Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Virigin Martyr Eulia of Barcelona
August 22, 2010 Tone 4
Epistle: 1 Cor. 16:13-24 Gospel: Matt. 21:33-42
Today’s Schedule
9:00AM Hours:
Greeters: Dot Federinko
9:30AM Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
His Grace Melchisedek, Bishop of Pittsburgh Presiding
Prosfora: Niki Galiatsatos
Epistle: Mark Pearson Chapel Cleaners:
Communion Aides:
11:00AM Blessing of Icons
11:15AM Memorial Ruse Topalov
11:20AM Fellowship—Topalov Family
Noon-5:00PM ICON EXHIBIT
Today’s Hymns
Resurrection Hymn [Tone 4]: When the women disciples of the Lord learned from the angel the joyous message of Thy Resurrection; they cast away the ancestral curse and elatedly told the apostles: Death is overthrown! Christ God is risen, granting the world great mercy!
Dormition Hymn [Tone 1]: In giving birth, you preserved your virginity! In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos! You were translated to life, O Mother of Life, and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!
Resurrection Hymn [Tone 4]: My Savior and Redeemer as God rose from the tomb and delivered the earthborn from their chains. He has shattered the gates of hell, and as Master, he has risen on the third day!
Dormition Hymn [Tone 2]: Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos, who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions. For being the Mother of Life, she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!
Prokeimenon [Tone 4]: O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom have You made them all!
Hymn to the Theotokos: The angels beheld the entrance of the Pure One and were amazed! How has the Virgin entered into the Holy of Holies? As you are a living Temple of God, let no impure hand touch you, O Theotokos! But let the lips of all believers sing, constantly magnifying you in joy with the angelic salutation: Truly you are above all creatures, O Pure One!
Epistle: Brothers and Sisters 1 Corinthians 16:13-24
Stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. I urge you, brethren; you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints; that you also submit to such, and to everyone who works and labors with us. I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for what was lacking on your part they supplied. For they refreshed my spirit and yours; therefore acknowledge such men. The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The salutation with my own hand; Paul. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-42
At that time, Jesus said, "Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
ICONS “An icon is an instrument for the transmission of Christian faith, no less than the written word. Through sacred imagery, the Holy Spirit speaks to us, revealing truths beyond the reach of words…The icon is not an end in itself but assists us in going beyond what can be seen with our physical eyes into the realm of mystical experience…A disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, made the comment: ‘He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus can hear even its silence.’…The icon is a work of theology written in line, images and color…The icon is not intended to force an emotional response. There is a conscious avoidance of movement or theatrical gesture. In portraying moments of biblical history, the faces of participants in the scene are rarely expressive of their feelings at the time as we might imagine them, but rather suggest virtues – purity, patience in suffering, forgiveness, compassion and love…The icon is a revelation of transfiguration. Like the Gospel texts, icons aim to transform the viewer.” (Jim Forest, Praying with Icons, pgs. 18-21)
ICONS “As the late Greek iconographer and philosopher Photios Kontaglou points out: ‘The purpose of Orthodox iconography is not simply to decorate the church for pleasure of the congregation. To the contrary, its purpose is to offer spiritual nourishment to the faithful. I use ‘spiritual’ in the Christian sense of the word. The ecclesiastical art of the Orthodox Church does not strive to delight our senses, but rather to sanctify our senses by offering the same holy nourishment we partake of during our divine services.’” (Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, The Ikon as Scripture, pg. 39)
THE BISHOP “Chrysostom’s description of the Episcopate’s relationship to the Flock of Christ has nothing to do with laziness and worldly honor. Rather, it is connected with leadership, presiding over the brethren, teaching, ordination, protection and authority. The bishop exemplifies all this as the leader of his sheep by carrying their burdens, bearing all their sins and taking the blame for them, never receiving pardon by his people for his sins, constantly exposing himself to their judgment, and protecting and safeguarding their souls even at the expense of his very own.” (Protopresbyter Gus George Christo, THE CHURCH’S IDENTITY; Established through Images according to Saint John Chrysostom, pgs. 180-181)
GOD GRANT THEM MANY YEARS
Birthday: Sarah Haas, Joshua Grieshop, Dennis McFarland, Jai Abraham, Candy Watt, Jon McIntosh, Mark Stokoe
Anniversary: Andy & Andrea Sharp
NO MATINS OR OFFICE HOURS this Monday, August 23, or Wednesday, August 24, as Fr. Ted will be in Chicago for the Diocesan Clergy Convocation.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED MAKE THE ICON EXHIBIT A SUCCESS We greatly appreciate all the support and help which so many people offered in making our Icon Exhibit a success. Special thanks to Mark Stokoe who helped conceive and plan the exhibit, produced the printed materials for the exhibit, and helped set up the exhibit. Also thanks to Paul and Lin Paslosky for helping to oversee security and hospitality and Tanya Pavlina for the Pysanky display. Thanks to everyone who contributed in any way to the exhibit and to welcoming our guests.
