THEOPHANY 2017 January 2017 659
Spiritual Father: how to search, why do you need one, and what to do if you do not have one. How obligatory is the decision to become a spiritual child, does it leave us free? Which attitude towards the confessor is wrong? What to do if you do not have a spiritual father yet? Is it possible to have a "confessor by correspondence"? What if a husband and his wife have different spiritual fathers? Is it possible to change one confessor for another? What makes relationships between spiritual father and his spiritual child special? Here we are discussing these and other topics with an experienced pastor. Games of the spiritual life - Can it be dangerous if a person accustomed to ask his/her confessor about everything looses the ability to make their decisions and, most importantly, take responsibility for them? If the confessor blessed them then he is responsible for it... - There are very few people who would like to place both responsibility for their live and cure for them on their spiritual father. Sometimes there are some variants, curvatures, irregularities in relationship with a spiritual father. For example, when spiritual children ask questions about insignificant issues. Figuratively speaking "Bless me to go to the grocery store today, there is nothing left in my refrigerator." But more surprising is when people ask for a blessing before their trip, already having a ticket: " Could you bless me to go somewhere there during the Lent," In such cases the reply is the following: " Such a request is profanation. Spiritual father can only pray for you in your journey as you have already made your own decision. " It is more dangerous to be proud and being accustomed to solve problems on your own rather than not being able to make decisions. That s why it is good when people ask their spiritual father for a blessing. There are, of course, complicated issues when a person cannot give an answer to them. And a priest, by the grace of God, given to him from above, is able to give a very sound bit of advice. - It turns out that a person is not completely free as a spiritual child. Does he/she have certain responsibilities in relation to the spiritual father? - The same responsibilities of children with regard to their parents, but they are not burdensome. Nowadays we deal with the following situation: many young Christians who have a degree, sometimes 2 or 3 are too self-confident. Often, they consider themselves to be competent not only in those areas where they have professional knowledge, but also in the spiritual life where supposedly you can easily find way around. No, it is not really so. Father Ioann (Krestiankin) said the following about such people: "Today's children of the Church are very special... they come to spiritual life, burdened by years of a sinful life, having distorted ideas about good and evil. And familiar material truth will arise against the soul-reviving concept of Heavenly Truth <...> Salvific Cross <...> is rejected as a grievous burden. And, externally venerating the Great Cross of Christ Jesus and of His Passions, <...> people deftly and imaginatively stay away from their personal saving cross. And then begins a horrible substitution of the spiritual life with a game in the spiritual life. " - Where is a boundary between the eldership and relationship with a spiritual father? - Elders do not differ from ordinary confessors by insightfulness and ability to prophecy. These 2 qualities are certainly the qualities of elders. But eldership is more than that! Indeed, there are prophets among people who do not serve God, but the powers of evil and they can also foresee the future. The most important thing about the elders is the other: they are carriers of God's Love. Not a human love, which is often biased and false but Divine Love. And when you feel this Love, you know what it is - the Truth, and no other love can replace it. The elder are recognized by this Love all-covering, forgiving, non-irritating. The one which characteristics are described in the First Letter to the Corinthians, of Apostle Paul: Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. To be continued Faith, "FOMA in Ukraine", September 2016. (With the editor s changes)
