 130 North Saint Francis Cabrini Avenue Scranton, PA 18504 Rev. Protodeacon Michael Jolly Administrator pro tempore 570-213-9344 Reader Michael Simon Reader John Fitzgerald Parish Office 570-343-6092 E-Mail: Web: Webmaster: scrantonmelkite@yahoo.com http://melkitescranton.org Sal Zaydon Liturgy Intentions February 24, 2013 Ann Coury Saint Joseph Parish Marie Abda Trudy Black Robert Walsh Memorial Service March 3, 2012 February 24, 2013 Tone 6 and Orthros Gospel 6 Liturgy Schedule: Saturday Vespers 4 pm Lenten Services M,W,F 7PM Robert Walsh Saint Joseph Parish Second Sunday in Great Lent Holy Relics and Gregory Palamas First and Second Findings of the Head of John the Baptist Sunday Orthros 8:55 am Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 am Parish Notes: Welcome back Father Jerome who serves at our altar this week The Qurban consecrated at today s liturgy was baked by Deacon Michael Lenten Liturgies on weekday evenings during the Great Fast at 7PM: Mondays Great Compline Wednesdays Presanctified Liturgy Fridays Akathist to the Theotokos This Sunday: Procession with the Holy Relics at the conclusion of the Liturgy Lenten Mission March 4-10 Speaker: Fr. Bob Simon see the announcement on page five. Lenten Potluck Our Parish Lentep Potluck will be served after Divine Liturgy on March 17th Please sign up to being your favorite Lenten dish in the back of the Church Today s Icon: Icon depiction of the finding of the head of the forerunner, Saint John the Baptist see page six. Summer Food Festival Meeting We will discuss the future of our annual food festival following the potluck.
The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great Antiphons: O Lord, our God, You have granted the holy martyrs that their relics would be spread throughout the world, including this church, to bring forth the grace of healing from diseases. Make us worthy, through the intercession of your Saints, to offer You the Spiritual Sacrifice and guide us on the way of Salvation For You are Good and the Lover of mankind and to You we render glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. First Antiphon Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior save us! Tone 2 Pg. 11 Second Antiphon O Son of God, Who are risen from the dead Tone 2 Pg. 11 Hymn of incarnation Tone 4 Pg. 13 Third Antiphon Tone 6 Pg. 18 Hymns: Resurrectional Troparion Tone 6 Pg. 18 Troparion of the Holy Icons Tone 2 Victorious witnesses of the Lord, blessed is the earth that received your blood, and holy are the heavenly places that opened to your souls. You have vanquished the enemy in battle and proclaimed Christ with courage. We beg you to intercede with Him who is all good, that He may save our souls. Troparion of Theodore Tone 8 O Gregory the Wonderworker, light of Orthodoxy, support and teacher of the Church, glory of monks and invincible protector of theologians, pride of Thessaloniki and preacher of grace: Pray without ceasing for the salvation of us all. Troparion of St. Joseph Tone 2 Pg. 20 Kontakion of Annunciation Tone 8 Pg. 142 Prokiemenon (Tone 6) O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance! Stichon: To you, O Lord, I have called: O my Rock, be not deaf to me! Reading from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians 4:6-15 Brethren,God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give enlightenment concerning the knowledge of God's glory, shining in Christ Jesus' face. But we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, to show that its superabundant power is God's, and not ours. In all things we suffer tribulation but we are not distressed, we are sorely pressed but we are not destitute, we endure persecution but we are not forsaken, we are cast down but we do not perish: always carrying around in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodily frame. For we, the living, are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Thus death is at work in us, but life in you. But since we have the same spirit of faith, as shown in that which is written, I believed, and so I spoke, (Ps. 115:1) we also believed, wherefore we also speak. For we know that the one who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up also together with Jesus, and will place us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace that abounds through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound for God's glory Alleluia (Tone 4) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High abides in the shadow of the God of heaven..stichon: He will say to the Lord, My wall, my refuge, my God in whom I will trust!