BIBLE STUDY AND ADULT EDUCATION
· FINDING HAPPINESS discussion group will not be meeting for three weeks and will next be meeting Wednesday, September 15 at 11:00AM when we’ll be discussing pages 145-160, the chapter on “Vanity.”
AUGUST CHARITY This month's charity is being given to a local Dayton woman who was paralyzed in an accident - she has reached the life time maximum of her health insurance policy, and so the policy was terminated. Both her car and home have been repossessed by the bank. She is in need of some funds to help her with purchasing some personal items for her day to day life in a nursing home. Please do remember in your prayers, those made destitute because of illness or injury, those in nursing homes who are wards of the state, those impoverished by disasters of any kind.
SUNDAY SCHOOL REGISTRATION The school year for our Sunday School and Jr./Sr. Youth Groups will be kicking off Sunday, September 12. To make sure we have an accurate accounting of the students who are planning on participating in the classes throughout the year we are asking that each student be “registered” by next Sunday, August 29. To register, please visit your student’s classroom and sign-up on the sheet posted on the door. Thank you.
YOUTH GROUP NEEDS YOUR HELP if you have converted to Orthodoxy. We will be enjoying a yearlong lecture series exploring various faiths (Christian or otherwise) and would love to have you come and speak to us about your former faith, why you converted, similarities/differences, etc. If you are interested, please speak with Mary Kay or Shane Smith or email office@stpdayton.org. Thank you!
REQUESTING VOLUNTEER FOR CHURCH SECRETARY As many of you know, Mary Kay Smith volunteered her time the last two years as the Church Secretary. She is now ready to pass this on to a new person. The position requires working at the church office Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting at 8:30 or 9:00 a. m. through 12 Noon (start time to be set by the Rector), for a total of 10 hours per week. The prime duty is formatting and publishing the Church Bulletin. This requires knowledge of Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel and to a lesser degree, Publisher. Please contact Mary Kay (office@stpdayton.org) or Brad Miter for more information and a detailed description of the requirements.
GREEK FESTIVAL Would you like to volunteer to work at the Greek Festival? Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church will be holding their annual Greek Festival, September 10, 11 and 12. If you would like to participate and work in a booth please call their church office at 224-0601. Someone will then contact you to schedule a shift. There is a $2 admission fee this year and anyone who works will get a pass for free admission. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
GREETER/WELCOME COMMITTEE MEETING to be held Sunday, September 12 following Liturgy. All interested are welcome to attend. If you have any questions, please speak with Wendy McGlaun. Thank you in advance for helping make our parish one that our members can be proud of and visitors want to visit again!
DONATIONS FOR ST. VINCENT DE PAUL Elizabeth Wiese is working on her Girl Scout bronze award and is collecting donations. The bronze award is the highest award a junior girl scout can earn. Her bronze award project is to help St. Vincent de Paul Women’s & Family Shelter by providing their residents with personal health care kits. She is asking for donations of items she needs to assemble the health care kits that will contain a small size soap, shampoo, shower shoes, razor, washcloth, etc. She is posting a complete list of items she needs on the bulletin board. There will be a box in the coat room. Collection will end next Sunday, August, Aug 29th. If you have any questions please ask Elizabeth or her mom Kerrie.