PARISH LIFE: Important dates: January 5 th Eve of Theophany (NEW CALENDAR) January 6 th THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (NEW CALENDAR) January 7 th NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND GOD JESUS CHRIST (OLD CALENDAR) January 8 th Parish feast Yolka January 18 th - Eve of Theophany (OLD CALENDAR) January 19 th - THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (OLD CALENDAR) January 22 nd ANNUAL PARISH MEETING February 2 nd THE MEETING OF OUR LORD February 5 th PARISH FEAST DAY: THE MOST-HOLY THEOTOKOS RESCUER OF THE PERISHING 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 Nativity, New Year and Epiphany. God Infant Jesus Christ bless you all. He was incarnate for our salvation and true happiness. I am very thankful to you for your prayers, thanks to all of you who worked and are going to continue working hard during the Church cleaning, Christmas bazaar, Parish feast Yolka. I would like to share some good news with you. On the eve of the Nativity two great relics were donated to our church: a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God "Theotokos of Iverion" and a particle of a private band, consecrated on the holy belt of our Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. These relics are temporarily exhibited for veneration on the right side of our church, it s a place where for many years there was another relic of our church, an old triptych donated by the Yakovlev family. During the church cleaning we found out that the triptych is very damaged by the influence of time, and it was temporally removed for restoration. I would like to draw your attention to the January schedule: with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Benjamin, this year we will once again celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Epiphany (Theophany) according to both, the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Please share this information with your family and friends. As is customary in the Orthodox tradition at this time, after the Epiphany (Theophany), we shall bless our houses with the Holy Jordan water. As in the past, you may leave a message at the candle stand and set the time when I will be able to bless your house or apartment. This would give you the opportunity not only to bless your houses, but also to spend some time with me personally. God bless you! E-mail: frnazaripolataiko@gmail.com Mobile: 1 (818) 213-7176 Archpriest Nazari Polataiko. Theophany Home Blessings. A coupon (above the schedule of services in Russian) has been placed in this bulletin so that our parishioners can inform the Rector in advance of their desire to have their houses blessed with the Jordan Water, as is a yearly custom. Fr. Nazari will contact those who submit requests to the parish office and make the arrangements for a visit. From the Treasurer (August 2016): Dear parishioners, November financial results are: Income: $18,823.13 Expenses: $32.604.59 Net Loss: $13,781.46 I wish you a blessed Fast and joyous Nativity. As always I ask you to continue to support us financially and keep us in your prayers. We thank you all in advance for your generosity this Nativity season and look forward to reporting positive news about parish financial health at our general meeting in January. Margaret Dascalu Sisterhood News. At our December 4th Meeting it was approved to make our annual donations to the three seminaries in Pennsylvania, New York, and Alaska. We also are giving a donation to the St John Kronstadt Memorial Home. This year after the Nativity, for both the New and the Old Calendar we will serve traditional kutia, compote, cookies, coffee, tea and wine. Everyone is welcome to join us in the Parish Hall. We are always looking for more ladies to join us in our work helping our Cathedral by providing lunches, vestments and paraments, flowers, cleaning supplies, and anything else that is needed. Our dues are $25.00 yearly. Please come and be part of the Sisterhood. Irene Gregory Fundraising Committee Thanks to everyone for making our Bake Sale/Bazaar/ Luncheon event a successful one on Sunday, December 11th. We realized $3,300. All funds received are for the benefit of our parish. Thank you all again!
Kiosk-Bookstore CALENDARS! CALENDARS! We have Calendars! Yes, in the Parish Hall passageway you will find the Parish Vestal Calendars, both New Style and Bi-lingual Old Style. The parish is asking a $3.00 donation for those. IN THE KIOSK we also have calendars for sale! The first one is the ever popular St. Tikhon calendar, in English, New Style, with notations of major feast days dates on the Old Style. These calendars feature beautiful full color reproductions of well-known icons. This year, the featured icons are from Mount Sinai. St. Tikhon calendars are also known for listing the names and dates of well over a hundred icons of the Theotokos throughout the year as well as all the fast days. The second calendar we have is a Bi-lingual BI- CALENDAR calendar. ( Yes, you read that right, it is not a typo!) This calendar gives the Church dates for the New Style in black, and for Old Style in red, in both languages, and the fast days according to the Old Calendar. Father Nazari has ordered these for us from