The Holy Gospel according to Mark 2:1-12 At that time Jesus entered Caparnaum, and it was reported that he was at home. And immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even around the door. And he spoke the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four. And since they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was, and, having made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the Paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. Now some of the Scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man blaspheme in this way? Who can forgive sins, beside God? And at once Jesus, knowing in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, Why are you arguing these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you, or to say, Arise, and take up your pallet, and walk? But that you may know the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic I say to you, arise, take up your pallet, and go to your house, And immediately he arose and, taking up his pallet, went forth in the sight of all, so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, Never did we see anything like this! Hymn to the Theotokos / Hirmos In you, O full of grace, all creation exults, the hierarchy of angels together with the race of men: in you, sanctified Temple, spiritual Paradise, Glory of virgins of whom God took flesh from whom our God who exists before the world, became a child! For He has made your womb his throne, making it more spacious than the heavens. In you, O Woman full of grace, all creation exults: glory to you! Lenten Program: Journey to Resurrection and Mercy St. Lucy s and SS Peter & Paul Parish will host the Nine Day Divine Mercy Novena entitled Journey to Resurrection and Mercy at St. Lucy s Church. The Journey will be every Friday during Lent and finish the weekend after Easter. On the Fridays of Lent, at 7:00 P.M., we will have Stations of the Cross, The Divine Mercy Novena and end with Benediction. We will also have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament fom 9:00 A.M. 7:00 P.M. The Fridays of Lent are Feb. 15, 22 and March 1, 8, 15, and 22. After Easter we will conclude on April 5, 6, and 7. On Divine Mercy Sunday April 7 th, from 12:00 Noon to 3:00 P.M., there will be the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Praying the Rosary, the Life of St. Faustina, and Mass. The Divine Mercy Novena will be said at 3:00 P.M., with the anointing of the relic of St. Faustina. There will also be refreshments afterwards in the hall of the Church. The Byzantine Franciscans welcome you to a Lenten Day of Recollection on Saturday March 16, 9:30am-4:30pm Parables: Our Call to Discipleship. The Great Fast is a time to stop and reflect on what Jesus asks of us. On Saturday March 16, we will reflect on how Jesus calls us to live through his Gospel parables, stories that help us question and reflect on our life. We begin at 9:30am, setting aside time for quiet prayer and confession; participants are welcome to stay for our 5pm Divine Liturgy. Please register in advance by email (holydormition@gmail.com) or phone (570-788- 1212 ext 402). Cost: $20 includes continental breakfast (9am) and lunch. Send payment to Holy Dormition Friary Lenten Retreat, PO Box 270, Sybertsville PA 18251.
March 4 March 8 The 2013 Scranton Eastern Catholic Churches Lenten Mission Fr. Bob Simon Father Bob is a priest of the Diocese of Scranton, ordained in 1990. He encountered the Christian East in first grade as a student at St. Mary s Ruthenian Catholic School in Wilkes-Barre. Father Bob s seminary education took place at Seton Hall University; since ordination Father has completed a Master s Degree in Liturgy from the University of Notre Dame, where he was privileged to study under Father Robert Taft, SJ. Over the past 15 years he has been a student of iconography and iconology. Father Bob is the pastor of St. Catherine s Parish in Moscow, Pa. and serves in the Worship Office of the Diocese of Scranton as the Coordinator of Christian Initiation. Mission Theme: Pope Benedict XVI has declared this year, the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, to be a Year of Faith. Our Holy Father calls us to recognize that faith is ultimately not about doctrine or dogmas, but about a Person. At the heart of it all, we believe not in this or that, but we believe in some One. This some One loves us more than we can possibly hope for or imagine. This intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and what it means to respond to Him in faith, will provide the theme for this year s Lenten Mission. Monday, March 4: Lenten Vespers St. Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church, 130 St. Francis Cabrini Ave., Scranton. EACH ONE AN ICON OF CHRIST The liturgies of the East and West and the Church s iconography draw us close to the saints and to a deeper appreciation of their role in the life of the Christian particularly on the Lenten journey. Tuesday, March 5: Divine Liturgy [Concelebrants welcome] St. Ann Maronite Catholic Church, 1320 Price St., Scranton. EACH ONE TRANSFIGURED BY LIGHT The Divine Liturgy is the best of schools to teach us the meaning of life and how to live in this world of ours. Wednesday, March 6: Lenten Prayer Service St. John Ruthenian Catholic Church, 310 Broadway, Scranton. EACH ONE CALLED INTO THE DESERT If we are honest, we are not as eager as John the Baptist to leave everything behind and to go out into the wilderness. Thursday, March 7: Akathist of the Passion St. Vladimir Ukranian Catholic Church, 430 N. Seventh St., Scranton. EACH ONE HAVING PUT ON CHRIST The life of prayer is essential for those who have been conformed to Christ and are seeking to live in him each day. Friday, March 8: Liturgy of the Presanctified St. Mary Ruthenian Catholic Church, 310 Mifflin Ave., Scranton. EACH ONE GOING OUT TO MEET HIM Preparing to celebrate Pascha by contemplating the icons of the Passion. All Mission Services begin at 6:30pm with homily/presentation. The Sacramental Mystery Forgiveness (Confessions) begin at 6pm. After each service, everyone is invited to remain for refreshments and discussion on the topic of the evening.
