Listen to a sermon delivered January 8 2012.
If you have multimedia player installed, simply click on the link below and it will play automatically.

January 8, 2012

Please watch a wonderful 60 Minutes broadcast of their visit to the Orthodox monastic community of Mount Athos in Greece. It was originally broadcast on April 24, 2011 and repeated on Christmas day.

Thanks to Nader Qoborsi for sharing this link.

Fr Michael

Here is the calendar of upcoming FOCUS Orange County efforts. Please support this local Orthodox Christian charity!

·       Jan 12; FOCUS OC 2012 Fundraising Planning Meeting 7pm@ FOCUS OC in Westminster
All are welcome that would like to help raise funds in 2012 please come.

·       Jan 19; FOCUS OC Monthly Ministry Team Meeting, 7pm @ FOCUS OC in Westminster
All are welcome that would help FOCUS in one of the ministry areas; career counseling, food bank team, food delivery team, prayer team, grant & administration team, and warehouse operations

·       Jan 22; FOCUS OC Health Kit Assembly (see attached list) @ St. Mark

·       Jan 29; St. Mark Feeding at Valencia Inn
We need your help preparing some food at home, and helping out in the kitchen from noon to 4pm.  A local Girl Scout Troop will be providing volunteers for the evening meal.   We need 4-5 families to prepare rice at home.

·       Apr 7; AYUDA Dental Clinic for Homeless at the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim, Beach & Lincoln.  Volunteer Dentists will be providing full dental services for 100 children, dental cleaning & fluoride service for 500 children and adults.  The Boys & Girls Club will be providing breakfast for 1,500 attendees.  AYUDA Inc. is a 501.c.3 nonprofit corporation that provides full dental services to at risk and underserved children.  Services are provided at no charge from Dentists, faculty and students of the U.S.C. Dental School, while local sponsors provide funding for necessary dental  supplies.  AYUDA has asked St. Mark to provide $1,500 for reimbursable supplies for the clinic.  Donations should be made to St. Mark, ATTN:  AYUDA.

Thanks and God bless,
Roger and Carol Tierney

Happy New Year! Thanks, again, to those who have made their 2012 Pledge Commitment to St. Mark. As of December 29th, we have achieved 60% of our goal. This represents 84 pledges from our goal of 180 total pledges. We only need 40% more pledges to come in to reach our goal! If you haven’t made your pledge commitment yet then please take a few minutes today to fill out and return your pledge form (extra forms are next to our pledge box in the Hall or download and print form online - link below).

A message from your Stewardship Committee:
Life that is truly life belongs to those who are unselfish givers. Giving is an indicator of your unselfishness and an outward litmus test of the inner condition of your heart. “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11)

You contributions should come in four (4) ways:

1. Completion of payment of your 2011 Stewardship Pledge to St. Mark Church.
2. Payment of your 2012 Archdiocese/Diocese Dues of $130.0 per family, to be included as a part of your 2012 Stewardship Pledge to St. Mark Church.
3. Pledging and payment of your 2012 Stewardship Pledge to St. Mark Church.  The 2012 Pledge and Census Cards are now available for your use.
4. Pledging of your time and talents to St. Mark Church and participating in the committees and organizations established at St. Mark Church.   We need your time, talents and participation.

Print 2012 Pledge Card:

2012 Pledge Card

JANUARY 1, 2012
FEAST OF BASIL THE GREAT, CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD

The reading from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians (2:8-12)
Brethren, see to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Alleluia Verses (Psalms 79:1, 36:30) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel.  The mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom.

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke (2:20-21, 40-52) 
At that time, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.

And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”  And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.
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Saint of the Day
Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesaria

St Basil was born in the year 330 at Caesarea, the administrative center of Cappadocia. He was of illustrious lineage, famed for its eminence and wealth, and zealous for the Christian Faith. The saint’s grandfather and grandmother on his father’s side had to hide in the forests of Pontus for seven years during the persecution under Diocletian.

St Basil’s mother St Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. St Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea.

Ten children were born to the elder Basil and Emilia: five sons and five daughters. Five of them were later numbered among the saints: Basil the Great; Macrina (July 19) was an exemplar of ascetic life, and exerted strong influence on the life and character of St Basil the Great; Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Nyssa (January 10); Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (January 9); and Theosebia, a deaconess (January 10).

