January 2018 THEOPHANY 671
The Blessing of the House with Baptismal Water and How it is done On the blessing of the dwelling with baptismal water The Orthodox Church teaches us not to divide our lives into secular and spiritual, but to sanctify it all. We do not become Christians only for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, spending all other days and hours godlessly, that is, without God. A baptized person cannot be a "part-time" Christian, but he or she must remain faithful to Christ in the temple, at home, at work, in the family, in communion with the faithful, and with the faithless - in the fullness of his or her earthly life. The Holy Orthodox Church teaches us the following: "Do you not know that you are God s temple and that God s Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16); "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." (Col. 1:24); "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27). Therefore, as the Gifts of Holy Communion remain the Body of Christ both during the Divine and at the end of the service, and they are kept in the temple on the altar table in the tabernacle, so the Christian should care for the holiness of his life beyond the walls of the church and after the end of the divine service. The house of a Christian should be a small temple; work, labor for the glory of God; the family, a small church. The Orthodox Church helps a Christian consecrate his entire life and brings a shrine to every Christian home - a small temple. The church sanctifies the very foundation of the house, just like the foundation of a new church; a newly built house, like a new temple; and every year afterward, the church is blessed with baptismal water, and the priest brings the same water to the homes of the faithful. The prayers of the consecration of the temple, of course, differ from the prayers of the blessing of the house, since the functional purposes of the temple and the house differ, but the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit is one and the same. And as the Baptism of Christ washed and purified the universe, so Christians every year after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord sanctify themselves and their homes with the baptismal water. The Church teaches us to bless everything: houses, work places, all our endeavors and the fruits of our labors. And as the sanctified temple and church vessels should never be used for anything other than serving God, so also a Christian blessed by the baptismal water, and his dwelling, and all his or her deeds - should not be the dwelling of sin and the deeds of Satan, but only the temple of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the will of the Holy Father. Therefore, the Church sanctifies everything that can be found in the house; and if anything is unworthy of sanctification, then it is not worthy in general to be in a Christian home and in a Christian s life. Often the priest is asked: "What is the cost of blessing the house, baptism or another service or consecration?". The prayer of the Church is priceless; it cannot be bought or sold. The Church equally sanctifies the life and home of every Christian, regardless of their material wealth. However, it is necessary to remember the obvious: when we bless our houses or come to perform other services, it is not only Angels coming, but with them the clergy who are people the same as us, and they do need to take care of their families. Therefore, it is customary to thank the priests for their time and work. The size of this gift, of course, depends solely on our capabilities. How do we sanctify a house with baptismal water? For a complete blessing of a new house and for its annual blessing with baptismal water, no doubt it is necessary to approach the parish priest. In a traditional parish setting on the day of the Feast of the Epiphany, priests could walk around to the houses of all parishioners and bless them with baptismal water. In our situation in the United States, where parishioners often live several miles from the temple, it is important to contact the priest in advance in order to bless the house and find the right time for it. It also maybe helpful to organize blessing your house in concert with other parishioners who live in your neighborhood.
For the annual blessing of the house it is necessary to prepare a small table covered with a clean tablecloth, candles, and a container with holy water in front of the icons. For a complete blessing of a new home, you will also need a small amount of pure olive oil. Although often parishioners would like to invite a priest to stay for lunch or dinner after the blessing of the house, it must be remembered that after blessing several houses in a row, the priest is simply physically unable to have lunch or dinner several times. Do not be embarrassed if the priest has to rush - prolonged spiritual conversations with a cup of tea are very important, but it is equally important to find a suitable time for them another day or to make sure that the priest will have time after blessing your house. (written by Priest Sergyi Sveshnikov) PARISH LIFE: Important dates: January 6 th - THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (Gregorian calendar) January 7 th - NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND GOD JE- SUS CHRIST (Julian calendar) January 7 th - Parish Feast day Yolka January 14 th Nativity Carol Concert January 19 th - THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (Julian calendar) January 21 st Parish council meeting January 28 th Annual fundraising concert in memory of S. Rachmaninoff February 3 rd MEETING OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE (Gregorian calendar) February 4 th Annual Parish meeting February 10-11 th PARISH FEAST DAY: THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS RESCUER OF THE PERISH- ING FEBRUARY 15 TH - MEETING OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE (Julian calendar) Feruary 19 th beginning of the Great Lent February 25 th SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY From the Desk of Fr. Nazari. Dear Brothers and Sisters, From the bottom of my heart I would like to greet you on the occasion of New Year and Theophany. May newly born Jesus Christ bless you all with a successful new year and prayerful and joyous festivities. I m very thankful for your generous donations to our Fundraisers, your hard work during our church pre-nativity cleaning, bake sale and Christmas bazaar and those who are still working to prepare the Yolka