Among Today s Saints After the Beheading of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (August 29), his body was buried by disciples in the Samarian city of Sebaste, and his venerable head was hidden by Herodias in an unclean place. St Joanna (June 27), the wife of King Herod s steward Chuza (Luke 8:3), secretly took the holy head and placed it into a vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives in one of Herod s properties. After many years, this property passed into the possession of a government official who became a monk with the name of Innocent. He built a church and a cell there. When they started to dig the foundation, the vessel with the venerable head of John the Baptist was uncovered. Innocent recognized its great holiness from the signs of grace emanating from it. Thus occurred the First Finding of the Head. Innocent preserved it with great piety, but fearful that the holy relic might be abused by unbelievers, before his own death he again hid it in that same place, where it was found. Upon his death the church fell into ruin and was destroyed. monks and at home he preserved the venerable head with reverence. Before his death he placed it in a water jug and gave it to his sister. From that time the venerable head was successively preserved by devout Christians, until the priest Eustathius (infected with the Arian heresy) came into possession of it. He beguiled a multitude of the infirm who had been healed by the holy head, ascribing their cures to the fact that it was in the possession of an Arian. When his blasphemy was uncovered, he was compelled to flee. After he buried the holy relic in a cave, near Emesa, the heretic intended to return later and use it for disseminating falsehood. God, however, did not permit this. Pious monks settled in the cave, and then a monastery arose at this place. In the year 452 St John the Baptist appeared to Archimandrite Marcellus of this monastery, and indicated where his head was hidden. This became celebrated as the Second Finding. The holy relic was transferred to Emesa, and later to Constantinople. Memory Eternal During the days of St Constantine the Great (May 21), when Christianity began to flourish, the holy Forerunner appeared twice to two monks journeying to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy places, and he revealed the location of his venerable head. The monks uncovered the holy relic and, placing it into a sack of camel-hair, they proceeded homewards. Along the way they encountered an unnamed potter and gave him the precious burden to carry. Not knowing what he was carrying, the potter continued on his way. But the holy Forerunner appeared to him and ordered him to flee from the careless and lazy monks, with what he held in his hands. The potter concealed himself from the Robert Walsh Grant Rest O Lord, to the soul of your servant and appoint his place in paradise
Approaching the Fast During the Fast, as we know, catechumens are readied for baptism in a more intense way. Pay even more attention, they are told, you are at the entrance to the baptistery where you will receive eternal life. Don t neglect so great a salvation. The push is also on for penitents to be reconciled before Pascha and these words apply to them too: Here s the chance to wipe the slate clean and start over Don t neglect so great a salvation. As for the rest of us, we were told after our baptism, You are baptized, you are illumined, you are anointed with chrism. You are sanctified, you are washed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You have become the temple of God the Spirit of God dwells within you. And so the Church also applies these words to all of us the faithful: Don t neglect so great a salvation by letting the Fast slip away without drawing closer to your Savior during this season. Discussing our state after baptism Nicholas Cabasilas wrote, Once we have received our new existence through baptismal washing, it is by this Bread that we live and by the Chrism that we are moved The Bread of Life Himself changes the one who feeds on Him, transforming and assimilating him into Himself. (The Life in Christ 1.6; 4.8). You have the possibility to be transformed in Christ Don t neglect so great a salvation. In most parishes the Great Fast is a time when people have more frequent opportunities to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is generally served on Wednesdays and Fridays during the Fast as well as some other days. In it we are given the Eucharist in the midst of our fasting as a pointer towards the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom that is ours through the death and resurrection of Christ. Uniting with Christ in His Eucharistic Body and His Body, the Church, deepens our life in Christ and calls us even further in our relationship with Him. Christians ought always to pray and fast and read the Scriptures, but those who receive the Eucharist with increased frequency during the Fast should expect to do so more so in response. Don t neglect the chance to root yourself more deeply in Christ who makes Himself so accessible for your sake. Even many who are not comfortable with prayer or fasting find that they come closer to the image of God within themselves through almsgiving. As we open ourselves to others, sharing our material gifts or our inner selves with them, we are encountering the One who