the Church of Christ the Saviour in San Francisco (OCA). This is the church that grew out of Bishop John (Shakhovskoy) of blessed memory's Housechurch, where many Russian speaking parishioners of Holy Trinity Cathedral found a spiritual home. There are still many parishioners here at Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral who well remember Bishop John when he was the ruling bishop of San Francisco. The calendar is full of sayings from Bp. John's book The Mystery of the Church on every page. For the experts of his writings alone this calendar is a keeper! Both of these calendars are for sale in the Kiosk for $10.25 each. Be sure to get your copy before they run out. We still have a few Pocket Planners as well, at the time of this writing. Sister Elizabeth Saturday school Parish feast "Yolka", prepared by the whole team of teachers and students of our school will be held on Sunday, January 8 th in the Parish Hall right after the morning Liturgy. The program includes a Christmas play "Zimushka-Zima" (from the fairy tale "Morozko"), the arrival of Father Frost and Snegurochka, games, gifts, refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Head of Studies, Irina Usova Sunday School. Dear parents and families, Sunday School classes in January will meet on 1/22 and 1/29. In February classes will be held on 2/12 and 2/26. Thank you for your support and prayers. Marie McEntire, Coordinator BAPTISMS: Irina Zhitomirsky... December 4 Nika Zhitomirsky... December 4 Many years! FUNERALS: Katherine Graf... December 9 Memory eternal Prayer Request list: Tatiana Simakova (in need of a donor kidney) 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 Contributions Leonid and Irene Gregory... 500 Anonymous in memory of Katherine Graf... 100 Asta Aristov in memory of Christopher Apostal... 100 Zinaida Shalygin for good health of all parishioners... 100 Anonymous in memory of Katherine Graf... 36
JANUARY 2017 1 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy of St. Basil Great The Lord s Circumcision; St. Basil the Great (new calendar) 3 Tue Meeting of FORUM; movie night 5 Thu 10:00 am Royal Hours and Vespers with the Liturgy of St. Basil Great w/great water Blessing Eve of Theophany (new calendar) 6 Fri 10:00 am 7 Sat 10:00 am LITURGY of St. John Chrysostom with Great Water Blessing LITURGY of St. John Chrysostom 8 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy Parish feast Yolka 10 Tue Meeting of FORUM; Reader George Abuelkhair Bible study Lecture 4 THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (NEW CALENDAR) Nativity Eve (old calendar) NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND GOD JESUS CHRIST (OLD CALENDAR) Synaxis of Most Holy Theotokos (old calendar) 14 Sat 15 вс 10.00 am Liturgy 30 th WEEK AFTER PENTECOST 17 Tue Meeting of FORUM; presentation (See next issue of the bulletin for more information) 18 Wed w/great water Blessing THEOPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD (OLD CALENDAR) 19 Thu 10:00 am LITURGY of St. John Chrysostom with Great Water Blessing 21 Sat 22 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy ANNUAL PARISH MEETING (after Liturgy) 31 st WEEK AFTER PENTECOST 24 Tue Meeting of FORUM 25 Wed 10:00 am Liturgy Martyr Tatiana (old calendar) 26 Thu Moleben to Theotokos followed by discussion 28 Sat 29 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy Zaccheus Sunday 30 Mon 10.00 am Liturgy Ven. Anthony the Great (old calendar) Synaxis of the three Holy Hierarchs: Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian (new calendar) 31 Tue Meeting of FORUM; presentation by Fr. Nazari
FEBRUARY 2017 1 Wed THE MEETING OF OUR LORD 2 Thu 10:00 am Liturgy 4 Sat HIERARCHIAL VIGIL 5 Sun 10:00 am HIERARCHIAL DIVINE LITURGY PARISH FEAST DAY: THE MOST-HOLY THEOTOKOS RESCUER OF THE PERISHING SUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEE Fast-Free week there is no fast during the week including Wednesday and Friday. 6 Mon 10:00 am Liturgy Ven. Xenia of St. Petersburg 7 Tue Meeting of FORUM; choir practice with Sergei Liberovsky 11 Sat 12 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON 14 Tue 7.00 pm Meeting of FORUM; see more details in the next issue Liturgy and general panikhida 18 Sat 10:00 am Soul Saturday 19 Sun 10:00 am Liturgy MEATFARE (LAST JUDGEMENT) SUNDAY 21 Tue 7.00 pm 25 Sat 10:00 am 26 Sun 10:00 am Meeting of FORUM; Reader George Abuelkhair Bible study Lecture 5 Liturgy Liturgy Vespers of Forgiveness Holy Ascetic Fathers; Iveron Icon of The Holy Theotokos CHEESEFARE (FORGIVENESS) SUNDAY 27 Mon 10:00 am 28 Tue 10:00 am Beginning of the Great Lent Gt. Lenten Hrs., Vespers Clean Monday Compline and Great Canon Gt. Lenten Hrs., Vespers Clean Tuesday Compline and Great Canon