The Fast of the Apostles:
On being sent into the world
Adapted from an essay by Dr. Alexander Roman

The Apostles’ Fast is one that was actually engaged in by the Disciples of Christ following the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Having rejoiced throughout the fifty days following Pascha, the Resurrection of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Apostles began to prepare for their departure from Jerusalem to carry Christ’s message to the far corners of the world. As part of their preparation, they began a fast with prayer to ask God to strengthen their resolve and to be with them in their missionary undertakings.

It is this fast that we ourselves participate in when we observe the Apostles’ Fast.  But we do this not only because we honor the Apostles and their sacrifice.  We do this by way of preparing ourselves to be sent as missionaries into our world to reflect and radiate Christ to those around us. Somewhere along the line, we seem to have disconnected ourselves from the Apostles.  We’ve placed them on a very high plane so that we may admire them and their spirituality while, at the same time, effectively preventing ourselves from ever having anything to do with it as far as our own personal lives are concerned. When Christ asked his sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane why they could not watch and pray with Him for one hour, He was actually giving all of us some real practical advice on how much time we should be spending in prayer at a minimum. Yet, today we think that His words were only for His apostles and disciples, for those who made a radical commitment to follow Him until the end of their days.  And we think that this has nothing to do with us! How wrong we are!

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Thank you, Mary Dibs & Afifa Artoul! 11 Ladies attend the Bible Study on May 31, 2012.
God bless you all!!!

MAY 27TH, 2012
Holy Fathers of the 1st Council of Nicaea

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (17:1-13)
At that time, Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee, since Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom Thou hast given Him. And this is eternal life that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent. I glorified Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and now, Father, glorify Thou Me in Thy own presence with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made. I have manifested Thy Name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they know that everything that Thou hast given Me is from Thee; for I have given them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from Thee; and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine; all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name, which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one. While I was with them, I kept them in Thy Name, which Thou have given Me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”
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Sunday Bulletin - May 27, 2012

Thank you to all the ladies who worked hard to make it a very special day!

SUNDAY OF THE BLIND MAN
HOLY MARTYRS THALLELAIOS OF CILICIA, NIKOSTRATOS & ANTIOCHOS

The Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. (16:16-34)
In those days, as we Apostles were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying.  She followed Paul and us, crying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”  And this she did for many days.  But Paul was annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I charge you in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”  And it came out that very hour.  But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the rulers; and when they had brought them to the magistrates they said, “These men are Jews and they are disturbing our city.  They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”  The crowd joined in attacking them; and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.  And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.  Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.  But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  And immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s fetters were unfastened.  When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.  But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”  And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”  And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family.  Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them; and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.

Alleluia Verses (Psalm 88:1,2): “I will sing of thy mercies, O Lord, for ever. For you said: ‘Mercy shall be built up forever.’ ”

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (9:1-38)
At that time, when Jesus was passing, He saw a man blind from his birth.  And His Disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.  I must work the works of Him Who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  As He said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” [which means Sent].  So he went and washed and came back seeing.  The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?”  Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.”  He said, “I am the man.”  They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”  He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.”  They said to him, “Where is He?”  He said, “I do not know.”  They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.  Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight.  And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?”  There was a division among them.  So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about Him, since He has opened your eyes?”  He said, “He is a prophet.”  The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?”  His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.”  His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.”  So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.”  He answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  They said to him, “What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?”  He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you too want to become His disciples?”  And they reviled him, saying, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He comes from.”  The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel!  You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him.  Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?”  And they cast him out.  Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”  He answered, “And Who is He, Sir that I may believe in Him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks to you.”  He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped Him.
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Sunday Bulletin - May 20, 2012

SUNDAY OF ST. PHOTINI, THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John (4:5-42)
At that time, Jesus came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?”  Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”  The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshipped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.”  Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, “What do you wish?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”  So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”  They went out of the city and were coming to him.

Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”  So the disciples said to one another, “Has any one brought him food?”  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.  He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”  So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of his word.  They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Sunday Bulletin - May 13, 2012

Listen to a sermon delivered May 6, 2012.
If you have multimedia player installed, simply click on the link below and it will play automatically.

May 6, 2012

SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC
HOLY PROPHET JOB

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles (9:32-42)
In those days, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda.  There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed.  And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.  And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Now there was at Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.  In those days she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.  Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him entreating him, “Please come to us without delay.”  So Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing tunics and other garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.  But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, rise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.  And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then calling the saints and widows he presented her alive.  And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Alleluia Verses (Psalm 30:1) Tone 3: In you, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be ashamed. Be my God and protector.

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John (5:1-15)
At that time, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes.  In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water: for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and troubled the water: whoever stepped in first after the troubling of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” but he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.  Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
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Sunday Bulletin - May 6, 2012

Pastor’s Column

Christ is Risen!

As we enjoy this most glorious Paschal season, we should reflect on the great joy that infuses our services during this time. We sing “Christ is Risen…” to open and close all services, and we continue to greet one another with the Paschal greeting for forty days. This is much more than a simple custom. Rather, this is the affirmation of the central belief of the Christian Faith. Christ is Risen and has defeated death by death, opening a way to the resurrection for all. The grave is no longer the final word for mankind. Instead, God, in his love, sends his only-begotten Son to die for our sins and to burst the bonds of Hades through his holy Resurrection.

This underscores a very important aspect of the Christian Faith: The Church is founded not on a set of principles, or even morals, but on the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of the Godhead. Jesus did not say “I know the way, the truth and the life.”, but rather “I am the Way the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:9). In Christ we have new and eternal life. In Christ we have reconciliation with the Heavenly Father, and have the perspective of the Kingdom of heaven. This is one of the things communicated in our worship. The importance of caring for the poor, loving the neighbor, storing up treasure in heaven: these are the values of the kingdom. The true Christian, because of the resurrection, loves the whole creation. He does not abuse the creation and equally he does not confuse the creation with the Creator. He recognizes that the world is good, but that its goodness is distorted by sin, and needs redemption. The Risen Christ is the Redeemer of Creation and upon his Coming in the final day, Creation will be renewed, without “natural” disasters or disease, and of course without death. We both live for that Day and are the witnesses of its coming. Our witness is to live out (and even sometimes to speak about) the Crucified and Risen Christ.

Let us therefore rejoice in the Resurrection, because in it we are freed from the frustration of life in this fallen world. We know that the world will be renewed and that all that is tragic, evil and wrong will be swept away. At the same time we can partake of the kingdom to come through our life with Christ.  As it says in one of the hymns from the Paschal Canon:

“Come, let us on this famous day of Resurrection participate in the kingdom of Christ, and the new fruit of the Vine which is for divine rejoicing. Praise him; for he God forevermore.”

Let us adore his third-day resurrection!
Fr. Michael

The Apostle, May 2012 Newsletter