identifies Himself with the least of His brethren. Don t neglect the great salvation of serving Christ in others. Increasing these or any other aspects of our Christian life demands that we make time in our schedules to do so. Don t neglect to cut down on your hours before the TV or other entertainment activities not as a deprivation but to make room for the One whose great work for our salvation gives meaning to all that we do in response. Devotions and Readings for this week Mon 2/25 Tues 2/26 Weds 2/27 Thurs 2/28 Fri 3/1 Sat 3/2 Holy Father Tarasios, Abp of Constantinople Holy Father Porphyrios, Bp of Gaza Is 8:13-9:7 Gn 6:9-22 Prv 8:1-21 Is 9:9-10:4 Gn 7:1-5 Prv 8:32-9:11 Father Procopius the Decapolitan Is 10:1-20 Gn 7:6-9 Prv 9:12-18 Basil, the companion of Procopius Is 11:10-12 Gn 7:11-8:3 Prv 10:1-22 Martyr Eudocia Is 13:2-13 Gn 8:4-21 Prv 10:31-11:12 Hieromartyr Theodotius, Bp. of Cyrene Heb 10:32-38 Mk 2:14-17
Second Sunday in the Great Fast St Gregory Palamas Holy Relics WHAT DO FASTS, METANIES, PROSTRATIONS, and standing through long church services have to do with prayer? Isn t prayer the conversation with God we have in our hearts? Why is Eastern Christian spirituality so physical? On the First Sunday of the Fast we proclaimed the Orthodoxy of incorporating material creation (sacred images) in our worship because the living Word of God assumed matter in becoming fully man. On this second Sunday of the Fast we affirm our use of the material in worship for a similar reason. We worship using matter because to be fully human is to be physical. The physical, we believe, will not be left behind in eternal life. The resurrection of the body is the transfiguration, not the elimination, of our physical side. Fully human worship, then, must involve the material as we as the non-material. Two commemorations observed on this Sunday help us reflect on the physical dimension of the life in Christ. The first is the remembrance of St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), who championed the Greek Fathers teaching on the way we have communion with God. Brought up in the Byzantine court, Gregory entered the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos when he was 20 years old. A threatened Turkish invasion of the holy mountain in 1325 brought several monks including Gregory to Thessalonika where Gregory was ordained to the priesthood and, in 1347, chosen as Metropolitan of Thessalonika. The icon of his enthronement shows him surrounded by Greek Fathers of the previous millennium whose teachings he affirmed. Gregory and the Light of God Gregory became involved in a controversy with another Greek monk, Barlaam of Calabria, over how we can know God. The West was just getting reacquainted with the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and others of the classical era. Many adopted their view that dialectics and metaphysics were the highest form of knowledge. Some, like Barlaam, taught that the "direct" experience of God was not possible because one can know God only through human reason. Gregory countered with the teaching of the Fathers that the highest knowledge of God comes, not through reasoning and the application of classical philosophy, but through an experience of God gained through application to a life of prayer. The theologian is the person who knows God through experience, not through intellectual study. Doctrinal statements are fully meaningful only for those who have encountered the living Christ. You can study the makeup of a city all you like, he observed, but you will not know what a city is until you visit one. Gregory further taught that a life of prayer can bring us to experience the uncreated light of God, as Peter, James and John did on Mount Tabor. God s divine actions or energies, which are to God as the light is to the sun, can touch us physically as well as spiritually. This transformation of the whole person, or theosis, comes about by true participation in the very life of God. The whole of human existence becomes permeated by the Divine Presence. Barlaam countered that the grace of God we may receive is something created, distinct from Him. In this Gregory was following the Greek Fathers while Barlaam was more in the tradition of Augustine. The issue thus became part of the East/West controversy of the Middle Ages. In the West theology became increasingly influenced by Aristotelian philosophy and tied to the scholastic method. Piety came to be distinct from theology and from liturgy, and focused on devotional practices such as the rosary and the Stations of the Cross. In the East theology remained connected to liturgy, prayer and ascetic endeavor: the fruit of a personal experience of God involving the whole person. Gregory s teaching was upheld by several local councils in Constantinople which were eventually accepted by the other Byzantine Churches. While Gregory himself is remembered on the day of his death, November 14, today s commemoration focuses on the place his holistic teaching has in our understanding of the Christian life. We can directly experience the action of God in us through the Spirit who dwells in us. We can bring our whole being into