celebration. I would like to draw to your attention that, starting the first week of December, our Cathedral Children s Choir (C3) will be singing during Divine on Sunday. And even though lots of kids in this choir attend our Saturday School, this parish choir welcomes every child who is willing to sing. Therefore, after their regular Sunday participation, rehearsals will be conducted not only on Saturdays at 3:15 pm, but also on Sundays. For more information please contact Zoe Turton (C3 English Director) via email: tricia.turton@gmail.com and see the posters on our notice boards and doors. I would like to share more good news with you. As you recalled last year right about this time we had to remove an antique triptych donated by Yakovlev family, for restoration. All restoration work was finally completed and this beautiful renewed icon once again can be venerated at our cathedral. Just as last year Lord blessed us with the gifts before the Feast of His Nativity this year we received a gift of reliquary with the relics of Grt. Martyr Barbara and an antique icon with a particle of the relics of St. Nicolas the Wonderworker. These relics will be displayed for permanent veneration at our Cathedral. I think at this point I don t have to make a special announcement that it became a tradition that Nativity is celebrated both in the Julian and Gregorian calendars at our cathedral. Please share this information with your relatives and friends and check the schedule on our website www. hvmla.org. Once again I want to remind you that at this Liturgical season after the feast of Theophany, traditionally we bless our houses and apartments with Holy Water. If you d like to know more about it please read the article by Priest Sergyi Sveshnikov at the beginning of this bulletin. As in the past, you may leave a request note at the candle stand or fill in the attached coupon (see Russian version of the bulletin) to set the time when I ll be able to come and bless your house or apartment. It will give you an opportunity not only to bless your house or apartment but also to spend some time with your parish priest and discuss the issues you want to mention in the setting of your home. May God bless you. E-mail: frnazaripolataiko@gmail.com Cell: (818) 213-7176 Archpriest Nazari Polataiko From the Treasurer I want to thank everybody who participated in our security system fundraiser, we are really almost there. We raised
$17,800 but we still need $2,200. I hope we will be able to close this gap before new year. Margaret Dascalu Starosta report I am inviting all members of our parish to the annual meeting to be held on Sunday February 4 th, 2018. It is impotant that we all take an active part discussing and approving the proposed 2018 budget and electing new members to the Parish Council. You will be able to make suggestions and recommendations of ways to help our Church. Your involvement and commitment are very much needed. Wishing all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Alla Bobrov Sisterhood news December was a busy time for the Sisterhood. We provided the piroshki for the Fall Festival, and many of our members donated tasty dishes to help make it a success. Cleaning of the Church for Nativity, is always a big job. At the present time we are in the process of getting bids to purchase and install an air conditioning unit in the kitchen. Last summer was extremely hot and our ladies cooking the Sunday luncheons only had a small fan to cool the room. We are also planning to repair a portion of the terrazzo floor in the kitchen. With the new year coming we are inviting more ladies to join us and become members. There are many things we do to help our Cathedral. Irene Gregory Fundraising Committee would like to inform you about the annual fundraising concert in memory of Sergey Vasilievich Rakhmaninoff which will take place on January 28 th at 2:00 pm. Please read about the details in the flyer enclosed with this bulletin. Fundraising Committee Kiosk-bookstore By the time this reaches you, we will have celebrated the Feast of the Nativity on the Gregorian calendar, but there is still time to shop in the kiosk for gifts for the feast on the Julian calendar, as well as for the Children's Yolka. Please consider giving the gift of an icon, or a book of spiritual reading, or one of the many things Fr. Nazari has brought back to us from Moscow and from the Holy Mountain of Athos in his recent pilgrimage. They are well chosen items that are beautiful, reasonably priced and not easily obtained from vendors here in the United States, which will make them a very thoughtful and special gift-icons, incense, incense burners, diptychs, triptychs, small guardian angel icons for a child's bedtable, votives, calendars, CDs, wooden eggs on stands, Nativity ornaments, wall and neck crosses...too many for me to remember them all! Oh yes, Nativity cards and calendars.. Yes, we are in the process of packing up for the impending move of the kiosk, but I am trying to leave all of the above until last, so if you are interested in anything in particular, let us know and we will set it aside as we pack. I realize it is inconvenient to have much of the kiosk boxed up at this time of year, but it needs to be done. So please help us out by shopping for Nativity gifts as soon as you can. We have a wonderful selection of things not to be found in a shopping mall!! As always, I invite you to Come and See! Sister Elizabeth Saturday School Parish feast day "Yolka", prepared by our students, teachers and parents' committee, will be held on Sunday, January 7th, 2018 shortly after the morning. Children's performance will be held in the Parish Hall. The program includes a Christmas play "12 Months", the arrival of Father Frost and Snegurochka (with gifts for all children), and everyone will be offered refreshments. Any donations for benefit of our school and parish are encouraged. Everyone is welcome! Irina Usova, Coordinator Sunday School Dear parents and families, A blessed Nativity feast from the Sunday School staff! Classes will meet in January on 1/14 and 1/28. February classes will be held 2/11 and 2/25. We look forward to seeing the children on those days. Marie McEntire, Coordinator BAPTISMS: FUNERALS: Dinil Shevtsov.......November 18 th Mark Handzii.......December 2 nd Maria Gold....... December 3 rd Ariana Gold....... December 3 rd Gabriella Ovodoff....... December 10 th Lev Telegin....... December 15 th Many years! Oleksandr Moroz.......October 26 th Kapitolina Masche.......December 15 th Memory eternal!