While still unbaptized, he spent fifteen years in Athens, where he studied philosophy, rhetoric, astronomy and all the other secular sciences of that time. His colleagues there were Gregory the Theologian and Julian, later the apostate emperor. In his mature years he was baptized in the Jordan River along with Ebulios, his former teacher. He served as Bishop of Caesaria in Cappdocia for almost ten years and completed his earthly life fifty years after his birth.

St Basil was a great defender of Orthodoxy, a great light of moral purity, a religious zealot, a great theological mind, and a great builder and pillar of the Church of God. His Divine Liturgy is celebrated ten Times during the year, including the Sunday of Lent, and of course on his name day, January 1.

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Sunday Bulletin - January 1, 2012

St Basil was born in the year 330 at Caesarea, the administrative center of Cappadocia. He was of illustrious lineage, famed for its eminence and wealth, and zealous for the Christian Faith. The saint’s grandfather and grandmother on his father’s side had to hide in the forests of Pontus for seven years during the persecution under Diocletian.

St Basil’s mother St Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. On the Greek calendar, she is commemorated on May 30. St Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea.

Ten children were born to the elder Basil and Emilia: five sons and five daughters. Five of them were later numbered among the saints: Basil the Great; Macrina (July 19) was an exemplar of ascetic life, and exerted strong influence on the life and character of St Basil the Great; Gregory, afterwards Bishop of Nyssa (January 10); Peter, Bishop of Sebaste (January 9); and Theosebia, a deaconess (January 10).

Read more…

Dear to Christ,

We will celebrate our weekly Wednesday Vespers tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. Today, the third day of the feast of our Lord’s Nativity is also the commemoration of the Proto-martyr and Archdeacon Stephen. Below is an account of his life and his Troparion.

Saint Stephen was a Jew, by race, and, as some say, a disciple of Gamaliel, the teacher of the Law mentioned in Acts 5:34 and 22:3. He was the first of the seven deacons whom the Apostles established in Jerusalem to care for the poor, and to distribute alms to them. Being a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, he performed great signs and wonders among the people. While disputing with the Jews concerning Jesus, and wisely refuting their every contradiction, so that no one was able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit whereby he spake, he was slandered as a blasphemer and was dragged off to the Sanhedrin of the elders. There with boldness he proved from the divine Scriptures the coming of the Just One (Jesus), of Whom they had become the betrayers and murderers, and he reproved their faithless and hardheartedness. And finally, gazing into Heaven and beholding the divine glory, he said: “Lo, I see the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” But when they heard this, they stopped up their ears, and with anger cast him out of the city and stoned him, while he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then, imitating the long-suffering of the Master, he bent his knees and prayed in a loud voice for them that were stoning him, and he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” And saying this, he fell asleep (Acts 6, 7), thus becoming the first among the Martyrs of the Church of Christ.

Troparion in the Fourth Tone
“The crown of the Kingdom hath adorned the brow of thy head because of the contests that thou hast endured for Christ God, thou first of the martyred Saints; for when thou hadst censured the Jews’ madness, thou sawest Christ thy Saviour standing at the right hand of the Father. O Stephen, ever pray Him for us, that He would save our souls.”

Fr. Michael

THE NATIVITY IN THE FLESH OF OUR LORD, GOD AND SAVIOR
JESUS CHRIST

The reading from Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (4:4-7)
Brethren, when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son, into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So through God you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Alleluia Verses (Psalms18:1, 2) The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night proclaims knowledge.

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew (2:1-12) 
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,  “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:  `And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”  When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.  And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
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Sunday Bulletin - December 25, 2011

Monday December 19th, 7:00 p.m. Pre-Feast Vespers
Tuesday December 20th, 7:00 p.m. Pre-Feast Vespers
Wednesday December 21st, 7:00 p.m. Pre-Feast Vespers
Thursday December 22nd, 7:00 p.m. Pre-Feast Vespers
Friday December 23rd, 9:30 a.m. Royal Hours; 7:00 p.m. Vespers of Paramon.
Saturday December 24th, 10:00 a.m. Liturgy of Nativity Eve; 5:00 p.m. Vespers.
Sunday December 25th, Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, 8:45 a.m. Orthros; 10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy followed by the Church School Musical Christmas Program.