contact with God through physical prayer (fasts, vigils, prostrations, etc.) as well as interior meditation. And we may, as some have done, experience the uncreated light of God in this life as well as the next. God s Presence in Mere Bones A second observance today points to the presence of the divine energies of God experienced in the very remains of the saints. In the Melkite Church holy relics are solemnly venerated today as the pledge of the glorious resurrection of sanctified bodies (exapostilarion at orthros). Thus we venerate the relics of saints in anticipation of their future incorruptibility and their complete transformation after the resurrection. The Second Council of Nicea which affirmed the veneration of icons also spoke about the remains of the saints: Our Lord Jesus Christ granted to us the relics of Saints as a salvation-bearing source which pours forth varied benefits on the infirm. What are the varied benefits which come from the relics of the saints? In some cases miracles, particularly healings, have taken place at the tombs or reliquaries of the saints. As St Ephrem the Syrian observed in the fourth century, Even after death they act as if alive, healing the sick, expelling demons, and by the power of the Lord rejecting every evil influence of the demons. This is because the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit is always present in the holy relics. In some cases the bodies of the saints have been preserved incorrupt (without decay). In other cases relics have emitted a pleasing fragrance or exuded ointment. Believers see these occasions as evidence that deification is something that involves the body. The physical can be touched by the energies of God and participate in holiness. In the words of the kondakion, It is a great marvel indeed that healing should come forth from mere bones. Glory to the Creator, to God alone! Fragmentary relics are placed in the holy table when a church is consecrated. They are also found in every antimension used for the Divine Liturgy. Some icons have similar fragments in a small case embedded in them. Largely intact relics (skulls, limbs or even entire bodies) are generally preserved at the place where the saint lived. Thus the reputedly incorrupt relics of St. Gregory Palamas are kept in Thessalonika where he was bishop. Every year on this day they are brought forth in procession and placed before the bishop s throne in the cathedral for veneration. A Feast of the Holy Relics was formerly celebrated in the Latin Church on November 5 (or the Sunday after All Saints). It is still observed in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin rite, but not in the Ordinary (novus ordo) Form. It has been said that the work of the Church is to produce relics, because the primary work of the Church is to lead us to theosis, to communion and union with God. By venerating the relics of the saints the Churches of East and West proclaim its commitment to that work and to the presence of the Holy Spirit in it enabling it to bear fruit.
Letters of St Paul In the New Testament, fourteen letters, also called epistles, are ascribed to the apostle Paul. We will comment on the letters in the order in which they are normally printed in the English Bible and read in the Church s liturgical year., continuing the discussion next week. Galatians The letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, most likely the southern Galatians (Lystra, Derbe, Iconium), was sent from Antioch in the early fifties. In this most vehement epistle, the apostle Paul expresses his profound anger and distress at the fact that the Galatians, who had received the genuine gospel of Christ from him, had been seduced into practicing another gospel which held that man s salvation requires the ritual observance of the Old Testament law, including the practice of circumcision. The heart of this letter to the foolish Galatians (3:1) is St. Paul s uncompromising defense of the fact -that his gospel is not his but Christ s, the gospel of salvation not by the law, but by grace and faith in the crucified Savior Who gives the Holy Spirit to all who believe. The apostle stresses the fact that in Christ and the Spirit there is freedom from slavery to the flesh, slavery to the elemental spirits of the universe, and slavery to the ritual requirements of the law through which no one can be saved. For the true Israel of God (6:16) in Christ and the Spirit, there is perfect freedom, divine sonship and a new creation. Those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law. (5:18) The letter to the Galatians is included in the Church s liturgical lectionary, with the famous lines from the fourth chapter being the epistle reading of the Orthodox Church at the divine liturgy of Christmas. (4:4-7) This letter also provides the Church with the verse which is sung at the solemn procession of the liturgy of baptism and chrismation, and which also replaces the Thrice- Holy Hymn at the divine liturgies of the great feasts of the Church which were once celebrations of the entrance of the catechumens into the sacramental life of the Church. Ephesians For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27) The letters of St. Paul to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians are called the captivity epistles since they are held to have been written by the apostle from his house arrest in Rome around 60 A.D. In some early sources, the letter to the Ephesians does not contain the words who are at Ephesus, thus leading some to think of the epistle as a general letter meant for all of the churches.
