Parish Bulletin – September 9th, 2012

14TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

TONE 5

HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS ANCESTORS OF GOD JOACHIM AND ANNA

Galatians 6:11-18, II Corinthians 1:21-2:4
John 3:13-17, Matthew 22:1-4

Choir Director: Veronika

Welcome

We welcome you to the Orthodox Church. Please feel at ease and free to participate in the singing. As a visitor you are welcome to come forward at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy and venerate the Cross offered by the priest. Additionally you may receive the blessed bread (Antidoron) that is offered at that time. If you have questions or would like further information, the priest or one of the members of the parish will be pleased to help.

A word to our visitors on Holy Communion

The Orthodox Church does not practice open Communion. Therefore, only members of Canonical Orthodox Churches exercising jurisdiction in America may approach the Chalice for Holy Communion. The Orthodox do not regard Holy Communion solely as an act of personal piety, but also as an expression of union with the Orthodox Church’s faith, doctrine, and discipline. Orthodox visitors wishing to receive Holy Communion should make their intention known to the priest in advance — ask any member of the parish for help in relaying your intention to the priest. Orthodox Christians should prepare themselves to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion through recent Confession, prayers of preparation for Holy Communion, and fasting (at minimum, from midnight before receiving).

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” – I Corinthians 11:27

TROPARIA AND KONTAKIA

Troparion – Tone 4, Feast

Thy nativity, O Virgin, has proclaimed joy to the whole Universe! The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone from Thee, O Theotokos! By annulling the curse, he bestowed a blessing. By destroying death, He has granted us eternal life.

Kontakion – Tone 4, Feast

By thy nativity, O Most Pure Virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve from the corruption of death. And we, Thy people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to Thee: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life!

Troparion – Tone 1, Righteous ones

Since you were righteous under the Law of Grace, O Joachim and Anna, ye gave birth to the God-given infant for our sake. Therefore, the divine Church radiantly keeps feast today, joyfully celebrating your honorable memory and giving glory to God who has raised up a horn of salvation from the house of David.

Kontakion – Tone 2, Righteous ones

Anna is now no longer barren and nourishes the All-pure One! She rejoices and calls us all to sing a hymn of praise to Christ, Who from her womb gave mankind the only ever Virgin Mother.

Opportunities to give:

➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project

➢ The parish is looking to purchase new vestments for altar servers. Please give designated donation if you would like to contribute.

➢ Check with Stavroula regarding current material needs of the mission (olive oil, stamps, napkins, printing paper, etc.)

Announcements:

• Please continue to sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
• No Adult Education Class this week. They will resume again the following week, September 19^th.
• On Wednesdays when we DO have Adult Education Class, Fr. Andreas will be available for Confession an hour prior to Vespers (i.e. 5 pm)
• Choir practice on Saturday, 5.00 pm.

Service Schedule this Week:

Wednesday – 6.00 pm, Vespers

Thursday – 6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy,  6.00 pm, Great Vespers with Litya

Friday –  6.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy – Exaltation of the Cross

Saturday – 6.00 pm, Great Vespers

Sunday – 8.40 am, Hours, Divine Liturgy

Confession after Vespers or by appointment!

Other Activities Next Week:

• Saturday, 5.00 PM – Choir practice

Bulletin Insert (OCA Department of Education):

On September 9th we remember three saints of the Church who experienced great anguish in their lives, for different reasons. But the three also received the compassion, and comfort, that God gives.

Joachim and Anna were, of course, the parents of Mary the Mother of God. Joachim was descended from King David, and Anna was the daughter of a priest. They were devout, and offered much of their income to the Temple and for the relief of the poor. But before their child’s birth, which happened late in their lives, they lived through long, lonely years of being without any children.

This was not only a source of sorrow, but also of humiliation and rejection. One time when they had traveled to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice in the Temple, the high priest said haughtily to Joachim, “You are unworthy to offer sacrifice with your childless hands.” Others pushed Joachim aside, and he and Anna were forced to leave the Temple and make the journey home in deep sadness. So God’s compassion, answering their fervent prayers with the birth of Mary, was especially sweet to this couple.

On this day we also remember the Blessed Nicetas, called “Man of God” and also “the Hidden.” This latter name refers to his spiritual efforts, which were extraordinary but unseen and unknown by those around him. Even though he lived in the busy city of Constantinople and was surrounded by people all day, he found time for intense prayer and secret good works that brought him very close to God.

Among the blessings he received during his holy life, Nicetas was once able to ease another man’s anguish and call down God’s compassion on him. This other man, a deacon named Sozon, had quarreled with a priest. They never resolved their argument, and the priest died. Sozon was grief-stricken at having let the rift continue until it was too late.

Sozon’s guilty conscience led him, eventually, to Nicetas, who was able to call the priest back from the dead so that he and Sozon could be reconciled. The miracle took place at night, in the church of the Blachernae Mother of God in Constantinople. After Sozon and the priest embraced each other, Nicetas disappeared from his sight; once again he became “Nicetas the Hidden.” For the rest of his life, Sozon was free of the anguish of an unresolved quarrel.

In 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4, a reading for this day, Saint Paul also speaks about being in anguish. He had already had one painful visit to the Corinthian church, and was reluctant to make another, so he had instead written a rather harsh letter: “For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.”

Paul, too, was grateful for God’s compassion which eased his anguish. He writes in 7:4, “[Even] with all our affliction, I am overjoyed.”