Prayer Request list: Irene Gregory, Marina Dobis (in need of a donor kidney), Mary Kokayko, Alexander, Maria, Elena, Theodore, Ann Brown The Parish Council Would Like to Thank the Following Persons for their BUILDING Fund and CENTENNIAL Fund Contributions Dr. James Gibons and Elena Gibbons for good health of Father Nazari and Matushka Tatiana... 100 Liana and Nina Vertelkina in memory of Nina Plautin... 100 Nicolas and Nadechda Shkrebtan... 50 JANUARY 2018 2 Tue 10:00 am St. John of Kronstadt Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 5 Fri 10:00 am Royal Hours, of St. Basil the Great Eve of Theophany (Gregorian calendar) Vigil w/great Water Blessing THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD 6 Sat 10:00 am of St. John Chrysostom (Gregorian calendar) w/great Water Blessing Eve of Nativity (Julian calendar) 7 Sun Vigil NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND GOD 10:00 am JESUS CHRIST (Julian calendar) 12:00 noon Parish Feast Day Yolka 8 Mon 10:00 am Synaxis of All Holy Theotokos (Julian calendar) 9 Tue Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 13 Sat Vigil 14 Sun 10:00 am 3:00 pm Nativity Carol Concert 32 nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 16 Tue Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 18 Thu Vigil w/great Water Blessing THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD 19 Fri 10:00 am w/great water Blessing (Julian calendar) 20 Sat Vigil 21 Sun 10:00 am 2:00 pm Parish Council meeting ZACCHEUS SUNDAY 23 Tue Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 25 Thu 10:00 am St. Martyr Tatiana 27 Sat Vigil 28 Sun 10:00 am 2:00 pm 30 Tue 10:00 am Annual fundraising concert in memory of S. Rachmaninoff Fast Free Week January 28 th February 3rd SUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE St. Anthony the Great Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing
FEBRUARY 2018 1 Thu Vigil 2 Fri 10:00 am MEETING OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE (Gregorian calendar) 3 Sat Vigil 4 Sun 10:00 am Annual Parish Meeting SUNDAY OF PRODIGAL SON 6 Tue 10:00 am St. Xenia of Petersburg Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 10 Sat 10:00 am 11 Sun 10:00 am and Panikhida HIERARCHICAL VIGIL HIERARCHICAL DIVINE LITURGY Vigil Memorial Saturday PARISH FEAST DAY: THE MOST-HOLY THE- OTOKOS RESCUER OF THE PERISHING MEATFARE SUNDAY Sunday of Last Judgement 12 Mon 10:00 am Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom 13 Tue Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 15 Thu 10:00 am MEETING OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE (Julian calendar) 17 18 Sat Sun 10:00 am 10:00 am and Panikhida Vigil Vespers of forgiveness Commemoration of Righteous Monastics Tikhvin Icon of Mother of God CHEESEFARE SUNDAY FORGIVENESS SUNDAY 19 Mon 9:00 am 20 Tue 9:00 am 21 Wed 9:00 am 22 Thu 9:00 am Grt. Lenten Hrs., Vespers Grt. Lenten Hrs., Vespers Grt. Lenten Hrs., of Presanctified Gifts Grt. Lenten Hrs., Vespers 23 Fri 6:00 pm Grt. Lenten Hrs., of Presanctified Gifts 24 Sat Vigil 25 Sun 10:00 am of St. Basil Beginning of the Great Lent Clean Monday Clean Tuesday Clean Wednesday Clean Thursday Clean Friday 1 st Sunday of Great Lent: SUNDAY OF ORTHO- DOXY place will be announced later Vespers of Sunday of Orthodoxy 27 Tue Akathist before the icon of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos Rescuer of the Perishing 28 Wed 9:00 am Grt. Lenten Hrs., of Presanctified Gifts Ap. Onesimus PLEASE CHECK AN UPDATED SCHEDULE ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.HVMLA.ORG