Parish Bulletin – March 24, 2013
SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY
FOREFEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION
TONE 1
Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2
John 1:43-51
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 from the Triodion, in Tone II:
We venerate Thy holy icon, loving Lord, / asking Thee to pardon our transgressions, Christ our God. / For Thou of Thine own will wast pleased in the flesh to ascend upon the Cross, / so to deliver from the bondage of the enemy those whom Thou hast fashioned. / Therefore in thanksgiving we cry aloud to Thee: / Thou hast filled all things with joy, our Saviour, // when Thou hast come to save the world.
Kontakion from the Triodion, in Tone VIII:
The uncircumscribed Word of the Father became circumscribed, / taking flesh from thee, O Theotokos, / and He has restored the sullied image to its ancient glory, filling it with the divine beauty. /This our salvation we confess in deed and word, // and we depict it in the holy icons.
Opportunities to give:
➢ Food donations to the Ashland Food Project
Announcements:
- Please sign up for coffee fellowship/kitchen cleanup.
- Ss. Peter and Paul Men’s Fellowship will meet this Tuesday, at 6.00 PM at the Newman Center. Welcome!
- There will be a Lenten Potluck after the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on every Wednesday night. Please bring a dish to share.
- Feel free to hand in your commemorations along with prosphora for the Proskomedia. Please hand them in as early as possible, preferably before the Liturgy starts. Read the instructions in the breezeway if you have any questions.
- Vesperal Liturgy for Holy Annunciation will be celebrated tomorrow (Monday), at 7.00 am. Welcome!
- Our parish is invited to Missions Vespers next Sunday (March 31) at Ss. Cyril And Methodius Orthodox Church in Chico, CA. Please let Fr. Andreas know if you are interested in going. We will leave right after the Sunday fellowship meal.
Confession after services or by appointment!
Other Activities Next Week:
- Tuesday, 6.00 PM – Ss. Peter and Paul Men’s Fellowship
- Saturday, 3.00 PM – Choir practice
Service Schedule this Week
Monday, 7.00 AM – Vesperal Liturgy (Annunciation)
Wednesday, 6.00 PM – Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
Friday, 7.00 AM – Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
Saturday, 6.00 PM – Great Vespers
Sunday, 8.30 AM – Akathist, Hours, Divine Liturgy
Also Sunday, Missions Vespers at Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Chico, CA (6.00 PM)
St. John Chrysostom on Fasting (Part 1)
“Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, becomes useless because of the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of the body which is to take it, the weather conditions and the season of the year and the appropriate diet of the sick and many other things. If any of these things are overlooked, the medicine will do more harm than good. So, if one who is going to heal the body needs so much accuracy, when we care for the soul and are concerned about healing it from bad thoughts, it is necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail.
Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by.
In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others.
You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: “If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves.”
You did not thrust your teeth into the flesh (of your neighbor) but you thrusted bad talk in his soul; you wounded it by spreading disfame, causing unestimatable damage both to yourself, to him, and to many others.
If you cannot go without eating all day because of an ailment of the body, beloved one, no logical man will be able to criticize you for that. Besides, we have a Lord who is meek and loving and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. Because he neither requires the abstinence from foods, neither that the fast take place for the simple sake of fasting, neither is its aim that we remain with empty stomachs, but that we fast to offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from secular things. If we regulated our life with a sober mind and directed all of our interest toward spiritual things, and if we ate as much as we needed to satisfy our necessary needs and offered our entire lives to good works, we would not have any need of the help rendered by the fast. But because human nature is indifferent and gives itself over mostly to comforts and gratifications, for this reason the philanthropic Lord, like a loving and caring father, devised the therapy of the fast for us, so that our gratifications would be completely stopped and that our worldly cares be transferred to spiritual works. So, if there are some who have gathered here and who are hindered by somatic ailments and cannot remain without food, I advise them to nullify the bodily ailment and not to deprive themselves from this spiritual teaching, but to care for it even more.” (To be continued)
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