Notes from the 16 August Parish Council Meeting
Present: Fr. Ted, Jeff Wiese, Brad Miter, Paul Paslosky, Rob Wagner, Tatiana Liaugminas, Mike Polovino
The July Financial Report was not yet ready, so there was no discussion on it. Both the Connectedness and Spiritual Gifts Committees of HOPE (Helping Orthodox Parishioners to be Effective) are planning meetings soon to continue the mission of our parish. The parish is prepared both for this week’s Icon Exhibit and the visit of Bishop Melchisedek. For the Annual Parish Meeting on 14 November, three people have accepted nomination for Parish Council: Maria Brausch (who has agreed to become Parish Treasurer), Leonora Felon and Greg File (there are however 4 to be elected). Mike Scott has accepted nomination as Auditor (2 to be elected). Several others declined nomination. Council voted to accept a contract with IKON Office for a new copier which will actually reduce our monthly copier costs. Council revisited last month’s vote to discontinue funding the Emergency Medical Fund at the end of 2010, but after discussion agreed to stick with that decision. No new monies will be collected for this fund after December of this year. All existing monies will continue to be distributed according to the guidelines of the fund’s Committee members.
Council discussed at length the Proposed 2011 Budget which will is to be presented to the parish at the November 14 Annual Meeting. A growth budget was requested and put forward for discussion. This growth budget would raise our budget from $192,997.58 (2010 Adopted Budget) to $206,943.21 (2011 Proposed) – a 7.23% increase. Most of the increases deal with inflationary type increases. The single largest increase is a proposed hiring of a part time office assistant/secretary which would add $6,000.00 to the budget. Council did not come to a unanimous agreement on the proposed budget or on the hiring of a part time office assistant. Council members would like to hear feedback from parishioners about the proposed budget increase and hiring of an office assistant. To increase the budget would mean that income/pledges from parish members would have to increase as well. Are we ready for such growth as a parish? Is now (in uncertain economic times) the time for us to hire a part time assistant in order to facilitate further parish growth? Council members expressed strong arguments for and against the proposed budget increase and new hire. The input of all parish members to the Parish Council is welcomed. Do the times call for a cautious approach to the budget to keep parish finances strong? Please do offer your prayerful thoughts to any Parish Council member or to Fr. Ted.
FROM FR. TED’S BLOG
The Old and New Testaments (B) In the series on reading the Bible, with links to the other blogs in the series
PDF: Reading the Bible Means Opening a Treasury (1, 2 & 3) All of the blogs in the series as PDF documents
Monasticism: A Witness to Christ, Not the Norm for Christians Reflection on the role of monasticism in the Church
This Week’s Schedule
Monday, August 23 Martyr Lupus, slave of St. Demetrius (4th C)
2 Cor. 12:10-19 Mark 4:10-23
NO Matins
NO Office Hours
Tuesday, August 24 Hieromartyr Eutychius, disciple of St. John the Theologian (1st c.)
2 Cor 12:20-13:2 Mark 4:24-34
Wednesday, August 25 Holy Apostle Titus of the Seventy (1st c)
2 Cor. 13:3-13 Mark 4:35-41
NO Matins
NO Office Hours
Thursday, August 6 Martyrs Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia (4th)
Gal. 1:1-10, 20-2:5 Mark 5:1-20
Friday, August 27 Ven. Pœmen the Great (ca. 450)
Gal. 2:6-10 Mark 5:22-24, 35-6:1
8:30AM Matins
9:15AM Office Hours
Saturday, August 28 Righteous Anna the Prophetess, daughter of Phanuel (1st C)
1 Cor. 4:1-5 Matt. 23:1-12
11:00AM Baptism of Milos Opperman
7:00PM Vespers
Sunday, August 29 The Beheading of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John
Strict Fast
Acts 13:25-32 Mark 6:14-30
9:00AM Hours:
Greeters: Dot Federinko
9:30AM Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Prosfora: Dot Federinko
Epistle: Chapel Cleaners:
Communion Aides:
11:00AM Fellowship Hour