St. Paul s purpose in the letter to the Ephesians is to share his insight into the mystery of Christ (3:4) and to make all men see what is the plan of the for ages in God Who created all things (3:9) In the first part of the letter, the apostle attempts to describe the mystery. He uses many words in long sentences, overflowing with adjectives, in his effort to accomplish his task. Defying a neat outline, the main points of the message are clear. The plan of God for Christ, before the foundation of the world, is to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth (1:10) The plan is accomplished through the crucifixion, resurrection and glorification of Christ at the right hand of God. The fruits of God s plan are given freely to all men by God s free gift of grace, to Jews and gentiles alike, who believe-in the Lord. They are given in the One Holy Spirit, in the One Church of Christ, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all: (1:23) In the Church of Christ, with each part of the body knit together and functioning properly in harmony and unity, man grows up in truth and in love to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (4:12-16) He gains access to God the Father through Christ in the Spirit thus becoming a holy temple of the Lord a dwelling place of God (2:18-22), filled with all the fullness, of God. (3:19) In the second part of the letter, St. Paul spells out the implications of the great mystery Christ and the Church. (5:32) He urges sound doctrine and love, a true conversion of life, a complete end to all impurity and immorality and a total commitment to spiritual battle. He addresses the Church as a whole; husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves. He calls all to put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (4:24) The letter to the Ephesians finds its place in the liturgical lectionary of the Church, with the wellknown lines from the sixth chapter being the epistle reading at the sacramental celebration of marriage. (5:21-33) Phillippians As we have mentioned, the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians was written at the time of his confinement in Rome. It is a most intimate letter of the apostle to those whom he sincerely loved in the Lord, those who were his faithful partners in the gospel from the first day until now. (1:5) In this letter, St. Paul exposes the most personal feelings of his mind and heart as he sees the approaching end of his life. He also praises the Philippian Church as a model Christian community in every way, encouraging and inspiring its beloved members whom he calls his joy and crown (4:1) with prayers that their love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that they may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with all the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ for the praise and glory of God. (1:10-11) Of special significance in the letter to the Philippians, besides the mention of bishops and deacons (1:1), which hints at the developing structure of the Church, is St. Paul s famous passage about the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ which is the epistle reading for the feast of the Nativity.
Prayer Requests Rev. Deacon John Karam Rev. Basil Samra Rev. Father David White Michael Abda Yolande Haddad Marie Barron Marylou Iandoli Joseph Barron Niko Mayashairo Mary Sue Betress Mary McNeilly Chris Carey Marie Patchoski Nikki Boudreaux Theodore Petrouchko Jr. Dr. Frances Colie Charles Simon John Colie Charlene Simpson Mark Dillman Ruth Sirgany Margaret Dillenburg James Shehadi Carol Downer Maryann Walsh Karen Haddad Jemille Zaydon All those Serving in our Armed Forces The Christian Community in the Middle East Parish Calendar February 17 Parish Council Meeting March 4-8 Lenten Mission Speaker Fr. Bob Simon 17 Parish Lenten Pot Luck after Divine Liturgy 18 Summer Festival Meeting after the Pot Luck 23 Lazarus Saturday: Children s day and Altar Server Retreat 7Sacrificial Giving 2/17/2013 Weekly $ 1100.00 Candles $ 3.00 Monthly $ 180.00 The Weekly Quiz In what city did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Bethesda Capernaum Nazareth Bethany Last Week s Answer Q. Which Old Testament prophet wrote: "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." A. Isaiah 6:1